WVU Commit Miles Sadler wins Nikey EYBL POTY & STUNS Nations #1 team!

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Introducing the all-new Mazda CX-5, featuring more connection. Hey, Google, where's the nearest Pilates class? Safety that has your back. More discovery on the scenic routes. More passion in the details. A more controlled and changing weather. He all new Mazda CX-5. More to move every side of you. See it in five films at MazdaUSA.com slash five sides. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequence is shortened and simulated. West Virginia commit a mile, Sadler. And not only has he won the Nike IBL Player of the Year, which has been awarded to some of the best players the last ten years, he also just went nuts and beat the number one team in the country. This isn't getting really pretty crazy for West Virginia.

1:02And all by the way, looks like they accepted an invite to play in the postseason for West Virginia basketball. Lots to talk about. Let's dive in. You are a Lockdown West Virginia. Your daily podcast on the West Virginia mountaineers. Part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. What is up guys? Welcome back in. My name is mountaineer Paul. I am your host. Welcome back into locked on West Virginia, where we're talking West Virginia hoops today. Thankfully so much that there is something to talk about on this weekend. Thank you so much for being here. Let's dive straight into this. There's a lot to get to. You know, this episode is going to be brought to you by our friends. At five hour energy and right now with five hour energy guys. Have your cake and drink it too. Birthday cake flavor is back baby. No fork needed vanilla.

2:03Cakey flavor caffeinated kick and no sugar. It's party time. Order now at fivehourenergy.com or on Amazon. Thanks for making locked on West Virginia your first listen. And for being a part of the locked on podcast network. We're talking about your team. The mountaineers every single day. My sadler guys, I got to start there. I know the bigger news would be probably right now the crown. But I didn't have time to promote that first. So people are going to be expecting sadler news. I don't know. I consider sadlers news as big to be personally honest with you. When you can when let me frame this up for you. I'll get to West Virginia accepting an invite to the crown and I'll explain all the. There's actually a lot more to it than you realize when you consider. Where West Virginia was at in the conference pecking order via the net. So there's a reason why West Virginia got in there and not the NIT.

3:03We'll talk about it. Before we get there though, we're going to talk about my sadler and what he's doing right now because. Not only did he just win the Nike IBL national player, the word of the year award, scholastic player, the year award. However, you want to put it. Bella, but the prep just went on a run and beat the number one team in the nation Montverti over the last couple of days. Maybe in yesterday or the day before. And. He had a huge performance in this game. We've got some highlights from the from that, including a highlight sports center top 10 dunk. For the five 11 commit. The more I see of him, the more I just believe in my heart, I truly believe. Miles Sadler is going to be the most generational generationally.

4:03I think he can be as good as Javon small. I really do. I think that's. I think that's where he can get to. I really do. I think he can be on that level. And he they were my here reminds me a lot of Javon small, although Javon small six three. He plays a very similar game to Javon small. Very similar game might be my comp for him. If he wasn't just a few inches shorter. So let's talk about what he did. So the IBL player of the year is a very prestigious award. When you look at who's won it the last two years. Are you ready for this? Cooper flag wanted a couple of years ago from for Duke. Going into his from Montverti going into Duke. And then. The best freshman in the ace and the SEC a cup junior. Who plays for for Arkansas right now. He's got three points of game. Just got it. This past year. Now Miles Sadler gets it.

5:04That's the kind of player we're getting here. I he's and the thing is is he's got a lot of a lot to prove. You know, like a lot of people think he's overrated. Not a lot of people. There are people that think everybody focuses on his height. It just his he's one of those guys where he can play. It doesn't really affect him very much. He's learned how to play. At a at a little bit of a shorter height. And then he followed that up with a performance to get. Against Montverti. The number two team in the country, I guess technically by on some measures. Some say number one. I don't know. I don't know how you can. I don't know. But here's the stat line. 34 points. Five rebounds and four assists. He was a primary ball handler all game long. And he let a second half come back where they were down by 12. That third quarter was one of the best third quarters I've ever watched from a player.

6:08At the high school level specifically. Um, he probably contributed on 20 points or so. It was incredible. And. He is on a. And can you keep in mind Montverti has multiple five star and four star players on their team. This is a college team. He went up against. If you put that team on a floor next year. They probably had you if you put Montverti's team on all the same team. They probably got a chance to win 20 games next year, right? So, uh, you know, it's pretty crazy. How, how, how insane. The talent levels. Bella, this is very talented too. They've got five star. Uh, policy. Yuri. They've got obviously four star. Aliyah Doom. And they've got. My sadler five star. So it's not like there was nothing. But, but what he had to go against. And it's pretty insane here.

7:10And, and you know, he looked like a superstar. And the scouts loved it. He's been getting praised by everybody when you look on the extra right now. And. He just kept creating. It's really his ability to operate in a phone booth. I think when you look at him. On, on the floor like he's able to split defenders. He creates these angles. He can finish or kick it out. And he's good at either one. He's an elite assist guy. He's a basketball IQ is 9.5 out of 10. Maybe 10. It's like he. He's throwing behind the back stuff. He's doing like, you know, he's way out in front of people from the head. He part is part of the game. His lightning first step is. Probably his deadliest weapon or at least one of his deadliest weapons. One of his two deadliest weapons, I would say. And it forces the defenders to open up immediately.

8:13And then he can get to the rim. He can pull up mid. He can find. Find other people. You know, they just couldn't stand front of him. And when he's in the open floor, look, I'm going to be honest guys. Next year with him at the helm. We better highly consider running a lot more. I think we need to consider transition more. This coming year with him at the helm. It's just the, it's just he's so good in the open floor. And he is so fast. He is a true point guard guys. He's got that low center of gravity. What's helps main his birth. I think he'd be a really good running back too. He's not that big, but man is he in the just. He is a bulldog. We'll show you guys here in a minute what I'm talking about. Obviously the explosiveness. He can pull up from three. He's a step back guy. His three point shots only going to get better. He's shooting at about 33% this year on about 100 dries. So that's probably about where he's at.

9:13So not an elite three point shooter yet. But he's only two, three, three percent away from being very good. And then another two percent away from being elite, right? So I consider elite once you get up into that 37 to 40% range. Some people may, may even consider not until you get to 40 these days. But the way three points are shot. But he's able to get to the rim so much. And he is. When he's on, he can get streaky from three. So that's what happened yesterday. He's averaging almost 19 points a game. Five six assists per game. Three rebounds and almost two and a half steals a game. Elite numbers for a guard against the competition. That they're going against right now. And when any player of the year, you know, putting him in that dare you say, cuffed junior and Cooper flag conversation, those guys have obviously become national stars. And now, Bill Vista has advanced to the IBL Scholastic semi-finals.

10:14They're going to face Spire Academy. And that means they're going to have a chance to reach the championship game. If he keeps playing like he did against Montverti, there's a real chance West Virginia fans will be watching the best guard. In the entire league and nation right now. And so, you know, 34 points is insane. And that's the kind of performance that makes everybody in the world notice, which is also kind of scary too, right? Because from a West Virginia perspective, it just scares you. Now, Miles told me the other day, he'll be here on the first. Let's look at the dunk that was saw all around Twitter here. We'll show you two different angles. There's one from like the somebody cell phone. Somebody cell phone. Bang right over top of somebody. And here's another one. Let the announcers call it. Oh, he tested to. Sadler open space. The hammer. Out of.

11:16Oh, he tested to. Sadler open space. Pretty incredible stuff. As you can see here, this is this is this is the mountain birdie highlights. We're going to show you guys. You'll see he was on fire. A lot of these come from that third quarter where he just went absolutely nuts. Here he is. It's a 3.1 coming off that middle screen. A little step back. Barry on her half-esque. Watch him just cross the guy over. There's that dunk again. Here he is in the open floor. This is one of the games before I think, but you see how he just so his layout packages elite. He's got so many different style layups that he can do. Here he is off that middle screen again. Close to the middle and just a beautiful three. And you can see the first step that he has is so fast. In the open floor. As you can see, watch him just. He just gets to the rim. Nobody's stopping him. And he will put here. And here he is. That's from 30 feet. Bap got it.

12:17Here he is again from 30 feet out. He's so he's got deep range. Watch him bulldog his way into the rim here. I mean, that kid had no shot. Stopping him. There he is pulling up again off transition. Bap. Triple threat off the middle screen. Step back. Cross over step back. Bap. You know, so he just has it all. And his West Virginia fans. We're so lucky to have him. And I just can't wait to see what he does next. We're so lucky to have him. Congratulations, Miles. I'm one of the IBL player of the year. Congratulations on. You know, getting Bella Vista. Another round up into that tournament there. Hopefully we can't wait to see more from him. This week. Let's go to break. West Virginia. Breaking news. West Virginia accepts a invitation to the crown tournament. What does that mean? And that's the first lot of sources we've seen floating around.

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17:29all card accounts are subject to credit, credit approval. One thing no one tells you about hiring globally is how unclear the costs can be. I recently needed to hire an assistant who would work remotely, but I didn't have the first clue where to start. So I've seen firsthand how important it is to get an expert to help out. Pebble is an AI-powered global human resources platform built for founders, HR leaders, and operators who are hiring and supporting teams around the world. Pebble helps you hire, pay, and manage talent in over 185 countries with fast onboarding that can be done in minutes. Instead of juggling separate tools for contracts, payroll, benefits, and compliance, Pebble brings everything together with built-in guidance and local expertise to support you. The fastest growing companies in the world use Pebble to stay organized and reduce risk. Bottom line, it simplifies global people operations so you can spend more time growing the business and supporting your team. Our new standard discounted pricing at $399 per month per employee helps you contain costs. Go to hipebble.ai to get a free

18:29estimate. That's hipbll.ai for a free estimate. All right, guys, in segment two, I crack a due for you, and thank you so much for all you do to make this show what it is. Speaking of what it is, we have to talk about the college everyday club. Guys, the everyday club is locked on West Virginia's big right now. You get ad free shows where you don't have to listen to me babble on about whatever product you're another. You just go straight through that. As well as, this is big, we're doing a tournament. You're winning prizes. It's big right now. There's big conversation going on around that. And it's free for a month with the promo code March. That's locked on West Virginia dot supercast dot com promo code March. It's the link for that is also in the show notes. But if you type in locked on West Virginia dot supercast dot com and type the promo code

19:36March, you'll get that for free. That's a month free in the discord server. That's a month free with all our hosts, Drake toll Chris level from tech stack, who was there play by play guy and more. You're definitely going to want to check this out with the promo code March for free. All right. So let's get on here with another breaking news announcement we have here in this second segment that I wasn't expecting to talk about today. I was going to go know the route, but this is fine. This is good. This is something that, you know, I think there are two ways of looking at it. And I'm going to choose to look at it probably a way that a lot of people are tired of hearing, but I don't care. So West Virginia looks like to be headed likely to be headed to the basketball college basketball crown tournament. I saw it per two four seven sports. So that means there's a season's not over yet. And multiple sources have indicated now I see the college basketball crown organizers expect the mountaineers to receive

20:37an invitation and expect it. So that's going to send Ross Hodge and company now to Las Vegas for postseason play. The official announcement probably not going to happen until after the NCAA tournament bracket is revealed. Obviously just in case you have to wait, but the crown only selects teams that miss March madness, which makes a ton of sense. And then, you know, we let's break it down why West Virginia is in this because there are multiple things that have had to happen I believe it or not for West Virginia to even get into this tournament. So the CBC is obviously a new postseason tournament. Fox Sports is big. Was there creation? They decided to attach NIL money to it. And also AEG is a part of it as well. And that happened the first one was last year. And it's basically designed with compete to design to compete with and probably replace the NIT, which obviously does have a lot of tradition behind it as the main secondary postseason tournament.

21:43And when you look at 2026, the format was has been streamlined to an 18 field single elimination bracket played entirely in Las Vegas. The quarter finals would start on April's first through the second. The semi finals would be on April 4th. The championship would be on April 5th. So it is a quick turnaround. Games will be on Fox Sports 1 and on Fox. And when you look at the tournament pulls, you know, basically teams from major conferences that miss the tournament tournaments specifically for the big 10, the big 12 and the big East and all that ACC. So that means each conference is probably going to get about two spots a piece plus there'll be a couple at large selections. This is why West Virginia needed help until what happened happened. So West Virginia was going to get you know, because if you look at the big 12, the expectation is unless somebody's left out. Now,

22:48if somebody's left out, this probably changes things. But Arizona, Houston, Kansas, Texas, Tech, Iowa State, BYU, TCU, UCF are probably the ones that are going to get in, whether you like that or you don't agree or whether you don't. West Virginia should have beat TCU if they wanted in. And West Virginia should have beat BYU the other time if they wanted in. And West Virginia probably should have beat Kansas State and Utah, specifically. You would have been in. So you're not in that situation. So that leaves them to look for the next best. Well, that would have been Baylor and Cincinnati by the net. Did we beat Cincinnati twice? Yes, we did. But by the net ranking, Cincinnati was going to be in, you know, and or at least to the crown, not the NCAA. The, unfortunately, for Cincinnati, their coach got fired. West Miller. So that knocks them out

23:49of that most likely, which means West Virginia will be in their place along with Baylor here in this tournament. So that's a big deal. You know, so if everybody accepted an invite, West Virginia probably wouldn't have automatically qualified and wouldn't have needed in that large. But then something kind of big happened because Cincinnati obviously fired West Miller and then the West Virginia got that opening. So now it looks like it's going to be Baylor in West Virginia that'll be added from the big 12 and then, you know, I think West Virginia was probably going to get in as in that large anyway, which would make sense considering our fan base and our team this year. Definitely good enough for this for this tournament. How embarrassing would it be to be snubbed by the both tournaments? Good Lord. So, you know, something to think about. Now, some people might say, why should West Virginia care about this tournament that isn't the NCAA tournament? And I

24:53think that's a fair question. I'm going to give you a couple big reasons to at least consider it. Obviously, NIL crown is the money driven tournament and NIL deals are going to be tied to wins and success in the tournament, right? So that means that teams have a financial motivation to win the games. Now, you know, you know, you can argue that it's not enough, you know, and I would understand that because there's 500,000, I think in NIL, the champion receives 300,000. I think the runner here up, he receives 100 and he's semi-finalist receives 50. So the payouts are kind of structured through vivid seats ambassador program to reward top finishing teams, yeah. So, you know,

25:55obviously 500 is a lot of money, but I'm assuming it goes to the players on the team and not next year's team, right? So from a fans perspective, it's like, well, I mean, I'm glad they're getting to get some money. Don't get me wrong, but does it help next year's team at all to win this? I mean, as a fan, you have to think about that. The crown starts April 1st. Well, we won't find out if the women are hosting until tomorrow, officially. Now, maybe there's something already out that says they were going to and I mean, man, that would be great. As soon as we find that out, I'll be doing a show on it. I've seen that somebody you guys talking about that in the comments. So yeah, but anyways, in our synops, there's going to be some exposure. Obviously, you're airing this on Fox. So that's prime national TV spot for you. And that's going to help your brand in recruiting a little bit, even though it's the crown. And it gets you some extra

26:57extra games with this team and that's what they want. You know, you don't want to go out on a loss. If you can go on a run and win this tournament. And I think West Virginia would be good enough to win this tournament. I do. We're not playing in the big 12 every week now. So, you know, it would be nice to go out on a winning note. I don't care what tournament it is. It is. I don't care who's in it. I don't. Especially if it's all big, you know, power for conference teams. So, you know, that's that's something I can get relatively excited for. And then the last part, which is, please, please, Jesus, oh, Jesus, dear God, if you have a heart, and I know you do, you show love and kindness to us all from time to time.

27:59In this specific situation, we've had a bad four years. It's been four coaches in four years, and then our football team is sucked. And can you just match us up with Indiana, please, please, match us up with Indiana, put us against Darren Disleaze and sucker degrees. It would be the greatest gift I could ever receive as a content creator. And I would also have to buy two tickets to Las Vegas as promised. And I would do that. So, if you could do that, please, Jesus, that would mean a lot to me and our friends here in the great state of West Virginia. Amen. God, please, please, please, put us in there with degrees. Anything, I'll do anything, almost, almost anything. Yeah. Yeah. Can we just get that game set up, man? I mean,

29:03you're talking about money, baby. That's money. I would be so happy, man. So, that's two people that have said that so far. Let's see, TD 6267, and somebody else is saying that the women are hosting. Where is that at? I'm going to have to look that up here in a second, but we'll go to break one more time here. Somebody find if they're looking to see if the women are hosting real quick while I'm doing this ad read, Raven, and find out for me. And let me know in the comments when I get back. We'll be right back. This is locked on West Virginia. All right, guys, our friends at Indeed say hello for today. And right now, if indeed, if you've got workplace chaos with deadlines stacking up, your inboxes are overflowing,

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31:08such podcast. Just go to indeed.com such podcast right now and support our show by saying you all heard about it right here on locked on West Virginia. That's indeed.com such podcasts with terms and conditions applied. Do you need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. One thing no one tells you about hiring globally is how unclear the costs can be. I recently needed to hire an assistant who would work remotely, but I didn't have the first clue where to start. So I've seen firsthand how important it is to get an expert to help out. Pebble is an AI powered global human resources platform built for founders, HR leaders and operators who are hiring and supporting teams around the world. Pebble helps you hire, pay and manage talent in over 185 countries with fast onboarding that can be done in minutes. Instead of juggling separate tools for contracts, payroll benefits and compliance, Pebble brings everything together with built-in guidance and local expertise to support you. The fastest growing companies in the world use Pebble to stay organized and reduce risk. Bottom line, it simplifies global people operations so you can

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34:18supporting teams around the world. Pebble helps you hire, pay and manage talent in over 185 countries with fast onboarding that can be done in minutes. Instead of juggling separate tools for contracts, payroll, benefits and compliance, Pebble brings everything together with built-in guidance and local expertise to support you. The fastest growing companies in the world use Pebble to stay organized and reduce risk. Bottom line, it simplifies global people operations so you can spend more time growing the business and supporting your team. Our new standard discounted pricing at $399 per month per employee helps you contain costs. Go to hipebble.ai to get a free estimate. That's hipbbl.ai for a free estimate. And that's a big news. So we're going to have to jump off here right away, get another show ready about the women. So let's go ahead and jump straight off here. I'll see you guys back here. Give me a half an hour. We'll talk about these women. Hosting, that's big news. We'll be right back.

35:21Have a great one. Make sure you check out walked-on coachable next. You cut your roads. Let's go! Introducing the all-new Mazda CX-5. Featuring more connection. Hey, Google, where's the nearest Pilates class? Safety that has your back. More discovery on the scenic routes. More passion in the details. A more control in changing weather. The all-new Mazda CX-5. More to move every side of you. See it in five films at MazdaUSA.com slash five sides. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequence is shortened and simulated. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson. One of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. And if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the Every Day or Club. And one of the things that you get as a member is an ad-free version of the podcast that you're

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