NCAA tournament coming to Buffalo

0:00I'm Brian. I work at United Health Care. So Brian, why do you care? I care because I don't want to leave anybody behind. I oversee one of the biggest resource center in United Health Care. I see people walked in in my office every day, just like my parents. They have no idea about the health care. I feel like they are my uncles, aunties. I treat these people like family. I'm Brian and I'm committed to care. I'm done carrying around bulky drinks. And I'm definitely done cleaning melted candy out of my pockets. So yeah, I traded them both in for fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots. These little guys are as pocket sized as any candy. But instead of a sugar crash, you get a zero sugar caffeine boost. Candy can't even compare at this point. Fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor. With a tasty caffeine kick.

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2:01Out there watching the selection show. And Buffalo, New York popped up and I'm from Western New York. And my father has dementia. And I've been a head coach for three years. And he's never seen me coach. He's a head coach in person because it's so hard for him to travel. And he's going to get to see me coach this week in person and then simply turn him in. And that means the world to me because without them I wouldn't be here. So extremely thankful for this opportunity. Thank you for these young men. Thank you for the administration at the University of South Florida for believing in me. It was really excited for this group. Okay, that is South Florida. Bulls head coach Brian Hodson. Born in Olyan was eventually adopted and grew up in Jamestown, graduated from Jamestown High School. And his South Florida Bulls in the Buffalo bracket, which now, not this is even like a recent change, but it's two different regions. Right. Anything to make it more complicated. They will play Louisville. And I think that's the first game of the day.

3:02I'm pretty sure. Thursday. It is. 130. Do I have a little South Florida? TNT. I'm not good to know. I will get to your calls in a second, but I just want to say, I went to Philadelphia for the weekend. And it often happens. It often lines up that this weekend, which is built around baseball drafts, coincides with selection Sunday. So we have our second draft Sunday morning in Northern New Jersey, then I had home. And I'm listening to, you know, the radio in the car. And I often will listen to Chris Rousseau's selection Sunday show, which I did yesterday, because I love it. Mm-hmm. It's fun and funny. He's super knowledgeable about it. And it's him. It's him and Steve Torrey. Okay. They're good together. They've been together forever. Rousseau is super knowledgeable about the tournament. It's got strong takes. They have the commissioner of the committee, like the lead guy on the show.

4:03And he, you know, challenges him on stuff. It's really good. And so you get all the, I feel like that was my prep for the tournament. I was listening to that for two or three hours. But you also get moments like this with Rousseau. And this, this literally happened last night. Oh boy. He was talking to Rod Strickland, who is the L.I.U. coach, former point guard. And they played Mercyhurst in the conference championship. They didn't even need to win, because Mercyhurst is transitioning to Division One. They're not eligible to go to the tournament. So L.I.U. was going to make it anyway. Anyway, he basically says to his partner, you're going to have to help me out with this name. And the name was Mercyhurst. Like, Rousseau could not attempt to say it. How do you possibly pronounce Mercyhurst any wrong way? What would it... I don't even want... I'm not even going to ask you to try, because it would sound so absurd. I'm Brian. I work at United Health Care. So Brian, why do you care? I care because I don't want to leave anybody behinds.

5:05I oversee one of the biggest resource center in United Health Care. I see people walked in in my office every day, just like my parents. They have no idea about the health care. I feel like they're my uncles, aunties. I treat it as people, my family. I'm Brian, and I'm committed to care. I'm done caring around bulky drinks. And I'm definitely done cleaning melted candy out of my pockets. So yeah, I traded them both in for fruity rainbow five hour energy shots. These little guys are as pocket sized as any candy. But instead of a sugar crash, you get a zero sugar caffeine boost. Candy can't even compare at this point. Fruity rainbow five hour energy shots treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor. With a tasty caffeine kick. That's right, caffeine just got a flavor upgrade. And it's not just one flavor. Five hour energy shots bring you tasty caffeine and 17 flavors.

6:0717. So if you're craving that candy flavored chaos, but actually want energy that works, grab fruity rainbow five hour energy shots. Pocket sized zero sugar, big flavor. Available now at fivehourenergy.com or on Amazon. Studies show that 100% of everybody in the world wants to curl up indoors and do nothing because it's so darn cold out there. That's why many people are turning to bombas, whose pillowy plush slippers and warm arena wool socks have been said to be the most comfortable in the history of feed. Bombas products have been found to boost coziness by up to 1 million percent. Okay, enough fake statistics. But could bomba socks and slippers really be the cure? Go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com and use code audio. How to pronounce Mercyhurst is like, you take it. He said to the other guy, you take it. I can't pronounce it. Mercyhurst. My face is frozen in this. I'm like in this like mouth of gate.

7:09Who couldn't pronounce mercyhurst? I mean, sound it out. Who asked the sound of mercyhurst? He wouldn't even attempt it. It's two words. No, just what? What? I love it. It's like everything I need about the tournament, so that is incredible. And you get sort of these, I mean, doggie. Listen, if you want to make a meal out of like Jackson Smith and Jigba, like, you know, there's some G's and X's and some stuff in there that maybe could throw you off and he's made, you know, he's, there's a couple of pretty notorious clips of him absolutely annihilating that name. Is there? Oh, yeah. Like, you won't believe how bad. Like, really? How bad? But that said, at least like, you know, they're, it's not a commonly mercyhurst. He begged off of mercyhurst. That's, wow. I mean, not how he interacts. Who's this school with the T here? And the, I'm going to spell it. Yeah, Texas. Can you help me?

8:10What the hell? I don't know. I mean, I couldn't believe it. I had to stop. That's like, I was just so into the show. And then he told me, he will not even attempt to say mercyhurst. Amazing. It was, you know, worth the time. Well, in every way, you got amused and entertained. Oh, and you got informed. I mean, that's what you want. That's hitting for the cycle, right there. That's what we want. Right. Every day. Tell you something and make it fun. Yep. Wouldn't say mercyhurst. It's like it's a secret word in Peewee's playhouse or something, but the opposite effect. You don't win anything. You lose if you say it. I don't know. It was wild. Matthew is with us. Hello, Matthew. Hello, John. How are you guys doing today? Really good. Thanks. I just wanted to say they're ensuring my thoughts on the savers, not as the number one seed or not. My only, I understand that there's a dance that I certainly don't understand of, you know, trying new things and, you know, letting people rest.

9:11But I wouldn't want to say they're in kind of start losing games or easily winnable just because, you know, as savers, we've kind of suffered for so long and don't necessarily have the winningness of the chiefs where they can lose my home with Mr. playoffs and theoretically bounce back next season. You know, I would just hate for them to drop a couple of games and lose the confidence, lose the edge that they have going and then you'll be a first-round exit. You know, that's my only thoughts. I will hang up and let you gentlemen discuss. Have a great rest of your day. Okay, you too. Try not to worry about it. I mean, right now, I mean, you are saying you're worried about them losing a spot. You're worried about what kind of form they might be in if they lose some number of these games coming up, which they have not yet done. So, I mean, I think you're over worrying. I guess I would say similar.

10:11It's too narrative-y for me. The idea that if they, especially because the premise here is what, they're intentionally going to slow a couple of guys down, which they haven't really exactly done yet, or at least much of, so we don't even know if it's coming, but if they were to do that, the players on the team wouldn't know it. They wouldn't have to think like, uh-oh, right. Like, it's just, I don't think players think like that. Confidence? Would you say this? So, speaking of that show last night, the Mad Dog radio, and Jerry McNamara was on the Sienna Coach, former Syracuse star, and they got Duke in the first round. They won the Mac, the Mac, and they get Duke in the first round. And he admitted he was like a little annoyed by that, because he thought they were a little better than that than have to be the best team in the tournament. But anyway, he's like, well, we have nothing to lose. And he said his challenge was to make sure the guys just play

11:14and not get to sort of caught up in the, how special the opportunity is. Like, just eventually you gotta go out there and just do it. Right, it's a basketball game. And I like that point that, you know, just sort of, we can be loose. That's the advantage of the underdogs. How loose would you expect the sabers to be in round one? Maybe they'll play a team that similarly does not have any sort of playoff pedigree. So they won't have an advantage in this way. If it's even an advantage, most people will tell you the experience is the advantage. But if they play Pittsburgh, say, in the first round, the opposite of them, kind of, at least at the top of the lineup. They'll be tense. I think that there will just be nerves there. It is new and no matter how much you want to talk about being ready for it. And all of that, it probably will be jarring how fast it feels like it's going

12:18and your own adrenaline is a part of that. Wow, this is faster. And now that's, you're noticing that. And that gives you more anxiety and it just sort of builds. And like, you know, you can undo that with a couple of good shifts or a goal or whatever. But I would expect them to be tense. Almost whoever they're playing. But especially if it's a team that has somebody who's won two cups or three cups or something. Like those penguin, the penguin core guys. Like that could be, that'll be tough. But I don't think it has to undo them. I just think it'll, it'll start out. I think they'll be nerves. It would be weird if there weren't. Shouldn't that be true of everybody? I mean, everybody that hasn't been there, yeah. But I think if you, if you've done it, you know, like, you know, checks are going to be that much more frequent. Like everything is just faster. Um, it looks like that to the naked eye watching play off hockey versus regular season hockey.

13:20I would imagine it feels exactly like that on the ice. You know, what's, what's tough about this as a discussion is this can be one player out of 20. But if it's the one, if, if one guy is rattled, then that can be the difference. And I don't know if he was rattled or anything. But remember talking to Henry Tulinder about how the flyer series started. And I asked him if he remembered the first, what was it? 10 seconds of that game, game one. Like right away, some bounce happened. And like, there's Peter Forsberg in front of an open net. 10 seconds into the game. And I don't know, did Tulinder break it up or did Miller? Like, I think Tulinder got the shaft of his stick on it. Okay, yeah, maybe just sort of a lucky. Yeah, sort of waved at it and got it. Right. And if Peter Forsberg had scored 10 seconds into game one, like literally everybody would have constructed some take about how the sabers were not ready

14:22because they had not been to the playoffs in five years. And who knows if that was true of anybody on the team. That can be a bounce or it can be one player who makes a mistake and maybe he is nervous. Like, is everybody on the bench nervous too? Right, because that happened. You definitely don't have to be nervous to make a mistake. No, right. That's right too. So, I mean, it doesn't have to be that, but it does often get, you know. That's what's easier for us. Right, right. Sort of process. You weren't up for it. Right. Yeah. Well, again, I'm fine with any sort, I mean, to a point. I'm not expecting anything dramatic. So, any sort of dabbling with different combinations and, you know, when, like, what we say about football, when the bills clenched the AFC East in 2024 on December 1st, we spent half the time left in the season talking about whether they should just sort of make up stuff. They use all their junk put on tape, right? Right. And just come out with a different look in the playoffs.

15:23I mean, the sabers are almost at that point if they really don't care too much about playoff positioning. And I don't really think that they should. Holmice is not that big a deal. The conference is pretty flat. You should be able to avoid the lightning in the first round. And maybe not in the second, even if you beat them in the regular season. You might get them in the second round anyway. Yeah. So, I'm okay. I don't want to see him lose 8 out of 9, like they did in 2006. Right. Right. I'll get nervous if that happens. But they are. I mean, if you're legitimately, like, if they lose a couple games, if you're worried about their being a playoff team or anything, I mean, literally they could win, I think, like, five of these 15 games and get in. Like, five more wins gives them 98 points. Yeah, they'll do it. So, you know, that's one of them every three. And I don't expect them to perform that meekly here down the stretch. So, like, there's not any worry about them being in. It depends on how much, like you're saying, you want.

16:25I mean, the fact that they're in first already and not chasing it anymore, makes me feel like I'll be giving something up if I don't get it. Right. I'm there now. Protect it. Right. Play well enough to keep 10. Now, they've got those two games in hand, which can tie you. Right. Just like that. If they win them both. And you just sort of match the rest of their games. So, it's still very tight. But being in the spot now with 15 games to go, I kind of want the spot. I'm feeling greedy. You're like, I wasn't worried about first place. That wasn't even a really thing about first place when they got on the ace with them last Sunday. It's like, you know, just second or third is my goal. But now I'm there. I kind of want it. I get it. Detroit would be the first round opponent. No, it'd be Boston, I guess. Those are the two wildfires. And Carolina would get first dibs, not that they actually get to choose, which they should. Right.

17:25Boston and Detroit are currently the two wild car teams. Columbus is a point back. Ottawa is three back. And stuff. Yeah. So, yeah. That's that's where you. And that's probably it. That's probably everybody. That even like Philly and Washington are six. Yeah. Six is a lot of this point. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's right. 803-0550. Jeff Bell. footballguys.com. He returns at four talks of NFL draft. Mike Schopen, the bulldog here. Lines are open for you. This is WGR. I'm Brian. I work at United Health Care. So Brian, why do you care? I care because I don't want to leave anybody behinds. I oversee one of the biggest resource center in United Health Care. I see people walking in my office every day, just like my parents. They have no idea about the health care. I feel like they have my uncles, aunties. I treat these people like family. I'm Brian, and I'm committed to care.

18:27I'm done carrying around bulky drinks. And I'm definitely done cleaning melted candy out of my pockets. So yeah. I traded them both in for fruity rainbow five hour energy shots. These little guys are as pocket sized as any candy. But instead of a sugar crash, you get a zero sugar caffeine boost. Candy can't even compare at this point. Fruity rainbow five hour energy shots treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor with a tasty caffeine kick. That's right, caffeine just got a flavor upgrade. And it's not just one flavor. Five hour energy shots bring you tasty caffeine and 17 flavors. 17. So if you're craving that candy flavored chaos, but actually want energy that works, grab fruity rainbow five hour energy shots, pocket sized zero sugar, big flavor, available now at fivehourenergy.com or on Amazon. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

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