The Kevin Karius Show - Mar. 26th, 2026 - Declan Krueger

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1:00Hi, this is Pablo Torei from Pablo Torei finds out, and today I want to talk to you about boost mobile. Because we spend a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies in sports, overvalued contracts, money tied up in the wrong places, and so on. But those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes, they're in your own monthly expenses. Boost mobile, says switching to their $25 unlimited forever plan, can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's $25 a month for unlimited data, talk and text when you bring your own phone. If that money is trapped in a pricey phone bill, it might be worth a second look. Visit boostmobile.com to learn more. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers pay $25 per month, as long as they remain active on the boost mobile and limited plan. Savings claim based on a January 2026 boost mobile survey of a thousand Americans with single line unlimited plans, comparing average annual payments of major carriers to 12 months on the boost mobile and limited plan. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com. We're going to talk some hoops and maybe little elks with Declan Krueger from

2:03the low down with low tide, as we welcome in big deck. Good morning, Declan, how's she going, big guy? Doing excellent. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for coming on. It was a lot of fun for me. Yeah, I was looking forward to this. First, I was looking at the game times for today. The one thing that I do earlier in the rounds, like last week, I wish that these games would start a little bit earlier so they weren't stag or them a bit more instead of having two on basically at the same time. I'm sure as a basketball fan, you'd like to see that as well. Of course, yeah, for sure. It makes sense earlier in the tournament, obviously, because there are so many games going on. You've got to get them in there. But this is a chance we can really highlight some great basketball. The thing is, the tournament gets going. The basketball gets higher at level. Like, say what you will about not liking the lack of upsets as the tournament gets going or whatever it is, but the basketball certainly gets better. So a chance to spread out the games and actually get to sit there and watch all the games. I think it would do wonders for a tournament like this, but you know, is what it is and you're going to enjoy it anyway. You betcha.

3:05So, sweet 16. Today, let's start with the first game, Texas and Purdue. Did you have Texas getting to the sweet 16? And what's your take on this game? Because they're going to be tough and tough against the border makers here. Yeah, no, I didn't have Texas making the sweet 16. But I will say, I think they had probably the most favorable, favorable draw out of any 11 seed. Like that BYU team obviously had no Richie Saunders. It was kind of a Jay DeBonzoverse, the world. And then Gonzaga, you know, they had that pretty record, 30 and three this year. Obviously won the WCC, but again, like, you know, you played that game you played against Michigan was the best team you played all year. You lost by 40. You lost the poor link, which I think was a quad four loss and league play. Like, they were just so, for lack of better words, fraudulent. I'm not trying to turn a question about Texas into taking shots about Gonzaga, but it was just such a favorable bracket for Texas is that 11 seed. And the stat is, you know, often you get one of those first 14s into the sweet 16, and it's off one of those 11 seeds because they get that favorable bracket. It was Texas this year. Like they're facing a Purdue team that's firing on all cylinders, like Braden Smith,

4:06what he does is the floor general, the way he leaves that team, the way he kind of commands the offense, like Purdue, they were the number one preseason team coming in. And I've kind of made this point, like they're a team that's pretty much done everything that could group of seniors. They've played all together. It's a senior laden group, and they've done everything except win a national title. And so during the season, I think you can kind of get complacent a little bit, and I can kind of lead to some of the losses you shouldn't have there. I think that's what we saw from this Purdue team, but they obviously, they win the big 10. They beat Michigan. And like, like made it look kind of easy against a really good Michigan team. Like Michigan, like really out of it in that big 10 championship game. And then Texas, like Texas was awesome. It was great to see them, you know, get in that good net rating, everything like that. But this is just kind of one of those games where the buck stops playing one of those two seeds that's firing on all cylinders. Yeah, I didn't think Gonzaga played very well against Texas either in that match up in round number two. Do you think Purdue, Declan, has, and we're getting ahead of ourselves, assuming Arizona beats Arkansas? Do you think Purdue's got enough to get past Arizona?

5:11Like Arizona, I just think it's such a bad match up for them. Like Arizona, I don't want to call them a boring team, but I'll use boring for lack of a better word. It's like they don't shoot a lot of threes when they shoot the threes. They hit it in a fine clip, but they don't shoot a lot. Like they get a lot inside. They play really responsibly. They use their size to frustrate you. They have great length to on defense. Like Purdue is a team that, you know, Matt Painter's always got. I think one thing for Matt Painter, Purdue's head coach, he's kind of got him criticized a little bit too much for trying to be too fancy with his offenses. And like for years, it was like, Matt, like you have Zachini, who's seven foot four, no one in the college game can guard it. Like just get him the ball, Matt. We don't need to run 17 backs. Like just get Zachini, do the ball. It's fine. And I think the way Arizona kind of simplifies things and kind of just gets everything inside. Obviously, how they play defensively, I think it's a really bad matchup for Purdue. Listen, like Purdue is obviously playing the best ball. They've played all season. They found their own. They're coming into their own and anything can happen in the tournament, especially when you get two high level teams like that. But I do think

6:12Arizona is one of those, you know, like the Ken Palm numbers, they were above 35, one of those historic rankings. They're a good defensive team. I think they're a top three defensive team in the country in Ken Palm as well. So I just think it's a really bad matchup for Purdue. Like, there are some two seats I like, like I like Iowa State's potential against Michigan. I would have loved Houston against Florida. Obviously Florida is out. But I don't love Purdue against against Arizona. Right. Declan Krueger with us on the Kevin Carri show. You hear him daily with the low down with low tide 12 to 2 right here on sports 1440, our resident basketball expert. Nebraska and Iowa. I mean, it's such a both teams have interesting stories going into this one. Obviously with Iowa upsetting the defending champion Florida Gators, Nebraska's winning the first two NCAA tournament games ever. Can Iowa, can Iowa keep this train rolling here, Declan? Well, I think it's important to note that Iowa is probably at least in theory going to have

7:13the best player on the court, which in basketball, like basketball is such an individually dominated game anytime you have the less so in the college game. But anytime you have the best player on the court, and I think Iowa does in Bennett Sturts, like that is going to carry some weight and they're going to have a chance. Now Fred Hoyberg for Nebraska, like he's an incredible coach. Like he was an incredible coach at Iowa State. Didn't do well in the NBA was bad in Chicago, like optically was terrible. But came back to Nebraska and obviously has them in this position. I think they were the third last undefeated team this year. Excuse me. They were an eight, they were the eighth ranked team in the country at some point. Like he has done an incredible job. So it's a tough one to say because Iowa Nebraska is also kind of one of those ones where you throw at the record books. And I've seen some some jokes making making their way out there on the social media landscape. Like the UN is going to have to deploy peacekeepers for this game. It's going to look like a Balkan soccer match, things like that. So it is kind of one of those games where you say, hey, hold up a second, throw out the record books. I do think Nebraska better coached better, more well-rounded roster kind of. And then if you want to, you know, go this direction,

8:17they're kind of better in every analytical department. So I obviously lean Nebraska, but to just circle back to what you initially asked, like any time in a basketball game, you have the best player on the court, which you're supposed to have in Bennett Sturts. I know it went over nine from three against Florida and they still won. You're going to you're going to be in that game in some capacity. I would imagine you're thinking that Jaden Bradley will be a lot better. And all of Arizona will be a lot better than they were against Utah State against Arkansas. So you would think Arizona would win this game, Declan? Yeah. I think so. But man, I got to tell you like, because I was kind of I pre pre prepped a question you might have asked me about who the breakout player of the tournament was. Okay. And I was I was going to answer Darius Acuff. Like anyone who watched college basketball this year knew how good Darius Acuff was, but he obviously had, you know, that 36 pointer against high point, he had 24 against Hawaii and probably could have had more like similar to what I just said. Like he is so he and he's not just like going to be good, like great prospect showing flashes. Like he's that guy right now where he can just go out and get

9:21anything he wants. But again, like Arizona, I just think they're so defensively sound as a unit and they collapse really well. And one thing Arkansas does is Arkansas, because Darius Acuff is this good. They put him in a lot of high pick and rolls and just let him attack the basket. And he's, you know, he's so fast. He's so skilled as a finisher at the rim. He usually works out for him. But Arizona, like they collapse very well. Like they're defense shrinks. I think that's the problem. And like if Arizona, even here's the other thing, like even if Arizona plays to sound defensively, I really struggled with that one. And so we're going to let Darius Acuff get his and they're going to try and make everyone else beat you. Like, yeah, maybe Darius Acuff can be pick your player from Arizona. It may be Bradley Pete. Like whoever. Maybe he can beat them one on one. And if you're Arizona, you live with that. But can Arkansas beat us five on five? Probably not. And if arc, yeah, if Arkansas can be this can't beat us five on five, we are just going to do what we do get everything inside, you know, you know, play sound, fundamental offensive basketball. I think that's going to be that's going to be Arizona's key to key to victory. It's a little

10:23counterintuitive to what I just said about Bennett starts in Iowa, but it is also two different teams. Declan Krueger with us on the Kevin Kerr show here in sports 1440. The last one, Illinois, in Houston. I got deck. I got Houston. I'll go on all the way. So obviously I need a big game from from Houston here over Illinois. Yeah, I love coach Samson at Houston. I love like Houston has been I think this is their seventh or eighth straight sweet 16 or something like that. Like they've just been such a staple here in the last little decade or whatever it is. They always play such found sound fundamental defensive basketball like it's really it can be a little boring to watch if you're, but if you if you appreciate basketball and you appreciate defensive half court sets, like what Houston does all the time and the way they trap around the mid court, like it's really, really pretty to watch. Illinois is a good team as well. Like don't get me wrong. Illinois, I think they I think they were a top five team at one point this year. Like the kindness that he they're leading score this year. He's a guy who can really go get his at the college game, but I just think like the way Kelvin Samson game plans like what they do defensively Houston's going to be a little

11:27too much for them. And also, I just feel like at some point, you know, Destiny has to catch up to Kelvin Samson. I don't know if it is this year, but at some point, it's like, man, you've been so close. You're you're I would say outside of Mark few in Gonzaga and when he's built there, you're the best coach in college basketball without a national championship. Like at some point that the chips have to go all in and you have to have the four aces at the end of the hand. Again, I don't know if it's this year, but this Illinois game doesn't seem to me to be one where they would where they would trip themselves up. Hey, tomorrow, Dick, I had Tennessee go into the sweet 16 in my bracket. But the Barnes and the Vaughan show, man, I absolutely did not. I liked I liked that Virginia team. They played Duke tough in the ACC tournament. 29 wins is no small fee, but I good for you. Like what I actually had Tennessee losing to Miami, Ohio just because I loved that story. So there was so much fun. Yeah. Yeah. Good. What a show Rick Barnes and the Vaughan tears. But that the run probably ends tomorrow against Iowa State, which again with Iowa, Paul, sir, he texted me on Sunday night. He was so happy that everything's going right for him in Iowa. Yeah. I think I

12:33think Iowa State is like a keep your eye on them. Yeah. There's go. I don't know if it was Rick Barnes. I don't know who said it, but one of the coaches in the tournament said, you know, Oetzelberger, who's their head coach, he could take five guys from LA Fitness. And in an hour and a half, they would be a top 10 defensive team in the country. And I know I just kind of hammered the defensive thing home about Houston and even Arizona the way they collapse at the room. But yeah, Iowa State, like they're just keep your eye on them, man. They were number two in the country at one point this year. Like Michigan games going to be tough, but they're for real. I really, really like Iowa State. The hustle doesn't have to hurt. If performance pressure is making it hard to breathe, growth therapy helps you navigate stress, set boundaries, and actually feel like yourself again. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th, grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty identity, or availability, and get started in as little as two days.

13:34There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow helps you find therapy on your time. Whatever challenges you're facing, growth therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states. Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. Visit growththerapy.com-startnow to get started. That's growtherapy.com-startnow-growtherapy.com-startnow-availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place.

14:35Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. Like a perfect game. Like, St. John's is going to, I'm going to say it again, and it's going to really start to sound like I don't know what I'm talking about, because I'm just talking about St. John's being a sound defensive team, which they are. But people are going to listen and be like, this guy only knows one phrase. He only knows defensive team, but St. John's is a really sound defensive team. But the thing is, they will go eight-minute stretches without scoring the basketball. Six-minute stretches without scoring the basketball. They're so frustrating to watch on offense. And that was fine against Kansas. That was obviously fine in the first round against

15:39Northern Iowa. But it kind of gets, can you also hold Cam Booser to not score for six minutes? Can you hold that Duke offense to also stay stagnant? Because St. John's is inevitably going to go on a run where they have six minutes where they're one for eight from the floor and of three total points. In those six minutes is Duke going to go on a 14-to-3 run? Or can you also hold them to three-four points with what you do defensively? Maybe they are good enough defensively to do that, but it's just a much tougher task against a guy in Cam Booser who put up 24 at night this season. It's a much more difficult task against John Shires offense. I think they can win. If they do win, it's going to be ugly and they probably wouldn't be my pick. You know, I watched the Alabama Texas Tech game on Sunday night. And I like you and everyone else, the way that Alabama chucks the threes, everyone knows that. But if they have, it was just unreal. If they have the same

16:39kind of success as far as, you know, the amount of threes going in against Michigan as they did against Texas Tech, can they knock off the Wolverines? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. They can, like, I don't want to say Michigan is vulnerable. But I made this point, I made this point way back in. It was a hit I did with with the Duke, whether I maybe it was January, maybe like early February. And I said, like he's, Yaksal Lindenberg's probably Michigan's best player, but a lot runs through Elliott Kado, who's who's kind of their floor general. And if he's not firing, because he does, he does have kind of moments or stretches or games where he looks a little disengaged where you can tell like his talent level isn't there with the upper echelon of players who are going to be high on the draft or whatever it may be. And you're just like, hi, like, I don't, you know, what's this guy doing? So if he can kind of, if he falls apart or, you know, gets smothered offensively and all of a sudden Michigan start to be a little stagged and then Alabama starts hitting those threes you talk about, then yeah, like, absolutely. I think Alabama can win that game again. You know, I probably wouldn't pick them. I don't think it would be the smart money. But there is no question

17:42there's a path to Alabama winning this game. And it's exactly that. It's them firing on all cylinders from three. And it's Michigan's offense looking a little bit stagnant because they'll can't get don't can't get going. Declan Kruger with us on the Kevin Kerr show here in sports 1440. I wanted to bust away from hoops and talk a little football and Elks with UN Eddy doing such a great job on Elks Nation. And you had Tarell Ford on earlier this week, Declan, talking about, you know, the brother and coming back and everything, maybe just give our listeners a little snippet, a little harbinger in that car and just that conversation that that UN Eddy had with Tarell. Yeah, it was it was so much fun. I mean, Tarell came and joined us in studio. It was the second time he's been on the show. We had about an hour long, a 50 minute hour long sit down with him. And it was really like, I think one thing we've tried to do with Elks Nation is try to get people invested in the players that are on the team because I do think there's kind of been a shift in however many years. It's been in the CFL. You know, you'll obviously only really see two year contracts. There's so much player movement and credit to the players. Like, I'm glad they're empowered. I'm glad they can make smart financial decisions and free agency. But it kind of gets

18:44it gets tough for fans to get behind some players, you know, like it gets tough. It's not, excuse me, it's not the old days like when Ricky Ray was here forever or, you know, even a little more recently, like Fred Stamp seemed to be here forever. Gizmo, obviously, like these guys who you can really put on the posters get their jersey and know he's going to be here season after season. You don't have that as much. So we wanted to really kind of give a we so put some personality behind who these guys were and Tarell came in and it was just it was like 50 minutes of three guys hanging out just shooting the breeze and I kind of I hope that gets across to the listeners. You know, I hope they feel like they're there with us just hanging out like it's just friends having a chat like getting to know somebody. He was it was a lot of fun and, you know, what you asked about Tray's departure. He was very open and honest. He said, yeah, listen, like this is a business. I didn't see Tray very much. He went as far as to say Tray probably needed to do his job a little bit better. He also said the defense needed to do their job better. But yeah, it was just very honest, very open, very candid. It was a lot of fun. And I think, you know, I like to think anyway, that we're doing we're doing a pretty good job. We're trying our best to kind of put some

19:46personality behind these guys that they're not just, you know, jersey numbers or names on a death chart that they're actually is kind of a human there that fans can get behind. Well, that's the whole thing. And that's why it's going to be successful, Declan, because, you know, when I got here 28 years ago, there was the media landscape was obviously different. But the stories that were told about the players and everything like that, more more so than just a number, that's how you create that bond and a relationship and that connectivity between fan and player. And for many years from, you know, like all through COVID and then even continuing now with the lack of media and the lack of media presence down there, we miss that. We don't see it. So it's a perfect avenue for you and Eddie to bring out those stories. So good on you guys for doing that. You're having fun doing it. Oh, it's the best. You know, so I'll tell you, sometimes it's a little imposter syndrome, like Eddie and Eddie and Torello will be talking, be sitting there talking about, you know, whatever. And I'll just kind of be like, yeah, yeah,

20:48you know me too, right guys? Yeah. That's awesome. And I'm just chiming in, pretending I'm a part of the game. But it's great fun. I love doing it with Eddie. You know, I always, I always say like, if Jason ever makes the decision to fire me, just let me do it for free for a little while first. Like I'll do what I have to because I just love doing it. It's a lot of fun. I think I also, you know, it's just really quickly. And I don't want to, I do, I think we put on a good show. Like I got to be honest, I think we put on a really good show. We both, you know, maybe mostly Eddie, but you know, we know what we're talking about. I think we have a lot of fun doing it. I like to think we make it enjoyable. And I, you know, no one ever wants to be the guy who sits there and says, hey, go listen to my product or, you know, I'm doing a great job because, you know, if you're good, you tell everyone if you're great, they tell you. But I do think we do a really good show. I honestly do. I don't want to pump our tires too much, but it's a lot of fun. I love doing it. And I think we do a good job. The good thing is that Eddie's had his breakfast in here before, and you don't have to put up with the pickled eggs on banana bread, you know, that's what he's doing. That's what he's doing over there. It's supposed to be 40. I actually stretched it a bit. Just,

21:51just hard boiled egg on banana bread. Then he brings in his oatmeal every day. It is absolutely, like the smell in the studio. I'm surprised when you guys, you know, it's just rampant. Like, it would be like that episode from Seinfeld with the B.O. and the car. That's what it's like with Eddie and his food in the morning. I mean, he's got to get that protein. And like, all of people ask me, like, he's still in good shape. And I'm like, man, he looks like the strongest human I've ever seen. Still, if you, yes, he's in good shape. I think if you look, are you going to do anything with the combine this weekend? Are you going to be down there? Yeah. So, so we wanted to do a live podcast down from the combine. I don't think Eddie got accredited in time. So I'm still going to be down there. Obviously, I'm going to be covering it for obviously Alex Nation and sports 1440. Get a chance to get down there tomorrow morning. I don't know if we're going to do anything from the combine in terms of, you know, any live podcasting, any live videos, anything like that. But there'll be plenty of combined coverage. If you go back into the combine records, I think Eddie is still T 11 in bench press. He is. Yeah. 33 reps of 225 tied for 11. Yeah. Yeah. They

22:56were we went over that the other day. The all time record, if you can leave 47 reps of 225. Eddie was saying that the guy that had that record isn't exactly playing by the rules. Oh, okay. He also made a point that he never lasted in the league. And I was like, Eddie, man, it's starting to sound like sour grapes a little bit. Like all you're doing is kind of this guy out from under him. Hey, have a great show with Tide today. Declan, thanks for coming on and giving us an update on Alex Nation and then also your perspective on the sweet 16. Really appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me, Kevin. Thank you, Brandon. Thank you, Josh. See you guys later. Hi, this is Pablo Tore from Pablo Tore finds out. And today, I want to talk to you about boost mobile because we spent a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies in sports, overvalued contracts, money tied up in the wrong places and so on. But those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes they're in your own monthly expenses. Boost mobile says switching to their $25 unlimited forever plan can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's $25 a month for unlimited data, talk and text when you bring your

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