BONUS: BOLD Take On BYU Basketball, Texas Tech ROLLING, Arizona March Madness, NIL, Transfer Portal

Why do I have faith that be why you can win in March Madness and that Kansas might get upset in the first round?

Oh, and the Baylor Bears can make the tournament?

A lot's going to happen in the next two weeks.

Here's how you become a genius.

This is bonus episode of Locked On Big 12.

You are locked on Big 12.

You're daily podcast on the big 12 conference part of the Locked On podcast network.

Your team every day.

Happy Monday night everybody.

Welcome to a Locked On Big 12 bonus episode.

I'm Drake Toll from America's number one big 12 podcast locked on big 12.

Thank you for making this show your first listen every single day.

The awards ESPN Central Texas asked me on their show this week.

So I thought, you know what?

Let's share this interview with you to give you my broad thoughts.

No, like, you know, Drake built the topics, broad thoughts on the big 12,

basketball, women's side, hell, baseball.

They'll ask me about everything.

You ready?

Do you hit subscribe?

I could keep my job.

Let's do it.

And welcome back to the press box here on ESPN Central Texas.

Joining us now from the Westwood One Morning Show and Locked On Big 12.

It is the one and only himself.

Drake Toll Drake, good morning to you.

Hey, Ward, I sent Aaron some Bosley in the mail.

Has he gotten it yet?

I haven't seen it yet.

I just didn't know if it was working.

Oh, Drake along with this.

I have not got a good quip in on Aaron in a long time.

It was overdue.

It was overdue.

It was overdue.

And I appreciate everyone that you can take a swing in.

I would do appreciate the help there.

Drake Toll with this inside the press box.

And ESPN College Game Day announced they will visit Kansas City

for Philip 66 Big 12 men's tournament championship game.

Drake, just from the outside looking in,

what does that say about the Big 12?

Yeah, it shows the Big 12 was the most top heavy conference in college basketball.

And that our best schools are better than your best schools,

whether it's Arizona or Iowa State, Houston or even Kansas, Texas Tech.

What it says to me as well, Ward is, is there's a loyalty that's lacked

here from ESPN.

And this is the only issue that I take up with with this announcement.

They are pulling John Chambie and Fran Farshilla off the call of that game

or the championship game for the Big 12.

That's the piece that I don't like.

The billis is going to step in and do the game.

The Big 12 to me sounds better when guys like Chambie and Farshilla who have followed

it all year long will call it.

And so that's the only downside.

Otherwise, a lot of exposure will come from this and ESPN being on site all week.

It just shows that the Big 12 albeit not the deepest conference in basketball is still the best.

You look at what happened over the weekend in the Big 12 on the men's side.

And really, I think the biggest surprise is for me is the red raiders get the win over Iowa State.

And without topping, they just keep on rolling.

Now they've won four in a row without their star.

It doesn't make a lot of sense.

This is what BYU wanted was to lose Richie Saunders and have them go out with an ACL

and then still somehow win for Texas Tech.

They've won.

They continue to win despite JT Top and going out BYU's on the opposite trajectory.

And they look stronger and stronger, including a win on the road against number four Iowa State,

who has a healthy meal on Mom Cheelovich team in Lipsy.

This gives me more question marks red flags about Iowa State than it does Texas Tech.

Obviously more red flags than it does Texas Tech.

But I actually want in saying that I mean, I'm more upset with Iowa State than I am impressed with Texas Tech.

I wonder how Iowa State lets this collapse happen at home or helping Coliseum so tough to play.

And then for the red raiders, they've further established in my mind.

They are the third best team in the Big 12 right now, even without JT Top.

And given the volatility of Iowa State here recently, including their lost cyclones,

that is to BYU a couple of weeks ago without Richie Saunders.

Then there is that Pasque BYU team.

I still believe Ward in two things.

One, BYU will make it to this feed 16.

And a big portion of that is due to the competition they'll play.

I'm confident that when they get into the NCAA tournament,

if they end up playing in the second round of March, a team like,

like an Arkansas sits middle of the pack in the rankings right now

and kind of upper echelon of the SEC, I'm going Big 12 all day in a match up like that.

I think that conversely, if a Kansas is in that situation,

I don't have a ton of confidence in the J Hawks who are playing better basketball than BYU right now

because of the Darren Peterson situation and the distraction that has been.

And obviously the J Hawks despite playing better basketball still lost this week in 8461.

So Ward in total, what I watched on Saturday,

loved what Texas Tech did, hated even more so hated what Iowa State did.

And I think I'm starting to believe that BYU,

even though they're losing games here, will reorient themselves for the NCAA tournament

and the Kansas won't be able to due to that Darren Peterson distraction

that both those teams are headed in different trajectories toward the postseason.

I learned a little bit more come this week's slate.

What do you take away from Baylor going on the road and getting the one point win over UCF,

UCF was red hot going into that game, but Baylor finds a way to get it done on Saturday night.

I told you a couple weeks ago on this show, the Baylor was done that the NCAA tournament

hopes were over and it would have helped if they beat Louisville at home or BYU at home.

They had beaten Arizona in a game that they controlled down a wake or if they'd gone at Kansas State

and wanted for drum tang was fired, but somehow having won two of their last three,

if they pull off a miracle at Houston, they're in.

If they lose to Houston and beat Utah,

but win two or three games in Kansas City, they're on the bubble.

And as much as people will push back and no, there's no way Baylor can make it in,

there's always that one team ward.

I think it was Syracuse a few years ago was 16 wins, 15 losses at the end of the regular season

and got in as like an 11 seed in the play in game.

There's always that one team of Rutgers who comes out of the big 10 at 17 wins and 15 losses.

Do you think, no way, why would they ever let them in?

Baylor's got the brand to be that team now.

It is kind of odd for me as Baylor grad to say that Baylor has a brand that's going to

give them special treatment and college athletics, considering the amount of times

that's felt like Baylor was completely overlooked.

But it is the case in college basketball.

I think the Baylor Bears are a couple of savvy wins away in the big 12 tournament as well

from maybe not getting in, but at least making this thing interesting.

Even Joe Lennarty agrees that Baylor's net seven or eight teams right outside the bubble.

Hey, I don't cam still here.

Today's show is brought to you by Fandall.

Fandall is exactly where I go.

Dog Fandall's the big spot that I go every single day as it pertains to the NBA.

Why?

Well, that is because I am a big proponent of Fandall number one and number two because

of Fandall's doing right now, they're giving you the opportunity to win big college basketball.

NBA non-stop and Fandall is now giving you a win, turn that energy into an even bigger potential

with a parlay profit boost in college basketball.

Hey, you can apply a profit boost instantly bump of potential payout to mix spreads,

totals, player props and more at fandall.com to get started.

That is fandall.com to get started today.

Fandall.com and download that Fandall app to get started.

Play your game with a profit boost.

Thanks to our friends at Fandall.

Today's show is also brought to you by indeed.

Indeed sponsored jobs is the reason I'm still alive today.

Workplace chaos, deadline stacking up the last thing you're thinking about is higher.

A bit of the minute that I've been talking to you, companies like yours made 27 hires on

indeed, according to indeed data world.

What?

Indeed sponsored jobs is the place to make your hire.

It's why hire all my interns are locked on big 12 and indeed sponsored jobs.

Hey, listeners of this show, $75 sponsored job credit to help bring your job premium status

it deserves indeed.com slash podcast indeed.com slash podcast right now indeed.com slash podcast

emergency conditions apply need to hire this is job for indeed sponsored jobs with indeed.

Tonight, big Monday, Iowa State and Arizona and Iowa State really can make a statement

tonight against Arizona.

But it's just another example of how this conference can chew each other up.

Yeah, for Iowa State, this is a game where they can prove to the committee.

They can prove to the big 12 that hey, we're we're still okay.

We're back to our winning waves.

I want to take this back when they lost on the road to TCU.

I was surprised by that loss.

And since then they've gone three and three in there in their last six.

Now they've won games against number nine Houston or number nine Kansas.

I should say number two Houston, but they lost at me.

Why you and they lost that game at TCU.

They they lost against Texas Tech at home.

They've got a couple of head scratchers in here for the cyclones.

Tonight is the opportunity to prove.

Hey, when we go to March madness, we're going to be able to to knock off some of the best teams

in the country.

The number one number two number three seeds in America and conversely for Arizona award.

This is just another Monday night.

I mean, this is all right.

Cool.

I guess we'll go play basketball.

They're that tactical.

They're just that good.

I don't think that the despite Iowa State being very high up in my in my list of teams

can go to a final four out of the big 12 that ultimately me.

Meal on mom, Sheila bitch.

Josh would you have for some team in lips.

He can get it done.

It's just the teeth.

The defense are gnashing way too strong for Iowa State to walk into the Michale center and get a win.

Arizona will win by 10 points tonight.

Bader women go into full worth with an opportunity to get a three way tie in the big 12 championship.

Not able to come away with it.

TCU outlast them.

And for the second year in a row, the frogs have the big 12 championship 65 53 over the

Bader women.

Yeah.

The frogs have the Baylor Bears number.

There's no two ways around at this point.

The better basketball program right now.

The better basketball program of the the 2020s has been TCU.

They won five straight against Baylor now.

And you know, I when Nikki Colin was first hired.

There were question marks about whether or not she was ready to coach the collegiate level,

which she had not done before.

And she's had time to settle into this and had time to build Baylor into a championship program.

And instead the bears have gotten close, but no cigar.

Now, I don't think that going, you know, 24 and seven of the regular season of being a team on the

bubble of hosting the first round of March madness means that you should be should be fired or that

that we should kick Nikki Colin to the curb.

However, Baylor fans expect championships.

And I don't I right now I want to everybody in central taxes to know you should still expect

championships.

Yeah.

When when some of the greats in our game have stepped down and retired or moved on from the sport,

you know, Tennessee is a great example of this with Pat.

They've struggled and they've struggled.

Mildly, Notre Dame has seen this Stanford seen this for Baylor.

They've at least hovered around the top 25.

I just I would love to see them win the big one to win a big 12 championship to get back in the

shadow 35 years.

They dominated TCU did not lose the frogs 35 years.

Now five in a row.

That's obviously going to sting.

I think Nikki Colin is still safe.

But I've got some big, big question marks on whether or not she can actually be the coach

that wins the big one as the head of the Baylor Bears.

And Drake, that brings me to my question to you, which is about the Baylor athletic program

in general right now.

Literally every major program is down so much from 2020 and 2021 five years ago.

Yes.

Is winning championships still the end all be all?

I don't hear a lot of I don't hear the word championship a lot anymore.

Yeah.

And look, Aaron, I think we learned that Mac Rhodes was a distraction toward the end of his

tenure as the athletic director when he first stepped in.

He was business.

He had a huge job to undertake a Baylor given the school is coming off scandal.

And the second he began to waver, things started to fall apart in IEL.

Baylor was late to game.

You know, the transfer portal Baylor was late to game.

They were just late to everything.

There was no initiative to jump out on the forefront of college athletics.

The way that a Texas tech has the way that it'd be why you has for a big 12 perspective.

And I think if you really want to that last pillar, that last domino doesn't even come from Baylor.

It came a couple, I guess a month ago now from Spencer Danielson, the Boise State head coach

being named the grant half coach of the year for fellowship of Christian athletes and being an elite head coach.

You learned that you didn't land the Boise State athletic director Jeremiah Dickey who you really wanted.

A lot of fans really wanted.

Oh, and by the way, Spencer Danielson who could have been the next Baylor coach with Dickey and brought a lot of his great talent at Boise State

has just been named the grant half coach of the year.

That was a pretty good culmination of how Baylor could have revamped the athletic department.

And you know what, Doug McNamey has done I think a really solid job of relating to fans so far.

My big question still and I'll support Doug here in his connection to Magnolia and connection to business and money.

But if he walks into a room tomorrow with a head football coach like a Spencer Danielson.

What is what are his credentials to hire that coach?

What are his credentials to know football enough to bring in the right head coach if David Rader does not work?

Because Spencer Danielson can walk in there and say, hey, I love cookies.

I love money. Those are great.

I need an athletic director that knows football.

Is that Doug McNamey?

I haven't heard anyone say yes.

That's the question mark I still have.

He's got plenty of time to prove it.

I'm not putting pressure on him.

But I need to know if he walks into a room with Jim Bo Fisher to ask about a coaching search.

Is he going to be left out of the office due to his lack of connections in the football realm and lack of ability to hire a legitimate football guy?

That's still, that's still to be seen.

Start spreading the news.

Today's show is brought to you by Robin Hood.

Look, Doug.

I'm 25 years old.

That's still pretty ripe.

I used to like to get on the show that I'm 21 years old.

Like the age was just jarring.

25 is pretty normal now, which sucks.

But what are sports for trading like markets at Robin Hood?

Now you can put your sports IQ to work.

In real time with Robin Hood prediction markets.

It's not you against the house.

It's you participating in the live market.

You can buy yourself a position's live all game long.

Use your sports knowledge.

The moment's the matter.

Robin Hood prediction markets changed the game.

The people moving the action.

So in the moment, momentum shifts.

You can move with it.

I always knew the game.

But never knew I had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge.

Now I can actually take part live in a market power by the people.

You're no longer just a spectator.

Play by play.

You decide trade every play with Robin Hood now available across the US.

Download the Robin Hood app today.

Futures are cleared swaps trading involve significant risk.

And it's not appropriate for everyone.

Even contracts are offered up by Robin Hood to activities.

LLC register features commission merchant and swap firm.

Robin Hood.

Robin Hood.

Robin Hood.

Drake told locked on big 12 and hosted the Westwood one morning show

with us here in the press box on ESPN Central Texas.

Big 12 women basketball has the big tournament coming up starting on Wednesday.

And Baylor with that third seed will have a couple of opportunities to watch their opponent

before they get into action.

The last game of the third day on Friday night at eight o'clock scheduled tip off.

Either taking on the winner of the game one between Kansas state.

And Cincinnati or have the opportunity to play.

I believe Colorado is the next match up in that one.

I mean for Baylor women.

Is this and you know my feelings.

You've known me long enough about the tournament and what I feel about the tournament.

But I mean, is this another big opportunity for the Baylor women to just say, you know what?

We only got to really win a couple of games to get to the championship game.

Why not just go for this thing.

Yeah, that's part of me at the top four seed in this world.

You're, you're kind of spot on for Baylor and man that you and I have shared those,

those same opinions on this tournament before.

Here I'll say for Baylor winning a couple of games picking up momentum going into what could

possibly be a championship on Sunday March eight.

I am of the mind.

I just need to see Baylor win.

And I think those girls need to see Baylor win against TCU.

They need to see Baylor win against Cincinnati or against West Virginia again.

They need to see that ball go through net Baylor bears win game.

That's something that feels like this team could utilize no matter the format,

no matter the tournament matters or not.

And so I, if you're Nikki Colin, you're pushing to win these games.

I think Baylor and TCU have a great shot.

Obviously a great shot to rematch in the finals of this.

And I do believe that ultimately Baylor will be in the final against TCU.

But right now it's impossible to pick against the frogs.

They own the conference.

Well, and that's my feelings too.

I mean, if you're not one of the teams that's having to play all the way through the bracket,

I think it behooves you to go ahead and get that momentum to go in.

But if I'm having to go all the way through the bracket,

and I've already pretty much set in where I'm going in the NCAA tournament,

I don't know how much I care about this tournament.

No, this is a useless tournament for sure award.

If you are sitting there as a team that like a Texas tack knows it's in

or Iowa State knows it's in and just needs to get healthy and rest.

You won your games this year.

You've done your best.

Why waste three good basketball games right now?

Three good game plans in a tournament format when you need to be ready for the big dance.

I'd rather win a national championship than a big 12 championship.

I don't know about these coaches.

Great toe locked on big 12 and host of the Westwood one morning show with us here on the press box.

And and Drake what's coming up on the morning showing locked on big 12.

Yeah, talking a ton of a big 12 basketball and the men's women's sides.

We get ready for March madness and and who are the real contenders?

Who are the real pretenders out of the big 12 conference this year on on both of those sides?

Then I'm baseball and softball man.

I tell you what award.

Very surprised to see an Arizona baseball team as prestigious as they are in in you know,

really their their programs history.

City at three and eight right now.

The worst record of the big 12 losing a series to Yukon at home,

lost in Nebraska Omaha.

There's really going through it right now.

So we covered a lot of big 12 baseball and softball as well where Oklahoma state, Texas tech.

There's some really good stuff on the ladies side on the diamond.

You know, people warded it and you've always been so good at covering the hits,

playing the best topics, even in local radio.

I'm turning on some of these national stations and they're doing Mount Rushmore.

Mount Rushmore of popcorn flavors.

I come on man.

It's March.

There's so much to talk about.

There's so much to get to.

Um, I'm over the moon that I get to have an opportunity to platform to talk about it.

And we'll be waxing poetic all week long about March madness.

There is Drake toe locked on big 12 hosts of the Westwood morning show with us in the press box.

Drake always appreciate the time.

Have a great week and we'll talk to you next Monday.

Aaron, last time I saw a ward, he had excess hair.

You can just borrow some of that.

Yeah.

He's always make it.

He's always, you know, like combing it and stuff, trying to do that.

He without saying anything, you know, I just ignore it.

He's always cognizant pleasure.

Oh my.

All right.

Thanks guys.

All right.

There he goes.

Drake toe locked up big 12 and host of the Westwood morning show with us inside the press box.

Appreciate his time.

Fun man.

Love those guys.

Used to work with him for a guy.

I mean, not even that long.

Six months, eight months.

Just good dudes.

This is been always will be locked on.

Thanks for making it your first lesson every single day.

Do say glad day.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.