Hey, it’s that time again. Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips across America and around the world. Art Source, at 128 years of age, and Mark Mancini, the world’s worst sports handicapper. Laura is off this afternoon. We’re taping this at 1 o’clock on Friday. The reason I say that is Donovan Dent of UCLA should be Comeback Player of the Year. Now, that’s impossible because, of course, he didn’t play last year in the Big Ten or UCLA, but the first 25 games he was very average, the last six he’s got something like 64 assists and four turnovers. Art, have you ever seen anything like this?

You know, I got to tell you that transition, and I’ve always thought he had an unbelievable amount of talent. But it’s almost as if something clicked inside the Bruins basketball team. I don’t know if it was the game they played against Illinois, where he drove at one end to the other end of the court and scored. But since that point in time, I’ve noticed that UCLA’s playing with a renewed vigor. They play better defense. I’m excited about the fact that they’re actually playing defense again, and I think this Dent has done a great job of transforming into a good player. And you know what, in this year’s tournament, anything can happen. I see eight to ten teams with legitimate chances to win it all, and there might be another four or five that could sneak in there.

Tonight at 6:30 Pacific Time, 9, 8:30 in Chicago, 8:30 in Chicago, UCLA plays Michigan State. Now Michigan State is the team that beat UCLA by 23 when Cronin went crazy and did an obvious, ridiculous stunt, sitting its own player down. But the bottom line is, I haven’t even seen the odds, but I imagine Michigan State’s eight, nine, or ten-point favorite. Art. Have you seen the latest odds?

I think it’s 10.5.

10.5. Okay. They could cover that. I don’t think they can beat Michigan State.

Well, you know, the funny thing is, Fred, the last team that won a title from the Big Ten plus Eight was Michigan State in 2001. Who would have thought it’s been 25 years, a quarter of a century since the Big Ten won a championship in college basketball?

And how, would you expect the following? The first triple-double in 25 years of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday night for Donovan Dent? Certainly against Rutgers.

That’s amazing to me, I mean. And you know, I looked at that game on the big board when I was out at the Hollywood Casino. And I said to myself, You know what? I feel good about UCLA. I really do, you know, I just think something happened. I don’t know what it was. Maybe, maybe, maybe Mick Cronin had a shake, a smoothie that, you know, made him taste good, or whatever. There’s something going on that’s different from the first 25 games of the year.

Mark, what do you think?

Well, I think, you know, when you get into this tournament, anything can happen. They throw out all these records. UCLA’s had a great year. I like them, but you know, it could come back and bite them with Cronin in this tournament, because you got to watch out. Alabama, Florida’s good, I mean,

Oh, Florida’s, Florida’s my, yeah, I like Florida, they’re the defending champs too.

And those teams can hammer UCLA, you know, and especially I like Alabama, and that’s a coach, I’ve been high on that guy for years. That’s a coach you might want to bring in if you’re going to replace Cronin and give him a nice, lucrative contract. I like his outfits, man.

We’re stuck five more years with Mick Cronin.

And they’re paying him an exorbitant amount of money, Fred, between eight and $10 million for a college basketball coach. Hello.

Hey, a question, Art. You watch UCLA on TV? Is it a rule that all the assistant coaches have to be bald? I just wonder, I mean, I’m just throwing that out there for the public. Are you challenging? I’m a little follically challenged.

No, you’ve got some hair, you’ve got some hair.

Well, they’re all going to look like Vincent Price.

You have some hair, they don’t have any hair. Art. At 128 years of age, these questions sometimes are tough. You got some big stories to talk about. What do you take legally, medicinally, to answer these questions? And talk sports?

You know, I was thinking about where to, Oh, there it is. It’s called Prevagen, and it’s the professional formula. It’s marvelous stuff, maybe it’ll come in better from back here, there we go, good stuff. They’re also available in chewable tablets. But the professional formula has five times the amount in it. It does a great, great job, and you know you want to feel fantastic if you’re on the Fantastics, this is a way to feel fantastic.

Bobby Hurley: fired at Arizona State.

Yeah.

Mark, what do you think? What do you think?

That was a shock. I liked him, but, you know, after 11 seasons, you know, maybe they tuned him out. You know, they need a new voice. That’s the only thing I can see, but I liked him.

Danny Hurley, of course, the coach at Connecticut. I think they’ll go pretty far in the tournament. What do you think about Bobby Hurley, Art, and Dan Hurley at Connecticut?

You know, I’ve always liked the Hurley Boys. I mean, you know, their dad was a phenomenal basketball coach in the New York area for years. They both came out of great programs. I think that Mr. Hurley will get another job.

Yep.

I think what Mark alluded to is, and you know, we saw it happen with Pete Carroll in Seattle. If you stay somewhere too long, you know, coach Franklin for the Penn State Nittany Lions. You know, they start, the guys quit drinking the Kool-Aid, and you know, the bottom line is ASU. I’ll tell you what, I would not want to compete in that Big 12. They got some good basketball teams. I go down the list there, I look at the Houstons, I look at Iowa State,

Oh man,

Kansas, you know, you look at even BYU; good team. I mean, it’s just that’s good. I think the NCAA champion is going to come out of the Big 12.

All right, I think it will be Duke, Florida, or Gonzaga. Did you see the odds on Gonzaga? Hang on, Mark, hang on, Mark. Art, at the Hollywood Casino? What would be the odds on Gonzaga? Any idea?

Gonzaga was 30 to 1.

Was that all? Okay. Before, they were 5 to 1,

They were 50 to 1, but people are starting to see that this bad boy is wide open. You know, you’re looking at teams in there, and I mean, here’s the other thing, you know, you can look at the odds, but I want to see the actual brackets. Because there’s going to be certain teams that are going to be third and fourth seeds, or three or four seeds, that are really, really good teams. And you know, you don’t want to have to go play three good teams in a row. You want to, you know, you want to build into this, so it’s going to be, depending on the brackets, as it always is.

Mark Few has always been left at the altar,

At the altar, yeah,

He’s the bridesmaid.

Gonzaga reminds me of Oregon football. They just, they have all this talent; everybody talks about what they’re going to do, and then,

Mark, tell me they’ve got no chance and I’ll go throw some shekels on them.

I don’t think they do, but maybe people are, you know, when you’re not favored, you can come out of the woods, and you can sneak around a few trees. But I don’t think Mark Few,

I bet, I bet I bet some money on Florida, because I still say,

Yeah, I got Florida, Alabama. I like those two teams.

Yeah, I just look at Florida and the way they’re playing lately. If I had to pick another team, I would probably pick Michigan. But Duke lost their point guard, Fred, or I’d bet a big Duke guy too.

All right. So I got Duke, Florida, and Gonzaga, and I’ll tell you something, Mark, I think Gonzaga is as talented as any team in the country now. Some of their games are on ESPN Plus, I can get ESPN Plus. I’ve seen him play five or six times.

And St. Mary’s played good basketball this year, too.

I’m sorry, who?

St. Mary’s.

St. Mary’s, of course, didn’t make it to the finals, and they lost to Santa Clara, but Gonzaga clobbered Santa Clara in the finals. But the bottom line is I think Gonzaga is as talented as anybody in the country. And as far as UCLA’s concerned, you know, with the comeback of Skyler, the bottom line is their five scorers can all score, starters, can all score 15 to 25 points per game.

We saw that, we saw that a few years ago, when all their starters could score, too.

You know what I was gonna ask you guys? Did that kid, Timmy, ever get a chance to play in the NBA at all?

B league back and forth with Gonzaga. But let me just state this, UCLA can’t stop anybody. We’re going to stop right here. Take a break and more on Fred and the Fantastics, on BLEAV, and on PodClips.

Back on Fred and the Fantastics, on BLEAV, and on PodClips. You can email us [email protected], [email protected]. Art. What’s the future of J.J. McCarthy? Does he have a future with Minnesota? Kyler Murray’s only signed a one-year pact. They’re not even paying, they’re only paying Kyler Murray like a million dollars, the minimum, because, of course, Arizona’s paying him his one-year pact here. What do you think, J.J. McCarthy? Are they going to admit the mistake, or just a passive situation where one year and out for Kyler Murray?

Well, you know, the coach has done a great job with quarterbacks, what he did with Sammy Darnold. You know, in terms of reclamation products, Kyler Murray is a reclamation product. I don’t think they’ve given up on J.J. McCarthy. I think they want to have him compete, and I’ve never been against any competition. I think it only makes it better for both. I don’t think Kyler Murray is the answer. And I’ve been reading a bunch of stuff on the internet about, you know, Oh, Vikings guaranteed to go to the playoffs. Obviously, those people haven’t watched Kyler Murray play football the last four years. Because, I mean, you know, I think he’s a better center fielder than he is a quarterback, I hate to say it.

Bottom line, what Art’s alluding to, of course, in high school, they considered him one of the great center fielders in high school. Somebody compared him to Willie Mays; obviously, that’s a very, very long, that’s probably impossible, but the bottom line is he decided to stick with football, and we’ll see what happens as far as the future.

Hey, the guy’s made a great lifetime for himself. I mean, look at the money. He and Tua, both $50 million quarterbacks, are playing this year for $1.3 million minimum. Tua’s going to play for the Falcons, and the other teams, Miami and the Cardinals, are going to be footing $40 million bills.

Hey, let me throw you something: you just mentioned Tua. Michael Penix, you know, same thing as J.J. McCarthy, came out of the same six quarterbacks. What about the future for Penix? What do you think, Art?

Well, you know, that group led by Matt Ryan did not draft Michael Penix. So I’m wondering if, you know, the new coach from Cleveland, Stefanski, isn’t thinking, Well, you know what? Maybe I can work with Tua, given the running game that he has. I mean, you’ve got to realize he’s got a great running back in Bijan Robinson, they’ve got a good offensive line, you know, you put Tua in the right situation, as we saw at Alabama, there might be a way for them to go, especially in that division. That division is mediocre at best.

Mark, what do you think of Tua as a quarterback?

Well, I look at Tua, I look at Murray, I look at Watson, I look at Geno Smith. These guys are regurgitated quarterbacks, passed around every team in the league. The guy I like is Kirk Cousins. I’d like to see this guy go back to Washington, maybe be a backup in Pittsburgh, or even the Rams.

He would be a great backup in Pittsburgh. That’s a good call by you, Mark.

Yeah,

Then we’d have two 40-year-old quarterbacks.

Why would he want to be a backup?

Well, you really think Aaron Rodgers is not going to get the first crack with McCarthy in Pittsburgh?

Kirk Cousins is stable. You know, Kirk Cousins kind of reminds me of Jim Everett, he just kind of bides his time. And when you put him in there, you really don’t have too much to worry about.

How long until somebody decides that Mac Jones has been rehabilitated by the Kyle Shanahan Quarterback Whisperers Club in San Francisco?

I hope the 49ers keep him because, you know, Purdy might go down.

Exactly.

You know, there’s plenty to talk about in the wonderful and wacky world of sports, certainly in the National Football League. You know, the future, as far as television, is very interesting, Art. There’s some conjecture that Fox is going to lose their Sunday games to a streaming service.

Wow.

Again, I don’t know what the average fan can possibly do. Again, I’m spending on four or five streaming services and $300 a month for DirecTV. Art. Is there a chance that Fox actually loses the Sunday football package?

The latest I heard is no. But here’s the situation. They’ve got eight more years of Tom Brady at $35 million; they put a lot of money into the NFC package. You know, they’ve got a lot of changes coming, and it’s going to be, the bottom line is going to be dollars and cents, as we all know. I mean, it’s linear TV versus streaming TV, and right now, streaming TV might be a length or two behind, but they’ve got a heart the size of Secretariat, so I mean, they’re the future.

Except I’m the least technical person on earth.

No, no between the two of us,

Hang on. So, in our living room, okay, so I can get the streaming games. Okay, fine, okay. But then to go to the bedroom, I got to redo the streaming services for the bedroom, otherwise,

And you do replays on your streaming channel, Fred?

I don’t know how to do it, but they do. But I don’t know how to do it,

I don’t know how to do it either.

But my question is the linear. You just turn the channel, and it’s there.

How about the old days when you’d turn on Channel 2, Channel 4? You can watch football.

Fred. If you keep throwing these services on different things, people are going to get so frustrated, and the money is going to keep going up. I have the MLB radio package, I could pick up any game, home and away.

Me, too. I love it.

They went from $3.99 to $5.99 starting next month. So I can put that thing in my car or whatever and hear the Pirate games home and away. And that’s all I need. You know, it kind of reminds me of going to a stadium,

Mark. Do you think someday they’re going to have a la carte sports, where, as a Pittsburgh fan living in L.A., you can watch your Pirates?

We hope so. We’re gonna take a break and wind up Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips. Bye, everybody. We’ll see you around the corner. Bye, everybody.