Steve Rivera and Jacome Solens. They have their Eye on the Ball on Tucson
Sports station, Fox Sports fourteen fifty. They welcome back toying the ball here
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, you're jacons Ows and I
hope you have some breaking news. This is High on the Ball breaking news
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I have some pretty interesting things going on.
UM. Let's start with the fact that the media day football media days are
are underway. Big twelve is holding their media day today. I think it's
a couple of day event. A few comments coming out of there or Brett
Yourmark, the new Big twelve commissioner, who's been very aggressive on the expansion
on the expansion front, on the TV deal front, pretty much said that
you know, they're still open for business, UM, but nothing nothing imminent
right now. He said, if they have they're gonna have fourteen teams this
year because Oklahoma in Texas are still in the league for one more year while
they're adding UM Houston, South Houston, Central Florida, BYU and Cincinnati.
Then after next year they go back to twelve. So he's saying that,
you know, they'd like to get to fourteen, maybe sixteen and see what
they do. But nothing, Uh, there's also kind of you know,
wait and see, he'd kind of he's kind of saying, I'd like to
see things kind of calmed down, so we'll see what happens. But you
know, still a lot of mention of Arizona and Colorado maybe possibly you know,
adding to that after this next year or whatever. But um, he's
just kind of saying, you know, they're it's nothing. It's not done
yet. So that's that's one of the things. Mike Gundy very vocal about
Oklahoma leaving and saying that the rivalry with Oklahoma is over. He said there
his quote was the Bedlam game is over because Oklahoma chose to leave the Big
twelve period. It's got nothing to do with Oklahoma State. He was asked,
he says, do I like that? No? So I like that
conferences are broken up? No, but conference ree alignment is going on.
So he's basically said, that's that's kind of like the Texas A and M
Texas thing. But now Texan M Texas are gonna be back in the h
in the same in the same conference here pretty soon. Um. He didn't
cover this the other day. I should have probably covered it yesterday. Um,
the Bay Area Panthers at the end of Football League won their game on
Monday night. I mean, the Sugar Skulls will not host a playoff game,
so you're done after Saturday. I've got a game Saturday finale. They've
got Green Bay. Uh. They can still finish third or fourth in the
league, so they want to win the game to stay in the three spot.
The fourth place team is gonna have to play theirs on the Rattlers in
the first round, and I think they'd rather not. Even though they beat
in the Rattlers, you know, they'd rather not have to play them in
the round. Rattlers have gotten hot since they got their quarterback back, so
they would they would face Bay Area at Bay Area. They play in San
Jose and they've beaten him there, so you know, six and one on
the road. Steve, they went six and one on the road and they're
two and five. Makes a zero sense. But they've got a home game
with the Bay Area I mean with the Green Bay Blizzard. Uh. This
Saturday at six o'clock Fan Appreciation Day, they're giving out some stuff, so
think about coming to coming to that game six o'clock at the at the Arena,
close out the season. Um, they're eight and six right now,
so they've clinched a winning regular season. Social see what happens there and we
will have hurt his chin, the head coach of the Sugar Sculls on tomorrow.
Okay, all right, Um, stuff going on there is on a
baseball you know, the draft was earlier this week. A couple of guys
that didn't get drafted. One was a Tony Bullard, the third baseman,
who I think a lot of people expected he was going to get drafted.
He did not. He assigned a free agent contract with the Miami Marlins.
So he's, uh, he's got a place to go. And uh and
and then uh kind of a surprising um uh, a picture has gone into
the transfer portal. Guy by the name Up. He is a Pima kid.
He was Aiden May. He's the one that started the game in the
World Series at the in the Cultural Series. I think that's what you had
read. Yep, yep, yep. And so um, he's uh he
went five and three, everybody thought. And he's in the transport doesn't mean
he's gone. He can come back. And you may have been that he
just got into the transfer portal to check out his options. He didn't get
drafted, but he is in the portal which closes, I believe tomorrow.
And so, uh, he pitched twice in the PAC twelf tournament, started
twice in the PAC twelf tournament. So he's, uh, you know,
a guy that they thought they might hang around. So like like most Arizona
pictures last year, he's got a high ERA, but you know, do
you think that he can be a good a good picture for for Arizona.
And then then another another guy, a guy who was transferring from Pepperdine,
Shane Telfer. Another starting pitcher was Donny the Chance report was alleged to come
to Arizona, but he has signed a free agent deal with the Diamondbacks,
so he's not going to play the Arizona either. So looking at Brian Peterson's
easy desert swarm stuff, Arizona still has eighteen pitchers on the roster for the
twenty twenty fourth season. Eight of them are newcomers. They did lose.
We've mentioned Lake Walters, Uh, their their top recruit who went with the
forty fourth pick to the Kansas City Royals. And he is pro deal could
be worth around one point nine two million to Arizona. No um, all
right? Uh. John Rosty posted some interesting stat He posted the returning scoring
by percentage for Big Ten Basketball teams, and the three at the top are
all in Arizona schedule. Ya Wisconsin returning ninety two percent of it's scoring,
Perdue returning eighty eight percent of it's scoring, and Michigan stry Corps returning eighty
three percent of it's scoring. Those are the top three teams returning there scoring
veteran teams, and Arizona's gonna have to face on their schedule, just as
we've said a bunch of time, a great schedule, that's yeah, and
that's part of the charm of the schedule one and you know it should get
you better for for March. You'd like to think that, right, And
let me tell you again, I see this one thousand times. Nothing what
happens in November, December, January, everyway means nothing to March. Right.
You got all these games, say you go split all those games?
Yeah, that's fine, right, you played them, right, You're gonna
get credit from playing them. You win a couple of them, that's great
too. At the end of the day, you know you're you're you're as
they say, your body of work is what matters. Sure, there'll be
a good seed obviously, top four probably and then guess what March. The
first weekend of March happens. So first first game in March, tournament game,
right, and there you go, maybe the pressures. Hey, perfect
example twenty seventeen, eighteen, whatever it was, they win the pack twelve,
going away, everyone thinks, oh, we're back there. They're gonna
set for a run. Four days later they're coming back from boys, you
saying, what the hell just happened? Oh? Man, you don't remind
me? All right? Mentioned the National League won the Allstar Game on yesterday.
It's very happy with that. Happy about that? No, No,
I was st I didn't really care. I was a little bit surprised the
American League had that big stretch of of streaks of wins since twenty twenty nine
in a row, man nine in a row. I don't like that.
So I still want the National League to to do well. Um. A
couple of golf tournaments coming up, both in uh in UH the UK UM.
The Scottish Open starts actually for US. It starts tonight at eleven o'clock.
I'll be up watching watching some of that tonight and then the British Open
is next week, so do okay. So guys, you know a lot
of the guys that you know, we're going to play in the British Open,
they go up there for the Scottish Open, so because there is a
PGA tournament in the US. But it's kind of like for the guys who
aren't going to be able to play in the British Open, you know,
the Justin Jordan's speech and Justin Thomas and all those guys, they get out
there, Rory mcory, they get out there to play in the Scottish Open
so they can get it past all the jet lagging everything else and be ready
to go for the British Open. So that starts tonight. You can watch
that on various channels. They think it's on Peacock US and still still going
on. I think to the quarterfinals or the quarterfinals are running there to the
semi. I think I saw a note that, um, the last American
man mail is out. He just lost. Yeah, he's just learning no
American males left in the in on the men's side just lost today. Yeah,
yeah, today, and and so that's like I don't know the first
time however many years that there isn't even an American in the semifinals. Some
big number on that one. But you know, I used to really pay
attention to Wimbledon. Yeah, and you know, but you know the Jimmy
Connors uh um uh uh what the hell's his name? John mcelroe. That's
a long time you board, you know, and then and then you know
the female side, you know a lot of those. Yeah, yeah,
I know what stopped? Well, you know what, you know, that's
you're talking about a different thing there, pretty girl who complete tennis. Yeah,
I'll tell you what. Speaking of that, I said, I did
see recently the Caroline was Niaki, who was very attractive tennis player from Was
she the one what's his name? She dated Rory mclard for a while,
but she got married that she's had a couple of kids. She's announcing a
return tennis. Did you even know she was gunn or whatever? I can't
remember. She's from Denmark. I think I want to say Denmark. Um,
so she'll be bad. But oh here here's one coming across it.
This is the the uh, karma is a bitch thing. Larry Nasser the
Oh yeah, I remember did you see that the doctor he got He didn't
just get stabbed, they cut him up in prison. He got uh,
you got assaulted pretty badly in prison. I think I'd stabbed like eight or
ten times or something like that. Um. I think he's still alive.
But uh, um, you know he's uh, you know one of those
things that you go into prison, but that kind of a conviction, you're
gonna be a target and he has to do so kind of sad for that
sad thing all the way around. Shouldn't make not making fun of it.
But dude, just bring bringing it up. But you know, I mean
that all that stuff, man's just so bad. All right, that's all
I got. Man, What do you got? Okay, No, that's
you covered the baseball stuff because I was gonna talk about Tony Ballard and the
other guy who left and decided to leave. Uh. It's it's funny how
your home may not be paradise. You come and you hope to do well
and then you say, yeah, well I gotta go. Yeah it happens
all the time. Yeah, what's happening all the time. Now, okay,
and well you know Tony Bullard's um uh eligibility was up, so you
know he was gonna so good for him that he got, you know,
gets gets a chance somewhere. That's because that's you know, once you're you're
a guy in that position, all you want is a chance somewhere. Sure,
So if he gets a chance, sure, sure, everybody's dream.
So I'm just kind of a commentary I find, you know, the uh,
the uf A Athletic Department has been putting out basketball promos, you know,
the double head that's up in Phoenix and then the game in Phoenix against
Alabama. It's interesting to see who are sort of the faces, right,
So on the on the promo graphic they did for the double head where the
men and women are both playing, you got Helena Puao and Kylin Boswell.
And then promoting the Alabama game, the neutral site game up in Phoenix,
it's Henry Vassar, who's sure hasn't even been a starter, right, so
he's the guy that he's the guy on the graphic because say what you wanted,
they're saying, oh, we're just picking the guy. A lot of
that. It's like Okay, who sells, and so they've got to Henry
Vassar doing that. I thought that was really Henry. And I think the
guys really gonna sell is the is Boswall. Yeah, yeah, I'm kind
of Boswell, you know you everybody expects him to be the starter, you
know, but yeah, boose on social media, so they all know these
other guys they're gonna start. Well, it's July, for God's sake.
Relax. Oh here's one. Uh do you watch Hard Knocks? Have you
ever watched? Really? No, I've never seen even an episode of Anyways,
the New York Chats with their new quarterback Aaron Rodgers have been picked to
be the team that Hard HB was gonna follow around, right? That ought
to be really you know, I did watch it a little, or you
don't want to because back in the day, a few years ago, the
Arizona a wide receiver or whatever guys, uh, the friends of ours who
got on the team for the Rams and then he got cut at the end.
One of the good guys, one of the wide receivers, didn't have
to come to me, you know me and my names, but you Knowdanley
berry Hill, No, no, no, no, no, this is
like five six, seven years ago, and he brought him in and he
says, we really like you. Yeah, yeah, but your cut,
but sorry to see you go. Yeah, I don't know. I again,
you talked about behind the scenes stuff, and you know, we've been
back there and I'm not particularly interested in seeing what goes on. No,
Camp the Wizard, the Wizard of Oz was a perfect example. You don't.
I don't know what the Wizard looks like. It's kind of funny,
which kind of true, you know what, it's kind of want to know,
it's kind of true. It's kind of true. No, I agree.
I mean, I don't know. But there's a market for it obviously
because they keep oh sure of course they keep they keep doing it, people
keep watching it, and uh and and so you know it's uh, you
go with it, right, So anyway, So but the the interesting aspect
is that Aaron Rodgers isn't this one. You know, they never did a
Packers one, right, So it'll be interesting to see how he and you
know, he's such a he, he's he he's such a manipulator of the
media. So we'll see what he get what he does with this thing.
Yeah, we'll see what happens. Okay, well let's just go all right,
let's go and take a break. We're gonna come back. Sam Thomas,
uh former on a player. I think you all know her, also
with the Phoenix Charactor. She's got a backball basketball camp she's running on Saturday,
Arthur Justis Community Center. Ship. Come in and talk about her camps.
Let's stick around for Sam Thomas. We'll be right back. For more
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put the work in for you. Steve Rivera and Jakin Salez they have their
eye on the ball on two sums Sports Big yet Fox Sports fourteen fifty streaming
live. I mean, iHeartRadio WAP they welcome back to on the Ball here
a Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, here Jakinson, welcome to
I on the Ball. We're just waiting for Sam Thomas right there. Give
it a buzz to talk about her. Sam Thomas group can this Saturday ages
eight to eighteen. They're gonna be in three groups, ages eight to ten
in the morning of eleven to fourteen, mid day and then three to six
pm fifteen to eighteen. All kinds of stuff going on there, so I
wanted to give her a chance to talk about all that. So hopefully she
hasn't forgotten about us. It's just really busy, which I'm sure she is,
right, So we'll have her in just a second. So you know,
it's it's cool that you see again I talk about the saltim these athletes
who still stay in Tucson do stuff like this. You know. I mean
she's from Vegas. She could just be you know, going to doing stuff
in Vegas or whatever. But you know that she does this stuff at home
and that athletes, you know, continue to do that. I think that's
really cool and a good person. Yeah, good person. And she's and
she's put herself out there. You know, two years ago or whatever it
was, she was doing the sid work right, I'm so very visible for
the football program, right and doing Juie basketball. One day she had you
know that that that clock that is the time out clocks that they walk out
on the field and they hold it. There's yeah, to hold that one
at one of the games. I'm like, it's hot as hell down there.
One. They say that thing as heavy as hell. Um. But
you know, just seeing her do all of that, that was very cool.
It was very nor anything else. You have six foot tall uh,
you know, a person out the woman out there holding this clock and just
running out there was kind of cool. Bit you know again very uh you
know, just stuck around two something was very cool. Yeah, I love
that, love that she does that. And then you know people know her.
I mean, she's really well known, so hopefully she gives a call
here in a second. Um. You know, we were talking about,
you know, the two basketball teams and and who you know, who are
going to be the faces for those and stuff like that. You know,
I mean we've seen how you know, both Ada's and Tommy Lloyd's rosters have
turned over quite a bit pretty much, but you know, you still got
guys, you still got you still got ladies that are you know, very
visible. Helena play being one of them. It's like her fifth year playing
at Arizona. Um, she'll be somebody that you know, will uh he
will be a big part of what they're doing. Colin Boswell, you know,
made a name for himself, particularly in the second half of last year
to be able to uh uh you know, kind of be one of the
guys. But you was figuring womar Ball is going to be one of those
guys. But you know, after that, it's kind of like everybody else
is sort of going to be new. I mean, I guess Palla Larson,
Um, we'll see how much they use him for stuff like that.
Yeah, but he's he's kind of like um Pelly's a lot like a Zulus,
where he's got no visible personality. What does that mean? He doesn't
he's not a he's not Ben Matherin or he's not he doesn't. He just
goes about his business. Right, he's not Daling Terry. Yeah, you
know, one extreme to the other. Right to me, at least in
my mind, that's kind of the best way to explain it. He's got
no personality for for being visible. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Well, yeah, he's just kind of blessed his heart. Yeah, it's
just he goes, he goes about his business and doesn't do him exactly and
he exactly he just Julis was the same way. I wonder if Zulus would
have been more personable, uh, more personable and more and he is who
he is because he's he is personable. He's just very you know, if
he's a foreign a foreigner who doesn't know the language, that will it would
be like me going to somewhere that I can speak the language. I'd be
using my hands all the time. Uh. That it may have held him
back right right, you know he did give us this. Oh yeah,
and that's all he had to say. That interview was it was. It
was one of the classics because because of the Sean thing. Remember he said,
Sean, we were ready? What we were ready for the game?
Oh? The guy said you were ready? What he was that expression that
he gave us on that day, that was that was pretty talented. Now
it's kind of like you knew, oh, they're not gonna have a good
practice. Yeah, and I don't want to be at that practice. Oh
I kind of would have would a mind had seen it, seen it from
the side. Oh that's interesting, that's what they said. Oh okay,
pretty funny. All right. So we're still waiting for for Sam Thomas.
Hopefully she'll give us a call here in a second. Um. But you
know, it's uh yeah, but you're right, I'm gonna agree with you
at Pali Larson. He's he's out there does the work. It doesn't say
a lot, no no knock. He's just the way he is. He's
not Kerr right right, He's not ben Um not as you say. He's
not Dayal Terry, he's not dealing Terry. So those guys had a lot
of personality. He just goes about his business. And this is a crucial
year for him. It is crucial year for he wants to if he wants
to play at the next level. Yeah, he's got to do a lot.
I think I think that there were some higher expectations for him, very
much, so very much he than materialized for him last year. Um.
And so it's kind of like, Okay, you know, we gave you
that one out. You got to get out there, right, no question,
Jay, how you ask you this dozens of times, if not more,
Um, who's the shooter? Who's the shooter? And you kept giving
me um, uh Courtney Ray Raymy. It should have been Pelly Larson.
It should have been with the reputation and all that, but it never.
Never. Henderson ended up, you know, getting his starting spot, clearly,
was more comfortable coming off, did some great things, helped him win
some games, and uh, and now he's you know, but Pelly,
you know he's gonna be in the starting lineup now, Well, he's gotta
be ready for we don't know who those transfer we don't know how good those
guys are gonna be. Yeah, Um, because I really think Philippe is
gonna be good. Really gonna have an impact. Yeah, he's gonna have
some minutes on Tommy. But you know how it is, we say,
oh, they're gonna have depth this year, blah blah blah. Teams don't
have they have depth, but they don't really use it because you have your
core guys. That's like you coach, you coach, right, Yeah,
you had how many on your roster? Really and they were good? You
were go, don't go, don't go ahead of it? Should your roster
had twelve? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you could depend on how many
three exactly to my point, to my point, and you had strategic had
to strategically put them places. Yeah, that didn't two and three hitters,
No, But actually we had one really good team that got to the state
semi So that team had you know, in the in the the division that
we were in, we had eight good players. Well and that's and that
and that's why we were really good because we had hitters beyond the fourth spot.
Now, the last couple of years we didn't have that that you know,
we weren't that deep in our roster. We had guys, we had
guys started for us that it was the first time they'd ever played baseball.
So you know the depths, the Lord giveth and the Lord man. He
did, but you but you have to have depth. And if you have
depth, I'm taking eight good and eight good Forstall because you're not gonna go
Arizona have depth this year, right, He just didn't go with it.
He didn't go well. He didn't feel it was developed enough to be able
to count exactly. So he didn't have that, right, Well, that's
my point. He has people, but the depth was not there. He
had guys on the bed. But you get a sense that as you say,
guys like Borovich and uh, guys like vas like this new international guy,
are they going to be what Harry Vassar was last year? Are they
gonna be what Morvachan was last year? And takes some time to develop And
what kind of a step are these guys who were here last year going to
take this year. That's what it used to be, Steve, right,
Remember it used to be that, you know, the guys on the court
were juniors and seniors. It took a while for the guy like Sean Elliott
didn't come around very often where he was going to start from the go and
be exactly to be really good The charm of Loots teams back in the day
was they had six solid dudes, six dollar dudes, and they had the
Jason Terris who were able to come off the bench and get better by playing
the Simons and the Dickersons. The Reggie Gearys came up and they played better
because they were played against better competition. Yeah, the B team was pretty
dark good because they had in the face to eighteen. Yeah. Yeah,
back in eighty eight, eighty nine, come on, you had those starting
five with a pretty good, solid group behind right, and then eighty nine,
but a group at that time that you knew the role. They knew
they weren't starters. You know, Harvey Mason knew he was not a starter.
He wasn't He was a really great high school basketball player, but he
knew he should not be starting. But if you remember you Rids Chap,
you're right, Yeah, they don't think that right away. Nah, not
right away, they don't. They get him. I think I'm good,
and then they get there and they all of a sudden, Sean Elliot's on
the court, Steve kurginating sixty percent of his three pointers. Craig McMillan,
you know, was a quote unquote a five start, you know, coming
up all of a sudden, these guys are really damn good. Sure,
and you're a sort of ordinary sure, yeah, until you get your time
right time. One of the things in this in the book was Damon talking
about Sean Allen. You remember shann Allen, Right, they became good friends.
Shanny Allen was gonna be the next Sean Elliott. And he got here,
didn't want to sit, didn't want to sit. He leaves and later
tells Damon because they're still friends, I wish I had never left. Yeah,
I wish I had never left because I would have become that player that
I wanted to be. Right, and you got to work at it.
Yeah, and especial so much taking your taking your hearn it's recognizing where you
are. Well, that's right there. How many people don't, you know,
they don't recognize right. They think they've been told their whole lives this
guy, and they get the ill that guy's that guy, and that guy's
that guy. That guy, and that guy's probably better than you right now,
right and probably as he leaves, the next shows up. Well,
you know, you know, just wait, look at the look at jet
Fisher's quarterback situation. Right, He's got he's got Jane Delora. He's got
no Fafita sitting there who probably could be starting in a lot of places.
He's got this kid from Colorado right now who's now committing. Right there's do
they go get this kid from Mississippi who's decommitted. You know, these quarterbacks,
it's like they get in there and they all want to play when they
get here, and that's kind of like, wait, you know there's other
guys here were pretty damn good. The good the good thought for Jet though,
is that he has somebody's capable of coming in right away in case something
happens, if needed. Isn't that how it's supposed to happen. It's a
host, dude, But this day in age, those kids don't want to
sit around wait and see if they're gonna get their their chance to play?
How many? How many laughed? I mean rich Rod had he loved what
he'd say. I love collecting quarterbacks. But if you didn't play, um
um not dah, he would have never been seen. It doesn't get hurt.
The other kid doesn't get hurt. Right, yeah, right, no,
I I yeah, I mean it's it's it's it's sort of a weird
thing and it with you know, and then when you now start throwing in
the ni all stuff, that stuff that really complicates everything. Sure, I
get it. It's like having your best kids. You have five kids and
well, you know you gave Johnny if you know, a sucker, can
I get to you know, you're giving your kids playing favorites and blah blah
blah games. Don't tell mom I gave you five bucks. Blah blah blah.
You know, you know, it's it's it's it's these politics, Yeah,
politics with money. Yeah, well I guess said this politics. All
right, So I'm gonna I'm gonna see if we get get Sam for the
next segment because we're running out of kind of time on this we're doing.
We can go to break now and come back about her camp. But uh
uh so it's you know, yeah, I mean, I just god,
I can't I can't imagine all that you've got to think about when you're running
a program and to make you know, like in basketball, yeah, you
gotta keep fifteen guys semi happy, when in football you've got you know,
pretty much eighty some guys that all got here thinking I'm the guy. Sure,
because that's you, that's your scholarship and your bottom. You know,
don't don't have that. Your walk ons are just scrapping for anything they can
get. And then some of them get yeah, some of them. Some
of them get in there over the scholarship guys and out scot like, what
the hell happened to me? You know? So that's why I see so
much movement. Uh okay, So we well, we now have Sam Thomas's
phone number, so we'll give her a call here during the break. So
let's go ahead and go to break. Let's do that. We'll call her
after the and and get her on after the break, so we will be
right back. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been
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Radio Act. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Ja Gnzalez
on Fox Sports Sport Team fifteen. They welcome back to on the Ball here
question fifteen. I'm Steve Jacobs as for still waiting ton eighteen minutes before we
close. Yeah, I'm guessing that Sam Thomas got tied up with something unexpected
because she's not been responded to our attempts to reach her. So, okay,
I have to you know, you're get this out of ourselves. Okay,
Well, here's the thing. I'm looking at. Bruce Pascals in the
middle of his uh of his UH cover five his five most memorable games on
the Arizona be Okay, started with it. He started with number five.
He's working from five to one, so he's he's down. He's up to
number two. So number five game that I barely remember, um with the
team with the Chase biding your team losing to UAB at home. Do you
remember that at all? No? Didn't it was? Yeah, it was
They fell seventy two seventy one to visiting UAB in an early round game in
the twenty Yeah, two thousand and eight and I keep yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah, yah yeah, I'll give you an example. Did so let's
put it in perspective. So I started covering the team in ninety one,
Bruce came in ninety nine. Is two thousand and one. Um, so
that was the year. Don't forget. I'll give you the um. Oh
god, I hate my memory. This was two thousand and eight. No,
no, no, I want to give you two thousand and eight.
Yes, two thousand and eight. Yeah, okay, maybe it was my
last year covering the team with the paper or second of the last Chase money
eager. I was going to tell you that you're right because because because what's
his name was not on the coach? Yeah, what's his name? Miller?
Sean Miller. It was, um who's the one that had the last
shot against connect Yukon missed the shot Jr. Don't you remember the call when
he called time out? That was that was this game? That was this
game because the next game we had to I'm gonna tell you a story here.
Uh so he could called the time out, which no would ever do,
right, Yeah, you just don't know time and place. He calls
up a time out, they lose the game. They gotta go to Georgia
and playing a consolation game in front of ten people in Georgia. It was
horrible. It was horrible. I do remember that. Yeah, because if
Jemal Horne he called the time out right, and then then he did it
again about three weeks later he did it in the USC game. Was seeing
that, Yeah, I was watching that in a restaurant. I'm like,
it's one of those things where the TV screen is up there, I'm not
hearing anything, and I'm like, did your Melhorn just found that? Guy?
Purposely did? He said, he just did that. And you're at
the time, you're you're fifties, fifties, you've seen the first time you're
seeing I've never seen that, Danny, you had seen it again by the
same person two months later or whatever, months like exactly, all right,
So that's his number five is number four. I had it here just a
second. Um was when the San Diego State uh um uh Nick Johnson Bunnies
block to win the uh the Diamond Head classed. Yeah uh And again that
team turned out to be really damn good, right. That was a Stanley
Johnson. Was Stanley Johnson on that team? No, I don't know,
here's a little before here's the guys that there's there's um forget his name,
the kid who broke his foot. Oh, actually Brandon Nashley. I see,
I see between both of us. Tarshevski. I see, uh well,
remember his name is actually supposed to pronounced Tarschevsky. Really you never saw
that. Somebody asked him in a story that you know, he said,
how do you how do you really pro He said, it's Tarshchevski and he
said, wasn't pronouncing Tarzuski. So why don't you tell us? He said,
because it was fine. It was like just big like what's his name?
The running back who turned and turned to be the DV Darrel Lewis?
Yeah, how many ls do you use? Too? Well? He never
told never told us, right, I see Nick Johnson, I see Kevin
param Um whilst I see in there. You got a call, got a
call. Let's see what this is? Higher on the air and I on
the ball. Hi, Sorry, this is Sam that I missed the show.
We're still on, so we're we're we still got some time to We're
glad you called, so we appreciate you are on the air. So no,
you know. So you know, well, thank you for Paul.
We appreciate it. You got caught about summer League. Okay, all right,
we hear you, We hear well, we do. We still appreciate
you calling one to talk a little bit about your camp coming up or camps.
I don't know if you call one camp or if it's three camps,
but it's your camp coming up on on Saturday, and how people can can
sign up for that and come and be a part of it and what you
know, what they're gonna get to do. So just feel us in in
general. What's your what's going on on Saturday? Yeah, So Saturday,
I'll be hosting the second Sam Thomas Hoop Group. Super excited everyone at the
jccast and helping me put it on. This year, we're actually able to
give scholarships to some kids, so m we're doing three different age groups this
year. We're doing six to ten, eleven to fourteen, and five to
eighteen. So UM, I had the link in my bio on Twitter and
Instagram. Also Jick visit um the Tucson JCC and it should be up there.
But yeah, we're just looking to teach basketball to the kids and twos
and I feel like there's always opportunity in Tucson to teach the youth about basketball.
They seem to be eager. There's just not a lot of opportunities.
So I'm hoping that I can, you know, kind of be a source
for them, hoping that they can have fun. And yeah, we're gonna
be given away some prizes, so I'm super excited. Can you talk about
the importance it is to you coming back and doing this for a community that
help you out so long so much? Yeah, I mean it means everything.
I don't think I could give back to this community as much as they
have given me. I feel like I can host as many camps every day
and it still want to be enough. I mean, this community, this
team has just you know, they I grew up here. I feel like,
even though you know, it's only five years of college, I just
feel like I really developed as a human being, a person, and so
I just want to give back as much as I can help out the youth,
and of course always support Arizona well, Sam, somebody you know from
here, a larn Year, grew up here. I've always appreciated, you
know, people who come here from other places and stay or keep coming back.
You know, I think of people like you know, the the Huntley
brothers who came here so long ago and are still here. Uh you know
all these you know, people like that who maintain these connections in Tucson,
and you know, seeing you, you know, continuing to come back and
do this stuff. What is that that makes you do that? You talked
about how this community helped you, but there's got to be more to you
must I mean, what do you like about Tucson that makes you keep coming
back? Yeah? I just think it's like a home away from home.
It's so easy to call it that. You know, there's no professional sports
teams down in Tucson, so everyone really invests all their time and their support
into Arizona. So you know, you go to the grocery store, they
recognize you. You go, you're walking down the street, they see you,
and you know they care about you. They follow you on Instagram.
Hem you like, lets you know how much they've changed their lives, their
kids lives and so just actually hearing people take the time to tell you that
and not just be like, oh, you're a great basketball player, Like
they really care about you as a human being, and how you're doing.
And you know, it's been crazy to say two years now since I've been
gone away, but it still feels like it's home. Everyone's still checked in
on me. They all, you know, message me, let me know
how proud they are of me to keep watching me. So it's just great
to have that family aspect, right right, right, we'll go back to
the camp in a second. Let me ask you, You've had a great
career here. What do you think your legacy is or will be. That's
a great question. I hope my legacy would be what I came here to
do and that's changed the program. I want to be known as one of
the you know, it's one of the girls on the team that helped change
the program, put Arizona on the map. I think, you know me
Ariy Kate, we've done a great job of doing that, just you know,
building the community and now we're getting you know, some of the top
recruits. We're competing with Yukon South Carolina organ we're competing with all their recruits
who kids are choosing us. So I just want to be part of that.
And you know, obviously we have that banner hanging up in Mchao,
so that can always be part of the legacy to help people remember. No
no, Kenny, So a little bit more about your camps. So you
said you've got three age groups, So what are they going to get to
do and what are they going to get to experience when they come to your
camps And how are the different age groups, what are the different things you
do with the different age groups. Yeah, so we actually have contact physical
therapy helping out as well. So they're going to be teaching the kids the
importance of stretching, taking care of your body, staying hydrated, eating right.
So we're just gonna start with that, and then obviously based off the
different age levels, we're gonna definitely play a lot. Love playing, so
we're going to be scrimmaging and then just learning some different drills, keeping it
nice and easy. Just want to make sure they're having fun and they're learning.
Obviously putting in that defense because we love defense over here at Arizona.
But yeah, I just want them to actually, you know, take something
away, whether it's you know, they learn to keep their elbow and when
they shoot, or to stay low on defense. You know, they don't
need to remember everything at the camp. I just want to be able to
take one thing that they really stuck and took away with them. I think
we have DD Wheeler on maybe a work or so go. I think you
showed up their for their camp, correct, Yes, I will. I
will be there on the last day. Okay, So you'll be there on
the last day. So between you three, add Um and Felicity, I
mean, you got the the the young youth of the girls in this town
covered, which is great. Yeah, we're good to go. We're taking
care of it, which I think you you you mentioned there's the girls need
to know that this is all available to them. You just gotta work hard
and maybe you become the next Sam Thomas exactly. And you know we need
some two song recruits going to Arizona. So I always want to help them
out and get them those opportunities. So okay, so not tell us a
little bit about your your career. You went up with the Mercury for a
little while. Are you you just trying to keep in shape in case you
get the call again? What are you doing to stay ready to play and
that you get the call? I mean, how does that work for you
on a daily basis? Keeps me busy? That's for sure. Yeah.
I try and stay on a routine obviously, to keep it kind of similar
to you know, the professionals. Waking up at a decent hour, going
to bed at a decent time, getting the workout in in the morning,
trying to get scrimmages, because I feel like whether you run ten miles or
you're sprinting as hard as you can, nothing gets you in basketball shape,
like actually playing basketball. So definitely trying to just stay in shape and then
being ready for the call. I mean, last time I got the call,
it was maybe six pm, and they put me on a flight at
ten pm that night, and I was in the game at that noon the
next day. So I'm just always staying how my feet and being ready.
Wait, manute, how the heck do you do that? I mean,
how do you manage that? Oh? It's the love of the game,
That's all I can say. When you love the game, you'll take any
opportunity you can get. When when all this is said and done, what
do you hope to do? Because you have so many opportunities here and you
took advantage of all of them, and you did you know sports information?
You were you were out in public what do you hope to do. That's
a good question. Um, I know, for now, I don't think
I want to coach. I think I want to, you know, do
as much as I can in different spots. Whether that's you know, doing
more of these camps, doing speaking events, I don't know. I don't
want to be necessarily a coach of course at the college level yet, but
I think I want to learn more. I like doing behind the scenes work.
I learned a little bit of that my time at Mercury. How many
different opportunities there are, so, you know, here at Summer League,
I'm definitely you know, getting connected, staying in touch with people, just
trying to see what I can do outside of basketball. So a minute ago
you mentioned, you know, when we're talking about your legacy, you mentioned
couple of the players that we were key to the time that you were here.
Uh, Aery McDonald. You talk about you know Kate who's down in
well when she was in Australia. Now she's I think in Europe somewhere.
How much do you all keep in touch and what do you keep in touch
about? Um, yeah, we definitely all keep in touch. I would
say it's maybe a few times in Manses because we're all so busy. You
know, Kate's on a different time zone right now. But of course whenever
we're in the area, or you know, Arizona's playing and it's a great
game or something like that, We'll always keep in touch. And Aery helps
me when I was with Mercury my first year, just you know, trying
to keep me motivated, stay positive. So it's definitely we're definitely a family.
Whether we talk, you know, every day or once a year,
we definitely it's a bond that no one can ever break or explain. So
does has a dear been watching you play and then calling you up in Tony
You need to do this, you need to do that. She's still coaching
you a little bit, Yes, a crazy hours of the night. So
I'm surprised to you. I don't know how that woman sleeps yet he updated
you know, it's giving me all the advice. So she's definitely checking in
as well. So you've mentioned Summer League a couple of times. Are you
in Vegas helping out with the guys. Yeah, I'm in Vegas right now.
Um, you know, just catching up with some of the alumni.
I got to see zoo Zulus yesterday. So just saying hi to everyone networking
and yeah smart, Yeah, you're a smart girl, doing exactly what you
should be. Are you still doing your clothing line that you got that started
while you were down here? Is that's still a thing. No. I
ended that when I went with the Mercury because you know, the um the
purple is a different color for me, so I decided to let it go.
Okay, all right, just curious, okay, So all right,
well Sam, we do appreciate you taking the time to give us a buzz
where they again talk about your camp and where people can go sign up for
that. Yeah, so the camp is this Saturday. Everyone can still sign
up basically doing six to eighteen age group and you can sign up on my
Instagram, my Twitter the links there or go to the tooth on um JCC
website. It should be up there as well. All right, sounds great.
Well again, best of luck with that and everything else you're doing.
And we do appreciate you taking the time. Thank you. Thanks for having
me better late than ever. Thank you, Sam, cool man cool Look,
you know what I knew she was gonna call it just a matter of
you know, getting she was in the middle of something, so you know
what she was in Vegas? Man, Yes, you know you're in Vegas.
I'm not calling you. Hell no, forget that, man. All
right, Well that was good. So again, well, uh, you
know, we'll both put both the links to Sam Thomas's uh camp as well
as the physicals that Banner's doing up on our social media tonight, so everybody
will can come looking for you. If you can't remember where to look,
look at our social media and you'll find that. So we'll definitely get that
stuff up there. All right, man, it's been fun, man good,
a pretty good day. Sometimes, got a little bit of time if
we got about a couple of minutes if you have a call for any of
that. But we're gonna be back tomorrow with we're gonna be talking some Sugar
Skulls with Hurt his Chin, the head coach of the Sugar Skulls who have
their season finale and it's the home finale on Saturday at six o'clock. They're
taking on the Green Bay Blizzard, a team that hasn't been here before.
So you're looking for something new there, go, you know, go check
out this game. It's your last chance, last chance to see them unless
they win their home they win their playoff game and the Rattlers lose, then
the Sugar Sculls could host a playoff game, but for now it looks like
this might be the last chance to sea him. And then John Perlman,
uh, the president and owner of FC Houson, will be coming in to
talk about their last weekend at home as well. Right right, So okay,
some and then we're gonna close out with another great guests guests on Friday.
So good week, so far, so Goodn't it been fun? I
know we we took Monday off by accident, but we're trying to make up
for us. But you know, man, it's again. It's you know,
you think it's it's not going to be busy, and it's busy.
All this stuff going on, I mean, things bouncing around all over the
place. Uh, we're again. We're starting to get football media days.
The PAC twelves Media Day. PAC Twelves Media Day is next Friday, right,
so that's uh, you know that's coming up. We're still waiting on
the PAC twelve TV deal and some some word about expansion to San Diego State
in the league or not. Is SMU in the league or not. You're
starting your conversation. There might be two more out there somewhere. It could
be and you know, I know that we we uh on John Wilner and
John Kenzano's last show. Um, they talked about they thought it was going
to be this week and here we are on Wednesday. You can said that
for fifty two concutive weeks and you're strike fifty two. Obviously, it's been
crazy crazy. I don't know what to say. Just be patient, yeah,
be patient. Whatever. Our listeners texting me, what's gonna happen again?
He says, I said, uh, you just gotta hold on.
It's gonna hold on. And it's like, you know what it's gonna be
like he said, anti climac, But it's just nothing Burger. It's gonna
be what would be I don't know what would be anti climac. I don't
know. They just do the They just do a TV deal and no expansion
and stuff, right and then wait wait for that later. Yeah, come
on, wouldn't that be perfect? Yeah? I mean that that would be
about the speed of what's going on. I packed well and people would say
pack of we'll talk more about this tomorrow. Would you blame collect George?
Do you blame him for any of us? Know that this all started a
long time. That's a long time, Okay, all right, we'll be
back tomorrow. Be sure to check in. M Let them