DBR Podcast #194 - JAY BILAS JOINS THE POD!

[JasonEvans]

On this special bonus edition of the DBR Podcast, Jason, Sam, and Donald are joined by ESPN's top college basketball analyst, Jay Bilas. The former Duke player and assistant coach tells us all about his time with Coach K, gives us his assessment of the current state of college basketball, talks about the current Duke team, and even gives us some insight into his favorite rapper, Young Jeezy. This is an episode you cannot miss!

https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/duk...=VMP8501867623

Ok, we need some feedback from all of ya'll on this one!!

-Jason "one of the best interviews in our history... no duuh!" Evans

[Dukehky]

On this special bonus edition of the DBR Podcast, Jason, Sam, and Donald are joined by ESPN's top college basketball analyst, Jay Bilas. The former Duke player and assistant coach tells us all about his time with Coach K, gives us his assessment of the current state of college basketball, talks about the current Duke team, and even gives us some insight into his favorite rapper, Young Jeezy. This is an episode you cannot miss!

https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/duk...=VMP8501867623

Ok, we need some feedback from all of ya'll on this one!!

-Jason "one of the best interviews in our history... no duuh!" Evans

I assume no one asked him about the complaints about his Duke game calls raised on some of the "BILAS" threads?

[SouthernDukie]

I assume no one asked him about the complaints about his Duke game calls raised on some of the "BILAS" threads?

Would be cool if it was brought up, but somehow I’m thinking no.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Would be cool if it was brought up, but somehow I’m thinking no.

Well, that would be a pretty good way to never get a high profile interview again.

Will look forward to listening tomorrow!

[Furniture]

Sounds like a must listen...Did you ask him what many believe on here (not me) why he supports UNC over Duke?

[duke4ever19]

Sounds like a must listen...Did you ask him what many believe on here (not me) why he supports UNC over Duke?

They didn't get within shouting distance of a question like that.

[JasonEvans]

They didn't get within shouting distance of a question like that.

Believe it or not, it was on our list of questions but we promised Jay we would not go more than 30 minutes with him and we were unable to get to everything we wanted to ask because he had so much good analysis to provide. It is my hope we will get him back on in the off-season, when there will be more time to talk about stuff other than what is currently going on with the Duke team and the rest of college hoops.

-Jason "we were not trying to treat him with kid gloves or shying away from asking tough questions... we just did not have time to ask him everything we wanted" Evans

[blazindw]

Believe it or not, it was on our list of questions but we promised Jay we would not go more than 30 minutes with him and we were unable to get to everything we wanted to ask because he had so much good analysis to provide. It is my hope we will get him back on in the off-season, when there will be more time to talk about stuff other than what is currently going on with the Duke team and the rest of college hoops.

-Jason "we were not trying to treat him with kid gloves or shying away from asking tough questions... we just did not have time to ask him everything we wanted" Evans

Yep, we had all the plans to cover those topics and how he strikes that balance between love of Duke and analysis on the job. We just ran out of time. We had maybe 6-7 questions that we wanted to get to but just ran out of time.

[JasonEvans]

Yep, we had all the plans to cover those topics and how he strikes that balance between love of Duke and analysis on the job. We just ran out of time. We had maybe 6-7 questions that we wanted to get to but just ran out of time.

I spoke to Jay this morning and he really enjoyed the interview (he retweeted my tweet about it, which was nice and caused me to gain a dozen or so new followers, ha!). He seems like he would be willing to come back on in the summer and talk with us again so you all can look forward to that!

-Jason "here is a preview snippet of the interview that Donald made... enjoy!" Evans

[Bluedog]

First, thanks guys for getting Jay on and sending it along! Looking forward to the listen.

Sounds like a must listen...Did you ask him what many believe on here (not me) why he supports UNC over Duke?

They didn't get within shouting distance of a question like that.

Believe it or not, it was on our list of questions but we promised Jay we would not go more than 30 minutes with him and we were unable to get to everything we wanted to ask because he had so much good analysis to provide. It is my hope we will get him back on in the off-season, when there will be more time to talk about stuff other than what is currently going on with the Duke team and the rest of college hoops.

-Jason "we were not trying to treat him with kid gloves or shying away from asking tough questions... we just did not have time to ask him everything we wanted" Evans

Yep, we had all the plans to cover those topics and how he strikes that balance between love of Duke and analysis on the job. We just ran out of time. We had maybe 6-7 questions that we wanted to get to but just ran out of time.

I honestly think I've heard Jay answer this type of question before. I can't find it, but basically he just said (paraphrasing) "I call it like I see it. I try to be honest in my analysis and if people don't like my opinion, then too bad."

Of course, the question could be more about how he tries to stay unbiased as a commentator without directly accussing him of a certain bias. I believe that's how the question he responded to before was framed. Getting Jay on and asking, "why are you such a UNC fanboy??" wouldn't be the best move IMO. But it is very interesting that (anecdotally) a lot of Duke fans seem to find bias in his commentary against Duke while UNC fans do not find bias against UNC. Perhaps that's the most pointed way one could frame the direct criticism. I would imagine it's largely unconscious on his part somehow. I would find it hard to believe that he's made a conscious decision to criticize the refs for plays that favor Duke and hurt UNC, but who knows...

[UrinalCake]

I have heard Bilas talk on the subject in previous interviews as well - he said that when he was first coming up as a broadcaster he was constantly aware that others would think he had a pro-Duke bias so he had to be extra careful about not praising Duke too much or being too critical about their opponents. It’s not as much of an issue now as he has established himself in the field, but he understands why some Duke fans take issue with it. I don’t get as offended as some others do when Bilas talks about Duke getting calls or whatever. I do wish he would talk more about the game and less about the zebras, but he does that in all games not just ours.

Thank you DBR crew for bringing the goods! It was an excellent interview and you can see why Bilas is such a prominent voice in the sport, as he gracefully covers such a wide range of topics. With regards to paying the players, he presented such a succinct and easy to grasp plan and arguments for why it could/should work. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone verbalize their argument on the issue so clearly.

[JasonEvans]

With regards to paying the players, he presented such a succinct and easy to grasp plan and arguments for why it could/should work. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone verbalize their argument on the issue so clearly.

As many of you know, I am a fervent follower of this topic. I was eager to hear Jay's ideas and as ready to poke holes or ask some kind of follow up if I heard something that seemed unrealistic... when he was done talking about it, I had no such follow up. His way of restructuring things would be a radical change and would probably produce some problems at first as some schools attempted to buy players at unsustainable prices, but I strongly suspect the "market" would bring things into a workable reality pretty quickly and we would soon have a new normal that would not be all that different from the current college sports landscape except for the fact that the players would actually be making what they deserve.

Jay's a smart dude. I loved his comment about contracts being a part of this. I could imagine some schools -- Duke would likely be among the leaders in this -- insisting that class attendance be a part of the contract and putting financial penalties in place for kids who fail to make grades. In turn, I would hope that other schools would feel pressure to do the same. I can imagine parents who care about education insisting that their child attend a school that includes this kind of clause in the contract. We might actually solve some of the academic problems of college sports by providing a financial incentive to guys who embrace both sides of the student-athlete.

-Jason "I can dream, can't I" Evans

[BLPOG]

Jay's a smart dude. I loved his comment about contracts being a part of this. I could imagine some schools -- Duke would likely be among the leaders in this -- insisting that class attendance be a part of the contract and putting financial penalties in place for kids who fail to make grades. In turn, I would hope that other schools would feel pressure to do the same. I can imagine parents who care about education insisting that their child attend a school that includes this kind of clause in the contract. We might actually solve some of the academic problems of college sports by providing a financial incentive to guys who embrace both sides of the student-athlete.

Cheating wouldn't just be academic fraud anymore.

[duke4ever19]

Believe it or not, it was on our list of questions but we promised Jay we would not go more than 30 minutes with him and we were unable to get to everything we wanted to ask because he had so much good analysis to provide. It is my hope we will get him back on in the off-season, when there will be more time to talk about stuff other than what is currently going on with the Duke team and the rest of college hoops.

-Jason "we were not trying to treat him with kid gloves or shying away from asking tough questions... we just did not have time to ask him everything we wanted" Evans

To be clear, I would not be in favor of asking Bilas such a question.

We already know how a conversation about that would go:

"Now Jay, I don't know if you know this, but there is a segment of the Duke Basketball Report membership, that believes you are 'anti-Duke' by the way you respond to calls in Duke's favor etc. A few swear that you are both ant-Duke and pro-UNC, [laughs] I know . . . I know . . . but it's one of those topics that inevitably comes up multiple times a season. Death . . . taxes . . . and Jay Bilas threads on DBR. I'm asking you now to do us all a favor and put this thing to bed once and for all. So, with the DBR world listening . . . Jay, are you anti-Duke?"

Bilas: (chuckles) Well, listen. You're always going to have that when you have a passionate fanbase like Duke has . . . but, no . . . I'm not anti-Duke. I mean, if I was, then I'm quite the masochist, since I've been around the university and the basketball program since I had a full head of hair, which is saying something, because those are black-and-white photographs. [more laughs]. My job is to be fair-minded, and so if I see a call a certain way, no matter the name on the jersey, I'm going to call it as I see it. It's really as simple as that. Now, when I got my start calling games, I was much more conscious of those things. But at this stage of my career, it's not something I'm worried about. If it's any consolation to Duke fans, just know that there are just as many fans of other schools, who think I'm pro-Duke and anti-UNC, anti-Kentucky, anti-Dayton, anti-whatever."

[Bob Green]

-Jason "we were not trying to treat him with kid gloves or shying away from asking tough questions... we just did not have time to ask him everything we wanted" Evans

I have not listened yet but it is on my “to do” list for tomorrow. I’ve complete confidence in the DBR Podcast Crew so I know the interview was conducted with utmost professionalism.

Thanks for all the hard work!

[sagegrouse]

Good work, guys!

[Ggallagher]

Really enjoyed listening to it - thanks guys.

[Bob Green]

The interview with Jay Bilas was very good. Thanks! I especially enjoyed his comments on Coach K not having a system, he recruits talent and figures out how best to play.