Tradition's Finest Episode 78 - "The Laremy Tunsil Episode"

Welcome Back to the Tradition's Finest Podcast! Episode 78 - “The Laremy Tunsil Episode” includes a discussion of the following sports-related topics: - Miscellaneous - The FBI has added a former Olympic snowboarder & Canadian national, Ryan Wedding, to its' infamous 'Ten Most Wanted Fugitives' list. . .After competing in the Giant Slalom Snowboarding competition during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah (where he would go on to place 26^th overall in the event) - he allegedly began running a transnational drug trafficking network that shipped a large quantity of illegal drugs & narcotics from Columbia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada & other locations in the United States - and for orchestrating multiple murders and an attempted murder in furtherance of these drug-related crimes. . .Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge (ADIC) of the FBI's Los Angeles field office - described Wedding's shift from that of an Olympic snowboarder to the head of a drug-trafficking organization in a press conference held last Thursday - bluntly, when he stated that "Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada.". .Additionally, the United States Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced that it is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to Wedding's arrest and/or conviction - and this reward supplements the FBI's current offering of $50,000 for information leading to Wedding's apprehension, arrest, and extradition - and is accordingly - being offered with assistance from the Canadian & Mexican governments as part of a unified effort to bring Wedding to justice. . . - MLB - After experiencing elbow discomfort during a Spring Training outing last Thursday, New York Yankees ace Gerritt Cole, 34, will undergo Tommy John surgery to reconstruct a torn right ulnar collateral ligament and will miss the entire 2025 MLB season. . .While the Yankees did not provide an expected timetable for Cole's return, but pitchers generally need 12 to 18 months for a full recovery. . .Q: Is Cole's long-term future as an MLB ace in doubt?. .. If so, will his level of play return normal form or to that of a six-time All Star who won the 2023 American League Cy Young Award?. . . - NCAA Men's & Women's College Basketball - Last Friday, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced the five finalists for the 2025 "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award," which is annually presented to the top (or best overall) Center in Division I Men's College Basketball - and the five finalists for this year's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award are: Ryan Kalkbrenner - Creighton; Derik Queen - Maryland; Vladislav Goldin - Michigan; Nate Bittle - Oregon; and Maxine Raynaud - Stanford. . .The winner of this Award will be presented on a TBD date - along with the other four members or Award winners of the 'Men's Starting Five' - The additional awards that will be presented include the "Bob Cousy Award" (best PG), the "Jerry West Award" (best SG), the "Julius Erving Award" (best SF), and the "Karl Malone Award" (best PF) - and the five finalist(s) for each of these particular awards are listed below. . .JD & Spencer discuss & analyze the award finalists, and provide their individual predictions as to which finalist(s) will be crowned the winner for each of these respective collegiate awards. . .**Let Us Know What You Think - Who should win the 2025 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award? The 2025 Karl Malone Award? The 2025 Julius Erving Award? The 2025 Jerry West Award? And the 2025 Bob Cousy Award? [Share your thoughts with us via Twitter/X - @TraditionFinest or via Email at [email protected]!!]. . . 2025 Cousy Award finalists: Mark Sears - Alabama, Walter Clayton Jr. - Florida, Kam Jones - Marquette, Braden Smith - Purdue, and Zakai Zeigler - Tennessee 2025 West Award finalists: Caleb Love - Arizona, VJ Edgecore - Baylor, PJ Haggerty - Memphis, Chaz Lanier - Tennessee, and Tre Johnson - Texas 2025 Erving Award finalists: Chad Baker-Mazara - Auburn, Cooper Flagg - Duke, Jaxson Robinson - Kentucky, Ace Bailey - Rutgers, and RJ Luis Jr. - St. John's 2025 Malone Award finalists: Johni Broome - Auburn, Danny Wolf - Michigan, JT Toppin - Texas Tech, Yaxel Lendeborg, and Eric Dixon - Villanova - "The Iron Bowl: Hoops Edition" - Crimson Tide PG Mark Sears' last-second floater from the free-throw line at the buzzer last Saturday lifted No.7 Alabama to a thrilling 93-91 road win to avenge their loss to the No.1 Auburn Tigers earlier in the regular season. . .After Sears' buzzer-beater, the Crimson Tide evened up the season series between the in-state rivals at 1-1 with both of the road teams being victorious. . .Sears' buzzer-beater also stole the glory or removed most of the spotlight from potential Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year & Auburn Tiger star center, Johni Broome, who had a stellar performance, finishing the game with 34 points. . .Crimson Tide PF Grant "The 'stache" Nelson led Alabama with 23 points & 8 rebounds, setting the tone early into the game with a poster dunk followed by his depiction of the "Crimson Crane" pose in front of Johni Broome that served to certainly rile up the Auburn student section/fans at Neville Arena. . .Following the loss to Alabama to close out the NCAA regular-season, and for the first time this season - Auburn lost two consecutive games - which would ultimately cost them their No.1 ranking in the updated AP Poll's Top 25, which was released the following Monday morning. . .However, regardless of the Tigers' current two-game losing streak, and the Crimson Tide snapping their own two-game losing streak with the much-needed win over Auburn - both teams will enter into the SEC Conference Tournament on Wednesday in Nashville, TN with bye's through the first two rounds (as Auburn received the No.1 seed in the tournament, while Alabama is seeded 4^th overall). . . - The Duke Blue Devils played without star freshman Cooper Flagg for nearly ten minutes in the first half - and as the Blue Devils began to run "out of gas," according to HC Jon Scheyer - they fumbled away a 15-point lead to close out the first half versus North Carolina on Saturday evening. . .Scheyer welcomed the adversity after the Blue Devils had won five of its past six game by a margin of 30 points entering into Saturday's regular-season finale versus their in-state rival. . .The Blue Devils would rally down the stretch of the game to pull off the 82-69 victory over the Tar Heels, and secure the No.1 seed in next week's ACC Conference Tournament. . .Following Auburn's two consecutive losses, and after eight consecutive weeks ranked as the No.1 team in the nation, Duke ascended to No.1 in the AP Poll Top 25 in Men's College Basketball for the first time since Week 4 of the 2021-22 season, and for the 1^st time under three-year HC Jon Scheyer. . . - The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) Cougars (22-11) punched their first-ever ticket to the NCAA Tournament - and the first overall ticket to the 2025 "Big Dance" - on Saturday night after defeating Southeast Missouri (SEMO) 69-48, and therefore, being crowned the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Champions. . . The Cougars are led by the OVC Conference Player of the Year, Ray'Sean Taylor, who is currently averaging more than 19 ppg - and is also the program's all-time leading scorer. . .Bobby Pettiford scored 17 points off the bench as High Point (29-5) rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to defeat Winthrop 81-69 in the Big South Conference Championship title game on Sunday - giving the Panthers their first trip to the NCAA Tournament under 2nd-year HC Alan Huss. . ."Another Ticket Punched. .*on a Technicality:" Omaha Men's Basketball team (23-12) clinched its first NCAA Tournament berth in D1 history thanks to a little-known & very seldomly-encountered technicality - they were the only team that clinched a spot in the tourney prior to playing in Sunday's Summit League Championship game. . .The Mavericks' opponent, St. Thomas, is still in its' "probationary" period after being re-classified as a Division I program back in 2021, and therefore, are ineligible for a berth to this year's NCAA Tournament. . .Fortunately, fate always a finds a way to work things out - as Omaha would go on to defeat the St. Thomas Tommies 85-75 in Sunday's Summit League Championship title game. . .Joe Anderson scored a team-high 23 points, and 12 of which in the final four minutes of the game, to help power the top-seeded Lipscomb Bisons (25-9) to a 76-65 win over the University of North Alabama (UNA) on Sunday to win the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) Tournament, and claim an automatic berth to the 2025 NCAA Tournament. . .Bennett Stirtz made 5-of-7 three-pointers and was 7-for-13 overall for the Drake Bulldogs (30-3) - finishing the game with 24 points & 9 rebounds - leading the way for Drake in their win over No.2 seed Bradley 63-48 on Sunday to claim the Missouri Valley Conference tile for the 3^rd consecutive year. . .Jackson Sivills scored a career-high 20 points & hit a go-ahead three on a game-ending 15-2 run as the Wofford Terriers (19-15) rallied to defeat Furman 92-85 in the Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament Championship game on Monday night, clinching a spot in this year's NCAA Tournament. . .Tayton Conerway, the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, scored 16 of his 21 total points in the second half - to help lead the 3-seed Troy Trojans to a victory over 4th-seeded Arkansas State 94-81 - to clinch the Sun Belt Conference title on Monday night - this is the 3^rd time in program history that Troy has clinched a spot in the "Big Dance". . . - NC State fired its Head Basketball Coach Kevin Keatts on Sunday after eight seasons, and the Wolfpack's most recent Final Four run in 2024. . .While Keatts took NC State to the NCAA Tournament three times throughout his tenure, he finished his time in Raleigh with an overall record of 151-113, going 69-84 in ACC Conference play. . .Following the team's magical NCAA tourney run last season, the Wolfpack finished this season with a 12-19 record, including a 5-15 record in conference play. . .Two potential names that have been mentioned as potential targets to replace Keatts at NC State are VCU's Ryan Odom & McNeese State's Will Wade. . ."Debate & Discuss:" Who Should Win the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award - Auburn's Johni Broome or Duke's Cooper Flagg?. . .*JD & Spencer debate & discuss their pick(s) as to which player should win the most prestigious award in College Basketball this season? [Share your thoughts with us via Twitter/X - @TraditionFinest or via Email at [email protected]!!]. . . - NCAA Women's College Basketball - The top-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks never trailed in the Women's SEC Conference Tournament title game, locking up the two-seeded Texas Longhorns high-powered offense & dominating in the paint to secure the 64-45 victory - and to become SEC Conference Champions for a third straight season. . .The 19-point victory was its' largest win in the program's nine championship game victories. . .Gamecocks' HC Dawn Staley (9) trails only former UT HC Pat Summitt (16) for the most conference championships in SEC history. . .The loss snapped Texas' 15-game win streak, which was the longest active win streak by a major conference team. . . - NBA - Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic became the first NBA player with a triple-double of at least 30 points, 20 rebound & 20 assists (aka, a "30-20-20" triple-double") in last Friday's OT victory over the Phoenix Suns. . .Jokic tied the Nuggets' franchise record for his 29^th triple-double of the season, to further extend his career total to 149. . .In addition, his 22 assists were also an NBA record for a Center. . .Jokic continues to perform at an extremely high level, which, to some extent, is surprising considering that this man hates the game of basketball. . .. . .As for the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA franchise was officially down to just seven healthy players in Sunday's game versus the Phoenix Suns - After checking out early into the fourth QTR of the game, C Kessler Edwards would return, and head directly for the scorer's table to check back into the game - with a bandage over his left eye - with just 6:05 remaining in regulation - and unfortunately, this was the last substitution that Mavericks HC Jason Kidd made in the team's 125-116 loss, primarily because he didn't have any choice, without any depth or players to contribute or play. . .Prior to the start of the game, the injury-riddled Mavericks entered with only nine available players - three of said nine players suffered injuries on Sunday afternoon (one of which being C Kessler Edwards). . .On top of everything (i.e., your GM trading away your franchise star player for a 13-year veteran, who was injured & out for the season after playing in two games, your other star player (aka Kyrie Irving) suffered a season-ending torn ACL, your fanbase has all but given up on the franchise) to supplement the loss in revenue, the franchise's front office has made the decision to raise ticket prices by $8.00. . .. . .GSW Stephen Curry has accepted a role at his alma mater Davidson College as the Assistant General Manager for the basketball program - Curry will reportedly help fund $10M+ to support both the Men's & Women's basketball teams - and is now the 1^st ever active player in a U.S. major pro sports league to be hired for an NCAA administrative position . . . - NCAA : News & Storylines - Bowling Green University hired former NFL RB and Tennessee State HC Eddie George as the Falcons' next Head Football Coach, the school announced on Sunday. . .George was a four-time NFL Pro Bowl RB and an All-Pro, was the 1996 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year - after winning the 1995 Heisman Trophy - at The Ohio State University. . .After serving as the HC at Tennessee State for the past four years, where he was named the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year in 2024, George led the Tigers to a share of the league championship & a berth in the FCS playoffs. . .George becomes the 21st Head Football Coach in program history, and replaced Scot Loeffler, who after six seasons, left to become the Philadelphia Eagles' QB Coach in the NFL. . .His record as a HC at the collegiate level is above .500 (24-22). . .Q: What are your thoughts on Bowling Green's hiring of Eddie George as the program's new HC?. . . - NFL: Free Agency & Offseason Moves - The Seattle Seahawks traded two-time Pro Bowl QB Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for a 2025 third-round draft pick (92nd pick overall), reuniting Smith with his former HC Pete Carroll, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter & Jeremy Fowler on Friday. . .After three seasons with the Bills franchise, Buffalo released eight-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Von Miller on Sunday - this move opens up approximately $8.4 million in cap space. . .Following Von Miller's release, the Buffalo Bills & QB Josh Allen negotiated & reached a record-setting six-year, $330 million contract extension on Sunday that includes $250 million guaranteed - which, to date, is the largest guarantee ever given to an NFL player. . .Q: Were you surprised to learn that the Buffalo Bills were releasing Von Miller?. . .The Cleveland Browns & All-Pro DE Myles Garrett have agreed on a record four-year contract extension that averages $40 million per year and includes $123.5 million in guaranteed money - this deal officially makes Garrett the highest paid non-QB in NFL history, leapfrogging Raiders' Maxx Crosby, who inked a $35.5 million per-year deal early last week. . .WR Davante Adams signed a two-year, $46 million deal with $26 million guaranteed with the Los Angeles Rams, per NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport - this deal with Adams was made prior the franchise's announcement on Monday that they planned to release WR Cooper Kupp when the NFL's new season begins on Wednesday "unless a trade materializes,". . .Q: What are your thoughts on the Rams' decision to release veteran WR Cooper Kupp just to turn around & sign another veteran WR like Davante Adams to a two-year, $46 million deal?. . .The Seattle Seahawks traded WR DK Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchance for a 2025 second-round draft pick - after the trade, Metcalf agreed to a five-year, $150 million contract with Seattle, sources told ESPN. . .Q: What are your thoughts on the trade of Metcalf to Pittsburgh? Can WR George Pickens & DK Metcalf co-exist within the Steelers' offense?. . . The very next day, rumors began to circulate that the Steelers were closing in on a big-name QB as well - former NY Jets QB Aaron Rodgers has emerged as a potential QB option for Pittsburgh, souces confirmed to ESPN's Adam Schefter. . .Q: What are your thoughts on the possibility of a Mike Tomlin-Aaron Rodgers-led team, Steeler Nation?. . .On Monday, as the NFL offseason chaos continued to circulate like clockwork - the Seattle Seahawks was able to lock down their replacement for Geno Smith - just three days after trading the QB to Las Vegas - agreeing to a three-year, $100.5 million deal with former Minnesota Vikings QB Sam Darnold - this deal reunited Darnold & Seahawks new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, who was the passing game coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 when Darnold backed up QB Brock Purdy. . .Darnold blossomed in the Minnesota Vikings' offensive scheme last season under HC Kevin O'Connell, leading the team to 14 wins after winning a combined total of 21 games in his previous six seasons. . .Statistically, Darnold was very proficient in 2024, ranking 5th in the league in passing yards (4,319) and TD passes (35) - and he also earned his career-first Pro Bowl invitation. . .One month after saying "goodbye" to QB Aaron Rodgers, it did not take the New York Jets much time to sign his replacement: Former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Justin Fields & the New York Jets agreed to a two-year deal, $40 million contract that includes $30 million guaranteed om Monday afternoon. . . The Arizona Cardinals boosted their pass rush by agreeing to a four-year contract with Josh Sweat on a deal worth $76.4 million including $41 million guaranteed - Sweat is now reunited with the Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon, who was the former DC for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021 and 2022, when Sweat turned in the best two-year stretvch of his career with a combined total of 18.5 sacks. . .The San Francisco 49ers informed nine-time Pro Bowl FB Kyle Juszyzyk on Monday that he will be released - and the veteran player will become a free agent - this move will save the Niners $2.9 million in cap space in 2025, but this move hurts - Juszyzyk is one of the last remaining players in the NFL who operates from the Fullback position. . .The Minnesota Vikings strengthened their defensive and offensive lines on Tuesday - agrreing to deals with free agent DT Jonathan Allen & G Will Fries. . . Free Agent QB Daniel Jones is finalizing a one-year deal worth $14 million for a contract with the Indianapolis Colts, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday - according to multiple reports, Jones will have the opportunity to challenge 2023 first-round pick & Colts QB Anthony Richardson for the Colts' starting QB job next season. . .Q: Who will win the QB battle in Indianapolis - Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones?. . . Thanks for Listening!