This is Eye on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app Just Surgery,
I on the Ball. Welcome back time walking here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty
on Jagan Zalez, your in studio host. We just had a good time
with Steve Rivera out of Salt Lake City covering the Cats for the weekend.
George Minus, our friend from Showtime Cards is here. George, thanks for
being here, my pleasure. And then Sid running the board over here and
Sid running the breaking news. Give it to us. Sid, This is
Eye on the Ball, Breaking News on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. All
right, we're gonna start off this breaking news by obviously we know as the
show started yesterday the men's basketball one. But as we were going off air,
the women's team was starting and and they they won, They got the
win, and they won the first four and now they're officially in the term.
They're in the field of sixty four, which is very cool. You
know, to me, it's house money right right right now. They got
one. They got in the tournament when you know there's a lot of data
whether they should even get in. They got in, They got in the
first four. Now they're in the actual sixty four team bracket. I mean
it's like whatever happens from here on out is gravy, is the way I
see it. What do you think same? I mean, we have a
tough opponents more I think it's Syracuse and then after that against really probably one
win would be phenomenal. Right, Yeah, and they're playing well. I
think I saw that where they I'm pretty sure they let all games something like
that. So yeah, no, they were in charge the whole game.
Got you know, they got close a couple of times, I think five
or whatever, but you know, they just played, they played hard,
they played well. They were in foul trouble again. They had two players
for most of the a good chunk of the second half of four files and
they hung in there and uh and uh you know won the game. So
good good on a da Barnes for having a chance to you know, day
in there and the game they play. Okay, the man play at nine
two, so on time tomorrow the women play at twelve thirty. So it's
kind of a double headed for Arizona fans. Yeah. Yeah, moving into
uh, the other games that that we didn't get to discuss yesterday was h
the Oakland three point I think, uh three point fest they had there and
then the Sanford Well, I just want to know you guys thoughts on specifically
that Stanford because because there's a lot of talk now on social media about how
why isn't there they use so many reviews, right, why aren't they able
to go to the monitor for something like that? Because that because those are
the rules, right, and uh, you know Tommy got asked about that
a little bit today too. You know, would you like to see there
be there, you know, more reviews like reviews for that. You know
they do it in the NBA in the last two minutes. You can review
everything in the NBA in the last twins, so they could have reviewed that
found scene that that was not a foul. So many people on people on
social media, they've is it the worst call of the year or the worst
call in the history of sports? So it's been a little of both.
But you know, that was so unfortunate. Now, look, Sanford was
still going to be behind. You know, you don't know if they would
have won the game, but certainly would have had a chance had a chance
to win the game, and and it's you know, you just want to
see what I'm sitting here watching Auburn lose to Yale. They went to the
line seventy eight seventy six. Guy had I think it was a one and
one or he maybe had one more shot, but he missed it. Auburn
got the rebound, had two shots at it, including a three pointer,
didn't hit it, and Auburn wins the game. I mean, Yale win
beats Auburn, four seed over at thirteen thirteen over a four seventy eight seventy
six, big upset. Anyways, going back to that, yes, look,
you know, if you're going to have reviews like the review every time
the all goes out of right right right, if you're going to do that,
then you cover everything. It's like, just get it right. And
that's that's kind of everybody's argument. Yeah, so I agree if after this
year they adjust anything. But I want to stay on the topic of last
night. There was a lot of comments about kla Parti's post game and kind
of it seems like in a way he was he was throwing his freshman under
the bus, not you know, he basically explained it as you know,
we're nineteen years old. You know these we're playing against men, you know,
stuff like that, comments like that, and I don't know, it's
just after so many exits, it's just becoming well, there's there's two sides
to that. Yes it is. I mean I think the kid or not
the kid that the man was twenty six years old, right, But how
are you you're a better coacher than that. How are you going to let
someone throw up twenty three pointers? Right? And he made half of them?
Yeah, and well the two points there. He wasn't complaining about his
guys being freshman when that freshman class got him to the final fourth. Anthony
Davis and all those guys, those guys were all freshmen, right, and
they got you. They got to the uh, they got to the final
four. He's same ages, So what the hell is the difference there?
You know? And then you know, to to your point on uh,
I forget you're at the point go oh yeah, attempting twenty three points and
they knew it's only all seasons. People. People are joking on social media
about that guy. Somebody made the comments say that someday down the road when
there's Goky is. He is teaching social high school social studies. He's going
to tell his class how he dropped thirty on Kentucky in the NCAA tournament,
and nobody in his class is going to believe him because you've got better players
than that guy, and you let him beat you, right, almost single
handedly beat you. What the hell? Take the loss and take what comes
with it, which people are saying, how do you keep him? They've
got one tournament when in in the last four years and you're Kentucky. You
know, I think Arizona fans should should kind of learn from this because we
few Arizona right as a powerhouse. And although last year they had an early
exit, there's there's other teams that deal with with much worse that are are
that's here as well. Yeah, oh yeah, I mean you know,
look, Bill self is getting in a pass because of the injuries, right,
I mean, Kansas should have lost less, right, so they're getting
you know, but he's getting in the pass this year because of the injuries.
He's won a couple of national championships and everything's honkey dooy frohim. Tommy
as is just older than dirt, so you know, his you know,
Michigan State isn't what Michigan State's been. Duke has flipped over their their coaching
job, you know, but those fans are all they're okay. Kentucky fan
is a different breed and they're gonna they're unhappy there. You know, getting
to the n c DOUAA tournament isn't good enough when you're Kentucky. You gotta
you gotta win some and he's not. And but I think is I think
his buyout is something like thirty million dollars thirty or thirty three million dollars something
like that. But you know, do they have that kind of money in
in Lexington, Kentucky. I don't know. Yeah, So yeah, whenever
things like this happen, I think each year we typically have a blue blood
go down early. There's just coaches on the hot seat everything. This is
why, this is why the tournament is what it is, right yep.
And you know Bruce pearl Over at Auburn, you know, he was in
the final four just a few years ago. So there, you know,
Auburn fan isn't going to lose their minds over this. But you know,
I mean it happens to teams, you know, it happened in Arizona last
year. You know, we'll see Produce still got to play today, so
I don't you'll have to wait on that exactly. And on the other side,
you see you know, powerhouses taking care of business like Yukon. Yukon.
Yeah, Yukon today they look like that was that was me playing against
my five year old son in the driveway office. Those guys. We have
some other news that I want to touch on that that might also impact college
basketball down the line. So the NBA G League Ignite which kind of became
a pathway for for high school basketball players that that didn't want to play in
college but wanted to get pro experienced before entering the draft. So that is
now actually going to be shutting down. So I think the trend we might
see now is those top picks either going to Europe or we'll stay here in
the States and play college basketball. Because so many of the top picks recently,
we haven't even played college basketball. They just joined the league. Interesting.
Also the Elite League, yeah, the Elite One, Yeah, yep.
So do you know the reason why it's shutting down. I'm not sure
the particular reason they I did. I was reading up on how there's a
ton of draft eligible guys that right now don't know what to do. So
some of them may go on to Europe and play, but I think we'll
start to see a trend of seeing them playing college again, just because a
lot of the most recent guys have been committed college. The dude that just
committed to Arizona a few days ago, he had the G League in his
top five and he ended up committing to Arizona, so maybe he saw something.
I'm just surprised that the team folded like that because usually they produce at
least two players in the time they do. They do interesting interest. Yeah,
I'm sure you guys have the merch for for all those right now,
we have the cards, don't How has that business changed for you for you
guys, Well, everything's changed with the nail deals in general, so now
we see cards with Kylin Boswell, Caleb Love and all that. So it's
nice. It's great. These kids should have had cards and and got paid
all along, so it definitely it's it's nice. Sorry about that. And
then moving into the Phoenix Suns. Last night, a guy that you actually
mentioned on the show, Devin Booker, he had a thirty last night in
a win. How have you seen as far as the Suns fan base,
because you know, Jay, I don't know if you realize this as well,
but it seemed like the Suns didn't really have a fan base for for
that stretch and then that finals run with Yeah, Devin Booker. Now it's
kind of ignited everything, right, They all of a sudden found a bunch
of fans for sure. Oh yeah, even I watched some some Son's game.
It paid a little bit of I mean, I you know, I
went to the first Uh, the Phoenix Suns came down here in their first
season, played an exhibition game at Catalena High School. Oh wow, Dave,
Dick van Arsdale, Connie Hawkins I think was on that team. Dave
Byng was playing for the Piston. I've only been to one other Phoenix Suns
really since then. And you know up there, I went to a game
up there once and that's it. You know, I just don't down here,
They've just never had an impact. They've got their following up there,
But I don't know about you know, it's it's I don't think it's a
widespread all over the state. I don't know what what you know, you
see it more trending intitutes on more. You know, like you said,
to have these star players. They don't like Kevin Durant, but Devin Booker
is their own. So yes there is and we do some a lot about
Phoenix Suns. Surprisingly, but yeah, you do see a lot more.
Obviously it's a Phoenix team and may always be a Phoenix team, but you
do see more fans out here in Tucson, that's for sure. Yeah.
I had one more topic here I wanted to bring up to you guys,
and it involves Coach Prime in Colorado and their unusual recruiting style. I wasn't
aware of this until the story came out. And Coach Prime, actually they
don't do in home business. He does not do in home visits. I
saw a little bit about that that I didn't do. Well. You know,
his explanation made sense, but it's just not what the college coaches do,
which was right. He doesn't go to him home business. He says,
they want to see how I live. They don't need to. They
don't need me to see how they live. He said, they want to
come here, they don't need me to come to them. You know,
when you think about so many coaches made a living off of getting into somebody's
house, getting with their parents, and the you know, Loot was one
of those guys, you know, the the great college coaches who they you
know who they were the closers, right, the Nick Saban Nick Sabing comes
to your house, you're going to Alabama, right, and he's taking the
opposite things, and he's basically saying, you know, I'm the I'm the
big cheese. People want to see me in my environment. I don't need
to go see them, and only you know that's a bit rog Yeah.
There again, it's very arrogant, right, But on the one hand,
it kind of makes sense, right, and I think part of it is
the n I l as far as the student athletes. Now, maybe the
mentality for for recruit is okay, what are you what are you giving me?
Rather than the opposite, right, what do I get if I come
there? And unfortunately that is true. There is dollar signs on that,
you know, and there has to be a number which is you know,
and it's getting worse. But yeah, so yeah, I mean I it
sort of makes sense. Again, It's not the way things have done.
And Dion's not doing things the way they've always been done. And well,
yes, is it or isn't it, George? They went to what four
and eight last year from a one in twelve, so a little yeah,
you're right, yeah, but they didn't they didn't go they didn't they didn't
go eight and four that you know, he didn't flip the whole thing over
in one year. But they sold out the games they brought me the other
you know, right, the attention that came with Deon Sanders being the coach.
Absolutely sold out that you know, there were people at their games,
but they still didn't win a bunch of games, you know, So we'll
see this year, we'll tell us more because look, Jed Fish did that,
right, he went one and eleven his first year, five and seven,
and then then this last year, you know, okay, so yeah,
they you know, they won, they won four games, and they
created that hoop loot at the start of the year, but it didn't didn't
know if they didn't go to the distance. So we'll see what, you
know, what he does. But you know, I mean, people are
running out because of the tension the Dion's getting. People are not there saying
that Shador Sanders is a better quarterback than north f Afita. You know they're
talking about you know, you know, who are the top quarterbacks in the
Big twelve and everybody keeps putting I'm sorry, nor Fafita beat Shador Sanders at
his place. So you know who's the better quarterback? Right? I mean
head to head the way I say, our duo is number one in the
country for sure. Oh absolutely, yeah, So you know, it's it'll
be interesting to see. I'm what's a very unusual style. We'll see if
it works out in the long run. But and you know, and and
the immediate response when somebody starts doing something different like that is Okay, that
can't work because that's not how we've always done it. Well, it can
work, It can work, all right, Okay, we're at a good
job. On that said, we have Justin Spears coming in Joyce. We'll
talk hello football with Justin, but we also talks in basketball with him from
there's on the Daily Star and the Wildcaster. So we appreciate Justin joining us.
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Steve Ravia and Jacob Solis they have their Eye on the Fall on Tucson's
sports station, Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. Welcome back on the ball here
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host, jagon Zales usual partner in
crime. Steve Rivera's in Salt Lake City. He was on with us last
hour. You can check out that that interview and our interview with David Jablonski
from the Dayton Daily News on our podcast when we get that posted tonight.
I've got George Mitis here from Showtime Cards Sid the Intern and on the phone.
We've got Justin Spears getting ready to talk some football with Justin. Spring
practice is starting next week. How you doing, Justin? Thanks for joining
us. What's up, guys, how's it going We're good. You know,
all's good in Tucson because there's only still in the tournament, right,
Yeah, that's great. The sun is shining. Everybody feels good. The
restaurants are busy, people are hanging out, and everybody's happy as we watch
the SEC go down in flames in the Pac twelve dominate this tournament. Jay,
the most important part, and that is not only is the sun out,
but it's not at the point where it's ridiculously hot. Exact, we're
not touching our thermostat exactly, just keeping it off right now. It's hands
off until I don't know about another month or so. I mean, this
is like, this is the best time of year. It is golf weather,
Buddy, golf weather. So justin you know, we're going to talk
to spring football with you here in a second because that that gets started next
week. But you know you're a fan, right uh n Cuba tournament?
Man? Uh what what? What do you? What? If? What
are you thinking about? What's going on? We're getting the upsets like we
always get, except it's not Arizona this time. God, you know,
it's just been fun so far this last couple of days. Yeah, and
honestly, It's just a microcosm of the entire college basketball season. There's been
so much parody in college hoops this year. I mean, you really don't
know what you're gonna get. You know, Arizona has been the best team
in the Pac twelve all year long, but man, you look at some
of their slipuffs that they've had this season, including you know, Oregon State
and others. So there's just a lot of parody in college basketball. I
love seeing, you know, schools that I mean don't normally make the NCUBLEA
tournam I mean, we're talking about Dukane. The only thing I knew about
Dukane was TJ McConnell played there before he came to Arizona, and I knew
that it was. But they haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since nineteen seventy
seven. And they're over here pulling off an incredible victory, Oakland beating Kentucky.
You know, people think Oakland, they're like, oh, the Bay
Area, they're Rochester, Michigan, and David Hasselhoff briefly attended the university and
that's proclaimed the fame. And they're over here beating Kentucky in the first round
of the NCAA tournament, a team that has a bunch of five star prospects
and guys who are going to be household names in the NBA, and they're
getting cooked from three point range by a guy named Jack Golkie who looks like
a future enterprise rental car man. That's what's so great about college athletics,
guys. Was so great about college basketball is that a team with NBA players
which is getting torched by a guy who we may never heard of, never
hear from ever again besides this, beyond this season. So I've been very
impressed of the n c doua A tournament and and it was also good to
see Arizona get off to a fast start and you know, overcome Long Beach
State getting back into the game and pulling out a twenty point win. Yeah,
that was fine. You know, somebody made the comment on the I
don't eve want to keep trying to pronounce the name of the Oakland guy,
but somebody said that, yeah, yeah, that that someday, someday he's
gonna be telling his h he's gonna be a high school social studies teacher and
he's going to tell his class that you dropped thirty on Kentucky in the NCAA
tournament, and they're just all going to go, no way, no way,
no way, you did that. But that's pretty cool. So all
right, so let's talk. Let's talk about the spring football starts next week.
You know, practice gets going. You know, Brent Brandon kind of
held down the fort, but you know, keeping you know, the core
of the team. You might say, I mean lost a couple of guys,
but you know, when you think of the core of the team,
you think of two guys, no fa Fida and and Tetroy McMillan. What
what are you most curious about about what you're going to see in starting next
week? There's going to be a lot of things that I'm looking forward to,
But you know who's going to be the other pieces in the offense that's
going to compliment Titto Roe McMillan. To know Fafida, I mean, you
already know what that passing tandem is going to do this upcoming season. It's
one of the best quarterback receiver duos in the country end of the country.
But who's going to replace Jacob Kwing at that slot receiver who's been very productive
in that position the last two years are is it going to be Malachi Riley?
Is going to be Kevin Green junior who they're very high on. And
I think Kevin Green would definitely get some looks at the ones in springball at
the slot receiver position. And then Montana Lamonious Craig. You know, one
year at Arizona. You know, how is he going to build on top
of that of his one year with the Wildcats? And is he going to
be a guy that remains in the starting rotation. So the the pass catchers
besides t Mac those are the guys that I'm looking forward to. And then
of course he at the tight ends with Keyan Burnett, with Berto Miranda who's
originally from Germany, and we have we in the media have nicknamed him Dos
Grunk. He's a very experienced guy who's been here for a lot of years.
I think that he's entering his fifth or sixth year if I'm not mistake.
I can't remember off the top of my head. But you know,
he's a guy that's very great at pat run blocking. How how is he
going to be implemented into the offense. So there's still some question marks on
the offense I think their their strength besides no Fafita and T Mac is their
offensive line and bringing back four out of of the five starters from last year.
And of course you know that missing piece is a first round option in
the NFL draft in Jordan Morgan. But you have to feel really good about
yourselves with the guys that you have that that could play tackle. I mean,
Jonas Savinea, I think at I tackle is is great for him.
I mean, I'm I see big Jonah Moore as like a guard at the
next level. But I mean, hey, getting reps at both guard and
tackle, that's going to get a lot of eyes on you. And I
think big Jonah when it's all said and done and when it comes to this
time next year, will be an NFL draft pick and be a first rounder
along with T Max. And that's pretty cool, like right, Like Arizona's
going into this upcoming season and they have a couple of first round picks potentially
on their on their offense. Ye, so offensive line would be good.
I mean on the other side of the ball, looking at defense, I
probably say middle linebacker alongside Jacob Manu. Danny Gonzalez, the former New Mexico
head coach. He's now the linebackers coach and also the special teams coordinator.
He's going to have to determine and not this spring, but at some point
who's going to be Arizona's next linebacker alongside Jacobnu Is it going to be Justin
Flow? Who is going to be at another with an year another year with
the Wildcats? But it's also you know, is it how different is it
going to be than working with Johnny Manson? And is it going to be
essentially ground zero for a guy like Justin Flow? But Justin Flow is the
most explosive tackler they have. I mean when he is dialed in and stopping
the run in just a physical freak all over the field making plays. He
is a very dynamic linebacker and you can see why he was a five star
prospect and the number one linebacker in the twenty and twenty recruiting class. So
middle linebacker is huge. I mean, besides Justin Flow, they also have
Camoela Kaivu, the second year player or soon to be second year player from
Hawaii, Tay Brown as well from Chandler Hamilton High School. They've also signed
some guys as well, So I'm curious to see how linebacker goes and who's
going to be the other cornerback besides Tacario Davis. Takaro Davis decided he's going
to stick it out at Arizona and be Arizona's top cornerback. But the Wildcats
also lost Ephesians Price Sock in the transfer portal. Who's at now Washington,
Who's going to start at that cornerback spot? So a lot of question marks.
We'll definitely see how the roster and the depth chart kind of shapes up
over here over the next few weeks. You know, I think you'll agree
that, you know, we we expected justin Flower to kind of knock our
socks off, especially when when you walked in the room in a half shirt
that one time and you said, how can that guy be you know,
that agent look like that? But did last year? It's sort of in
my mind, we didn't see what we kind of expected to see. How
much of that was adjustment, how much of that was what was it that
he didn't kind of set our you know, set the room on fire?
Well? He was so effective in games where teams ran the ball a lot,
Like Mississippi State, they completely changed up their offense, They went from
Mike Leach air raid, we're going to pass it fifty times a game,
to hey, we're going to actually run the ball a lot more than we
do pass and justin flow in that game against Mississippi State, was all over
the place making plays. And then you know, other games throughout the season,
you could see him against running teams and honestly, having a player like
that is a good weapon to have when you face those those tough, hard
nosed teams that always run the ball. But you know, we also saw
him against you know, Colorado, We've also seen him against other you know
teams where you know, they were throwing the ball a lot, and he
kind of got lost in coverage a little bit and wasn't really effective in the
passing game. And then that's when Arizona would have to deploy the dollar package
and have Jacob Emanu as the ring leader middle linebacker or as we saw later
on in the season, Wildcats moved to Martel Irby from back of nickel back
the guy who's been playing defensive back in their entire life, to now playing
middle linebacker. Because a player that that versatile and who could cover passes and
cover receivers and the guy who also is really good at tackling. You want
a player like that out on the field. So I think that Justin Flow,
I mean, if he can he can really dial in, and I
mean he's already been a part of the culture. He feels really welcomed here,
like he's you know, really a part of Arizona. I really feel
like if Justin Flow, if he can focus up, if he could really
be effective as middle linebackers this year. Interesting we're talking to Justin Spears football
be writer Arizona football, being writer for the arizon A Daily Star. I
think it's funny that I'm looking at the at the coaching staff. Brent Brannan,
who basically was a child when Duayn Aquina and Dino Babers were we're here
at Arizona, uh, you know, in their spots, and now he
got the band back together and they're in their back How How how do you
how do you think that whole I know, relationship is not the right word,
but just the you know, the the connections that they've longtime connections they've
had, are going to play because while while Brent Brennan is you know,
kind of a young guy Dwayne Keenan, Dino Babers have some miles on them,
and you know, and I think I'm being nice by saying that,
but you know, how how was that whole relationship going to work? That
these guys are here working for Brent Brennan. But at the same time,
I think Brannan probably feels good enough in his skin to not have a problem
with these guys who you know, are much older than him and much more
experienced. Sure, and they've seen Brent Brennan, like you said, when
he was a baby, when he was his work, you know, starting
out as a coach. But Brent Brennan's also had He's had a lot of
coaching miles on him too, and has always remained connected with the Dick Tommy
disciples. And you know, I spoke with Dino Babers, the Arizona offenseive
coordinator, and he said, this was the only job I've would have taken.
You know, I was probably gonna take the year off, but then
as soon as Brent called me, I was I was all in. And
a part of it is one the respect that Brent Brennan has gotten from these
guys, but also, uh, these guys kind of feel like they owe
it a little bit to Dick Tomy to come back and give back to the
school where they had so much success at. Dwayne mckina, I mean,
he loves Tucson Arizona. Dino Babers hasn't been a Tucson in a while,
but he really loves this place and appreciated his time as one of the go
to guys or the right hand man for Dick Tony. So I think,
you know, having that part of it is so important to a lot of
these guys. And you know, just because they got they have some savvy
veterans, doesn't mean that they don't have some young blood on the roster on
their coaching staff. Chip Viney, who their their quarterbacks coach he played at
U c l A, is a the guy who's worked under Dwayne Walker who
used to be the quarterbacks coach at Arizona when Jet Fish first got here,
and he got a recommendation from Dwayne Walker. Plus Chip has been working under
Brent Brennan. So he's a young cornerbacks coach who, hey, you got
to give him a ton of credit. You know, he kind of you
know, talked about Takaro Davis or talked to to Cario to keep him in
Tucson. And also, I think a big part of Takaro Davis coming back
too, and this is so big is going up against t MAC every single
day in practice, that one on one matchup. If you want to get
ready for the NFL. That's as good as it gets right there. But
going back to what we were talking about regarding the coaches, and then there's
the big one. Well, speaking of t MAC, how about Bobby Wade
Bob as the coach, a guy who's still very young and one of the
best receivers in program history. I think him mentoring t MAC and grooming him
getting ready for the NFL, I think is a great scenario for Arizona.
Don't be disciples. I like that. Speaking of Team Mac, and you
talked about this earlier. He's going to be a first rounder obviously, could
be an early first rounder if he goes. I mean, could he be
one of the great Arizona pros like Ronk and Foles and Bruce Ski? Is
he going to be one of those type of guys in the pros? Oh?
Sure, I mean he's a He's already one of the most productive receivers
in program history, and he's on pace to break Bobby weights record for sure.
So I mean I'll ask Jay, you know, I think Team Mac
if he breaks all of Bobby Way's records and he's statistically the best receiver in
program history, where do you put him on the hierarchy of all time Arizona
football players? Because I know you got to put up you know, Ricky
Huntley, Chuck cy Sold, Teddy Bruski. I mean you got to put
it in the College Football Hall of Famers. But I'm wondering from your perspective,
like where would you put t Max if he was able to double down
on last season. Well, part of it's going to part of it's going
to depend on on if this becomes a memorable team, right. You know,
Bruce Ki played on that ninety three team that stands out as one of
the top teams ever, even Ricky Huntley while he was on a great team
that was saddled with the probation, and people always felt that that eighty three
team could have been the best team Arizona ever had, but they got probation,
then they lost the game and it just kind of fell apart for them.
Uh. You know, Cecil was just you know it was Chuck Cecil.
But you know, part of it will depend on how memorable these teams
are. You know, does this team win a Big Troof championship or does
it get into the College Football Playoff? Does he win a Player of the
Year, those kinds of things. You know, if he does, where
would you put then you put him up there because I'll tell you. Let
me tell you justin you know, I know Bobby Wade holds all or he's
you know, he's got the receiving record. I don't know that he's even
in my top five of Arizona receis in terms of how good the receivers were,
because now you're got now you're talking about uh uh uh uh. I'll
go all the way back to t Bell, I'll go, I'll go Dennis
Northcott, right, I'll go to God. And I'm trying to blank on
all these guys. But you know, guys like that who you know,
were great, great players, you know, in in their own right was
time was Bobby Wade one of the best, Yeah, of course, but
he also played at a time where they weren't that good, right, And
so you know, even though he's got all the records of Jason Johnson all
right, set the year he played, set the set the passing record for
Arizona. I like Jason Johnson, He's been on the show, but I
don't consider him one of the great quarterbacks at Arizona, even though he held
the passing record for for a while. So part of it is going to
depend on how good the teams are, that that that the team a and
if this is his last one, what this team does, and what you
know, and obviously would know if Fafiita does. You know, Gronk was
great, but Gronk people forget Gronk really played one full season for Arizona,
and and you know he's he's been. He's become a great Wildcat because of
what he did in the NFL, not so much because of what he did
here. So it's gonna there's a lot of other factors that go into whether
teamac will be considered the best receiver. Ever. It would help if he
owns the records, but I think it will help if this team this year
is really good. There I've got I think the expectations he had coming into
in terms of the modern recruiting era, I always make sure I put in
modern recruiting era comes to the website because when people say, like, oh,
he's the highest rate of recruit in program history, it's like that,
But there were so many great all American type players that were coming in and
out of you know, the college ranks in the nineties. Yeah, but
in terms of you know, the last couple decades, team AC is the
highest rate to recruit that Arizona's ever brought in. Yes, and he moved
up to every single expectation and it has turned into, i mean, really
one of the best wide receivers, if not the best wide receiver that Arizona's
ever had. Yeah, and he's going to be a first round pick.
He might be the first wide receiver taking off the board. Yeah, and
you know, it's been a while since Arizona's had a first round pick.
But man, a guy where I mean, he's a bona fide top fifteen
pick. Yes, that's what we're talking about when it comes to t Mac.
Yeah, you definitely have to start putting him in the conversation with the
grons, right, and Arizona has only had a couple of a couple of
guys you know who've been taking that high ever, So yeah, absolutely.
I just thought of another one. Derek Hill again. Guy was he was
a beast of a receiver. He got saddled his senior year. Dick tolm
Me came in, they started running the option, and he already saw the
ball. So you know, there's a whole lot of factors that go into
into all of that, but uh, it's certainly already. Yes. Is
he one of the best ever? Yes? Is he the best ever?
Again? More factors to come. Hey, justin thanks a bunch, man,
appreciate it. Uh, I know you're gonna start getting busy. My
wife is going to tell you make sure you get that sunscreen on when you
start heading practice. You know, we don't want to see any pictures of
you out there and all red faced to the whole bit. I'll send her
over and she'll be really upset with you. Oh well yeah, And ever
since that day that I got cooked out there and you and your wife freaking
save me by putting screen on me, ever since that day, I've always
brought in at least two bottles on friend. There you go, dude,
All right, man, well, get ready to get busy. Thanks for
joining us today. We do appreciate it. And Uh, we'll keep an
eye on your stuff in the airs on the Daily Star. Hey, thank
you guys, be well, thanks, all right. Justin Spear is always
a great guy to have on good stuff, you know, he's Uh,
it's funny sitting here. I'm excited now, I'm spring football. I want
to see what Brent Brandon's gonna bring. You know, what's the offense gonna
look like? Right, all those things, It's gonna be fun. All
right, let's take our last break. Would love to take your calls.
Five two zero, four, one, six, seventy four, forty.
We've got one more segment to go. His show's going really fast. A
lot of stuff happening, a lot of things going on in the in the
NCAA tournament, and we're we're gonna rag on the sec when we get back.
So stick around. Yes, if you're an Arizona men's basketball fan,
you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now. Take a look
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Steve Ravera and Jacin Salez they have their eye on the ball on Tucson
Sports Big Chef, Fox Sports fourteen to fifty, streaming live on the iHeartRadio
wapp. Welcoming back to walking on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I want to
thank Justin Spears for joining us from the Arizona Daily Star, David Jablonski from
the Dayton Daily News, little earlier, Steve for calling in during his busy
Egga covering the Cats up in Salt Lake City and George for being here showtime,
Showtime cards and said, man, a whole bunch of guys, it's
been a it's been a fun day. We're talking. It's been a fast
day this especially this time here. There's so much to talk about that everything
goes by. Yeah. Yeah, we're just talking about our Joe Montana jersey
up here to George gave us an estimate of about five hundred dollars for it.
But you know, if that if that jersey were to not get back
to my sister, I think it would be more than five hundred dollars damage
to so. But uh, now we've got this Joe Montana signed jersey and
here so but the studio overall has got issues, but we are who we
are. Hey, been a crazy day. We've seen another couple of huge
upsets in uh college basketball. Auburn goes down to Yale, Florida goes down
to Colorado. SEC teams are taking it in the shorts. There're one in
five. All five of those losses were losses as higher seeds. The Pac
twelve, on the other hand, which most of the season was a two
bid league. Everybody's saying in Arizona and Washington State were the only ones that
didn't get in. Colorado snuck into a first four game. Oregon got in
because they won the PAC twelve tournament. Actually they're five and oh if you
count Colorado's win in the in the first four, So the PAC twelve is
five and oh in the tournament SEC one and five. But the people are
already joking yet. Greg Sankie, the the commissioner of the of the of
the SEC, he's going to start demanding that the SEC get automatic bids into
the sweet sixteen because they're trying to do something similar in college football. But
it's been fun to watch, Yes, it's been fun to watch. So,
uh, you know a lot of good points made in the last couple
of days on Arizona. Uh, you know, people were worried that they
were, you know, because of what happened last year. They've won their
first game. They've got a game against the seventh seed tomorrow. It's obviously
going to be a hard game, but yeah. In his press conference today,
Tommy Lloyd talked about three guys who are key to yesterday, the first
being Kylin Boswell. He you know, he had a huge game, one
of the best games he's played in quite a while. The question is,
you know, can he put together another game? But Tommy and his press
conference day talked about Kylin's game yesterday. Coach and silly Arizona BBS, you
guys are nineteen and one. When Kylon Bosball scores ten or more points in
a game. From your perspective as head coach, how have you seen his
offensive game progress from last year to now? You know, Kylin is a
growing player. I mean I think we still forget. I mean, you
know, he's young. He should be a true freshman this year. I
mean he's he doesn't turn eight, he doesn't turn nineteen for another couple of
weeks, so you know, he's still young. And so know, maybe
there's been some inconsistencies there, and that's probably due to just his lack of
experience. But but I see him growing, and I see him growing by
the day, and and we all know when he plays well, I mean,
there's a good opportunity that we play well. And so I was proud
of how he approached that game yesterday. Though those aren't easy games, I
mean, those are big moments for for any player, but especially a young
player on that stage. And and he did a good job of just playing
basketball, you know, not making it more than it is. It's it's
literally the same game we've been playing all year. And and I think if
you can approach it like that and and play your normal game, which his
normal games aggressive and physical, you know, he's gonna have a chance to
be successful. So we just needed him to stay in that lane and that
gives us obviously gives us a better chance to do well. Yeah, you
know he uh, we know he can do that, right, He's just
got to do it again, right, right, And the numbers show you
know that's well when they when he does it, and when he's not good,
we lose. So he's the factor. And even with Caleb, but
Caleb love having the bad shooting day that he had yesterday, but he did
a whole bunch of other things. But even with the way Caleb played yesterday,
you know, they blew this team out because Colin Boswell was so good,
right, and he's not going to do it. He's going to come
on shoot well, right, a shooter is gonna shoot. He's going to
keep shooting, and at some point he's gonna start making him. You know,
Steve and I have talked to a number of times and we we we
check out the analytics of this on Evan Makawa's a website. It's Evan MYA
E v A N M I y A dot com puts a lot of stuff
together. It's funny because at one point Paela Larks was, with his analytics,
was considered the most important player on the team, a high straighted player
on the team. Now it's Jaden Bradley, but Pela is still up there,
and pel is important, you know, And he's kind of an understated
guy, does a lot of things, so he never he's never the best
at something in a given game, but he does so many things defensively,
hustle. I mean, how many times he beat up all year long.
And if Pela has a good game, Arizona generally has a good game here.
And Tommy talked about that as well, about Pella Larson and the importance
of him to this team. Yeah, Tommy, Steve Rovert allsports toos dot
com. Can you talk about the importance of having Pella played very well given
I guess some analytics say that he's probably the most impactful player you have per
minute because he does so much. Yeah, I mean, he Pella is
really good. And I don't need analytics to tell me how much he impacts
us. He impacts every possession at both ends of the floor. And he's
a guy that gives you everything he's got. He's get a guy that has
great attention to detail, plays with amazing effort and energy. And then offensively,
you know, he's smart. I mean, he knows what we're trying
to do and how to execute it. And and you know, if we
get knocked off our path a little bit, he knows how to get us
back on it. So we really value Pella and everything he brings to our
program. You know. And again this is the perfect example of this.
In that Oregon game in the pac Cluff tournament they lost. He had four
turnovers in the first half. Those things showed up later, you know,
that helped Oregon stay in the game. He doesn't make those four turnovers,
maybe it's a different result, but that's the kind of that's the kind of
presence that he has, and that if he's not doing those things, if
he's not turning the ball over, you know, he missed some he missed
some some layups yesterday, but he kept doing things. He made some key
three pointers, he kept playing defense, diving for balls, he does all
that stuff. Again, that's another guy that's bringing a lot of different pieces
to the table. Absolutely, and even coach said, you know, his
basketball IQ was really high. He understands he's kind of a leader, like
unspoken leader on the team. So he's gonna get out there and do his
thing tomorrow, right, And all these guys have to after the last piece
of this real quick, you know, because we're about to go is Keishad
Johnson. And you know, he held things together for them with his three
point shooting. He made some key three pointers that you know, when when
when Long Beach State was kind of giving him a run, held things together
for Arizona. That was something that Tommy said they have specifically worked on nice.
Well, it's something he and I talked about in recruiting, you know.
And then obviously we watched a little film on his shooting technique and it
looked fine, and you know, so we talked and I told him maybe
that's one thing that we would like to add, is maybe a little more
shooting from our four position, and he's done a great job. He gets
all the credit. I mean, he's really worked hard at his shooting and
gotten to the point where I'm really comfortable, Like every three point shot he
lines up, I feel like is going in. And you know, I
don't have the stats in front of me know exactly what he's shooting, but
I know it's made a really positive impact on our offense. Overall. It's
his ability to step out and shoot threes, especially in those corners. You
know. I had one of my friends, one of my fan friends right
tell me that he closes his eyes when Keithshon linees up to shoot a three
point. I'm like, Tommy feels pretty good about him. So now it's
different. Now we're confident and hey, we'll take those exactly. Every time
your four guys out there hitting threes. That again, that changes, That
changes what a defense has to do. And I think this also speaks not
only to tell me about the staff and what they can do right, because
for a little while there, when Arizona had for the early exents, people
were beginning to question Tommy and the staff and the coaching development. Yeah,
and this proves that that they can bring in a transfer guy a veteran guy
and improve right, and he's a he's a key and you know, and
when he's in there rebounding and he's aggressive and he's physical, and then if
he's out there making shots, you can't ask for anything more from a guy
in this type of tournament. Every game, as we gel and get better,
you make a run and who knows where we can You never know?
All right, Gay, great show, guys, no nice job. Appreciate
you guys being here. Thank you again to Justin Spears, David Jablonski,
Steve Rivera. Be sure to read his stuff on All Sports, Tucson Arizona
nine Tucson Time. Tomorrow morning sets you along arms, get your tradiso and
eggs, your bacon and eggs out, and then the women play at twelve
thirty. They've got Syracuse. They're up in Connecticut their first round game.
So it's just great Saturday, a great weekend. We'll be back on Monday
to break it all down, so be sure to come back listen to the
podcast. It'll be up tonight so you can hear what went on today.
So thanks for being here all week. Thanks for everybody who's here. We'll
talk to you on Monday,