"blake todd myers" Discussed on The Paul Finebaum Show
"Bomb show hour one podcast. And welcome in another day here in busy one indeed. Thanks so much for making time for us on this Tuesday. We have a lot to get to and we will not waste another second straight to the headlines in South Carolina heading to the final four that happened yesterday. It was somewhat expected that we'll have about absolutely expected. They've been the best team all year long. Have perhaps the best player and even Kim moltke our guest yesterday said, they would get there. She guaranteed it, and she was correct. Maryland, a Gritty team, but not enough to stop South Carolina. So we have the final four sets, South Carolina, and Iowa. That is a game that many things could shatter records because of the star players on both sides. Of course, the early game, Friday night, LSU in Virginia tech, Virginia takes the number one seat also managed to advance. On the men's side, a lot of folks are kicking themselves. How did this happen? You had three SEC teams in the final 16. Nearly had 5 at one time in the round of 32. It looked like that was going to happen. And maybe it's Kentucky's fault, really? That's according to Blake taught Meyer and Blake Todd Myers says it. It must be true. Or could it be parodies fault? Well, I don't know if that's a good way of asking the question. But what about NIL, the transfer report? A lot of those issues have played a factor in what we have ended up with in the final four and Jesse Washington from landscape has some very interesting opinions. Jesse, first of all, thank you, good afternoon. Welcome to our show. Great to be here. Thank you. So Jesse, we're all looking at the brackets, most of ours are shattered. How did we end up with two outliers to say the least Florida Atlantic Miami, even though they're in the ACC, on the other side, San Diego, state got in there, there has to be a reason and I know that you have come up with this solution. What is it? Man, the reason is that the playing field is being leveled and we're in a totally new era of college basketball where the transfer portal and NIL money has really evened it out. You know, these blue Bloods and these big time programs can't just run roughshod over everybody anymore because you've got experience four and 5 year guides. Leveling up, going to programs where they can really do their thing and I think it's great. I think the madness is at an all time high and I love it. I'm glad to hear you say that because obviously Jesse, a lot of people who are who are wondering where is Kentucky, where's due, of course, North Carolina, the usual suspects, Kansas. We had a lot of them last year in the final four. So let's dig into this. Let's start with the transfer portal. Because that really is enabling a lot of it. NIL two, but I want to get to that in a second. How is the portal affected what we are seeing right now? Right. So for those who have been under a rock for the past couple of years, nowadays, players can leave a school and play immediately at another school, whereas in the past, they had to sit out a year. And that was really discouraging to a lot of guys. So what has done has gotten a lot of talent to its right level. And so these quote unquote mid majors and sds and FAU, they were top 25 and a lot of the college basketball metrics and rankings all season. So to call them a mid major as a little crazy. But it's getting better talent there. So you might be the 7th guy at a power 5 school and you're like, man, I'm better than that. I want to go over here and average 20. And now the transfer portal allows you to do that. It also can allow a guy to go from one power 5 to another and really be a difference maker, like Nigel packet, Miami, and that ties into the whole NIL thing also. So overall, what this transport portal does is distributes the talent more evenly so that the quote unquote lesser known schools now really have a chance to give the business to the big guys. Talking to Jesse, Washington from ESPN and landscape. And you mentioned Miami and they are the most famous and IO school right now in the country because of John Ruiz and all the things that he has done. We think about that in football terms. However, they made a big impact, obviously in basketball too, with one player in particular and a few others that have enabled not enabled. Miami's earned their way in, but still the thought of Miami being in the elite 8, two years in a row and finally the final four under a legendary Hall of Fame coach is still a little bit surprising to the blue Bloods, as I said earlier. It is surprising, but I think in a good way. And you know, I know that this is the SEC network and that the SEC historically before NIL has really perfected the art of let us say inducing players, perhaps with some sort of financial incentive perhaps to attend these esteemed universities. And you know, I'm not mad at that, man. Let these kids get it how they live as they say. But what this NIL thing does is now it legalizes it and I think it levels the playing field in terms of compensating guys to go to these schools. So jarus can come in at Miami and say, hey, it's all above board, Nigel peck. Here's a nice 800,000 for you to come here. You know what I mean? And then there are other best players they want is like, oh, wait a minute, but I'm the best player on a team that went to the sweet 16 last year, the elite 8. So, you know, where's my money? I like that these kids are getting paid. I think that they deserve it. I think that NIL has really allowed more funds to move between the haves and the players in a way that's beneficial for the sport. And it's just exciting, man. You know, we don't want to see the same old schools every year. I'm sorry fans of the blue Bloods and everything, but to get some new people in the mix to me, that's really what March Madness is all about. Jesse, I want to talk about that aspect of it because you see all the blue Bloods out and but it seems like on signing day, Kentucky is about to clock in with the best class which ever had or in recent years I should say. It always seems to be the same, but I know a lot of the things you've said get into the way, the transfer portal in NIL, but what do you think is going on at places like Kentucky who have not been to the final four since 2015? Yeah, that's a great question. I think that there's a real specific answer. First of all, shout to my man, I do the arrow from my hometown here outside of Pittsburgh, swiftly Tia. He's a freshman doing it the old fashioned way, not a big, highly prize recruit, but he's going
