SportsPrep Live

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Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live. Sports prep live, where we unbox the bike and talk excellent in athletics.

Unknown Speaker 0:35
Welcome back to sports prep live, everybody. I am your host. Graydon Prescott, today we got a few things to talk about that transpired over the past weekend and into the beginning of this week. As usual, I got my guy. KB, here today. Yes, sir. So let's start on the event that everybody has been waiting for since

Unknown Speaker 0:53
last Wow. Yeah, I know where you're going with this.

Unknown Speaker 0:56
We don't have to spend too much time on it. But, you know, this is a sports show, so we might as well talk about the biggest event, Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson. Netflix.

Unknown Speaker 1:07
Now I'm gonna be honest. That fight was boring, right, disappointing, right? It looked like Mike Tyson was a geriatric. He, you know, he just he's too old to be in the ring. Yes, he is, especially with the 27 he came out strong now round one and two, I thought there was a chance, but I felt like if he didn't knock Jake Paul out in the first two rounds, it

Unknown Speaker 1:33
was going to be over hectic after that. Yes, yeah, respect to Jake Paul for you know the gesture of respect at the end of the fight, but my only thing with him is, why are you fighting 60 year old men? Right? You're 27 right? And before this, prior to this fight, he hasn't really fought any boxers, except for Tommy fury, with whom he lost to correct. But Tommy Fury is his age, maybe even a little bit younger, and Mike Tyson is 58 so there's been a big difference. So he dominated the fight against Tyson, and

Unknown Speaker 2:07
then he took a cheap shot after the fight, saying that, well, he took it easy on Mike, and you want he wanted him to go the distance. He's an icon and a legend, yada yada yada, which is what you would expect for gamesmanship. But if I'm keeping it a buck, you know you're right for a almost 60 year old man to go out there and put himself through those paces. A lot of respect to him. A lot of the people that are naysayers would never challenge themselves in that way. So I actually do have a ton of respect for iron Mike for taking part in this whole spectacle. But if I'm, if I'm looking at Jake Paul, you know, this is, this is an L for him in the sense of, you know, publicity and what it means for his brand, because he is ducking and dodging. Speaking of boxing real fighters, he's not lacing those gloves up to challenge anyone that would really challenge him. So you keep telling us how much you're a boxer. You're a pro boxer. I appreciate and respect how he's turned his life around. I guess the guy was an alcoholic at one time and into drugs and just, you know, kind of listless at one point in his life. So he's really turned things around from that vantage point. And I take my head off to him, but you keep telling us you're a boxer, you keep telling us you respect this craft, and you're just finding a new way to go about the enterprise of boxing and not have to go through the promoters and things of that nature, but you're kind of disrespecting us as the viewers, the fans, the audience. If you're not going to lace those gloves up and challenge yourself with a real boxer, right? Not a retired UFC guy who that's a certain discipline, right? You get to use your knees, your elbows, and so there's less reliance on the discipline of boxing when you're in the UFC, right? And so to pull someone from kind of that fish bowl and put them in this fish bowl where, okay, you can't use all of these things that you are accustomed to using. Now, you have to just stick with the discipline of using your hands, and you have to use your hands in a certain way. Certain Way. They're at a huge disadvantage, and Jake Paul knows that. So I'd really like to see him before I'm interested in seeing anything else from him. I'd like to see you lace those gloves up, put those mittens on with a real boxer. Until then, I'm not interested. I don't want to hear it. This was a spectacle, like you said. It was embarrassing. Again. Shout out to iron Mike Tyson for what he did at this age. Have a lot of respect for that. I know I wouldn't do that at his age. So you know, to heck with the naysayers. I respect him challenging himself in that way. But Jake Paul, this was a loss for you, even though you won the. Fight, which everyone expected. Publicity wise, this was a loss, and if you're going to keep doing this, it's time for you to fight a real fighter, someone that may defeat you. That's what I would be interested in, not that you have to get beat, but someone that is going to really challenge you. That's what I'm looking for in the next Jake Paul fight. If I don't see that, you can miss me with any more of his escapades, or his events or spectacles, or whatever he calls his, his boxing matches. I'm just not interested anymore.

Unknown Speaker 5:29
That's fair. Yeah, I don't have a lot to say on the Jake Paul matter. I respect him for making his $40 million from Sure.

Unknown Speaker 5:37
Great entrepreneur, great businessman. Yeah, you know, you make,

Unknown Speaker 5:40
you have the opportunity to make 40, $40 million in one night. You're gonna take it, anybody would. So I respect him for that. You know, Mike, a lot of respect for getting in the ring, stepping up. Obviously, he made his money too sure. So, you know, from my, from my vantage point, you know, even though, publicity wise, it was probably a bad thing for Jake Paul in terms of just making your money, it's a win, win.

Unknown Speaker 6:07
Oh, sure, sure. He certainly made his money. I think I saw where Netflix had 60 million people tune in for the fight. And although there were, I think there's some news reports that a lot of people had outages and things of that nature. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 6:20
they had some streaming problems. Yes, Netflix, even though it's a streaming platform, they don't really live stream correct thing, correct? So they had some problems. It's not like a YouTube or Twitch, where they do live streams all the time, right? And they have that infrastructure, right? So, you know, the more events they do, they'll get, yeah, they'll get better, just growing pains. Yeah, this was just, this was the first one for them. So that's not really surprising to me, but all in all, I think it was a positive event, positive experience for both fighters. You know, Mike looked tired the whole time, but at the end of the day, he got his bag and, you know, he said at the end of the fight that his family got to see him fight in a real, professionally sanctioned fight. His kids got to see that. Sure. So you know, as far as I'm concerned, it was a win win, relatively entertaining. It was kind of a boring fight.

Unknown Speaker 7:15
Emphasis on relatively Yeah, for me, it was about as interesting as that fake slap that happened at the beginning of the the fight. You know, that's the way, the way in, yeah, like, come on,

Unknown Speaker 7:25
come but you know, the fight itself was, it was relatively entertaining, but, you know, it was a fun it was a fun event. It almost looked like a charity event, but at the end of the day,

Unknown Speaker 7:36
you know what it reminded me of? And I know we're going to jump topics here, but it reminded me of, you've seen many of the rocky franchises, right?

Unknown Speaker 7:44
You don't, don't tell me you're gonna say it reminded you of, like, rocky three,

Unknown Speaker 7:48
is that where he fought the wrestler? Yes, yes. It was kind of like that, exactly, right? Hulk, Hogan, yes, he fought. It was just spectacle, right? And that's, that is kind of the feel, the grotesque feel that I got from this whole thing that's there again. I'd like to see him step in the ring with someone of consequence and establish his bona fides. If he doesn't do that, I am just not interested.

Unknown Speaker 8:13
Yeah, great. Impressed guy here on Sports prep live. You're listening to the news in sports from the most recent events that we got going on, and one of those biggest events that we have going on. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name Julian Lewis, he is the number one quarterback yes in the nation yes in the class of 2025, and this weekend, he decommitted from USC, USC. Now he was the sixth player in the class of 2025, top 100 players to de commit from USC, right, and since then, he has taken a visit to Georgia and already wanted to meet with Deion Sanders.

Unknown Speaker 8:57
Right, Colorado. Went out to Colorado.

Unknown Speaker 9:01
But the bigger news is, why are so many people decommitting from USC? Because there have been six in the last couple of months. What is going on now, I

Unknown Speaker 9:12
think? And Riley, what is going on? No, I

Unknown Speaker 9:14
have a theory here, and it's not that far fetched. They're losing games. They're three and five in conference. Sure, let's I'm just gonna call a spade a few days. USC is not good at football right now. They're just not. They're not a good football team. They're getting beat by teams that they shouldn't get beat by. They're unranked. They're nowhere close to the top 25 they're probably not even a top 60 team right now, right? They're just not good. So I don't think top 100 recruits are looking to go to a school that's just not very good right now, right? That's just the way I see it. So for Julian Lewis, I think it was a smart decision to decommit from USC. You don't want to throw away your college years, especially in football, basketball. Little bit different. Your the top prospects are generally only going to be in college for one year in basketball, sure. So that year can go however, however you use you want it to go. Cade Cunningham, he went to Oklahoma, state. They didn't really do anything. Markel faults, he went to Washington. They didn't really do anything, and they both ended up being number one picks. Anthony Edwards, he went to Georgia. And Georgia is not in basketball, what it is in football, right one year, and then they're all the number one picks. So you don't have to go to the best programs in the country, a Duke of Kentucky, UCLA for basketball, Kansas. But in football, your top players are generally going to be from your top schools, Oregon, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, when they were sure probably. But USC, they've been kind of on and off recently. In the past few years, they won the national championship 1520, years back. But as of late, they haven't been very they haven't been great perennially. And this year, they've hit rock bottom in terms of their program average, what they do, their program standards. They've kind of hit rock bottom. They're five and five at the time of the show airing, and three and five in Big 10 play, so they're not faring very well. So it makes sense that some of the best recruits in the country would decommit, because they're just not doing as well. And these, these are guys that have opportunities to go to schools who are doing much better. You know, schools like Colorado and Georgia and Ohio State, sure, Penn State,

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Alabama,

Unknown Speaker 11:39
yeah, absolutely sure so from the Alabama's had some wrinkles, but Right? But from the from the perspective of the athlete, to me, it makes sense that these guys are decommitting from USC, which leads to, how do they how do they recover?

Unknown Speaker 11:54
That is a tough question. You know, it's, you know, last week, we were talking about the three things that the program needs in order to bring in some of those top recruits. And USC certainly has that history. USC certainly has now that they're over in the Big 10, they have that conference, and they have that brand. And you know, Lincoln Riley is a notable head coach a lot of the kids who play football, high school football, those four and five star players he calls, they're going to pick up the phone. The problem, as I see it, is that this playing field has gotten a lot broader, and that that relates to the conference movement that we were talking about. They're going to these conferences where there's a lot more resources. And you're right. Kids now feel if I'm going to come into a program, not only do I want to have an impact, you know, and I'm sure they expect that to happen, but I also want the program to be impactful, right? And if the program is not impactful, and I am out here spinning my wheels, then maybe it's not going to be a good fit. Maybe it's not the place that is going to be best for Right, right in terms of my career trajectory. So I think that's a little bit of what's going on, that there's a lot more parity in college football now than there was, say, a generation ago, right? Where, like you said, USC was one of those top perennial programs, absolutely, and you never heard of, say, Oregon, and now you know that that tide has turned. And so those schools, though, those types of schools, and I, we can't even say a generation ago with someone like Deion Sanders over at Colorado, right? Just a few years ago, you know, they would have never received just two they were one and 11 years ago, never received a visit from someone like, like, like Lewis. So I think this has a lot to do with the parody that is now in football. And so those, those things that we were talking about last week that brand that history, being in a power conference and having a notable coach or a notable program, those are all the more important nowadays, when you are going after the best of the best four and five star recruits, and he's a five star recruit, yeah, he's

Unknown Speaker 14:09
number one in the country. Yeah, for quarterbacks, Julian Lewis is the real deal. So you know, he's not going to want to throw away his college career at a program that's trending downhill, and that's what USC is doing right now. So they need to, they need to figure something out to weather the storm, because there are these better teams right now that are looking to recruit him to come on. I already know he's taken, you know, like we said, visits from Georgia, Colorado. He's probably going to take a visit from Ohio State, Penn State,

Unknown Speaker 14:43
these schools even, even Indiana, which is surprising, because Indiana, yeah, yeah, he has expressed interest in India, yeah. And that's interesting to me, that one, I'm kind of confounded by that. Here's

Unknown Speaker 14:52
the thing with Indiana, sure, they're 10 and, oh, they're one of two right undefeated teams in the country, one of. To but they're still ranked fifth, and the reason for that is, even though they're 10 and oh,

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it's a phantom 10 and oh, right,

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I'll just read you the teams they've played. Yes, FIU, Western Illinois, UCLA, Charlotte, Maryland, Northwestern Nebraska, Washington, Michigan, state, Michigan. Now, you might have heard Washington, Michigan, UCLA, maybe

Unknown Speaker 15:27
Nebraska back in the day, but certainly not now.

Unknown Speaker 15:30
All of those teams are terrible this year. Absolutely. I mean, I guess you could say Michigan's Michigan's a 500 football team. They're in the same boat as USC. Michigan's not very good, but not what they're accustomed to. Yeah, no, they're they're not. That's a rich history over there. Yeah, they are the defending national champions, and they're nowhere near the top the top schools in the country right now. So, you know, I'm not buying Indiana's Fifth Rank, not, not yet now this Saturday, yes, they are playing Ohio State. They have a test. They beat Ohio State. I'm buying every bit of their regular they got to beat them. And I don't see that happening.

Unknown Speaker 16:11
I have a lot of I think we all do. We have a lot of respect for Ohio State. In the end, look, Oregon. Oregon had to pull off some trickery. Let's be in order to get the my money, Oregon is the best football team in the country right now. That was, that was it was shrewd, but it was so slimy the way he did that, bringing players onto the field and knowing that it would be take up some time and Rob Ohio State of an opportunity to get a playoff like it was. It was shrewd, and I think they changed the rules because of that, but Ohio State is a really good football there was

Unknown Speaker 16:44
one versus two, right, right. And now and now, it's flip. Oregon's one, Ohio State's Correct. Corona nation, it's probably going to be the Big 10 championship, yes, unless Indiana somehow manages. Now,

Unknown Speaker 16:58
having said that, I do not expect Indiana to beat Ohio State. Like I said, this is a phantom. Indiana

Unknown Speaker 17:02
is not going into Columbus and knocking off the Buckeyes. No chance, right? Anytime soon. It's not gonna happen, right? That's like saying Iowa is gonna go stampeding into Columbus, Ohio and knock off the Bucha. So

Unknown Speaker 17:19
I'm wondering if Julian Lewis is there some sort of, does he have a history there? Did he go to school there? Does he have family there? Because I would think he would know that again, that this, this record of Indiana's, is kind of a phantom record, until they beat someone of consequence. And like you said, they they've played some schools I don't even know where they are. I've never heard of fyu. I don't even know what that means. So, yeah, you know it's, there's some schools that they've played where it's like, really. So we'll see Ohio State is a real test. That is a real program, that is a real football team. You're right, if they beat Ohio State, now I'm going to sit up and pay attention.

Unknown Speaker 17:59
And the only reason he would have interest in Indiana is because they're tend to know this year, yeah. So, you know, that's a program that you have to look at by default. It's great. Impressed. Got here on Sports prep live, and we got, we got some more things that we need to, we need to discuss. But, you know, make sure you stay interested. Everybody. Stay tuned in now. UNLV, of course, as you all know, we're recording right here at UNLV. Yes, and I am proud to say it. UNLV football teams falling 23rd in the country. Balling.

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Raj Malik Williams is for real. We've said it here before. We

Unknown Speaker 18:33
got we got some things, yo, we got some things to talk

Unknown Speaker 18:36
this squad. Man,

Unknown Speaker 18:39
they are number 23 in the country, right? This past Saturday, they beat San Diego State, 41 to 20. Hajj, Malik Williams, 244 yards a touchdown, rushing touchdowns. Just sensational stuff. Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 18:54
think he got three. Uh huh,

Unknown Speaker 18:56
absolutely sensational, sure. Um, you know, San Diego State. They're not, they're not the greatest team, but they are a team that has historically been able to get the best of UNL rated, not this year, not this year. Wasn't even close, not this year. And I don't think UNLV is going to lose any of the rest of their two games. Two games left. I don't think they're in a position to lose either one of those games. So that begs the question, Does UNLV have an opportunity to crack into the college football playoff? I don't know if they do, but I think they might deserve a shot. I

Unknown Speaker 19:31
agree. And that loss that they had against that close loss, Boise, against, yes, against Boise. You know, sometimes a loss can tell you a lot about a team, and based on you know what happened and what unfolded during that, that was a that is a really solid football team, Boise. Boise, oh, yeah, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 19:52
Let's talk about how solid Boise is. Real quick. Talk about that. Oregon. Boise has one loss, and it was to three points against the number. One Correct. Oregon, correct, who beat Ohio State? Correct, they lost by three. So that

Unknown Speaker 20:05
tells you the quality of the the game and the quality like, that's a quality loss, yeah, right. Five

Unknown Speaker 20:12
points, right? And they were in a position, UNLV, yes, and they were in a position to win it,

Unknown Speaker 20:16
correct? So, you know it for me, they have arrived. Hosh Malik Williams has, I can't even say, turn the program around, because he was given a, you know, a three and oh, I think it was a three and zero start when Matthew slooka, you know, Matthew who, Matthew, who left the program for the silliest of reasons, but I'm now of the mind that we had the wrong starter from the jump right, Hodge Malik Williams, is incredible. I mean, this, this dude creates havoc for defenses, and they all scheme for him. They all, you know, sports at this level, you you pre plan. You're planning a week or two ahead of time. You know there are coaches dedicated to just watching film and understanding what your strengths are as a team or an individual player and trying to overcome that. And no matter what they do, this kid finds a way, to find a way, and it is, it is a joy to watch. And so I agree with you. I don't know if they're going to get there, but they certainly deserve it. And hopefully, you know, they, I don't know if he's a fifth year, but hopefully they can keep him for another year while this program gets its sea legs. I

Unknown Speaker 21:35
don't know if they can keep, yeah, no, I

Unknown Speaker 21:37
don't think so either. That's really wishful thinking. I kind of know the answer. He's going to be done, yeah, but this, this young man may have played himself into a position in the NFL like he is really good, you know, I don't think he's going to go in as a starting quarterback, but he is someone that can come in be a great backup, give you some good minutes, and probably perform at a high level when he is provided that opportunity due to an injury or what have you. Hodge Malik Williams, you know UNLV rebels is for real? Absolutely. This is a guy that you've got to pay attention to going forward. And I hope they do get a bowl game. I don't think that they will. Don't qualify for a ball a ball game. I know they can get a bowl game, but the playoffs, playoffs? No, yes, probably not. I really do hope that they get a position there again. I don't think that they will, but it is not for a lack of being deserving of it this, this program has really been outstanding this year, and I hope they keep this going.

Unknown Speaker 22:32
Yeah, and you know, one of the topics that we're discussing with UNLV is the college football playoff, and there's been a lot of controversy and a lot of problems with how they are organizing. Who is going to be in this college football player. A lot of people have problems with it, and I'm gonna be honest, myself included, yeah, I really don't think that they're doing the best job figuring out this 12 team bracket. You know, I think there should be more weight on not, you know, random conference champions, but like conference champions of substance. I don't think that, you know, right now, as it as it currently stands, Southern Methodist would end up getting a bright right, that that just shouldn't happen. And

Unknown Speaker 23:19
the quality of your opponent, even if it ends up in a loss, right? That matters who you play,

Unknown Speaker 23:24
right? So, you know, Boise State, they deserve a spot 100% but they're on, they're on the cusp right, and there's no way they should be. But then you take a team like Notre Dame, who played $1.4 million to Northern Illinois to come and play them for their season opener, and lost to Northern Illinois. Yes, and they're probably going to make the playoffs, right? I just don't think that that's fair to the teams that have you know had the toughest schedules, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas. You know, you can always say your SEC teams. There's always going to be four of them. Who are, you know, deserve it of a spot, right, right? You know, you're going to have your Big 10 teams, which, this year, it's, it's Oregon and Ohio State and Penn State, yeah, three or four. Not least three, yes. You know, Penn State, Oregon and Ohio State, correct? And you know, if Indiana messes around and beat these dudes, right? That's why I said three or four, yeah. That's why I said at least three, yes. And as it currently stands, Indiana is going to get a playoff spot regardless of what happens with Ohio State, just because they're number one in the Big 10, in the big ticket, right, correct, in the conference. If they lose, different story, but they win, they got it. I really don't like how they're doing it. BYU is going to get a spot, right? You know, it's just to me, it doesn't make sense. I think Colorado should have a spot.

Unknown Speaker 24:55
Yes, I think it's caused a lot of concern. Yes, Colorado, it has caused a lot of consternation. Heard Paul fine mom talk about it. I've heard Stephen a talk about it. They really needed to get it together and be mindful and aware of the quality of play again, even if it results in a loss, it matters. Yeah, you know that you've got to give more weight to substantive plays or substantive losses, as opposed to weak wins. And that's why a lot of you know those, those talking heads around college football, have kind of passed over Indiana and just kind of wave them right, right, because they don't feel like there's been a necessarily quality win, yeah, in terms of a really good, well run football and,

Unknown Speaker 25:42
you know, people are always going to have some problems with it, because this is exactly what we saw last year. And you and I spoke about this a lot with Florida State. They didn't have many substantive victories, and even though they were undefeated, they didn't qualify for the college football playoff, because Michigan was, you know, one of the best teams all year, and they had to beat Ohio State and Washington. Had to go through some of the toughest teams in the country. And then who else made it Alabama. They had to go through Georgia to get to the college football playoff. They had to beat Tennessee to get to the college football playoff. And then Texas, you know, same deal. You know, you got to beat Oklahoma, you got to beat Alabama, and they did. So I think substantive wins or losses has should have a bigger bearing. Yeah, more weight, yeah, yes. Then you know a weak win, but a weak loss should also have a huge bearing, because if you lose to a team like Northern Illinois, there's no way you should be able to correct, you know, disrespect

Unknown Speaker 26:44
to Northern Illinois, but they're not built for this right at this level. Absolutely

Unknown Speaker 26:47
great, impressed out here on Sports prep live. And there's one more thing that I would like to talk to you about. It's UNLV basketball team. They're two and one as of right now. They play. They played a night at 7pm against Pepperdine. They lost to Memphis about a week ago today, and then on Saturday or Thursday, my apologies, they had a bounce back, winning right Omaha, 17 points for Jalen Hill, 17 points for Jeremiah, aka bear cherry, and then 15 for DJ time. DJ,

Unknown Speaker 27:24
yes,

Unknown Speaker 27:25
they're looking good. I'm I got hope. You know, I got my hopes. I'm not going to get them too high, but things, it looks pretty bright, right?

Unknown Speaker 27:33
They may pull off this season in basketball, but the rebels have pulled off in football. Yeah, this is a quality team. They are well coached. They're floor general. You know, I've always been DJs. Been big ball in this year, big ball of DJ Thomas, if you don't know, you better ask somebody this. This young man is for real, and he is, you know, six foot, nothing but 661. Yes, but his basketball IQ and his tenacity and being ferocious and fearless and a great passer and a great shooter, great floor general, it is. It's unmatched. So yes, I do expect some big things out of UNLV men's basketball program this season. They may surprise us in the way that the UNLV football team has. And wouldn't that be amazing? That

Unknown Speaker 28:24
would be spectacular. And, you know, you spoke about DJ, he's only a sophomore, yeah, and he's the age of a freshman. Yes, he is. You know, we all know he bypass his senior Liberty, Liberty Gorman's, but, yeah, he's, he's 18 years 1819, years old. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 28:40
yeah. They can have him for a while if they, if they need to, if he wants to stay, because he may have a future beyond you know college sports as well. This is a really, really good basketball. Was a

Unknown Speaker 28:49
great basketball. I agree. I agree. Sensation. Thank you everybody for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm your man. Great impressed. Scott, excited to see you all next week, peace, thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm Graydon Prescott, and don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports prep live. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai