WEBVTT

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This is I on the Ball with
Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports

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fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services
and Sure your most Prized Possessions katz R

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TUSA at iHeartRadio Station. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the

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Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, Jay gonzaus is

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still off who knows a field return? Now we have Javio Morales from All

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Sports Tucsun dot Com in with me
from my guest host and our guy Kevin

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working the boorts. Welcome everybody to
Monday. A lot of things went on

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over the weekend have year you bur
more witness to at least one of them.

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So much going on? You know
the baseball tournament that was going on

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at at Cornmost, at Sanst Field, at Hi Corbett Field. I was

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at the game that was on Friday
night. They lost a GCU more almost

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nine thousand people there. How did
it? You and I both covered Triple

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A baseball for for a few years, at least for me. You probably

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did a little bit more. Saw
pc A PCL championship I think in one

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of those years. How did it
compare well? In fact, I was

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talking to Fader yesterday, Mike Fader, the former GM they had they would

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have crowds about ten thousand during the
playoffs, during the playoffs during like July

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fourth Holiday with the fireworks show.
So it wasn't the biggest crowd in High

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Corbett history. It was the biggest
u of a game at High Corbett because

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you know, some games they actually
had fans sitting in the standing room right

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right right, I remember that.
So it was, but it was.

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It was great for for Arizona,
great for Tucson, great for college baseball.

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You just wish that Arizona would have
delivered in that situation. You know,

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could have been another big crowd on
Saturday night or bigger, you know,

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as big and then what what was
the crowd on Saturday. I don't

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think it was as big, I'm
not I couldn't be sure. It was

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hot, it was hot, yeah, so, uh, you know,

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I think part of the reason we
could talk to Michael lev about this at

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four fifteen, and part of the
reason they did struggles they were at home

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a lot of distractions that were coming
off two big wins in secutive weeks where

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they're at sky high and then they're
they're in there at home, and I

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think I think mentally it was just
hard for them to get that that machine

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going again, mentally distracted. You
said, yeah, we'll get that with

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Michael, because I want to hear
what both of you think about that being

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at home. You said, which
is you know it's that's plagued Arizona basketball

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all these years of being in the
west, exactly right, And you and

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I both covered up in ninety seven
when they were not close to home,

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and they did very well, and
everybody says, well you played to you

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know, stay closer to home the
fans. It means nothing. It doesn't

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mean anything. I've been doing this
job so long. I'm well aware that's

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the case. Well, look,
the only time they won the championship is

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when they went through the Southeast region
right right, so they and they were

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basically on their own. There was
obviously you have traveled them, but it

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wasn't like they would be on the
West coast. And I think that helped

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a little bit. That helped that
they were in their little bubble, their

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galvanized from it. Yeah, and
I think that that helped them. We'll

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get to that because I want to
hear your theory on why they won that

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why they won that year, because
I don't think you and I really discussed

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it. We've written stories like crazy
on it throughout the years, and in

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fact, you posted a lot of
them on the anniversaries solving stuff like that.

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But we'll talk about that maybe in
the last hour, last last hour

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of the four o'clock cour So today
were pretty good show. Thank you for

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getting Ali Skaggs former Whe'd you go
to high school? She went to irend

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Ridge the last year her senior year. She was born in Tucson and she

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lived back in Kentucky and then her
family brought her back here and she was

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playing that last year to get ready
to go to u of A. Oh

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Okay. Of course that was a
COVID year, so she didn't really I

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think she only played like nine games
and Iron Ridge. But she is a

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native Touson and and I think a
lot of fans, local fans really really

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drawn to her, you know,
kind of like the popular figure that you

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know, you have a fans latch
onto, like a Steve Kerr and you

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know, players like that. I
think she has that personality very very endearing,

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and she she says she's going to
be back at at Hill and brand

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next to to watch the U of
a play. She's not going to just

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disappear, right right, so you
know, be interesting. He's talk for

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in a few minutes, right right. So there's your stink peak. We're

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going to have Ali Skaggs here at
about three seventeen in the first hour,

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and you mentioned Michael lev at the
four o'clock hour. We'll talk to him

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and I'll ask them the same questions
I asked you. Well, just about

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the team and what the heck happened
with the baseball program. He might have

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a different theory than you, but
and mine, I don't have a theory.

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But being at home, you're talking
like it's a disadvantage. Well,

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you think about the pressure that you're
under because your families are there, your

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friends, you your You've got that
thought that you had to you know,

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you're around them after before and after
games. It's not like just you're with

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the team. You know, you're
not with the coaches. Isn't that what

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you played for? You played for
at home and have your friends and family

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buying you, cheering you on.
Sometimes it works for you, Sometimes it

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doesn't. I mean it should have
worked for Arizona, but because they've won

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some really thrilling games behind that fan
presence here, it's kind of like momentum.

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Sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. Well, yeah, I know,

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I know you and momentum. Yeah. So, but Arizona went on

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a big we just call it run
in ninety seven, yes, okay,

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but there was a lot of you
know, momentum from that to build into

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that run. Sure. I think
Arizona that you know, we we can't

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forget about pitching. The pitching didn't
hold up as usually did, and they're

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playing some great teams there. There
was some really good teams, right.

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And then also I think that there's
your in my mind, there's your there's

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your answer right there, pitching an
idiot just failed them, right, and

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stuff like that happens, especially in
baseball. Yeah, and that these were

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these were good teams, every single
one of them were good. West Virginia,

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Grand Canyon, Yeah, Dallas Baptists. I think Arizona didn't get lucky

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with that draw. They got lucky
to are fortunate, I should say,

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to get to host the regional.
They didn't get lucky with their field here

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because that was a tough well,
the thing is in order to be to

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be successful and go deep into the
tournament, you still have to be good

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at what you're doing, whether it's
a tough regional or not, because you

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have to get through it. If
they would have been shipped somewhere, they

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would have said, well, they
deserved a host, right, or maybe

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they would have said that, and
then they go to somewhere somewhere else and

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you're thinking, well, that's a
tough regional and they have to play really

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well. They got snake bit on
two different In my mind, I didn't

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see much of it, and I
just saw how great the season ended for

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them in the games. Maybe they
got lucky in the last games and a

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few games that they played just the
reverse, if that makes sense. I've

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heard criticism like the PAC twelve is
down this year. They won the regular

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season in conference championship, but the
PAC twelve was down, so that helped

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them out. But I mean,
look at Oregon State. Oregon State,

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I think there when at last I
saw today they were up against UC Irvine,

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so they're probably headed the super Regional. I don't know what the final

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and that is, but Oregon's in
the super regional. I think the PAC

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twelve was kind of top heavy,
but then you had teams like USC and

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ASU that came on strongly. Yeah, cal so, I don't I don't

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really buy too much that the Pac
twelve was down. That's why Arizona was

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so success. So Arizona was Arizona
was good. I mean they had some

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good pitching. They have three pitchers
on the first team all Pack twelve.

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I mean that rarely happens, if
ever. And they had some exciting plays,

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some what eight walk off wins.
Yeah, that's a good team.

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If you followed the team and you
were a fan, you had a great

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time enjoying the games. You followed
them, and I don't know how many

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people do follow them from top from
front to back. But at the back

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end they had some fans going to
games, which, of course you know,

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and I know you've been here all
your life and I've been here a

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while now that if you win in
Tucson, guess what people do? They

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latch on. I was thinking and
that same thing when I was driving up

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because somebody had messaged me like where
were all these fans? When when they

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were playing in like April or or
or March, they saw that arizonas in

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the in the NCA playoffs, they're
like, oh, let's go, let's

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go to the game. It's it's
uh, you're right about Tucson. They're

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not gonna come out from the beginning
to end. It's going to be whether

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the teams win. You're not sure. And they're gonna show up Tucson.

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Tucson like many other places. And
everybody says, I'm in the rag Tucson

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and U and coaching blah blah blah. That's not true. Uh, the

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Tucson is a walk up place.
Hey, what are you doing, Gertrude?

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Well, I don't know. Simon, what do you want to do?

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Well, Well, the baseball team's
playing at six o'clock, you want

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to go? And they and they
buy tickets and they go right, I

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mean, am I wrong? No, you're you're right. I've been I

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did go to a few games this
year. We had Lori Burkhart cover most

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of the games, but I did
go to watch games. And it was

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that case. You can you can
drive up, pull up at like the

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fifth ending and walk in and know
to the game. And I think some

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people did that. They didn't get
the right the game. They just showed

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up on everything for a while.
Yeah, you know, and one time

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when Arizona was playing on campus at
Wildcat Field and Sansutfield. I remember those

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days where they would get nine thousand
regularly because of the way Arizona was so

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dominant background, they were really good. Yeah, I mean, it was

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kind of like the U of A
with Mike Andre and softball. They they

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kind of established themselves and and kind
of grew before the nation grew, you

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know what I mean in that sport. So they were that they were taking

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over the darlings of the of the
sport, right l Yeah, back in

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the late eighties and early nineties and
throughout the nineties, right, So they

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that's why there was Arizona was so
successful when you know all those World Series

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and college were called softball and in
baseball, I mean, Kendl won three

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College World Series in ten years.
Arizona's never going to do that again,

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probably. So it's they they were
good when they when they they took advantage

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of being good at that time and
won those championship and that's what it has

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established them as traditionally strong. Would
you say, And you know, I'm

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sure because you listening to the show
and Jay's in my argument about it was

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a basketball blue blood. I don't
know if you agree with me or him,

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It doesn't matter if you'd agree with
me, But I would say deep

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down that baseball has more of a
blue blood sense than basketball. And it's

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not even close for national championships.
Yeah, and not just recent right within

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recent twelve. That's kind of reason. They went to the World Series in

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twenty sixteen, in twenty twenty one, so yeah, they didn't win it.

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But I think I think baseball is
the blue bud. I think obviously

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softball is the blue blood. Yeah, basketball, they haven't been in the

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Final four and what twenty three years, and now you are very thin back

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then, or at least watched thinner
back then to metabolism was a lot faster

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back then. Yeah, right,
So I mean, come on, and

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people say Indiana is not a blue
blood. What you established that you don't

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ever kind of lose it. They
just aren't good anymore. Yeah, you

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say a still blue even though they
haven't really won done anything since the nineties

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as far as the championships are.
But they went to three final fours and

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row with under Ben Helen. So
yeah, I uh, yeah, I

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don't think Arizona is a blue blood
in basketball. I think they're one of

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the top programs, top programs,
right, Yeah, And I wouldn't argue

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that because that's true. Jay doesn't
get mad at but no, Jay's I

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think kind of gone to my side
with this. But also baseball, yes,

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baseball yes, even though they've kind
of had a success, uh sporadically

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or not as consistent, but still
good. Right, and look at the

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coaches they've had, Jerry Kendall and
Lopez. Yeah, aination job. It's

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a interesting you know, if you're
going to get a job at l s

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U, more power to you because
the program is gonna pay you a lot

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of money and you're gonna have a
lot of a lot of success because of

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where you're at. Yeah, and
you know, I'm a Chip Hale believer,

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So I think Chip will eventually be
in that that on that level with

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them and not a lot of calls
World Series, but I think he's gonna

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be consistently. I mean, he's
got three regional appearances in the last three

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years. How many times has you
what do you make? I'll ask I

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love this too. Uh well,
I won't ask this question now. I

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hope I remember the level of criticism
he's received over the last three three games.

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Remember, remind me to ask that
question to both of you, so

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keep to keep that thought in your
head. Okay, No, So it's

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it's Monday. A lot of things, baseballotball's over with. I know that

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the track team, you probably you
have some breaking news with that. I

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won't I won't step on your toes. I want step on your top I

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know there's not a lot of there's
a lot of stuff, but just not

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local local. So we'll have miss
Gags here, you know, about ten

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minutes or no, about seven minutes, uh to talk about her career and

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UA softball and where she thinks it's
going to be going to because that's just

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another program that it just needs to
have, like a start, a starter,

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you know, got another fire starter
to get going again. And pitching

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obviously, and we've talked about this
for years now. If you don't get

205
00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:05.159
the pitch and you're not gonna have
a great team, even though you have

206
00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:09.720
a great team. Yeah, Arison
has won championships with good, really really

207
00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:13.080
really good pictures, not borderline pictures. That's what this sport's all about.

208
00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.480
It's always been. Yeah, so
I know, they had some injuries this

209
00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:22.279
year. Nets was out a couple
of they're good, you know, young

210
00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.799
pitchers were out, so I think
that affected things. My Isa Silva did

211
00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:30.320
the best she could. I think
she improved a lot from last year to

212
00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:33.879
this year. So that boat's wall
going forward. She has that experience,

213
00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:39.080
but they didn't have that top line
pitching that you need to go for and

214
00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:41.679
they really haven't had it since so
tool I think, yeah, seven eight

215
00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:46.120
years ago whatever it was. Yeah
McQuillan too, Yeah, she took them

216
00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:50.240
to the World Series, right right, Okay, anything else, we'll talk

217
00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.200
a little about highchool. See what's
going on with that. Wrap up the

218
00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:54.679
year with you, because you do
a lot of that, if not everything

219
00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:58.519
with that, uh you and your
brother just to kind of touch base out

220
00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:03.519
point again, very successful and there's
stuff cdo obviously too. We'll kind of

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00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:07.720
go through some Okay, reminiss about
what happened all year. Let's take the

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00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:11.679
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your free evaluation today. This is
I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and

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Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the

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iHeartRadio WOP Just Surgeon I on the
ball. Hey, welcome back to win

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00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:33.920
the Ball here at Fox Sports fourteen
fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's Javier

299
00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:37.839
Morels. Now with the phone,
we have Ali Skeggs from Arizona Softball.

300
00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:42.079
Fantastic player for Arizona Softball, Allie
Skeiggs, Ellie, how are you?

301
00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:45.359
I'm doing well? How are you? We're doing well? Thank you,

302
00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:48.880
thanks for joining us. Glad to
have you on the show. Kind of

303
00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:52.559
want to recap your career at u
of A and just talk up at the

304
00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:55.759
program and what you're up to.
Let's start with what are you up to?

305
00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.599
So I am Yeah, I'm currently
in the mid Minnesota with my boyfriend

306
00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:03.279
and his family. I'm going to
be spending a lot of the summer up

307
00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:07.079
here, and the weather's beautiful.
I'll take it over the one hundred degrees

308
00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:11.680
right now. But I'm kind of
just taking a summer to lay low and

309
00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:15.839
let my body recover and mind recover
a little bit from the wear and tear

310
00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:18.480
of the season. But yeah,
I'm here just kind of laying low.

311
00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:21.759
Well that's good. I mean,
you're you're getting their way a little bit.

312
00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:26.880
We had a great four years at
Arizona. Uh and then last year,

313
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:29.680
I know you were busy. We're
talking to you. You're you're an

314
00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:33.319
interim with the Angels. What did
you get your degree in. I'm a

315
00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:37.000
journalism major. Oh good, good, for good, God help you,

316
00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:41.759
God help you with this. He's
going into broadcasting those things. Okay,

317
00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:45.720
yeah, newspapers, we have faces
for radio. So that's why we're in

318
00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.519
trouble. You'll be fine, Yeah, you'll be fine. What do you

319
00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:52.759
hope to do? There's a couple
of different routes I'd like to go down.

320
00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:55.680
I'm really interested in coaching, for
sure, staying around the sport of

321
00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:00.200
softball, but I'm also interested in
the broadcast side, like how your was

322
00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:03.640
saying, I'm interested in a lot
of the like content creation stuff. So

323
00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:07.359
I was actually able to intern with
the Arizona Athletics Department as well their content

324
00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:11.440
creation group. And then also I'm
not opposed to being in front of the

325
00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:15.519
camera either, so potentially calling some
games, maybe trying to find my way

326
00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:19.119
on to the big stage and getting
to call some World Series games stuff like

327
00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:22.559
that. I'm not really fully sure
yet what I want to do, but

328
00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:26.480
there's a lot of different options.
Well, there's plenty of you know,

329
00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:29.480
former U of A players, you
can pick their brains on. You know,

330
00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:32.240
when I was driving up to the
radio station, I was listening to

331
00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:37.400
the Miko on the doing the game
on on radio, the College World Series

332
00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:41.519
game with them with a former U
A. I too, right, Brian,

333
00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:44.559
Brian Radkey. So two U of
A guys, two a U of

334
00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:52.000
alums doing that game. And then
you got what Kenzie Fowler and Jenny Dalton

335
00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.559
Hill. Uh, so you have
some people there to to consult with.

336
00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:00.000
Is what? What? What grew
you to do that to want to be

337
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:06.240
a broadcaster. Yeah, So I
fell in love with pretty much just camera

338
00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:08.559
work and editing and being in front
of it and behind it in high school.

339
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.119
So there was a couple of different
broadcast classes offer that I was able

340
00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:15.799
to take from my freshman to senior
year, and I just once I realized

341
00:22:15.799 --> 00:22:19.880
that that was an actual job that
I could potentially pursue, I decided that

342
00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:23.640
I wanted to go down the journalism
route. So I've been interested for about

343
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:27.680
eight years now in the media side
of things. We'll get to your career

344
00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:32.039
at a second, but I'm curious. You must have started when you were

345
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:37.000
six to eight years old fielding ground
balls half your life. Yes, I

346
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.319
did. I think I started when
I was five. I didn't play t

347
00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:44.599
ball, but I did play coach
pitch and then went strain the machine pitch

348
00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:48.599
when I lived in Louisville, Kentucky, and you obviously loved it. What

349
00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:52.160
was as a kid? As a
kid, you know, the one thing

350
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:55.240
you hope as a parent or a
coach that the kids don't burn out because

351
00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:57.440
you're playing all the time. Did
you ever once think that to Okay,

352
00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:02.599
I'm a little tired of this,
honestly know in my opinion, and I

353
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:06.200
think I credit a lot of it
to my parents because they were always the

354
00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.839
type of parents that they didn't hover
over me in my career and what I

355
00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:11.640
decided to do. They were very
much the type that said, hey,

356
00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.319
if you want to be good at
this, you're going to need to put

357
00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:17.079
in the time. So we're not
going to ask you to go take ground

358
00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:18.920
balls. You have to be the
one to come up to us and say,

359
00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:19.759
hey, I want I want to
go hit right now, or hey,

360
00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:22.240
can we go take ground balls for
an hour? So a lot of

361
00:23:22.279 --> 00:23:26.319
it I credit a lot of it
to them in the sense of they they

362
00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:30.319
helped not burn me out and then
I honestly, I just love the sport.

363
00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:32.720
To be honest with you, I
joke with some of my teammates and

364
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:34.079
I say, hey, I could
go take live at bats for three hours

365
00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:37.759
straight and never get tired of it. And ground balls have become a favorite

366
00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:41.519
of mine as well over the last
couple of years. So just the sport

367
00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:42.720
in general, I love it.
It's hard to get tired of it.

368
00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:47.119
But yeah, I credit a lot
of it to my parents. They really

369
00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:49.240
did a good job of making sure
that they didn't push too hard and that

370
00:23:49.319 --> 00:23:53.960
a lot of it was from self
motivation. There goes along with something I

371
00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:56.960
wasn't ask you, because to be
a really good softball player, you have

372
00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:03.480
to probably work day in and day
out hours because it's so you have to

373
00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:07.839
be you have to be a quick
thinker on the field defensively with the with

374
00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:11.200
the circle not too far away from
the from the plate. You have to

375
00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:14.759
be like, you know, spontaneous, and to get that good, you

376
00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:18.519
have to have continue to work at
that, right right, Yeah, yep,

377
00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:22.240
yeah, go ahead, Sorry,
Yeah, A lot of it is,

378
00:24:22.279 --> 00:24:25.000
honestly just the repetition side of it. So I took a lot of

379
00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:30.160
pride in my talent level and skill
level, and I just I'm a I'm

380
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:33.920
a nerd for the games. I
just grew up watching the Florida Gators,

381
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:37.319
and I grew up watching all these
other collegiate programs when I was ten years

382
00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:40.799
old, looking at Okay, how
do they play? What happens when this

383
00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:42.880
play happens? And then I got
to kind of take that into my own

384
00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:47.359
games. So yeah, I just
I'm I'm a nerd about it. So

385
00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:48.559
I liked. I love to study
the game, and then when it's my

386
00:24:48.759 --> 00:24:52.160
to go play at it makes it
even better. It's funny you say the

387
00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:55.279
word nerd. I was just going
to ask before Ilvio asked that question that,

388
00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:56.759
in my view, and I might
be a little biased here, but

389
00:24:56.920 --> 00:25:03.000
I think the second basement is probably
the smartest person on the field. I'll

390
00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:07.000
give the short stop a little credit
to but because there's so much going on

391
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:11.000
up the middle, and obviously you
guys are strong, because you guys were

392
00:25:11.079 --> 00:25:15.680
strong up the middle, would you
disagree? I agree, Oh definitely.

393
00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.680
So I grew up playing shortstop and
I will say, as soon as I

394
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:23.880
moved over to second second was so
much more complicated than I thought, Yeah,

395
00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:27.400
And I have so much more respect
for second basement now than I probably

396
00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:30.880
did growing up playing short stop,
just because of how many different things you

397
00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:36.279
have to take care of. But
between bunt coverages, steal coverages, cuts

398
00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:38.920
and relays, all these different things, you're you're commanding the field from there,

399
00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:42.200
and I feel like second basement are
kind of underrated in that way because

400
00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:45.519
you always look to the short stop
as the leader of the field. But

401
00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:48.759
yeah, until I played second base
behind Rayana Kronko, I didn't realize how

402
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:52.079
actually difficult and on your quick,
on your feet you had to be playing

403
00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:56.640
that position, right, yeah,
no question. And then what last season

404
00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:00.400
you didn't have an error at second
like one hundred and sixty some Yeah,

405
00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:04.839
I mean, how does that happen? Honestly, the key to it for

406
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:10.559
me was just confidence in general.
I think just believing and trusting my glove

407
00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:12.519
in itself. And that's one thing
that our assistant coach, Lauren laugh and

408
00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:15.640
I worked really hard on was just
trusting our gloves. So a lot of

409
00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:18.960
the time it's easy to get your
top hand in there and try to force

410
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:22.640
the ball in your gloves, and
we train a lot on just hey,

411
00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:26.160
let your glove hand be free,
and just go read the hots and get

412
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:30.000
your rhythm. That was a huge
thing we worked on too, was rhythm

413
00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:33.720
and to not speed up when plays
happened, because we have more time than

414
00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:36.799
we think, even though the game's
quick. So it's honestly, I was

415
00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:40.359
so confident. I just I didn't
have any doubt in my mind that any

416
00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:41.720
type of ball that came at me
that I wasn't going to be able to

417
00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:45.079
handle it. So that was that
was a big thing that carried over even

418
00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:48.319
into this year's test. So because
no one's talking about this or this year,

419
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:52.240
you must have had one. This
year, I had three. Unfortunately,

420
00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:56.319
I was trying so hard to do
two for six season. But I

421
00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:00.200
did have three. I mean,
and I sound disappointed in that, but

422
00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:04.519
honestly, three as an infielder is
still a very good year. I just

423
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:07.480
I knew it could have been better. So let me ask you a dumb

424
00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:11.079
question, because I was an infielder
too. In a second basement, obviously,

425
00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:15.240
uh So, all those three you
you fielded thousands of balls right over

426
00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.559
your career and over maybe a few
hundred over the last two years. But

427
00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:25.480
I venture to guess you know exactly
what those three three were I do what

428
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:30.400
were they were? They? Were
they doable? Were they playable? All

429
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:33.480
three of them should have been made. So that's another frustrating part that I

430
00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:37.640
had. Well though, at least
you do that, and congratulations, what

431
00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:41.400
a fantastic leve and career you've had. Now let's talk about your career because

432
00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:44.960
you were you were more than just
a defender. You were not you hit

433
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:48.920
the ball as well. Yeah,
yeah, I love hitting. Hitting was

434
00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:52.440
always my favorite thing grown up,
and I started to have my appreciation for

435
00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:56.240
defense, especially in my last two
years of college ball. Yeah, he'll

436
00:27:56.279 --> 00:27:59.960
be here. Well, what do
you What do you think is the if

437
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:02.400
when you look back now and I
know, I know it's the season is

438
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:06.000
not too far done. But when
you look back now, what do you

439
00:28:06.039 --> 00:28:08.960
what do you what sticks out the
most that you were part of and that

440
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:12.440
you look back at. That's something
you're going to think about for the rest

441
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:18.599
of your life. Just one of
the things that I enjoyed. Yeah,

442
00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:22.119
just overall, just being part of
the Arizona program where a game, maybe

443
00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:26.079
a net bat just yeah, there's
so many different things. I mean,

444
00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:32.640
I could go back through and think
of specific game moments I always go back

445
00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:34.599
to our Super Regional against Mimssippi State. I loved hitting the home runs to

446
00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:37.440
tie the game against them, and
then later on is you hit a home

447
00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:41.160
run to get us a two to
one victory in the eighth inning. I

448
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:47.160
remember that like it was yesterday.
Playing at the World Series was absolutely incredible.

449
00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:51.640
That type of environment was somewhere that
I hope that every kid on the

450
00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:53.680
U of a roster in the next
couple of years gets to go experience,

451
00:28:53.759 --> 00:29:02.160
because I will never forget that.
In general, I absolutely loved being a

452
00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:04.680
Wildcat. I think the thing that
I really am glad that I kind of

453
00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:08.359
took advantage of was the fact that
I wasn't just a softball player while I

454
00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:12.519
was a Wildcat. I really took
advantage of being my name known in the

455
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:18.079
community, giving back to the university, being involved on campus in different ways,

456
00:29:18.119 --> 00:29:22.359
in different academic ways as well.
I took pride in my grades,

457
00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:25.559
and I made sure that I was
in class every day and I was in

458
00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:29.079
good grades, and I I just
I'm proud of the way that I handled

459
00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:32.799
being a Wildcat and all all of
the different aspects versus just the way that

460
00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:34.759
I played. So have you al
was telling me, you you grew up

461
00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:38.200
on the East. I guess Louiell
when you were Entucky Kentucky. Uh,

462
00:29:38.599 --> 00:29:42.000
but you're you always thought were always
wanted to become a cat, right,

463
00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:45.559
Is that right? Yeah? So
I was. I was born in Tucson

464
00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:49.240
but raised in Louislle, Kentucky,
and so both of my parents are also

465
00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:56.440
Arizona alumni. So I grew up
knowing pretty much in the in the universe

466
00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:59.319
that I was going to be a
wildcat. Just I grew up in all

467
00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:02.519
of Arizona. Year. I have
all the pictures of me as a baby

468
00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:06.880
in all the year and we would
come back and visit Tucson several times a

469
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:10.480
year because a lot of my family
lives there and continues to live there even

470
00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.359
now. Yeah. So I just
I knew that it was written in the

471
00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:17.000
stars. I was going to become
a wildcat, and I'm just really thankful

472
00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:23.039
that it actually became a possibility.
Did other schools pursue you anyway? Yeah,

473
00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:26.279
I had a couple other offers,
a couple of my final ones.

474
00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:30.319
I was looking at the University of
Kentucky because it was close to where I

475
00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:33.680
was raised Ole Miss Those one of
my final ones. I was looking at

476
00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:38.079
like Georgia Tech and a couple other
couple other schools that you have. As

477
00:30:38.119 --> 00:30:41.759
soon as coach Kendrea offered me on
the phone, I said, yep,

478
00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:45.720
I would love to be a Wildcat, regardless of what you can offer me

479
00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:48.319
or as long as I get a
jersey and I get to be in that

480
00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:52.200
dugout, I'm happy. One thing
I want to ask after last year when

481
00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:56.680
you guys didn't make the NCAA tournament, that was snapped the thirty five years

482
00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:03.240
streak, and you know, times
like that, players especially nowadays, might

483
00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:07.759
look to go to another program or
you know, start over somewhere. But

484
00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:11.440
you guys all stuck together. Why
why did that happen? Was there somebody

485
00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:15.480
that kind of led you guys to
like, hey, we're gonna we're gonna

486
00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:18.240
stick through this, because I think
there was only one transfer, right and

487
00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:23.680
but with the majority of you guys, the guys that are you know,

488
00:31:23.720 --> 00:31:30.039
big role players there stayed. Why
why did that happen? Yeah? I

489
00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:33.799
think we only had the one transfer
out with Ali Ashner and she was a

490
00:31:33.799 --> 00:31:37.680
grad student so she got to go
continue her career this year. But no,

491
00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:42.640
last year was just collectively as a
unit, we absolutely loved each other.

492
00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:47.440
It was such an amazing environment to
be in every day. I never

493
00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:51.200
got tired of it. I remember
each day of practice I was It never

494
00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:52.640
became a job to me. And
I feel like it's easy too, and

495
00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:56.119
especially our type of season, it's
easy for the days to kind of just

496
00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:00.519
roll into the next one, and
it's easy for everything to kind of become

497
00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:02.519
pedious. But I remember last year, every every day that I showed up,

498
00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:08.200
I was rejuvenated, and the girls
absolutely made it the best place to

499
00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:12.920
be. And I think that's the
biggest thing that played into everyone returning this

500
00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:16.480
year, is that we all genuinely, really really enjoyed each other's company and

501
00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:21.440
and I just remember that there weren't
any There weren't any bad apples that it

502
00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:23.839
was a struggle to get along with. So that's one thing I'm really thankful

503
00:32:23.880 --> 00:32:28.319
that I was able to experience that, because I know that it's not a

504
00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:32.079
lot of reality realities for the other
teams in the country, But yeah,

505
00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:35.839
we were We were just lucky to
have such a great group of girls that

506
00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:39.839
find a way to the entire year
honestly really get along. So having to

507
00:32:39.880 --> 00:32:44.119
be part of it for four years. Uh, what do you think the

508
00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:50.119
programs headed? Honestly, I think
every year they're gonna they're gonna reload and

509
00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:52.960
be be great. They're going to
compete every single year. I think that's

510
00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:58.440
the beauty of Arizona softball. I'm
I'm proud that the way that our senior

511
00:32:58.440 --> 00:33:01.480
class left, and I'm I'm excited
to see kind of who steps up next

512
00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:06.440
to fill our shoes because I remember
when I was coming in as a freshman

513
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:08.720
and I was expecting that our class
would have to fill in for Jesse Harper

514
00:33:08.759 --> 00:33:13.640
and Daja Mupola and Reina Caronco and
just being so excited about, all right,

515
00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:15.720
let's see what the next big class
can be. And so I'm excited

516
00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:19.960
to watch my teammates and I'm excited
to watch the girls that can continue to

517
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:22.720
carry the program and who's It's pretty
much it's just who's next, Who's going

518
00:33:22.839 --> 00:33:28.400
to carry and be the people that
the nation on watch. So our team

519
00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:30.960
is going to be competitive. They
always, always will be and always have

520
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:34.279
been. So I'm excited to see
how they kind of rebuild next year.

521
00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:37.799
Losing a couple of our infielders and
in some of the older upper classmen in

522
00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:42.599
the lineup with pitching. Wisely,
what do you think that looks like for

523
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.839
Zona next year that you've seen I
think, yeah, I think you're going

524
00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:50.000
to see a lot of girls returning, which is great. We had a

525
00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:52.079
we had a big staff this year, but unfortunately had a couple of injuries

526
00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:58.079
that were left us to four that
were available, if I'm remembering correctly,

527
00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:02.079
yeah, four, And so next
year we'll be reloading with a big big

528
00:34:02.720 --> 00:34:06.960
girls as well. And so I'm
curious to see we have an incoming freshman

529
00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:09.320
and Sarah Wright, so I'm curious
to see how she throws. And then

530
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:14.400
they can grab anyone from the portal. I'm not sure exactly who all is

531
00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:17.039
in the portal right now for pitching, but I'm hoping that they can they

532
00:34:17.079 --> 00:34:22.039
can pick up another really strong arm
so that they can have that to lean

533
00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:24.360
on next year as well. Well, you're pitching coach send on an emoji

534
00:34:24.440 --> 00:34:29.880
a couple of days ago of a
cactus dancing, So there's probably somebody coming

535
00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:32.440
pretty soon. But yeah, I
haven't heard any news about who yet,

536
00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:37.079
but I'm curious to see the announcement
closed on Twitter, right, Okay,

537
00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:40.679
I know that we talked about you
and your future off the field. Are

538
00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:45.199
you done playing and you hope to
maybe latch on somewhere, Yeah, I'm

539
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:47.400
not. I'm so I'm kind of
in the middle with that as well.

540
00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:51.800
Right now. I'm not opposed at
all to the idea of continuing to play.

541
00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:54.599
It's just I'm excited for this number
to kind of sit back and just

542
00:34:55.440 --> 00:35:00.880
let myself fully reset before I decide
what I want to do now with playing.

543
00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:04.800
I'm excited to see what the next
couple of years look like for the

544
00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:08.840
sport of for the professional side of
the sport, just because I think if

545
00:35:08.840 --> 00:35:12.840
it's more of a sustainable career in
the next couple of years, that's something

546
00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:15.960
that's really appealing to me. But
it's tough to make a lot of money

547
00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:20.639
in professional softball right now, So
that's more of something that I feel like

548
00:35:20.679 --> 00:35:22.639
I could I could do if I
love playing it, and then go find

549
00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:24.840
something else to do for the rest
of the month of the year. But

550
00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:28.920
it's kind of it's a it's a
tough choice right now. I'm I'm excited

551
00:35:28.920 --> 00:35:30.679
to let my body kind of recover
and let my mind recover as well,

552
00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:34.599
and just see if it's really something
that I want to continue to try and

553
00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:38.920
play versus just coach. Well,
Alie, well appreciate your time. Congratulations

554
00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:43.960
on a super career. Thank you
guys, thank you for having me.

555
00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:47.159
Good luck in your career too,
with the with the broadcast journalism. You'll

556
00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:51.039
be great. You'll be great much
right, Yeah, yeah, thanks,

557
00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:53.960
thanks a bunch. That was that
was always That was Alex Skaggs from the

558
00:35:54.039 --> 00:35:59.280
UA softball team All American correct,
All American First Team, All Americans with

559
00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:05.360
D one softball or E one softball. A great defensive player. Yeah,

560
00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:07.880
reading it a chance to ask BYCT
to Coda Kennedy. She she was the

561
00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:09.920
one that the defensive player of the
Year this year right right in left field.

562
00:36:09.960 --> 00:36:15.280
But yeah, she's I mean,
she'll be forever one of those greats.

563
00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:17.400
He looked back on and you have
a softball right, all the great

564
00:36:17.400 --> 00:36:20.880
safe out right. No, they
had a number of them and that's why

565
00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:22.199
they are who they are. Okay, let's take a break and come back

566
00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:28.320
and talk. Maybe get a caller
two five two. On the other side,

567
00:36:28.519 --> 00:36:30.519
if you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for

568
00:36:30.559 --> 00:36:35.199
nearly forty years. Now take a
look back at the Loudolsen era in my

569
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It was a labor of love through the

570
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eyes of twenty five former players,
coaches and friends to give insight to the

571
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coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them.

572
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Twenty five chapters for his twenty five
years as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons

573
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from lut is an insight to how
he built the program into a national powerhouse.

574
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What one email me at Steve dot
RIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com.

575
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Slash someday right there working steed up
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or is it just me? Honey? I always think you're hot, but

590
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Rivera and Jacin sALS they have their
eye on the ball. On Tucson Sports

596
00:38:36.280 --> 00:38:40.760
stage Chat Fox Sports fourteen fifty Hey
Welcome back to Wayne the Well hero Fox

597
00:38:40.760 --> 00:38:45.119
Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve.
He's He's not Jay, He's Javier.

598
00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:50.119
Well, I guess heresy that is
Jay. Yeah, yeah, because his

599
00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:54.119
real name is Javier. Well,
you're Javier Morales allesports Susan dot com.

600
00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:58.199
Be sure to look it up.
If you haven't done there, shame on

601
00:38:58.280 --> 00:39:01.519
you. You gotta go. Kevin
working the UH College five two o four

602
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:06.719
one six seven four four zero.
Good to talk to. Elie Skegg's head

603
00:39:06.760 --> 00:39:08.920
never speaks well, Yeah, she
speaks better than me. She'll be a

604
00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:13.480
good broadcaster and a good coach.
Yeah, she'll be doing coach. Yeah,

605
00:39:13.559 --> 00:39:15.360
I can imagine. I wish I
would have seen her in the short

606
00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:19.440
stop work together, because I appreciate
a good infielder, and she obviously is

607
00:39:19.480 --> 00:39:22.639
a very good one, especially good
with errors or no errors, and how

608
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:25.920
she handles, you know, the
hand eye coordination. Oh yeah, three

609
00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:29.280
errors in two years. Can you
imagine how I mean? You have to

610
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:31.280
be on top you did that three
errors today? For me? You have

611
00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:36.079
to be on top of grounding,
you know, double playballs, making sure

612
00:39:36.119 --> 00:39:38.760
you throw it to the second the
short stop covering correctly. But throwing to

613
00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:43.800
the first base on the ground.
I mean there's catching a fly ball that

614
00:39:43.920 --> 00:39:47.599
maybe is I mean, there's so
many things that could go wrong, but

615
00:39:47.599 --> 00:39:52.400
it didn't go wrong for her because
she was she took care of Uh in

616
00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:57.039
your in your thought process. So
now you know you're a happy guy like

617
00:39:57.159 --> 00:40:00.480
my TV four guy. Uh.
Do you think think that Arizona will get

618
00:40:00.519 --> 00:40:07.119
back to what it used to be
in basketball and softball? No, no,

619
00:40:07.159 --> 00:40:09.360
I'll give you basketball to well.
No, no, I don't think

620
00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:14.159
it because because there's so much more
parody and so much more strength now in

621
00:40:14.199 --> 00:40:19.000
the SEC are in the and then
the East Coast that but all did like

622
00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:21.519
we talk about with it all it
tickes is one. If you can maybe

623
00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:25.239
get lucky with two pictures, you're
back, right. I mean Arizona isn't

624
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:30.400
a destination as much now as like
Oklahoma, a lot of these sea schools

625
00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:35.920
like Alabama, but it used to
be. You're right, it's gonna take

626
00:40:35.960 --> 00:40:39.719
Arizona having like two three really good
years, like to go to the women's

627
00:40:39.719 --> 00:40:44.039
called World Series and they win win
one or two titles, and I think,

628
00:40:44.119 --> 00:40:45.519
yeah, then it could get back
to what it was when Ca Andrea

629
00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:51.079
was was there, and you never
know if you get a dominant picture.

630
00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:55.079
Yeah, maybe something in the transfer
portal comes and and dominates. Yeah,

631
00:40:55.079 --> 00:40:58.320
because it's gonna take it's gonna be
hard for a freshmen to come in and

632
00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:01.039
do that right away. Sure then
yeah, I think in that case it

633
00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:05.639
can. But it's just the odds
are so much more against that happening as

634
00:41:05.639 --> 00:41:07.920
it was. You know, sure
even ten fifteen years Sure, because it's

635
00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:12.360
still but it still has that reputation. I'm in Oklahoma's got that reputation.

636
00:41:13.239 --> 00:41:17.679
Look at Auburn when they were doing
well with with Myers, Clinton Myers and

637
00:41:17.679 --> 00:41:21.760
and a issue who found Lightning in
a bottle for a year or two,

638
00:41:21.880 --> 00:41:24.679
right, because they had a pretty
good picture, right, And you're just

639
00:41:24.719 --> 00:41:29.400
looking for that one. Maybe there's
one in Tucson now. She's fourteen years

640
00:41:29.400 --> 00:41:34.039
old and she's fantastic and she's always
wanted to do what Ali said is becoming

641
00:41:34.039 --> 00:41:37.119
a wildcat. And you're back in
the business. You're back in business.

642
00:41:37.519 --> 00:41:40.960
But but I get it. The
SEC teams and some of the other ones

643
00:41:42.199 --> 00:41:46.400
are Oklahoma's and Texas is now are
are snapping are snapping them up? Yeah?

644
00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:50.199
Money too. Now, then now
that you have and I am sure

645
00:41:50.360 --> 00:41:55.360
sure people allowed to pay players.
It's it's Arizona faces a tough challenge with

646
00:41:55.400 --> 00:41:59.880
that. Well, I'm sure you
heard. I think you may even posted

647
00:41:59.880 --> 00:42:04.920
it. What which coach coach Adia
Barnes talked about with the nil but they

648
00:42:04.960 --> 00:42:07.360
haven't. She has no chance against
the big, bigger schools. I mean,

649
00:42:08.119 --> 00:42:12.679
she's talking one two hundred thousand dollars
and they're coming in with two mil.

650
00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:16.519
Right a budget budget was Well,
look at Arizona women's basketball before she

651
00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:22.440
got here less than ten years ago, nothing and and now she's building it

652
00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:27.639
into something that could be regularly good. But she's going against established programs like

653
00:42:27.719 --> 00:42:34.440
South Carolina, Sure, you know, uh, Maryland, Connecticut, you

654
00:42:34.440 --> 00:42:37.000
know all these all these teams that
have been good for so many years.

655
00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:40.639
She's trying to get her place on
that and it's hard Stanford, and it's

656
00:42:40.639 --> 00:42:47.480
hard to do that unless you're consistently
going deep in the nca Tournament. It's

657
00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:51.960
hard to do that, right,
Yeah, it's it's what they had is

658
00:42:52.360 --> 00:42:54.360
not so much a one off,
but but when they get to the final

659
00:42:54.360 --> 00:42:59.320
game, it's those kind of a
one off catching again lightning in the bottle

660
00:42:59.320 --> 00:43:02.880
with area, but they've been consistently
good this year. To me, despite

661
00:43:02.920 --> 00:43:07.320
all the rumblings behind the scenes that
she did a fantastic job. But I

662
00:43:07.320 --> 00:43:12.079
mean she had seven players. Seven
players at the end, you covered the

663
00:43:12.079 --> 00:43:16.519
team seven players and took USC to
the brink twice and a couple of other

664
00:43:16.599 --> 00:43:22.480
school to the brink twice a few
times. And uh, with seven players,

665
00:43:22.039 --> 00:43:24.840
I mean seven players, even though
you only go seven or eight deep

666
00:43:24.880 --> 00:43:30.000
anyway, but you need to have
the security of having maybe a minute or

667
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:31.760
two for the other people, just
to give them some rest. I think

668
00:43:31.800 --> 00:43:37.280
that the way they played during that
last month or so is shows what kind

669
00:43:37.280 --> 00:43:39.800
of coach Adia Barnes can be.
There was a lot of criticism about her

670
00:43:39.800 --> 00:43:43.320
losing these players, What is she
doing? What is she not doing?

671
00:43:44.400 --> 00:43:47.320
But to get that core that believed
in her and their system. Look what

672
00:43:47.440 --> 00:43:52.760
happened when she's down to seven players. They didn't They just didn't play bad.

673
00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:54.840
Yeah, they played great. They
some of them played above their heads.

674
00:43:54.920 --> 00:43:58.960
Yea. And that's good coaching.
That's what I was gonna say,

675
00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:00.920
That's what you want from players because
you're they're playing hard for the coach,

676
00:44:01.159 --> 00:44:04.840
right and for themselves. Yeah,
So I think she answered a lot of

677
00:44:04.840 --> 00:44:09.880
credits with that, at least temporarily, that that she can coach. And

678
00:44:09.920 --> 00:44:14.320
I'd noticed that she is getting a
lot of players coming in like transfer portal

679
00:44:14.360 --> 00:44:16.360
players. So now she's gonna have
to do that again. As far as

680
00:44:16.480 --> 00:44:21.159
yeah, chemistry wise, meshing him
together, making them understand their roles.

681
00:44:21.360 --> 00:44:23.440
Every every coach is that way.
Tommy Lloyd's gonna have to be that way.

682
00:44:23.599 --> 00:44:28.719
It's funny, which she reminds me
of lut Luke would have been uh

683
00:44:28.559 --> 00:44:30.679
uh. I don't say when he'd
been horrible at this, but he would

684
00:44:30.719 --> 00:44:37.159
have disliked this to the end because
because it's so fluid and and and the

685
00:44:37.159 --> 00:44:39.920
thing about it with him is the
kid the guys, now I mean the

686
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:45.679
kids I covered him. Uh they
played hard for Lute and you were you

687
00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:49.880
witnessed it throughout growing up, but
you covered it. And those dudes they

688
00:44:49.880 --> 00:44:52.400
were not all five stars, they
were all not three stars. They played

689
00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:55.599
they played hard for him because the
one they didn't want to disappoint him,

690
00:44:55.920 --> 00:45:01.559
and they played well together. That
that's what made lou Olsen separate himself from

691
00:45:01.599 --> 00:45:06.280
a lot of people. That he
was able to get really good players and

692
00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:12.000
some second level players and still be
able to build a power that way.

693
00:45:12.480 --> 00:45:15.119
And he knew that he couldn't bring
all these five star guys in at one

694
00:45:15.159 --> 00:45:20.079
time because you have to develop that
sure you know that sure that role,

695
00:45:20.360 --> 00:45:22.840
that that hierarchy on the team,
and make sure that everybody understands their role

696
00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:27.679
and right, and then when their
turn would would happen. Right. And

697
00:45:27.719 --> 00:45:30.800
that was one of the beauties.
I think you can correct me if I'm

698
00:45:30.800 --> 00:45:36.119
wrong, is they had eight,
nine, ten deep. The second five

699
00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:40.440
knew their roles and they pushed the
first five. And so there were sometimes

700
00:45:40.440 --> 00:45:45.000
when the second team would beat the
first five, you know, luckily or

701
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.159
whatever. But that made everybody better, right, and then when the first

702
00:45:49.199 --> 00:45:52.599
five were left, the second five
just came up. Yeah. How many

703
00:45:52.639 --> 00:45:54.519
times you know this because you covered
the team for so many years. How

704
00:45:54.559 --> 00:45:58.719
many times did you say when the
especially when the Pack when they were starting

705
00:45:58.760 --> 00:46:02.199
to dominate the Pack ten, that
the second team can beat half the teams

706
00:46:02.199 --> 00:46:07.199
in the conference. No, in
fact, two thousand and one, two

707
00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:09.760
thousand, when they're really really good. Behind the title game in ninety seven,

708
00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:15.079
Gilbert Arenas kind of scared guys off
because he was so good. That's

709
00:46:15.079 --> 00:46:17.679
when you kind of say, like
today, if you're not going to be

710
00:46:17.719 --> 00:46:21.119
in the top five, and then
we'll talk about this, because you wrote

711
00:46:21.159 --> 00:46:24.000
the story that you get here and
you see somebody that could post potentially be

712
00:46:24.039 --> 00:46:28.440
better, I gotta go. I
gotta go and play for somebody who again

713
00:46:28.519 --> 00:46:35.119
some time and back then Arena scared
away, Luke Recor and and Gilbert and

714
00:46:35.119 --> 00:46:39.480
not Gilbert Ruben Douglas. Yeah,
and that's like how many times over now?

715
00:46:39.760 --> 00:46:44.159
Yeah, yeah, in every program, And you did the story for

716
00:46:44.199 --> 00:46:47.000
me last week was with when Caleb
Love decided to come back, and that

717
00:46:47.119 --> 00:46:52.079
was not a that was that was
an obvious thing that was going to happen.

718
00:46:52.480 --> 00:46:55.480
And people who knew Poop you on
the inside knew that Sonnan would not

719
00:46:55.639 --> 00:47:00.239
would not come here. I didn't
know much about Phillips, but you know

720
00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:04.239
your your story about you know the
chain reaction that it created. Yeah.

721
00:47:04.719 --> 00:47:08.639
I think everybody's told one thing during
their career process, and if they find

722
00:47:08.679 --> 00:47:13.280
out something doesn't doesn't happen the way
they were told, then they're gonna they're

723
00:47:13.280 --> 00:47:15.079
gonna pack up. What could you
tell? What did you tell them exactly?

724
00:47:15.199 --> 00:47:20.840
And I mean I'm not doing what
Tommy Lloyd said to them. But

725
00:47:20.880 --> 00:47:24.119
I'm sure Tommy Lloyd was was honest
and frank with them, and they're probably

726
00:47:24.119 --> 00:47:27.480
just hope. He kind of think, Oh, if he doesn't come,

727
00:47:27.519 --> 00:47:29.840
then I can step right in.
Sure, But here he comes, and

728
00:47:29.880 --> 00:47:32.000
he's gonna take a lot of minutes. He shouldn't, but he's gonna take

729
00:47:32.079 --> 00:47:36.639
up some minutes. I think they
should reduce his He he had what he

730
00:47:36.679 --> 00:47:39.159
ever's like thirty two minutes a game
last year? Who loves yeah, yeah,

731
00:47:39.239 --> 00:47:44.679
yeah, So I don't mind if
he goes thirty two. But if

732
00:47:44.679 --> 00:47:51.480
he's more productive in inconsistency, right, I wouldn't have any problem with that.

733
00:47:51.480 --> 00:47:54.639
That's the problem is who is he? Who is he is the inconsistent

734
00:47:54.719 --> 00:48:00.559
dude or the inconsistent dude. He's
got a year under standing going through the

735
00:48:00.599 --> 00:48:05.960
program, going through Tommy Lloyd's system
and then trying out the NBA waters He's

736
00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:08.280
he's I'm sure he's heard a ton
of feedback of what sure, what he's

737
00:48:08.320 --> 00:48:13.440
not lack, what he's lacking in
is not letting him get drafted this year.

738
00:48:13.559 --> 00:48:16.079
Yeah, So I'm sure that he's
using that as a guideline one of

739
00:48:16.119 --> 00:48:20.599
the things, and step in,
Kevin, if you want to chime in,

740
00:48:20.960 --> 00:48:22.920
but I think today's kids and I
did a story about this, I

741
00:48:22.920 --> 00:48:27.039
don't know, twenty twenty five years
ago, and I know Matt Miilboch read

742
00:48:27.079 --> 00:48:31.079
it at the time he was an
agent. And today's kids and heck,

743
00:48:31.159 --> 00:48:36.559
my generation probably too saw their stat
sheet or see their stat sheet, and

744
00:48:36.599 --> 00:48:37.239
you see it all the time.
It's one of the things I hate the

745
00:48:37.239 --> 00:48:39.360
most after a game and say,
Okay, I got this, I got

746
00:48:39.360 --> 00:48:45.199
this, got this. The the
people watching them, the scouts aren't going

747
00:48:45.199 --> 00:48:46.480
through those stats and saying, oh, he did this. You know what

748
00:48:46.480 --> 00:48:51.760
they're doing. Can he play?
Can play? Can you go four points,

749
00:48:52.079 --> 00:48:55.079
eight rebounds or whatever? But can
he play? I do feel like

750
00:48:55.119 --> 00:48:59.400
that's kind of been, at some
point an element of every generation, because

751
00:48:59.400 --> 00:49:01.599
you do know you're stats at some
point at every generator point. I think

752
00:49:01.639 --> 00:49:06.840
the difference is social media. I
think, like understanding how to play and

753
00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:10.679
what is identified as winning basketball or
winning football or whatever the sport is.

754
00:49:10.880 --> 00:49:15.000
The scouts are looking for winning players. I think a lot of players nowadays

755
00:49:15.039 --> 00:49:17.320
are looking to be the hottest thing
on Instagram or have the most followers,

756
00:49:17.400 --> 00:49:22.519
or have the hottest mixtape, like
on you know, highlight wise, I

757
00:49:22.519 --> 00:49:23.679
think that's more the issue than looking
at their stats and being like, well

758
00:49:23.719 --> 00:49:25.760
I did this, that and the
third. I think they're looking at their

759
00:49:25.800 --> 00:49:29.119
highlights and saying, oh, look
at what I did, right, but

760
00:49:29.159 --> 00:49:31.079
their team might have lost by twenty
Yeah, So yeah, I think that's

761
00:49:31.159 --> 00:49:35.400
kind of more so the issue with
my generation and maybe kids of like five

762
00:49:35.639 --> 00:49:39.360
six years younger than me, more
so than stat like stat chasing and stuff

763
00:49:39.400 --> 00:49:44.320
like that. Right, right,
So with Caleb Love, but those are

764
00:49:44.360 --> 00:49:50.000
good points. But with Caleb Love
and now Jayden Bradley coming back, that's

765
00:49:50.039 --> 00:49:52.599
everybody thinks that's going to be the
backcard, right, m doesn't Caleb Love

766
00:49:52.719 --> 00:49:55.800
he needs to become more of a
facilitator, right, But with Jayane Bradley

767
00:49:55.840 --> 00:50:00.760
there is that going to be the
case. So that's a Tommy has has

768
00:50:00.119 --> 00:50:02.320
has some work to do as far
as getting those guys to be on the

769
00:50:02.320 --> 00:50:07.559
same page, getting some chemistry going, understanding their roles right, knowing knowing

770
00:50:07.559 --> 00:50:10.320
when to pass and when to shoot
something like that. Well, no question,

771
00:50:10.679 --> 00:50:15.519
it's funny because Roley Alkins Uh went
up to see what he needed to

772
00:50:15.559 --> 00:50:20.400
work on. Well, here's Roy
alkins problem. He was six three six

773
00:50:20.480 --> 00:50:22.039
for whatever he was, he was
a betweener, couldn't handle the ball,

774
00:50:22.239 --> 00:50:25.599
couldn't do it, but he was
a fantastic athlete. Well, the NBA

775
00:50:25.679 --> 00:50:30.559
is not built for him. It
just wasn't built for him. So Caleb

776
00:50:30.639 --> 00:50:34.440
has his instructions from wherever. Okay, so now you have two dudes,

777
00:50:34.480 --> 00:50:38.239
two dudes who are ball dominant.
How many balls do they play with one?

778
00:50:38.840 --> 00:50:42.519
How is that going to work out
for a guy who Caleb, who

779
00:50:42.599 --> 00:50:45.480
now needs to become more of a
ball handler. You know what gleb Caleb

780
00:50:45.559 --> 00:50:50.599
Love should be doing right now,
handling the ball, handling the ball,

781
00:50:50.760 --> 00:50:54.039
just dribbling up and down, doing
whatever, and not even worried about shooting

782
00:50:54.039 --> 00:50:57.920
the ball exactly. I could be
wrong. Well, no, I think

783
00:50:57.960 --> 00:51:00.440
that's what's gonna have to happen.
He covered Richard. Would you you hear

784
00:51:00.480 --> 00:51:04.199
when Richard Jefferson was there? I
wasn't. I didn't cover the team.

785
00:51:04.280 --> 00:51:06.480
So he was, he was,
He was an athlete, He jumped out

786
00:51:06.480 --> 00:51:08.719
of the gym. Pretty good basketball
player. Didn't have great numbers. In

787
00:51:08.719 --> 00:51:12.320
fact, that here's one of my
examples. One of our colleagues said,

788
00:51:12.679 --> 00:51:15.559
he's averaged like ten points to different
points in a few rebounds. He's not

789
00:51:15.599 --> 00:51:19.280
good enough to be in the NBA. Those numbers don't match. And this

790
00:51:19.320 --> 00:51:21.960
is when I kind of saw it's
not about that, it's whether you're good

791
00:51:22.039 --> 00:51:23.599
enough to play in the league.
Richard played a number of years. The

792
00:51:23.639 --> 00:51:28.159
one thing that Richard did after he
finished school, after because he was here

793
00:51:28.199 --> 00:51:30.119
for two three years, right,
he worked on his handles, worked on

794
00:51:30.159 --> 00:51:32.639
his handles, worked on his handles
because guess what he needed to do.

795
00:51:34.119 --> 00:51:37.360
He needed to work on his handles. Right, it wasn't about a shot

796
00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:39.440
at the next level. It was
about him becoming better at what he needed

797
00:51:39.480 --> 00:51:43.400
to do. And I was working
on his handles. Look at these guys.

798
00:51:43.519 --> 00:51:45.199
You saw the kid from North Carolina
State, that big dude. He

799
00:51:45.280 --> 00:51:50.239
lost forty pounds. Forty pounds.
Imagine had he done this in school.

800
00:51:50.639 --> 00:51:53.960
Right, Yeah, it's you know, I know it run out of time.

801
00:51:53.960 --> 00:51:58.599
But at that Florida Atlanta game in
Las Vegas, I was there at

802
00:51:58.599 --> 00:52:04.280
that last play and that in the
overtime, second overtime where he just resorted

803
00:52:04.280 --> 00:52:07.320
is shooting a long jump jump shot. He's got to be more of a

804
00:52:07.360 --> 00:52:13.440
guy that's gonna penetrate, kick off
or shoot and not result for a resort

805
00:52:13.519 --> 00:52:16.039
to a jump shot. Yeah,
no, I get it. So there's

806
00:52:16.239 --> 00:52:21.360
a lot to learn from a lot
of different avenues, if that's the right

807
00:52:21.360 --> 00:52:24.559
word. So we'll see what happens
and guess what. Tommy Lloyd gets paid

808
00:52:24.559 --> 00:52:29.199
a lot of money to see if
this can work out. So we'll see.

809
00:52:29.320 --> 00:52:31.679
We'll come back with the bricking news. Kevin indeed, Okay, cool,