New England Revolution Head Coach Marko Mitrovic joins the show

0:00What's going on? I'm Archmaning, Viori athlete and college quarterback. Whether I'm running, training, traveling, or just unwinding at home, I love doing it in my core shorts from Viori. With a breathable box or brief liner, a quick to dry, super versatile, and stand-up to even my most intense training sessions. Plus, they come in three inseims and a ton of colors. Ready to try pair? Go to Viori.com, slash arch, and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's Viori.com slash ARCH, and get 20% off your first order. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day. Looking for something smart, soulful, and full of hearts? I'm Jen Hatmaker, host of For The Left. The podcast where we talk about what really matters. Love, and family, faith, and purpose. Every week, I'm joined by incredible guests. For honest conversations,

1:02they invite all of us to live with more intention, more laughter, and more connection. Join us on For The Love, wherever you get your podcasts. Final hour! Jones and Keith, here on WEiEI. Sorry, white stripes. And I like the white stripes. You're out. Yeah. Not happening. They have not advanced. 311 took them down on 311 day yesterday. Speaking of you're out in the Mac tournament, Keith. Yes. I wonder how many of our listeners are aware of this? The 31 and 0 18 and 0 in conference Miami of Ohio Redhawks, 20th ranked team in the country. Yeah. Ben Rothisberger. Wait, was that way? No, that sounds right. Miami of Ohio, I think that's right. They are currently losing to the UMass Minuteman, 16 and 15, 7 and 11 in the Mac. I believe Frank Martin was on yesterday with afternoons, correct? Two days ago, it was this week for sure. They look like they're about to

2:02deliver the Redhawks their first loss of the year. UMass is up four with five seconds left. So I'd say I'd say you can write that one in. It was like last weekend or the weekend before Bruce Pearl, who does like TV now, former coach, obviously, Auburn, Tennessee, other places. He was saying that Miami of Ohio shouldn't make the tournament unless they win the Mac because they're strength the schedule. This is like another Patriots thing. They're strength. The schedule was so bad. And the Mac is so bad, they should be a one bid conference. And at the time he said that, they were like 29 or 30, you know, they're not 31 to know, but looks like they're about to lose. And in fact, they just lost. It's gone final. So yeah, UMass, by the way, fouled on a Miami of Ohio three when they were up four with like 10 seconds left. So I don't know how well they played it, but they scored they scored 87 points. But they won. So it's a mad advance. Yeah, they should make the tournament 68 teams make the tournament. They went 31 and one, even though you should have beaten UMass. It's the whatever it is. The quarter finals of the Mac, they should be in the tournament. I agree. They should make the tournament. But if you want to make them like an 11. I was going to say in this. This should this right. Maybe they have to go to a

3:03play in game. That's a good call. But at least give them a chance. They won 31 straight games. Yeah, including whoever wins the Mac, but this should beat them. I mean, they lost in the quarter finals. That's bad. Of the Mac tournament. So this should stick to them. But they should I agree with you 1000 percent. They should be a tournament. Now, not that this usually what do you think they would have been for a seat if they were undefeated? Let's say they ran through the Mac. I know they did it. Would they be like a five or six? No. Eight or nine? Yeah, maybe. Okay. I think maybe maybe I'd best a six. And then the 11 seed would have been one of those where they would be underdog in the game. If you go undefeated to just be a six, that's crazy. Yeah. And you get matched up against some big a big 10 school or a pack 12 school or something like that. Yeah, because even these like really small conferences teams don't run the table. Right. They always have a lot even if they're the best team by far in their division like a Georgia South. I think they were the first state. I think they're the first team to wrap up an undefeated regular season since Kentucky like a decade ago. I think now they deserve to go in there. You know, because if you're putting a conference tournament. So say, for example, UMass ends up winning the Mac. They basically were 500 all season. And then they go on a four game heater and like they're in. But the team

4:07that won 31 in a row, they're out. Like I get conference champions winning. That's great. That makes the tournament super fun. You get to go crazy and storm the court and all that stuff. So like that team, I'm not saying doesn't deserve to be there. They do. But there's 68 teams. This isn't like college football. But there's only like 12 teams that make the tournament. I mean, people are mad when some of those small conferences schools make the 12 team tournament right now. And it's as to your point, it's a 12 team tournament in a 68 team bracket. I'm with you that deserve to be in. That's that's still a really bad loss though. Terrible loss. No, but this would have been one of those things where they would have gotten in. They would have been like a six or seven. But then they would have been like 10 point underdogs to like the 11 seed. You know, like the biggest line would have been different than the seed. Like they came in ranked 20th. So the people that do the rankings thought they were a top 25 team. And then so you lose to UMass. And now you're not a top 68 team. It seems like a big drop. So does UMass get now again? That's a little inconsistent. Cause like some of those small conference schools are way like, for instance,

5:07University of Vermont that wins the America. He's pretty much every year. Like they're not a top 68. They have to win to get in. So but I get your point. Did they get the winner of bowling green Toledo? Is that who UMass is going to get? Uh, yeah. You think you think UMass is going to go dance in Keith? They had a chance. I guess people were saying it was Akron. Akron's 26 and 5 and 70. Well, they couldn't. No, Miami. Well, I don't know if it's in the favorite. But I don't even know because I think well, maybe they were Akron's 26 and 5 and 17 and 1. Oh, my, my people have beat Akron head to head. But I think a lot of people are projecting forward. They're like, well, if Akron wins, then Miami will high wouldn't be up. Be right. They probably worth the favorite. But yeah, UMass maybe wins the next round. But then they'll probably play, well, I guess Kent State or Akron or those teams. But no, it's still possibility. They beat the best team in the conference. So they could get going. But they got to win three more games. Yeah, I would, I would wager. No, no, two more. Two more games. Right. Yeah, I would, I would wager against UMass getting him a good win for them nonetheless. This is a good point. I would think Miami of Ohio is still a turn. I would hope they're still a tournament. This is a good point on the text line. Bruce Pearls

6:10kid took over Auburn and Auburn's a bubble team. So clearly what he was doing there is like talking down Miami of Ohio because he was like, if it's head to head Auburn versus Miami of Ohio, he's he's talking up. He's talking up his, his former team and where his kid is. But I don't need the 11th team from the SEC to get in. I'd rather, I'd rather have a story like this. Let them, let them go in there. And if they get smoked in the first round, so be it. That's fine. There were still 31 and one. No, I think that's like a playoff team or a tournament team to me. I think that's totally fair. So anyway, I did, we had kind of been monitoring that a little bit. Yeah. Was that on TV anywhere? Oh, no, it was ESPN plus because we have two games going on and here. But it was, you got to like stream that one. Yeah. So I, I was just following the stupid game cast online. If I, if I miss where it was actually airing, then I missed it. Uh, but University of Massachusetts through taking down the formerly undefeated 20th in the country. They were 31 and oh, Miami of Ohio Red Hawks, uh, good, good, uh, good loss there for Ben Robbins Perger noted good guy. Yeah. As you said, uh, so tough one there. We can get back to

7:14the Celtics and the Thunder coming up in just a little bit. Another potential NBA finals preview in fact, Keith, uh, in a number of places, this is the, uh, anticipated the betting favorite for an NBA finals matchup big week for the Celtics. But joining us right now on Jones and Keith, we'll talk to him for the first time. The head coach of the New England revolution, Marco Mietrivic joining us here. Marco, hello. Hi, hi everyone. We, uh, we're happy to have you on here in the lead up to, well, you're home opener, which is on Sunday at Gillette Stadium against FC Cincinnati. Uh, it's been on paper anyway, a difficult start for you guys. Uh, Oh, and two thus far, uh, what should we expect from this weekend's matchup against FC Cincinnati? Yeah, uh, uh, just said we didn't start best with, uh, we talked to losses in two away games, but uh, uh, this is a great opportunity with a homeowner for us to, to improve our record and, uh, to, and a start our home season with

8:20a great result. How are you feeling the outlook for this team? Do you, do you set goals at the start of the season? Do you have a spot where you, where you want to see your team finish? Uh, it's going on. I'm archmaning, Viori athlete in college quarterback, whether I'm running, training, traveling, or just unlining at home, I love doing it in my core shorts from Viori. With a breathable box or brief liner, a quick to dry, super versatile, and stand up to even my most intense training sessions, plus they come in three in seems and a ton of colors. Ready to try pair? Go to Viori.com slash arch and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's V-U-R-I dot com slash ARCH and get 20% off your first order, exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day. Life can feel overwhelming, but all my podcasts from the heart with Rachel Brayton were in it together. Every Friday a new episode brings you a new story with topics on

9:22motherhood, wellness, self love, and more. Listen to From the Heart with Rachel Brayton wherever you get your podcasts. Whatever you thought about the team once you've, once you were hired back in November. Yeah, my goal is to get out, get most out of every day and that was a criminal objective. Can we grow as a theme day by day before we can have that set certain goals in terms of like any result wise, I can say like that. You guys are not going to be the only soccer in Foxboro. We finally found out that there actually will be World Cup games in Foxboro. How excited are you for that? That's great. Great. That's the biggest event in the world that exists and having World Cup games is something special. It's something unique. I think the whole world will look at the World Cup and then having opportunity to watch those games close and in our stadium, it's something very special. You have a lot of history with different team U.S.A.s.

10:23yet you're coaching the under 19 team, the under 23 team in the Olympics, the under 20 team. What's the pipeline of U.S. Soccer looking like? You've been very up close and personal with a lot of those players. Yeah, it's actually very, very positive in what direction U.S. Soccer is going with with you players and you're talent. I think we're making great, great steps forward. You can see with the amount of players that are playing in MLS coming from U.S. and academies, also amount of players and talent that goes abroad year after year and the level where the players are playing in Europe, it's great to see in what direction we are going with you soccer. It looks like you're a bit of a hoops guy. If I have this right, you've been to a few Celtics games, including Tatum's return against Dallas last Friday night, what was that like? It was amazing. It was really amazing. I love basketball. I love watching Celtics. I think

11:28they have great team, they have great coach and it was fun. I was sitting just behind the bench and it was great to hear the talks in time out just from coaching perspective. I think the fans were great, very supportive and also, obviously, Tatum was back, so it was kind of special, special day for all Celtics fans. I know a lot of the coaches, usually are pretty close in all the Boston teams. I know everybody's super busy and you haven't been the coach very long, but have you had a chance to meet or talk to guys like Mizzula, Raeble, Kora? Have you had a chance to talk with any of those guys yet? Yeah, I met Mizzula. Joey, I went to watch one of the training sessions and just watch the whole working day and how that looks like. It was a great experience. Yeah, just to see from close how much working day looks like and share experiences, that was a great experience for me. Mizzula is kind of a maniac, right? Yeah, did he blink?

12:32It's kind of crazy. Did he blink at all when you were talking to him? I actually love his passion. The way he speaks, I like where he's mindset and just talking coach to coach, I was fascinating with him. Okay, well, Marco, best of luck. Getting your first win, hopefully, on Sunday for the home opener at Gillette Stadium against FC Cincinnati. It is a two-thirty kickoff, Marco Mietravic, head coach of the New England Revolution. Thanks for taking the time here on Jones and Keith. Thank you, guys. Appreciate you. All right. Thank you. Marco, good stuff. He likes, he likes Mizzula's energy. Yeah. Listen, I mean, the down coach to coach, no, I mean, Mizzula, very good. I mean, look, Mizzula's won a lot of games. He still looking for his first win. So I get that. Speaking of Mizzula, we got Celtics and Thunder tonight. Yeah, I look forward to this very much. Are we sure Tatum's playing? We should have. We should ask Terp this. Tatum questionable to me is a little, yeah, a little disconcerter. They haven't updated it yet. The last one was from yesterday.

13:33They usually do these injury reports. They do them a couple of times. So the last one we looked at had both Tatum and Derek White listed as questionable. It did have Peyton Pritchard probable. So Pitchard missed the last game against the Spurs. Hopefully, Pitchard's in there tonight. What? What a disappointing thing that would be, by the way, if Jalen gets himself kicked out against the Spurs and Tatum doesn't play tonight, like I know they have a plan, but they kind of always won after the other Jalen kind of owes us one after the other night. Like he better played tonight. Yeah, I wonder why they would even put the questionable distinction on there. Or maybe they're just sort of setting us up like, Hey, he's going to play tonight, but then he might take a game off for something along those lines. Because if he was just out, they would say it, wouldn't they? I don't know unless it's like, I would think, but I also don't. Terp could correct us on this. I don't think he's been on all these injury reports since he came back. So I don't expect him to play every game. Even though they only have, I think two back to backs, I don't expect him to play every single game. No, he's already played more and better than I thought that he would three straight games at 27 minutes. So I don't know. Maybe he'll end up playing in more games than I anticipated.

14:33But when he first came back, I was like, all right, he probably crossed off like at least five games. And you know, our stance on the funder is they've been a little underwhelming after their red hot start. They started eight, no, in 24 and one, 25 and one, whatever it is, we looked it up earlier. But I think they're kind of going through a lull right now, like the Celtics did a year ago. And on some level, it makes sense. Like it's March and April, you just want to get to the postseason. You just want to have your guys healthy. But I think the Celtics went too far with that a year ago. I think I think they stopped playing basketball and they started just fingers crossed, tried to get healthy for the postseason. Porzingis is never going to be healthy. So that wasn't going to work. And Tatum wound up popping his Achilles, not that you could have avoided that either way. I wonder if the thunder or they're a little bit. So I'm curious. Maybe I'll change my mind, watching that tonight. And I'll say, oh my God, the Celtics don't belong on the same floor as that team. My sense is we're in here tomorrow, Keith, and assuming everybody plays and no one gets thrown out. We'll feel pretty good about how the Celtics measure up. I already do feel good about

15:35how they measure up with San Antonio. Same with OKC. Because OKC, you're looking at their injury report. No jail in Williams, no heart and Stein, no Carlson. So they're, they're not at 100% either. And they, they haven't been, I mean, to terms point, they're, they're managing guys, which I'm not sure that's the greatest approach. You want to be playing your best basketball right now, not sitting guys and having them not ready to go come the postseason. I would say that about the Celtics last year. We did. And I would say that about OKC. So lots of thoughts. 617, 7779, 793, 7. You can jump in line for WEEI afternoons. They come your way at two o'clock. Yeah, got heart. Yeah, God fit. See, I got tech. We'll get you the clip to shore. And right after trending with Billy Lanny, it's always a barrel of laughs. Stay tuned for it. It's time for grab.

17:14What's going on? I'm Arche Manning, Viori athlete and college quarterback. Whether I'm running, training, traveling, or just unlining at home, I love doing it in my core shorts from Viori. With a breathable box or brief liner, they're quick to dry, super versatile, and stand up to even my most intense training sessions. Plus, they come in three in seems and a ton of colors ready to try pair. Go to Viori.com slash arch and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's Viori.com slash ARCH, get 20% off your first order, exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day. Hey, this is John Rothstein, the host of Inside College Basketball Now, part of the CBS sports podcast network reminding you that our show is going ramp up over the next two months. That's because we're counting down a selection Sunday and March Madness. We will be coming to you each and every week with multiple episodes, featuring exclusive interviews with the biggest and best

18:18names in the sport. It's the all-you-can-eat buffet for college basketball junkies everywhere. Follow and listen to Inside College Basketball Now on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast.