Episode 15 feat. Calvin White

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[00:00:35] Lastly, I'd love to hear your feedback so don't forget to subscribe to Go Middle.com to discuss this week's episodes along with the latest news and updates around Middle Tennessee. Welcome into the Blue Raider Podcast. I'm your host, Jake Bolden and a happy March Madness officially

[00:00:57] to all that celebrate. And today I will extend another happy March Madness to our special guest, Calvin White. He is the writer and one of the editors over at MTSU Run newspaper sidelines. Calvin, how's it going?

[00:01:11] Good, Jake, Harry. I'm excellent and Calvin, I did see your recent news that you will be attending the lady Raiders first round matchups in Baton Rouge so tell me a little bit about

[00:01:24] Europe coming week. Yeah, so it's been kind of chaotic because you know we just got back from the conference tournament on I think I got back about one of the morning on Sunday. After I watched the lady Raiders win another conference title like satin, watch

[00:01:42] Western Kentucky beat you tip on the men's side so got back to my house about one o'clock and then morning and then went to the selection show at the Blue Raider Last Night and watched the

[00:01:53] team figure out who they're going to play turns out is going to be Louisville again so I've been busy with that stuff and then had to hurry up and apply for credentials last night so I got to figure out

[00:02:06] travel stuff but we will be watching the lady Raiders play Louisville on Friday and Baton Rouge. Absolutely yeah for those things that are looking for travel situations, I don't know if the university is going to do anything special for BRA members. I can speak for

[00:02:20] myself personally on my little research area where it gets flights to Baton Rouge from Nashville I think it's roughly 275 ahead. If you were to leave on Thursday since they their matchup is pretty early

[00:02:32] on Friday morning it's very unlikely you're going to get a direct light that early on a Friday but you could get there Thursday stay the night luckily Baton Rouge isn't necessarily the most expensive

[00:02:40] place to stay compared to other cities we would previously been matched up with but those options are still out there for the Raider fans and I'm sure if they haven't already the athletic

[00:02:49] communication so get something out about packages and deals and stuff like that for the fans but I unfortunately will not be able to make that trip down to Louisiana given the circumstances of

[00:02:58] the work and all those things but certainly we were rooting on here from purpose to the but Calvin was kind of recap a little bit about that conference USA tournament it was exciting

[00:03:07] definitely had some ups and downs I would say for the entirety of the tournament the ladies had slow starts in the first half they had a really I think there's a 5.0 against U-TEP and the

[00:03:16] first matchup on Wednesday and they're trailing to Louisiana Tech and they're semi-s. And then you had a similar on against Liberty on Saturday where there's only a few points of the book that they're leading by and all and all of the games except maybe the Louisiana Tech

[00:03:31] game took a big second half to run away with it so I mean those are promising things to see because at this time of year you always I always think concerned at least it seems peak too early

[00:03:41] and then when you get to the end of the year they kind of dwindle down but I didn't see any sort of lapses in this team and as we've seen all year any game it could have been any single player

[00:03:50] of the starting five that was able to propel us to a win and I think we saw a great example of that three different times this last week. Yeah and you know all season they've shown that

[00:04:00] they can win in multiple ways they can win with their offense over their defense you know outside of Louisiana Tech which was close from start to finish you know you tap I think they're only

[00:04:12] up 5 I think it was at the half and then you know they end up winning by 15 or 16 I think it was in then liberty the same way the first half started off slow and then they just exploded in the

[00:04:26] second half they've proven multiple times that if you let them hang around they will bury you if you're gonna beat them you gotta you gotta turn it on you know Louisiana Tech was the one

[00:04:36] team all year in conference play that you know kind of gave them a game you know the first game to open conference play they took them to overtime in rust and in the lost pie I think it was three

[00:04:47] and then you know MTSU did what they do at home they beat the brakes off of them at home and then get to the conference turn right game on a neutral site and those close from start

[00:04:57] to finish you know Louisiana Tech is one of those teams in conference play that you know you can always kind of give an MTSU a good game and you tap right up there with them no matter what the

[00:05:07] record is it always seems like you tap and Louisiana Tech give them a close game but um you know you know Rick and Saliz Rick and Saliz talked about this every time he it doesn't matter who they play

[00:05:20] they'll play anybody anywhere anytime and he'll play six players doing you know they've made it all season playing five six players and they're gonna go into the tournament the same way

[00:05:32] absolutely and I think one thing too that they won't get credit for them and I'll save the coach of the year talk to my rant from last week because I could still go on about it but the other coach that

[00:05:42] won or the coach that won the championship in between the the rate is at one three the last four the Charlotte is the lone winner in that break and the that coach is a bro store who's coach

[00:05:52] at now Louisiana Tech so I've mentioned this all year at Nazium that Louisiana Tech is an oversight to most people but Louisiana Tech is a very scary team and we saw that in our January 11th matchup

[00:06:04] and then we saw that in our semi-final matchup this last week and so I don't think Coach and so in MTSU will get enough credit as we saw with the AP poll being released on Monday that they

[00:06:12] didn't get any credit for that but the fact that they had probably at the tougher side of the bracket all things considered because you have you to who you to play collectively the toughest games

[00:06:23] with him to issue both home and away and then as you already spoke on the overtime matchup in Ruston and then you got liberty who's declared number two in the conference so arguably they had

[00:06:31] the toughest route no championship is supposed to be easy but the gosh when the way Rick's been able to coach this to all that he made it look easy and again had us off to him and what he was

[00:06:41] able to accomplish 19 to know only the second time in conference USA that's a lot to be admired and unfortunately for him he doesn't get the accolade but he's a hall of fame coach I don't think

[00:06:49] it really necessarily means as much to a definitely a some recognition that is deserved that unfortunately wasn't but nonetheless we moved forward to the incident of what it turned him in

[00:06:59] again for the second straight year. I think a lot of Raider fans were shocked that at the 11th seed Calvin you've been you follow an up basketball to know that the 11th seed it will for one

[00:07:09] that's an out large right meaning that if MCs she didn't win the tournament they probably would have been in but being in a 11 seed made it seem like it was a lot closer to the committee

[00:07:19] than then it wasn't anything else but I think one thing that might get oversight are people that don't know is that the NCAA looks for matches and your best opportunity at getting a good

[00:07:31] upset per se is to put a team like mtissue who probably is more like an eight or nine seed at the 11th spot and the opportunity they would be Louisville it kind of creates again

[00:07:42] an opportunity for upset as much like we saw when mtissue whenever they upset Minnesota the year after the Michigan State game mtissue was by no means at 11 seed but they got that because

[00:07:52] of the opportunity at a Minnesota upset which they pulled off so I get this long-winded question but the 11 seed I think people are surprised about but I spoke to this on Twitter how it's your best opportunity to move on into the round of 32 and even potentially

[00:08:06] make a run into the sweet 16 yeah and you know every the eight people you know the mtissue wasn't ranked in the eight people all year most of the time when people thought they

[00:08:20] had a chance to break in they weren't even receiving votes but you know the net ranking is what matters and you know I checked it before the championship game on Saturday in Tissue was I think 41st

[00:08:31] in the net and you know outside of Tennessee back in December on neutral court liberty on the road and liberty at home where there are two best wins and liberty was I think

[00:08:48] in the one 50 range in the net so you know and that's you know they can't control the the conference schedule you know and you know no district anybody but conference USA on the women side of basketball isn't relatively that strong you know like I said liberties

[00:09:08] year your second best win metric wise but and even in the non-con and it's you know I know that Rick and so preachers about loading the non-conference schedule every year but I mean that's

[00:09:24] no disrespect to them but they didn't really beat anybody that would be worthy of bumping them up that much in the net you know they they hung around you know they led six they led Princeton by

[00:09:35] 16 at home Princeton came back and got him a grand canyon what them out there were pretty good um bellmotsuck about to the wood shed at bellmots but you know beat the Paul beat Memphis twice

[00:09:50] beat some you know pretty good power conference teams outside of Memphis I guess Memphis isn't technically a power conference but you know hung around beat Memphis twice but they did just

[00:10:03] dominated conference play and I am not of the same opinion as Greg Sanky you know we'll all this stuff going on with the NCAA tournament I know most of that conversation has been about the

[00:10:16] men's tournament but I am of the belief that at some point you have to reward winning you can only control so much you know you don't control your conference schedule so I think just dominating the

[00:10:26] way they did in conference play had to at least put a few people on a committee on notice to you know get them on 11 I personally don't think they would have got in either way if they would have

[00:10:36] lost in a conference tournament I don't but that doesn't matter because they want a conference tournament and you know that's a conversation for another day I'm not on the committee but they're in they have their matchup they're ready to roll right and it's you could you could

[00:10:52] talk about this um for hours about what the committee decides to do or how they decide to do these things because the other conversation topic on on on on women's basketball side is to airfield

[00:11:02] who goes 30 in one and their one losses to Vanderbilt but you know going into that day Charlie Crim, Lee is to be in practice all I just made the comment that they're probably not in and they

[00:11:10] went all the way over time in their conference championship and to be quite honest with you using the same perspective that you're giving there's no I don't think that they deserve to get in

[00:11:18] they don't really have any big wins they play in the M8 and CNA so again I have to agree that I don't they there are 13 C so that just goes to show that yeah they probably weren't in

[00:11:28] how they lost that conference championship and they what it finished the year it's 29 and 2 and they wouldn't have made it but as you said you know if you're able to handle your business like you probably should have against Delmont you probably should have sealed the deal against

[00:11:41] Prince and very unlike us to lose that Princeton game but you know if you be Prince and you be Tennessee you know your resume looks pretty darn good and if you were able to get one of those

[00:11:50] Belmont or Grand Canyon matchups again because those boosted it up pretty well with Grand Canyon I think they were in their semis so they were top three in the WAC all year Belmont made it to their semis they were top three in the Missouri Valley and then Michigan

[00:12:03] but we did we were never really in that game I think that was just a recipe of being a young season we kind of ran into a bus saw Michigan was the top 25 team but there are nine C going into the

[00:12:14] tournament this week so but all that is say when you you can talk the talk and you want to play all these big matchups but you've got to seal those deals you got to win those ball games and

[00:12:24] it seems she's credit-eerie able to do that with Tennessee which definitely saves them in regard to having a good resume but in going 19 to know you got to get recognized for that that's got to go

[00:12:34] that's got account or something and it's not like they were just winning 19 games within single digits that's what we touched on it it's 20 plus points was their average I mean I think they're a cumulative margin was over 500 points over their 19 matches so it's an absolutely

[00:12:48] incredible feat in and of itself but to go back to our matchup that's coming up this Friday that's hip-hop is at 12 30 on EST and two I believe was announced Louisville is is a opponent

[00:12:59] we played just last year here in Murphy Center actually beat him quite handily with a Haley Van Liss team beat him by 18 here in Murphy's Burrow it certainly is it's an interesting matchup you could

[00:13:09] have drawn anyone and you draw a team that you played exactly last year it's not going to be the same team we saw in Murphy's Role last year as I said Haley Van Liss I believe I don't know she ever

[00:13:19] earned an all-American position but she transferred LSU so it's not the same Louisville team and they kind of all know off the wagon here later in the year but you know what kind of preview can you give

[00:13:27] a defense for this matchup on Friday we got one. I haven't got to look too deep into it yet but you know obviously like you said no Haley Van Liss, Boville visitor the Murphy Center last year in

[00:13:37] case you you know beat him pretty good oh Haley Van Liss still ended up with a double double but I think she was something like four for 18 yeah really bad shooting yeah I think they held

[00:13:46] Louisville like 30% shooting for the game but you know Louisville's two years removed from a final four run so you know Louisville's one of those teams and we're in a basketball that's always going to be there you know Jeff Walls has been there forever him and the answers are

[00:14:03] real good friends Rick gave Jeff Walls all the praise in the world yesterday just saying that Louis was consistently been one of the teams that's actually been one of the power conference teams

[00:14:15] that's actually been willing to come and play MTSU when most of the other power conference teams wouldn't so no I don't have too deep of a preview just because I haven't had the chance to look at it yet but

[00:14:27] you know Louisville's Louisville they're one of those teams that's always going to be there and you know even though you beat him last year it's a new year new team okay I just go in there

[00:14:38] banking on a win right and as we've already said the power of being at home obviously played a role in beating them by 18 points and now you're at a neutral floor albeit you are closer and proximity

[00:14:49] to baton roos than Louisville but again we're all catching a flight so that I would say the numbers are going to be pretty similar in regards to the amount of fans that are there but as far as Louisville

[00:14:58] my ends you're going to see players like he Jefferson is a six-one guard oversized guard when you compare her I don't imagine that she'll be guarded by Savannah Wheeler I don't know the

[00:15:08] scattering of the answer's going to put together but her being a six-one high volumes tour that she is for Louisville I would imagine Jayland's gonna guard her because we saw what Jayland was able to do

[00:15:18] and shutting down the freshman of the year Asia boom on Saturday so you feel good about her guarding Jefferson but the thing that's tricky about Louisville is there are a lot like MTSU in that they have

[00:15:28] a ray of starters that will put up the digits every night they have four players at all average over ten points a game you're going to see a lot of thread-out offensive very balanced

[00:15:36] off and especially now that Hayley Van Litt is dawn but there are a team that is kind of an enigma they go into the year even with Hayley leaving their top twenty five team they in the year on a

[00:15:48] literal back and forth swing I think over the last ten games it was win lost win lost win lost in they play in the ACC they're going to play a lot at the top twenty five teams they have some

[00:15:58] notable wins like over they they want to home game against no-ter-day and recently back in February so they have the firepower to be these elite final four contenders it's just a matter

[00:16:10] of what kind of Louisville team are you gonna get they they store the ball pretty well and they do play very good defense their numbers are going to be inflated because like I said they play in the

[00:16:18] ACC so if you're looking at this game from the sheer numbers you're not going to get a great example and that they can make the same argument for MTSU we play in conference USA our points for game are

[00:16:27] going to be 53 points because we played conference USA competitions it's just an interesting match up to say the least because I think these teams are very similar in that they have similar scoring

[00:16:37] habits and they both play relatively good defense when you when you buy that to their conferences the weekend in a hole I hate to look past it but this is only a weekly podcast so let's say

[00:16:47] that we are able to defeat Louisville we move on to the round 32 matches now you are looking at potentially and I would say I think it's a shoe and by LSU and that round 32 at their home floor

[00:16:58] and again what an intriguing matchup that is you know the insults are going to friends with the coach Mokie you're going up against the defending national champions on their home floor after the

[00:17:05] hold the buckle that happened there in greenville so you know I don't know what what to expect there and you're going to get a matchup with Hayley Van Litt on the whole loop again I think the committee this matchup purposely for a Louisville LSU round 32 matches that's my

[00:17:19] conspiracy theory that's my hot take for today's episode but I think LSU is an intriguing matchup but I think where I'm getting at and I'm going to ask was just on over to you Calvin

[00:17:29] what is it hey I think we saw last year we ran to the bus all that was Colorado I don't think anyone expected Colorado to make their run they made last year but they beat the brakes off of us

[00:17:38] and I you know you try to flush you get out of it but what's got to happen for us to again beat Louisville and have a shot getting into the 360 things I think that's ultimately our goal this

[00:17:49] well I definitely can't start slow like they did and two out of the three games in the conference tournament you know like I said earlier Louisville's Louisville it's the ACC its power conference team

[00:18:02] I know that doesn't they try to not let that get into their heads but you know a mid tier ACC team is 10 times better than anybody you're going to play in conference USA you got to start fast

[00:18:16] and you know the defense always travels with them but you got to be able to hit shots and Savannah Wheeler's got to be able to create make shots create something if the play blows up you know 95% of teams and college basketball can stop your plays but you've got

[00:18:34] everything you've got to have players that can go get a basket when you need one and they have one that can do that in Savannah Wheeler. I'm Dalen Gregory she's she's got to knock down shots

[00:18:46] and one thing about the scouting or I don't know what the scouting report will be but MTSU has they've made a habit out of making other team star players to look at the

[00:18:56] district you know like we said they did it with Hayley Van Liss last year they did it with Asia Boone on Saturday and a Laura Robertson Louisiana Tech the other night I'm Dalen Gregory I think he'll joule spirit 10 c to 0 points when they played and you know

[00:19:13] Jalen Gregory's taking that next step into the elite level defender as well as still being in a lead shooter so I don't know what the matchups will be and stuff like that but those two

[00:19:24] were going to have to knock down shots but I think as stage of old Rave is going to be the most important piece of this run ever since in T.C. you lost a Colorado last year

[00:19:33] every single time Rick gets will bring it up he's like hey we tell him all summer we weren't physical enough we spent all year acquiring size getting more physical you know they've got Eulia Grubovsky coming off the bench now she's just a unit you know sometimes her and

[00:19:51] and a stage of old Rave played together you know when Courtney Whitson got in foul trouble two out of the three games last week they would play Anastasia and Eulia together a lot and

[00:20:02] they grab every rebound they suck you down at the rim you just can't score and so I think Anastasia will be a very important piece along with Savannah but you know in conference

[00:20:15] USA you know you didn't they didn't play a whole lot of people that could match up Anastasia will drive a really well except for Liberties Bella Smuda even I think at the first game

[00:20:26] was when they kind of held Smuda and check and then she had good games the last two you know the conference shape it should be in the other night I think she went for I think it was 21 and 15

[00:20:36] Smuda did against Bold Rave but they're gonna have to make shots play defense I know that that's the whole like entire concept of basketball you know played defense and make shots

[00:20:47] but I think the biggest things they just can't start slow yeah I agree and I'm curious if you were able to ever have in your post game there on Saturday and you've got a lot of emotions I don't

[00:20:56] know that this ever came up but we see the Eulia Bold Rave combination we haven't seen that at least in bits and pieces all season other than I can remember the exhibition match up where they

[00:21:07] they played that out my kids here is it's a good one I'm full of conspiracy today my conspiracy was that there was something that maybe we were trying to keep in our back pocket as far as having

[00:21:15] those two in the floor at the same time because at that time our biggest issue with Liberty I believe it was the rebound we weren't re-bounding they were able to rebound us smooth it was doing a great job

[00:21:25] of at least pulling Anastasia outside of paint and allowing them to crash towards all the other three guards of Liberty they did a good job of forcing that issue but when you pulled

[00:21:37] Eulia in Eulia's just a unit when it comes to defensive rebounding she's not going to leave the block she's not going to go out to guard anybody and you don't want her to but again she

[00:21:45] adds a different dynamic of being able to guard down low and also be able to pull rebound and so I'm just curious if that ever come up as far as that match up with the insulin Saturday

[00:21:56] well actually in the preseason when then like it was announced that she was going to be joining Regancil actually talked about it and said you might see it a little bit but you just don't

[00:22:05] see it a whole lot just because of how much Rick and Sultra's Corny Whitson right you know you only saw the other night because Corny Whitson picked up her second foul I think early in the second quarter

[00:22:17] and then that's you know it was one thing we noticed as soon as Eulia comes in the game I think the lineup was Savannah Wheeler Jalen Gregory to me a Scott Eulia Anastasia World Ravea

[00:22:29] and I think they went on like a 20 to 4 run to take the lead towards the middle of that second quarter but yeah it's a dominant lineup whenever they're in it together you just don't see it a whole lot

[00:22:41] because Rick and Sultra's Corny Whitson so much and it's not your typical two post-player lineup where you know you got two players in there just clogging the lane you know Anastasia can step out

[00:22:54] and shoot it Eulia is really good at that little free throw line elbow shot so she can step out and shoot those a little bit they like to play high low with her Anastasia a lot but

[00:23:06] it's the lineup's unstoppable when it's in there just because you know if anybody else shoots it they're gonna get the rebound and just stick it back in you know that's most of Eulia's production

[00:23:18] is just grab a rebound grabbing off into rebound and stick it back in but yeah I mean that's rarely the only reason you don't see it a whole lot is because Courtney Whitson is in there so much and

[00:23:27] even toward Rick and Sultra talked about it after the game the other night he said that she just wasn't that Eulia just wasn't out there because he was gonna stick with Courtney you know Courtney Whitson was out there with four fouls halfway through the fourth quarter and she

[00:23:40] closed the game out and that's another thing too they're really good at playing in fouls areable you know Jaylin Gregory picked up three fouls midway through the second and then she doesn't play the rest of the second quarter and then she plays the entire second half

[00:23:56] didn't pick up her fourth foul until midway through the fourth and then Anastasia will drive a picked up her fourth foul with like six or seven minutes left to play the rest of the game

[00:24:05] so they're really good at playing in foul trouble and really that's the only reason you don't see as Chris Courtney Whitson's out there so much yeah I always think it's funny that they'll get

[00:24:14] criticized by the lack of bench production but as you just touched on like who do you take out in those situations Courtney Whitson is the only person I've ever known they had impacted

[00:24:25] a game and not score a single point that's just a kind of player that she is and then you could really make the argument for anybody to me to me as an excellent she has star potential and I know

[00:24:34] Rick has said that a lot lately she just has did an error games where I would think back to our first game begins to lose the inner tech where we don't win that game if it wasn't for her and Anastasia

[00:24:43] they both score 20 plus points I think 25 plus points not score 31 and it's like 25 right on the dot something like that but everyone has to take over ability we've seen Jalen put in 15 points

[00:24:55] in a matter of three minutes so obviously we know what Savannah Willis capable of so it's like you like the two twin towers if you will but you know who you don't want to take out Courtney just

[00:25:05] because of who she is on both sides of the lower um but I bring up that because it will definitely be an advantage for the lady raiders coming up against Louisville they're only real player with

[00:25:14] production is they have two six three Olivia caulkran and then they have a lead in Stin Bullo I don't know how to say her last name but she's six three as well we're going to have the

[00:25:24] high-to-vantage down low so I wouldn't be surprised if you're tuning in on Friday and you see the lady raiders bring back up the Boulder Ray the genobis said we saw what was able to get the

[00:25:35] rebounding under control on Saturday when they're in but before we switch our attention over to the men's you have any predictions for this weekend for the lady raiders you know I'm not going to guarantee a winner anything but I think it'll be you know everybody's just basing there

[00:25:52] assumption off of the game last year but I do think it'll be a lot closer than people think I wouldn't be surprised if they want to or lost but you know everybody's kind of looking ahead

[00:26:04] to the the second round already I mean the team obviously is it but I think they have a good shop to win I'm not going to guarantee anything you know predict that but I would be surprised if

[00:26:17] you look up with you know six minutes left in the game and get to tie a game or a close game yeah I agree and and I have my bracket to to back check me for those that don't believe me

[00:26:28] I do have the lady raiders all the way in the sweet 16 and that is completely biased I do think that them beating Friday then we would start a Louisville has a very high potential

[00:26:37] I do think I haven't looked at any of the updated stuff necessarily in the weekend regards to people making their pay but if I had to get I would say the most popular 11 to 6 of said would be

[00:26:48] MTSU approval that's just my guess I don't have any numbers to prove that but I think that's with good reason I do think LSU's the obvious favorite come out of their own regional

[00:26:58] but again I'll be a Homer I've been I put into issue all the way there this week 16 I have them losing to UCLA fittingly but I'm a Homer in that regard but that's just

[00:27:08] the truth of the matter but let's move on over to to the men's action we had a very up and then a very down we built on cloud nine after beating Louisiana Tech after losing two games to them

[00:27:20] in the regular season they have a heck of a come from behind victory they trail by as many as I think it was nine maybe even by 10 and first half to overcome and be player of the year

[00:27:31] and defense of player of the year Crawford in Bacho and then you have the disappointing performance on Friday and I don't think this morning even encapsulates what happened there on Friday and Swiss guitar talky Calvin what's kind of your synopsis of what happened

[00:27:46] yeah um I really you know when at the time when it happened I wasn't really as surprised as everybody else that they beat Louisiana Tech you know even though they were the two seed both games they played in the regular season were

[00:28:02] really close and you know they just empty issue couldn't make enough plays and either game to kind of make given a push at the end so you know when they go to the the tournament it's really

[00:28:14] hard to beat I know there's people say they don't believe this but I am of the belief that it's really hard to beat somebody three times especially when the third time is in post season play

[00:28:25] and you know you're not you know it's a one-bit leak you've got to win your conference tournament so you know kind of go anywhere but you know Jericho and Jones goes toe to toe with Daniel

[00:28:37] Bacho the whole game you know Daniel Bacho's probably the best center in the league I mean he was the newcomer the year this year in conference USA Jericho and Jones goes toe to toe

[00:28:48] with him gets a double double Justin Porter had a really nice game and you know Justin Buford and Jacob Johnson there are two dudes that 95% of what they do doesn't show up in the box court

[00:29:00] so you've heard Hill Crawford and check for most of the game late shot clock shots off he made a bunch of them but for the most part Jacob Johnson really kind of held him and check and then just

[00:29:09] him Buford um shot Crawford down again on the last position of the game you know Louisiana Tech down three I think with about ten seconds left they throw it into Crawford and I think he misses

[00:29:22] a layup gets his own rebound dribbles it back out for three and Buford just walls up and Crawford shoots it short and they end up winning but I wasn't surprised or as surprised is a lot of

[00:29:35] people were that they won that game just took us the first two were close and they had showed that they were actually able to compete with Louisiana Tech but you know they go to Friday and play

[00:29:46] Western Kentucky and it kind of felt like the last two years or not really the last two years but especially last year when they pull off a win that they probably weren't supposed to win you know

[00:29:59] it took a cam western near buzzer beater last year to be charlet without the it without Eli Lawrence and then you know they're a Deondre Distrem block to lay up away from beating the FAU team that

[00:30:13] made the final four so you know they're a handful of plays away last year from making the conference championship game you know they come in this year they have the big win in this um the quarter

[00:30:26] finals against Louisiana Tech and they just came out flat I guess Western Kentucky you know think my David said it after the game he just said flat out we did not play well and you know

[00:30:38] quarter just supported and have a great game um I think he he had 14 and then I don't think anybody else was over eight but you know Western Kentucky just made everything they looked at whether it was open or not

[00:30:52] and most of them were open but still the the amount of shots that they made was just ridiculous you know Don McCannery was pouring it in running Howard had a good game Brandon Newman

[00:31:05] he dribbled in a couple points but you know and MTSU wasn't really able to get anything going off and see there and the last game only got three shots and Derek on the Jones didn't have a great

[00:31:17] game I really the only one that provided anything offensively was just a porter and he only gave you 14 and you know there's been so many times this year where the porter is proven that

[00:31:30] he's had to go get 30 or 35 just for them to have a chance to win a lot of games just from tip to finish bad brutal performance absolutely and I think my one Seattle reporter from

[00:31:43] my game like that is if you watched back Western Kentucky didn't risk that Jacob Johnson at all there were times for he's sitting on the three point line and they're back all the way down in the

[00:31:52] block trying to double up Jared or eliminated any sort of entry passes down there so that's one of those things where the lineup certainly is damaged and you could always go back to saying well if we

[00:32:03] had cam you know then Jess and would be the two and Jacob probably isn't playing and that's a bunch of ifans or but since because Jacob's a good defender and like you said a lot of his his effort

[00:32:12] to start shooting on the stat sheet because he's normally responsible when when viewports on the floor of guarding the teams best guard and sometimes he'll even be thrown in there to guard a four so

[00:32:21] he's that athletic but the kid is scared to shoot he won't shoot anything in outside of five feet and that's a real problem when as we touch on all year their biggest problem is touring

[00:32:31] when they score 69 points I believe they only lost one game all year so in your game with Western where you know it's going to be a shootout you've got us two points and they're able to

[00:32:41] they're able to lag off of Johnson by a 20 feet like that's a real problem but that's the end of here nor there you move into the offseason it is evident that Mcdebett made

[00:32:51] the comment that Westin would be back next year which is very promising I would love to hear that Josh we back as well I hell I'd love to know that they're all going to be back

[00:33:01] because I think this team does have the promise and Mcdebett you have the continuity but things are still looming I would have to say today is Monday as a recording this week still haven't

[00:33:11] heard anything and I know I know blue radar fans are no what I'm alluding to but things are still things are still in place for this team to be good next year you just got to make those necessary changes

[00:33:21] and I think to go back on my comment about Jacob Johnson you've got to have the depth pieces in place we need more stores and that goes without saying you've got to be able to find these guys

[00:33:30] and to go back on the Western Kentucky game talk about Dom McHenry and my friends of the show over at top of the talk Steve and Mothit they Dom McHenry was a D2 to junior college to Division 1 talent

[00:33:41] Dom is a guy that gets toward any level I mean he's a great basketball player and it boggles my mind that a guy like that somehow either something clicked when he got with Steve

[00:33:49] Lutz or he literally found a diamond in the rep because a guy like that doesn't they don't come too often but those guys are out there and really you could make the argument that Justin

[00:33:58] is that kind of guy he's a jucer brought if he was toward at a very high clip in junior college so again maybe put him in his rightful position of the two guard that he would turn into a Dom McHenry

[00:34:09] like persona but I only say all this is that when we move into this off season our coach is still our coach you have to look for those moves of one guys are staying to create continuity

[00:34:19] because I think this team has promised we saw that late in the air but also are we picking up the recruits necessary are we hitting the board where we need it too because we saw where

[00:34:27] Daniel Bacho took Louisiana Tech to the next level talk about Dom McHenry like these are players that change Kai Kai Tandy Jacksonville State at Jacksonville State it's probably the worst team in the conference if it's not a high-high-high Tandy but I'm saying all that because

[00:34:41] you this team especially was one player away could you imagine returning Josh and K.M. and then finding that extra factor that took Louisiana Tech to Jacksonville State to

[00:34:52] the west you're going to talk to you to that next level where this team could be this time next year well I certainly think not having K.M. West and was a problem I don't think it was necessarily

[00:35:05] the problem you know even K.M. West is not that great of a shooter but and that was their biggest problem all year they didn't have guys that could consistently knock down shots outside

[00:35:14] order and but you know K.M. Westom was the only guy on the team that's a natural playmaker you know you have K.M. Weston in there you can move just and pull her off the ball

[00:35:25] and he could still be that guy that you throw it to him and you can say go score but with K.M. Weston you have that guy that can break down defenses and you can have

[00:35:35] a wise king and Justin but you can have corners and then you can have quarterback there as safety nets and even if you throw J.L. and Jordan in there with those guys you have Derek

[00:35:46] Coleman Jones and they're who can still step out and shoot it but yeah obviously K.M. not having K.M. Weston was a problem I don't think it should have took them down a level as much

[00:35:55] as it did but the thing that I keep coming back to is a wise king is the only player on the team that is completely out of eligibility so every player on the team outside of the

[00:36:08] lies king has the opportunity to come back next year you know Justin Buford has been a guy he's been in the program a couple years. J.L. and Jordan this was his fifth year at middle he's got

[00:36:22] another year of eligibility if he wants it but the thing with me is only one of your players is completely out of eligibility and you have proven that even with K.M. Weston you haven't been able

[00:36:40] to take that next step and get to the top of the conference where everyone thinks you should be so obviously they need more shooting that was the one problem all year and a porter was

[00:36:54] when porter wasn't hitting and a lies king wasn't hitting they could just guard those two guys and then nobody else was a threat because they could just double in triple team Jericho and

[00:37:04] Jones. Jacob Johnson he's really good at what you ask him to do you know play defense and rebound you know get up lay up or a dunk every now and then but when you get into shootouts

[00:37:15] and you need guys that can shoot and can score you can't have guys like Jacob Johnson on the floor and you know there was about a 30 minute gap between the end of the men's game and the women's

[00:37:28] semi final game on Friday so I stuck around for Steve Lutz and I sugar over Steve Lutz price conference and it was Steve Lutz Don McHandry bringing a newman. I asked Steve Lutz

[00:37:40] and I asked Nick McDavid the same thing I just wanted Nick McDavid's or I mean I just wanted Steve Lutz perspective on it. I said when guys like I said in today's era of basketball we're

[00:37:51] facing is so important how much easier does it make it for teams to play defense when you have guys on the other team that you can kind of sag off on and he just straight up said he said I looked

[00:38:05] at Brandon Newman at one point and I said Brandon do not guard him out there and Brandon Newman was kind of like oh okay and so they did the whole game they just sagged whoever was guarding Jacob Johnson

[00:38:18] into the paint to kind of play help side on that potential entry past the Jericho on the Jones because even if they skipped it over to Jacob Johnson you knew that he wasn't going to shoot it and

[00:38:29] he's not a threat out there but shooting shooting is the number one priority going into the off season no matter what level of basketball you play at in 20 spacing is the most important thing

[00:38:42] and you don't have spacing if you don't have shooting absolutely well it's going to be an intriguing off season as I said certainly keep our eyes peeled for news and I mostly talk about the

[00:38:53] transfer portal this is kind of the time of year where you're going to see those guys assuming we don't we don't have any offers for postseason play having a record below that 100 I would imagine we don't

[00:39:02] or either the CIT or the CBI so keep eyes peeled for those transfers and obviously go middle dot coms a great source for those kind of things but last but before we hang up our call here

[00:39:12] Calvin at Calvin white 85 on November of November 5th that you would not be back and down from this final four prediction of a Michigan State Purdue Great and Bailer so I'm interested to hear

[00:39:25] your take on that now unfortunately for you all I mean all four of those seems it make tournament so I think there's there's a no there's props there but I believe Michigan State

[00:39:34] and Bailer on the same side of the bracket as well as to do in crating so they're they're in the same region so they none of those will make the final four but call back to those teams as well as

[00:39:43] do you have do you have your final four prediction for me now that you've seen the bracket I do I filled out my bracket yesterday okay you know Michigan State scared me there for a little bit

[00:39:54] thinking they were going to make the you know obviously for them probably shouldn't have made the and I think they're 19 of 14 and got in as a nine seed no the committee chairman said yesterday

[00:40:03] they got in because of their quad one record you know Michigan State's like three and nine and quad one so you know I do have my final four filled out I'm trying to pull up my

[00:40:14] bracket it will quiz you go through yours mine mine not sexy by any strategy imagination and for those that I haven't filled but out notes into this podcast if you want to win the ball

[00:40:23] it is very nice to go with all the upsets and kind of wow the crowd but as far as winning full sometimes going to the best way to go so the the bracket that I've entered into the go middle.com

[00:40:34] our bracket challenge which you've ever looked at that link that is also on the podcast Twitter page but my final four is Yukon Houston Purdue and Arizona so it's all one Arizona's the loan to

[00:40:45] they're coming out of the new Carolina region so and I also understand that that is unlikely to happen that you're going to have three once on a board I don't think it's ever that might have happened before

[00:40:54] but very very rare does that happen but it's always a very safe thing my winner is Purdue and I've always thought or do was the best team just because of the X-Factor exact ED I think Yukon you can't definitely

[00:41:05] go back to back again I like Yukon a lot but because of that factor that back to back is so rare I just I had Purdue beating them in the championship again but outside of that just touched on a few

[00:41:17] little upset for teams that kind of intrigued me a lot I really like making me stay real way against the Gonzaga and the first round in mid major matchup I was taken as egg as more of a

[00:41:26] mid major now than they ever have been I think making me state they don't have the non-comference kind of show their talent level but they can support the ball pretty well and Gonzaga is again

[00:41:36] a wavering team they lose that championship game to St. Mary's same Mary's we talk about a thing that's been up and down all year that's another one that they have an interesting matchup

[00:41:44] with Grand Canyon I still think Samir is full of that one out but my big upset is as of now is going to be in East State I also like New Mexico they have that first round matchup with Clemson

[00:41:55] and then another one that I have all the way into my elite is Tolerado I have the play and game Tolerado against Boise State so luckily with ESD and even if they lose that first matchup I

[00:42:06] still have that technically Boise State so I won't be out so much but I like Tolerado a lot I think Tolerado has a good opportunity to be Boise State I think that they got undersold when

[00:42:15] the 10 seed it doesn't really make much sense of me I think and adjusts it often to defense so when you go to Ken Palm they're taught 30 and both of those categories so they are arguably

[00:42:23] a top 6 seed and they somehow put them on the play and game with Boise State but then they're on that same side of the bracket with Florida market Texas Tech and Kentucky so again I think you know

[00:42:35] Tolerado has potential to get hot they were taught 20 by a team early in the year kind of went on a losing streak there late so they had to potential to bounce back and in my

[00:42:43] dynamic elite so that's if you wanted if you want me to shock you I have Colorado in the elite but the final four is all once the cabin get that bracket pull that and take a look at some years

[00:42:54] yeah so my final four is Yukon Baylor Houston and Creighton I've got Creighton beating Purdue in the elite and I a lot of people don't you know they like to just pin it on Purdue's past tournament results but I thought Purdue was the best team in the

[00:43:11] country all year they've got the best resume they've got more quad one wins than anybody you know I think Creighton just gets hot and Creighton's really get offensively I think Calc Brenner is one of the few centers in the country that can go toe to toe with ED

[00:43:26] you're not shutting down because ED is just gonna get his probably no matter what but Calc Brenner's one of the few centers in the country who I think can actually you know maybe

[00:43:35] slow him down a little bit but you know Baylor I've got Baylor beating North Carolina in the elite eight to go to the final four and then I've got Baylor ESPN's confusing me I have Baylor beating Arizona

[00:43:48] in the sweet 16 then I have Baylor beating North Carolina in the elite eight and then Yukon being Baylor in the final four you come on Houston's my championship game with Houston winning if Houston's healthy they're just a machine and you know Yukon's a machine too you

[00:44:05] can beat people's brains in like nobody else in the country but no Kelvin Samson's gonna be in the Hall of Fame one day if he's not already but I think Houston's gonna be I picked Houston

[00:44:17] I think I think it was last year I picked Houston and went in all last year and I think they lost in like the sweet 16 to Miami I think it was but this is the year for the Coves I think

[00:44:29] you think so I like Houston a lot I will say that that 28 point loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 championship kind of has me concerned Iowa State's another team that I think could

[00:44:41] could make a run here but if we've learned anything over the past decades of watching college basketball that winning your conference tournament really doesn't mean anything in regards to how hot a team is when it comes to march madness and hell as we saw last year I believe

[00:44:57] for lack of a better word a craps storm there in in in the final four with FAU San Diego State Yukon Miami so we could literally be anything and I think we another topic you could go on

[00:45:08] about is about and how NIL has changed that dynamic of teams are there's a lot more parity there's a lot there's it could literally be anybody so again I say I went with the safe bed and going

[00:45:18] all ball ones but as it went last year you know that would have hit that would not have hit that wouldn't even remotely close doing that so you just never really know but it's always exciting

[00:45:26] makes march madness what it is it's a lot of fun but I love that you're sticking with your guns still going with the bailer and craten there in your final four he really I liked that a lot

[00:45:36] and again it's a little bit of misdirection from the tip well I think North Carolina is the weaker one seed so I could definitely see bailer errors on a comment out of that region but

[00:45:45] lots of it looks forward to but Calvin I appreciate you joining on another shout out to you because you were my first ever guest on the podcast it's from quite a bit over the last three and a half

[00:45:54] but of course I appreciate you coming on and I know that you are closing out your time at MTSU you graduate this May but kind of plug all where all the greater fans can find your work on

[00:46:05] this upcoming Friday as well as the remainder of this two year yeah you can follow me on Twitter or X whatever we're calling it now at Calvin Y55 and then you can find all my

[00:46:18] all my writings on MTSU sidelines.com and he's great with quotes post game quotes and sometimes you can get video online but when that's unavailable Calvin's always the man with the quotes

[00:46:28] I always appreciate a lot of his insight there as well as I'm sure he'll be likes we didn't the action there in Baton Rouge on Friday um Calvin absolute pleasure man I appreciate it thank you for having me

[00:46:40] thank you first sticking around to the radar wrap up portion of the episode where we wrap up the previous week and MTSU athletics we've already discussed the basketball situation with the lady readers are traveling to Baton Rouge this Friday to take on Louisville that tip office at

[00:46:55] 1230 pm and is viewable on ESPN2 as for baseball baseball has a rough week they only win one of the four contests that they have the midweek matchup against southern Indiana they fail at home

[00:47:08] by a score of nine to twelve briggs router gets to player the game going three for four with two runs a double and a walk and it is of note the blue raiders used eight pictures in that matchup

[00:47:17] and that's much like they did throughout the remainder of the weekend as they travel to my amy to face the FIU golden panthers and they dropped that conference opening series one to two

[00:47:28] they won the Friday matchup by a score of twelve to eight but fell on Saturday six to eleven and then on Sunday six to sixteen the raiders used five pictures on Saturday and six on Sunday

[00:47:39] so they're still trying to find their way in regards to the bullpen as well as they're starting rotation given up nearly 50 runs and four games is not great but it is still early and there's

[00:47:50] plenty of time to fix it in regards to batting though you're putting up quite a few runs you would like to think if you're putting up six runs you're going to give your team a chance to win but

[00:47:58] as ever right now the bullpen just not getting it done briggs router is the MVP of the weekend batting five for 13 with six RBI's four runs two home runs and two walks I can't say enough about

[00:48:10] the catcher briggs router being really the MVP for this baseball team at the plate and behind the dish they're upcoming schedule continues with conference USA at home against liberty though that matchup begins on Friday at six p.m. and then their Saturday matchup is at three

[00:48:28] in Sunday at one all those games will be viewable on ESP and plus softball also has a less than seven week going two for three including putting a home double header against South Dakota

[00:48:42] losing game one five to eight and then winning game two four to two and then they also returned for their conference USA home opener against Louisiana Tech they dropped that series one to two

[00:48:53] losing the first two of the matchup on Friday one to five and Saturday three to five but they did bounce back to at least avoid the sweet pointing Sundays game five to one my week MVP is going to

[00:49:06] amiah Harris batting five for six 16 at the plate five RBI's three runs a double in three stolen bases and as always camera carcin seems to be the seller one in the circle she wins

[00:49:19] two matchups on the week going 17 and a third innings pitch allowing just 10 hits and three earned runs over those 17 innings and having eight strikeouts there's season continues with a met midweek

[00:49:30] matchup tomorrow at home against Austin P that first pitch is at five p.m. and in his of note that it'll be a part of the pink water bottle giveaway and then they will continue their

[00:49:39] conference USA season on the road at Jacksonville Alabama taking on the game cocks that game will begin on that series I should say we'll begin on Friday 22nd at 6 p.m. then Saturday the 23rd at one

[00:49:52] and in Sunday at 1 p.m. also as of now those games are not noted to be viewable anywhere men's tennis got swept this week but they had a challenging schedule at home against Oklahoma

[00:50:06] they lost that matchup one to four and it was shoot Matsuoka that picked up the lone singles win on his two sets to one and then they travel to southern methodis SMU 55th ranked

[00:50:18] Mustangs on Sunday and drop that contest to one to four losing both the doubles very unlike the men but I'm sure they'll bounce back they'll have a two week hiatus before they find the

[00:50:27] return back home and they'll have a double header on a Sunday the 31st against Memphis and Alabama A&M women's tennis was back in action this week where they had a home loss to

[00:50:39] UAB where they lost the doubles but it was a larius fosetti who picked up the lone singles win with a straight two-out set win the ladies will also be on a short hiatus and we'll return back

[00:50:50] home next Wednesday men's golf had an excellent weekend at the single invitation or they finished third at a 14 and arguably one of their toughest matchups of the year where they actually beat out other ranked in receiving votes teams but most notably they were just six strokes behind 15

[00:51:07] ranked Florida Michael Barnard and Owen Stamford both finished tied for 11th and singles and individuals with the six strokes under par Marcus Vargen goes tied for 21st at four strokes under and Kevin Jagger's goes tied for 30th at two strokes under par women's golf they wrapped up

[00:51:26] the Jack Rabbit invitation early last week and their last matchup was on the day of our previous release so just to note L. Amanda finishes tied for 20th at five strokes over Laney Campbell tied for 24th at six strokes over Molly Babilar tied for 29th at eight strokes

[00:51:41] over Lauren Gilchrist tied for 44th at 11 strokes and Nicole Johnson tied for 49th at 13 strokes the team itself finished seventh over 13 teams their next matchup is not until the 25th and they will be at the Ozarks National Invitational in Hollister, Missouri.

[00:52:01] Lastly outdoor track and field finally got there spring season out door season beginning they were at the yellow jacket invitation on Atlanta this past weekend. Steven L.O.G. picks up

[00:52:11] from his hot winner where he was a conference USA rating champ in the 60 meter hurdle he gets his spring season started off with a win and the 110 meter hurdle and then Brady Daniels finishes third

[00:52:23] in the 400 meter on the women's side and anti-manyal goes second in the 5k, Victoria Rousse Nicoleva finishes third in the triple jump and Leone Bo goes third in the 400 meter and then

[00:52:33] in a team event the 4 by 100 relay goes to second overall for the ladies. They would not be back in action for a couple weeks and that will wrap up our Rick Raiders wrap up portion of the episode.

[00:52:45] Again I appreciate Calvin for stepping in and giving us a rundown of the upcoming March madness for the lady Raiders that stay tuned for all that and next week of course we'll wrap up

[00:52:54] all of the lady Raiders basketball from this past weekend and hopefully we'll be discussing a win in that matchup. Don't forget to follow this show on all of our social media's over Twitter and

[00:53:04] X appellator pod as well as our Instagram and TikTok appellator pod. Don't forget to join us over at gomedal.com as we talk this week's episode as well as the upcoming matchup with Louisville

[00:53:15] and all things blue radar athletics can be found there. It's not too late to sign up for the go middle bracket challenge as that link will be retweeted over on twitter slash x but of course

[00:53:24] you could always find us over at gomedal.com to help find that link as well but other than that that we'll wrap it up for today's episode I appreciate you sticking around till the end and until next time go blue