Breaking down all the exes and oh it's Steve Rivera and jaygin Salves. This
is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteenth. Hey, welcome back to
Iron the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, he's Jay.
Now we have kivin with breaking news. Baby sounds not this sounds not
working that one. It wasn't me. But we do have breaking news today.
We do have breaking news today. Okay. Pima Softball has advanced to
round sixteen in the NJCAA Division One tournament after they defeated Abraham Baldwin today by
a score of seven to five. They will play number three ranked or seated
Northwest Florida State on Tuesday at eleven AM. So tomorrow at eleven you know
what they're doing so well, we haven't talked to them. I was just
gonna mention that since we ended, since the show ended, their last streek,
they've tried to reach the same mark. They have eight in a row
now after today, So hopefully, you know, we'll let them at least
win twenty seven next time and then maybe we'll try to have them on the
show. Good idea. Yeah, congratulations to them. More positive news on
the Arizona front, the Wildcats have punched their ticket to the super regional.
You kind of mentioned this earlier after they defeated Villanova nine to four, and
Arizona Softball this is now their seventeenth super regional and yeah, they play Oklahoma
State in four days. I love the way that came together too, because
you know, there's all these SEC teams that got into the damn tournament.
And you know I ranted on that all last week. You know, Arizona
goes to an SEC school and beats them, and then that SEC school gets
beat and doesn't even get to the regional championship game. And how many are
left? I think there's still five left, five or six, because there's
there's sixteen teams left. How many Part twelve, US three, three,
U C l A, Arizona and Stanford, Okay are left. Oregon lost
to Oklahoma and Taiwan. Yeah I think it was yes, But you know
it's just and in one of the in one of the in one of the
super regionals, that's two SEC teams playing each other. You got Tennessee and
Alabama playing each other. Uh, you got Texas, who's gonna be in
the SEC taking on Texas, A and M, who is in the SEC.
Stanford is taking on an SEC team in l S U U C l
A is taking on an SEC team in Georgia. Uh. And then I
didn't even know Duke played softball. Okay, there and they're doing They're they're
in it. They're pretty good. Actually, Okay, you got Florida.
I think they upset somebody. Florida Missouri two, three, four, five,
six, seven SEC teams are left out of the sixteen. But you
got U C, l A, Stanford, Arizona out of the out of
the PAC twelve. You had Oklahoma, of courses in there. They got
they gotta play Florida. I mean, I'm Florida State. Excives me.
Baylor's in there against Florida. Duke takes on Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma State,
l C, Stanford, UCLA, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and
Texas against Texas, A and M. Okay. Colton Smith number twenty two,
has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Singles Championships and men's tennis,
and he will play up against I guess we'll be match sorry up against
San Diego's Oliver Tarvey Tuesday, as well, but the match time is not
yet out. J Friend also competed, but he fell to seventeenth break to
Canon Kingsley in three sets, ending the season. Going back to the softball
bracket, Arizona and Baylor are the only two unseeded teams that got to the
Super region. Baylor won on the the Lafayette Regionals. Louisiana was was the
thirteen seed in that ole miss who finished last the SEC was in that they
and they got eliminated. And Princeton was in that bracket and Baylor came out
of that one. So Arizona and and UH Bailor are the only two non
seeded teams that made it to the Super regional. We have some football recruiting
news, Yeah, whole bunch man. Arizona has landed former Stanford edge rusher
rusher Lance Kennelly as he commits to Arizona today. I know Steve wants the
measurement, so I'm go give him measurements. Off the top. He's six
foot four and about two and fifty pounds. That's that's one of his airport
and probably very smart, right, I mean, if you're going, if
you're coming from Stanford, I'm guessing. I mean, he's got is it?
Does he say if he's got just the one year he's got he's got
a degree and now he's coming here, So I'm assuming that he's got one
year of eliltability to left. Yeah, as he originally committed to the Cardinal
for the twenty twenty recruiting class, so he's a part of that twenty twentys.
He's probably got his degree, yeah, which or he's getting can't.
You can't transfer from Stanford until you have your degree. You just don't.
It's a bad business decision if you don't exact bad business choice, perfect and
perfect way to put it. A very bad business decision if you do that.
Speaking of good business decisions, though, jew Co receiver Jeremiah Patterson is
moving on up to Arizona as he's committed here. Uh, the former College
of Sam Matteo receiver is going to join his former teammate Ray Melo Murphy who's
also headed to Tucson. He is five ft nine, one hundred and seventy
five pounds, and he is known for his speed. Jacob Cowen kind of
guy, right, kind of yeah, and there and they're apparently from what
I was looking at Easy Deessnert Swarm. They're kind of talking about him filling
that slot role of the receiver who went to Washington. Yeah, because Elijah
Badger went off and went overdue to fish World. Yeah. Former Miami quarterback
or cornerback Demitrius Freney has also committed to Arizona. He was mainly a special
teams from what I was seeing for Miami. But we'll see if he can
he can get some play time here and then that's all I had for recruiting
stuff. I don't know if you had any, I have any anything else,
And everybody's just still waiting for Caleb Love and UH and Jane Bradley too.
Surprised the Bradley hasn't decided to come back right away and in Love,
well, whatever he decides, he would, you would have assum that Bradley
kind would have made his decision around the time that but we didn't even know
he was in Yeah, secretly, you know, he did it secretly,
recretly, discreetly. Scottie Shuffler's raiment for his involvement in that incident on Friday,
UH where he was seen getting arrested and then coming back to play played
well not well enough on I believe Saturday, though, I got I got
told that I kicked him under the bus on on on Friday, saying that
he did and buy a cop when when my brother said that he didn't really
do anything, and and it's starting to come out that that he really didn't
that it was that it was actually he ate some confusion because what they're saying
is that all week long, there had been these cops there directing traffic in
front of the in front of the before the accident happened, right all week
long, and directing where the where the where the uh where the traffic should
go. You're you're a player, you're in a marked pg A car,
you go here, And that because of the wreck, that the guys that
were there directing all the traffic were not guys who had been there and knew
the drill of what had been going on all week, and that Scheffer was
just trying to do what he had done all week and the cop was like,
no, you're not going over there, and he was like, that's
where I'm supposed to go and and then show what happened happened. Well,
apparently he just needs you as an attorney to get out of it. And
then and then the point was made that, yeah, the cops are trained
to not hang onto moving cars, so what the hell? And he and
this guy did and he got dragged. So they didn't have their their cameras
on either of the right, he wouldn't have his camera on. So this
Scheffler should be owning what city? Uh? Lov Yeah, at least you
can get Balola country Club got a discount on tenth place finisher, the key
to the country club. So anyway, I thought your brother was gonna say,
you know, cops come out. They're full of power. So anyways,
and I said, I said, look, Scott, when the cops
had stopped, you should stop. And I still believe that, but who
knows, just sounds like they're a smart man would but but given the circumstances,
maybe it was just you know what, Yeah, he didn't think he
had to. Yea, his arraiment got moved back because his lawyer had a
scheduling conflict. So nothing nothing to But you did see though that on on
on Saturday, he just I could have beat him. On Saturday, he
was he was far over. After his first four holes on Saturday, he
went par double bogey bogey both. So did your brother say, if they're
trained not to do that, right, why would he do that? He
couldn't be going that fast. No, he wasn't going very fast. He
grabbed onto the car trying to get him to tell me, yelling at him
to stop, I'm sure, and then he got dragged like ten yards or
something like that. That's what five miles per hour or whatever. He got
hurt, he got the guy got hurt, yeah, or yeah, he
went to the hospital physically. Yeah, he went to the hospital. And
that's why that's why they charged him, is because the cop got hurt and
I had to go to the hospital. Yeah. Yeah, booked with assault
of a police officer. Yeah, he's not again that that's Cheffer is tooking
to Probably maybe he won't wind up with anything. They might just dismiss it
all. Yeah, but they also might say, well, we're hanging on
and make sure you at least get a misdemeanor out of this. That's silly
and by what he was saying. I didn't see all of his words Scheffler,
but based on what I was seeing on ESPN dot com, it seems
like he fell genuine remorse for hurting him on accident. Yeah, yeah,
And I'm almost assuming he might do something for the guy if that's a situation
that the guy guy. I think what Scotty Scheffer would like to do is
to have it just all go away. Sure, he doesn't need to you
know, he doesn't need to sue the police department. Rate, He's got
all this money in the world, and just I think he just wants it
to go away. And now he'll always be remembered for it, right,
and they'll be jokes and they'll be you know again. And you know.
The funny one that I saw was there was a picture of from the movie
Shashank Redeption and it was Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman just like sitting on a
bench or something like that. And the guy posts that picture and says,
I'm gonna tell my kids this is Scottie Scheffer and Tiger Woods. Yep,
you know Tiger's clothing brand Sunday right that he released. I saw one of
my buddies actually posted on his Instagram a screen cap of Scheffler in his in
his orange and he posted with a caption that says, Friday Orange or Sunday
Red. What's the best clothing brand for a golfer, right now, that's
so bad. Come on, man, I know, I know. See
that's kicking them all. He's down contextual yeah, fun, all right.
So what's probably not gonna go away in terms of legal situations is what Rashid
Rice is going through. Now. He has charged with much more serious vehicular
issues than Scottie Scheffler is. But he has recently attended chiefs OTAs and he
is still obviously going through all the legal Did you start today or yesterday or
I don't think he's talking on the media or no, he just said that.
It's just saying that he was a participant in the earlier portion of the
Chief's off season program where meetings are being held virtually. Yeah, he was
arrested this spring. So yeah, that's all. I have a big it's
kind of a slow unday. Yeah, well, you know what, let's
get into this little bit. See because I brought this subject up and got
four minutes here. Uh John Talti uh wrote a column not a column story,
get some research that's on cbssports dot com talking about that the nil market
the market for players in football, Okay, just sort of a market range
for for for football players. So I'll run through real quick and then we
can talk about some of them individually. But said Babe, the general market
for a quarterback in common Division one took on Power four. Now for a
powerfol quarterback, it's five hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand dollars, which is
just nuts. He said. There's some on the outside of that, with
the kid that UH is going to Washington right getting school two point one million
or something like that, So there's some outliers, but in general, it's
gonna cost you a half a million dollars or more to get a quarterback.
Now, now let me go on, and then running backs are in the
two hundred and three hundred thousand dollars range. Wide receiver, seventy five thousand
to three hundred thousand dollars Offensive linemen, which we've had this conversation a bunch
of times, right, But what did they get? Well, they're what
their their range is the three hundred and fifty five hundred thousand dollars range.
Defensive lineman, two fifty to six hundred linebackers one hundred to three hundred defensive
backs twenty five And this is from and I L people coaches, people who
are just involved in the market. What type of budget do you think that
schools would have for this? It's not the school's budget, remember that.
No, no, no, no, no, no electives, that's my
point. So the budget of these collectives two million, three million. And
let me see this because those fast good ahead of me. Sorry, So
you have two million dollars, which is seemingly low, right for a school
you got one million? Twenty players get one million dollars. What about the
rest of them? Yeah, you know what I'm saying. How do you
div three hundred thousand for one player? Yeah? What if he goes down?
Because what I was thinking when he was reading those numbers, I was
wondering, do we think that these numbers are going to at all continue to
grow or because at some point the bubble has to burst with this and I
also have to get this fit point. Yeah, there's the check stole cashing,
right, And how many times is mister big bucks Kevin, you're gonna
say, here's another five hundred thousand to put it in your kiddy for this?
At some point you're gonna say, I don't want to do this,
and only one team wins the championship every year. So it's not like,
sure, everybody's gonna be satisfied with their return on investment, especially at like
the SEC like Power five level. What price victory? I just don't know
how long the people who are fronting all this sure are going to continue to
do that and not get tired of it. But guess what, this is
only for football. This is just football. There's there's baseball, there's think
of how many football players? Okay, offensive line market, you know,
three hundred and fifty five hundred thousand dollars. Well, you don't just have
five, You've got like eight that play, eight or nine that play.
How much is each one of those? Get again to my point, Hey,
Jay, where's the money? How much you're getting paid? Two fifty?
Oh I'm getting paid four? How did you get that? Yeah?
I just don't. I just don't understand where this money is coming from.
People who haven't have nothing to do with spec. Yes, yes, and
they're loyalty to the schools. I don't know. I don't know, but
I thought this this is the first kind of thing that I saw that kind
of puts price tags on on everything. Will you if you want to compete,
you have to have at least four mil five milli. Yeah, and
what did what did the coach coach Dea Barnes tell us there was almost nowhere
near near that, nowhere near that. So if you want to, if
you want to take a look at this, it's it came out today on
a on a on CBS sports dot com uh written by John tal t t
A L t Y talking about this whole market. It's crazy, don't I
just don't know how this can this can sustain. But we'll see. Let's
take a break word to come back. Mike Candrea will join us, the
legendary softball coach, Olympic coach. We'll talk to him about what he's seen
from Arizona softball and how how excited is he about this stick around. The
Window Depot is more than a Windows store. The Window Depot is a one
softwarehouse with everything you need for your complete Homer model shop the aisles of pre
built cabinets in a variety of colors, granite and courts, countertops, sinks,
skylights, and hardware. To complete your project. Need a custom order,
we can help. Our designers offer free design services and can special order
everything you need for your kitchen or bathroom remodel. Today, shop the window
Deepot dot com or find a location near you. The Window Depot more than
a windows store. Steve Rivera here to talk about Dorato Rock Materials. I
needed a lot of gravel for my driveway, so I called Eric at Dorato
Rock. He found out the amount and color I needed and boom, it
was taken care of and at a great price. How do I know radio
commercials work. I heard one of his on the radio. Dorato Rock Materials
provides a wide range of landscaping materials, including decorative rock, boulders, gravel,
soil, and sand for residential and commercial use in the Tucson area.
They are locally owned and have been around for more than fifteen years. Give
them a call at five two zero four zero zero for two three three.
Where do you buy exercise equipment? Arizona Health Arizona Health Arizona Health. Of
course, to feel better and look better, it makes sense to buy your
fitness equipment from the people who know it better than anyone else. At Arizona
Health, our goal is to help you choose the equipment you need to reach
your goals. Your health and fitness deserve the best you deserve. Arizona Health
the lead madge and exercise equipment on twenty seconds, just west of Wilmot.
Did you know sports cards at Memorabilia are setting record sales last month of nineteen
fifty two tops Mickey Mantle SO for twelve point six million, Lebron James Rookie
SO for five point six Also, collecting cars is a family fun hobby that
can be very profitable. If you want to start a collection or expand your
collection, check out Showtime Cards. They are one of the leading card shops
in the country and have served our local community for twenty five years. They
are located on e Speedway. That's show Time Cards. Nova Home Loans.
We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to enjoy the independence that comes with home ownership.
Paul Volpi is ready to help you find an option that best fits your
needs. Whether you're a first time or veteran home buyer or want to get
cash out with the refinance. Nova has a variety of home loan programs to
meet your unique situation. Visit voltpeteam dot com that's Volpe team dot com or
call five two oh six one eight five six two six today n MLS three
oh eight seven Arizona BKO Ninez two nine four two Equal Housing Opportunity OWT to
commitment to Lyndrixon. Credit rates and available loan programs are subject to change with
non numbers. We're into twenty twenty four and it's time to think of recognizing
your employees, salespeople, managers, team members and agents with a creative Award
for the great job they did in twenty twenty three. Come visit Creative Awards
beautiful showroom with over one thousand items to choose from, located the two to
twenty eight West Drachman. We're visit their website at Creative Awards az dot com.
Celebrate fifty years in business and see all the creative products they carry,
from recognition to promotional products and premium gifts for your special clients. Give Creative
Awards a call today five to oh eight A two eighty six seventy seven.
It's that time of year, summer in Tucson. Time to take control with
Temperature Control for all your air conditioning needs. We'll keep you cool during all
the hot streaks. All you have to do is stay in control with Temperature
Control, where we handle everything you need with prompt response, affordable pricing,
and sound solutions. We also excel in plumbing and electrical work. We handle
everything you need. Give us a call at five two oh eight one five
five six six five or visit our website at tempdash con dot com and remember
stay in control with temperature control. Need concrete, hard Works Concrete has it.
We have more than twenty five years of experience with all things concrete.
Installing sidewalks and patio floors are our specialty and handle masonry work and retaining laws
were low and family owned. Just let us know what you need, how
you want it, and we'll take care of it. Leave the hard work
up to us. We're Hardworks Concrete. Call us at five one two ninety
six to two five six six zero or visit our website Hardworksconcrete dot com.
We'll put the work in for you. Got bugs, termites, bees,
or rodents, Arizona Pest Control will hunt them down. Arizona Pest Control is
your complete desert pest management. Specialist's can't run or hide from Arizona Pest Control.
They use only the latest and most technologically advanced methods of pest elimination available,
which minimizes the effects on the environment. Let Arizona Pest Control get rid
of your bad bugs, termites, bees, or rodents serving Tucson and southern
Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azpest dot com to schedule your free
evaluation today. Hey Tucson, it's getting hot out there, which means it's
time for the coolest charity run in town. Randy as Setta here inviting you
to join us for the TMC Meet Me Downtown five k night run and Walk
coming up on Saturday night, June first, and featuring the free Raising Caines
High School Mile, a free Kids mile, and rock and roll on the
main stage. This is Tucson's biggest running party. See run Tucson dot net
for all the details. Streaming live on the iHeartRadio w APP. This is
I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen.
Hey, welcome back to Winning the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Roberta, He's Jakinsauz. Now on the phone, we have
Mike Candrea, eight time NCAA Softball National Champion. I collect to coll h
slash with all those jobs that he has slash slash that, Mike, how
are you? I'm doing fantastic, thank you, former interim AD, all
these titles and now a special assistant to the AD. That whole special assistant
thing. It's kind of fuzzy, Mike. What are you doing over there?
You do whatever she wants you, as long as I still have time
for some golf and good answer the things. Good answer, and you're not
you're not sharing an office with Danny Martinez or are you? Well? You
know what, I've kind of given it up to him. Nice. Okay,
so that means you got better digs? Right, But when I when
I need it, I push him out. Okay, all right? There
must be no one more proud of the softball team than Mike Kendrea. You
got that right? Well, how so, given given the circumstances, because
this team, you know, this town, this town's so fickle. Oh
you can't win, you suck, you win. No one talks about it.
Honestly, you lived it, right, I believe me. I lived
it every day. How do you end then? Well, you know,
I think people that have never been in the dugout game by game, practice
by practic just don't quite understand how tough it really is. And so I
think Caitlin has done an admirable job. I mean, this year has been
a wonderful job on her behalf and the staff's behalf to put this team together.
And they're competing very hard. You know, they've the one thing I
can tell you right now is they will play hard and they will play smart,
and you know, they just they got to put the pitching together.
And if they can put the pieces together, they're gonna score some runs and
they could be tough. Where have you seen the most growth in how she's
you know, handling the job. Where do you think that she's I don't
know if you called the maid the most improvement or made the biggest strides,
or however you want to call it, you from where she was when she
walked in the door, as as the head coach to how you see her
working today, Well, I think foremost she's been smart enough to understand the
state of the game today with the malytics, and so she went out and
got a couple of people that are very in tune to it and use it
to their advantage. And so I think she's always been a forward thinker.
But I think the biggest thing about Caitlin is she's just so consistent. You
know, she was consistent as a player, she's consistent as a coach,
a great leader, a great communicator. And the kids are prepared, they
play hard, and they play smart. So I'm sure that's what you saw
in her when you recommended that she get the job. Well, you know,
I saw a lot of things in her, you know, and one
was her ability to communicate to players. But I've always enjoyed her emotional stability.
You know, she never gets too high and never gets too low.
And I think that's what you see in this team. They never hit the
panic button. They can be down by three or down by four, but
they continue to play hard and come back. And I think that's a trait
of her, you know, and kind of her personality. So very very
very proud of her and what she's done and will continue to do. You
mentioned the pitch, and look, this is a very talented team offensively and
defensively, and the pitching is just like it's like a puzzle every game.
Right. You got to put this picture into, you know, at this
time, and then we got to bring this picture in. This picture.
How tough is that on a coach to know when to push the right buttons
and when you know when's the right time to take out a picture. It
might be pitching. Well, but something says we need to you know,
well, I make a lot of that credit goes to Christian. He's he's
done a remarkable job of utilizing all of them so they're all prepared to pitch.
But I don't think people quite understand how tough it is when you lose
your number one and number two going into the season, right, you know,
I think Anissa has done a heck of a job. Probably has been
the stable force and then uses a couple others to kind of piecemeal games,
and they've given her, given her quality eatings, and you know, they've
been able to get the job done. I'm sure golf cut up satisfies the
competitive juices in you. But your three years removed from coaching, do you
at all miss that part of it? Well, you know, at this
time of the year, it's always the fun time when you you know,
when you get a chance to to put together some memories for kids for a
long time, and it's a time to really have some special moments, and
so yeah, you miss it at this time. But you know, the
one thing I missed more than anything was really practice. I love practice,
and I got to say that I miss hitting a thousand ground balls every day
and getting kids prepared. But I think it's been a good, good exit
for me to be able to do some things that I've always wanted to do
and had the time to do. And in fact, I'm going to go
up and watch my grandson graduate from high school, which back in the day
I'd never been able to do that, you know, And so you miss
all the little things with your family, but the game is always will be
close to my heart. And you know, I had a little surgery last
Thursday, and it was a perfect time because I could sit and watch every
ball game that was on TV. And you know, I do want to
make a shout out to Kinsey Fowler. I think she's a superstar. Oh
I love I love watching and listening to her. She's got great insight and
and I'm very proud of her utilizing her journalism degree for something that now she's
enjoying and I think a lot of people around the country are enjoying listening to
her. Well. Nice, she's doing nice. We had her on the
show last week and she helped us preview the you know, the regionals and
stuff, and even then, you know better, for fifteen minutes you could
tell how prepared she is. She's good. She's very good at it.
So let me say, you love or you missed the practice. Do you
think the kids or the the you know, the student athletes you had with
you, they enjoyed going to practice because you loved it so much. You
know, people don't like practice because it's practice. Yes, it's aid Alan
iverson type of thing. But if you made it interesting and competitive, it's
a place to be. Oh absolutely, I think you're only going to be
as good as your preparation is. And to me, you know, the
middle of the week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday was getting you ready for Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, and if you had a good body of work during
those three days, you're usually going to have good results. And if you
didn't, you weren't going to have good results. So I think practice is
something that I spent a lot of time on and I always wanted to make
the game so that it moves, because I think one of the tough parts
about baseball or softballs are a lot of standing around, and you know,
you got one kid hitting and you got a bunch of kids shagging. And
I was always looking for ways to kind of engage more and more people every
day. And I think the more you do that, you know, the
better you can develop their database. And I think that's what practice does.
It develops the database that you've got to be able to draw from when the
game starts. So I want to bring something up that I ranted on a
couple of times last week, and I think it towards your last your last
year, last couple of years. You brought up the fact that you know,
the PAC twelve needed to do more to promote itself to help its teams.
You know, when tournament brackets came out and stuff like that, the
SEC got every team in the tournament. And I'm like, I don't care
how good you think your league is, you can't finish last or second to
the last or third to the last and be able to be in the postseason.
And that really pissed me off last week. Well when that happened.
Promoters, you know, I mean, when when you've got ESPN as your
your owner, you know they're they're going to have a good shot of getting
more people in and so yeah, I mean we all see it, and
and that's why it's always always feels good. When we we went to Arkansas
and took care of business there. I'm sure Arkansas would pay money not to
see Arizona, you know, moving forward, because we have been a thorn
in their side when we've come there. So yeah, it'll all play out
in the field though. You know, the next couple of weeks are going
to be very grueling games and very well matched games, and you know you're
going to have to get great pitching, timely hitting, and that part of
the game is never going to change, right, right. What makes this
team special? I'm sure you've seen them often enough that you talked about him
to begin the show. But what makes this team special? Well, I
think they're there. They have developed into having a very solid lineup. You
know, one through nine. Any of those kids can hurt you offensively and
can produce offensively. I've been thoroughly amazed with their defense. Yeah, they
played tremendous defense, and Lauren Lappin has been a great addition towards that.
You know, the outfield as good as any outfield we've had. I mean,
they've got great speed, great arms, great instincts, and that's you
know, Caitlin right there. So I think they've they they've taken care of
the little things, you know, they haven't overlooked anything in their preparation.
But they played great defense. They can swing the bats, and you know,
we used to say timely hitting, but now I'm saying timely pitching.
We need to be able to bring them in and and and you know,
get the outs that we need and then give them another look because in today's
game, the hitters are so good that it's really hard to find a kid
that can go seven innings with the hitters getting three looks at you. So
I was an infielder. I love the infielder. You've had some great shortstops
dually standing from way back in the day Espinosa, some of the ones that
were fantastic up that middle, with the second basement obviously being a star,
the freshman the shortstop, and then in the middle. You must be pretty
impressed with you know, just that you talked about the defense, but up
the middle defense, well, I think Taylor Bill has been a tremendous asset
to the infield. She is she's been a lot better than I thought she
was going to be. And the reason why I say that is I always
felt she had good skills, but sometimes you can have good skills and not
be able to make the plays that you need. And she makes every play.
She's got a very quick release, so she makes every play look effortless.
And I think her and Alie Skaggs. Ali has improved tremendously at second
base, you know, and then you've got scooping and and third baseman.
Yeah, I mean, she has played a great third base, and so
you know, they they really are. They really have a solid defensive team.
And I think that the new catcher has come in and done a good
job. So they're not going to beat themselves, you know, and I
think that's that's a good thing. That They're not going to give teams four
outs an inning, so they just have to be able to pitch the contact
and and make the places and then swing to bats. All right, So
they're haded to they're headed to Oklahoma State for this super regional. What advice
would you have for Caitlin or for the team, you know, going into
this this this super regional on Thursday or Friday, whenever it is they play.
Yeah, well I think they you know, they're not going to reinvent
themselves, so they're going to have to do what they've been doing. But
I think going in Oklahoma State a little bit of a challenge because they are
very good at home, they have a very good support there, and the
thing that you're going to see is a hard drop ball pitcher that you know,
I think all of a sudden, now the game is going to be
played in the ground. I don't think you can sit there and lift her
very much. So I think the challenge is going to be us having quality
at bats, competitive at bats, and then take care of the offensive side
from Oklahoma State because they're a good team. I think it's a good matchup
and I'm looking forward to it. Just real quick question about your new role
or your your current role. Uh. It's my impression that you're you're kind
of like the soothsayer or the the uh, the snatch the pibbole from my
hand type of guy from the other coaches, because you have a wealth of
wisdom in that head of years, whether you know it or you don't,
but you know what I'm saying, they're like that. Tommy Lloyd's and the
younger coaches are going to use this, what about this? What about that?
Well, you're going to give them backward compliments, you know, yeah,
you know, it's it's being able to mentor people. Is I think
something that's really important for any coach. And so you've done it all of
your life, and it's been fun to be able to talk and visit with
other programs and see how they operate and maybe look at what they can do
a little bit better. But a lot of it is just chatting with the
coaches. You know, they know what they need to do. Sometimes they
need someone that can maybe give them a little ounce of belief, you know,
because as coaches, wes always question ourselves when things get tough, and
so I think it's for me being able to support them more. And a
lot of times it's just throwing a text message after a game saying a great
job. I know how I appreciated that as a coach, and so it's
I'm not reinventing the wheel, but I'm there to help them, help to
support them, and and you know, we have a level of excellence that
we're trying to achieve, and so we want to make sure that our student
athletes are having great experiences and so the only way you're going to know about
that is if you have a pulse on that. And so I'm the guy
that gets to go out and kind of watch some practices and maybe talk to
some athletes and make sure that they're getting what they need. Nice, nice,
Okay, coach, Thank you Mike as always, see you soon and
it's my pleasure. And a little shout out to Chip Hale. I'll tell
you what what a fantastic I'm finished. I was getting a little bit nervous
needing to win one and going down to the last one. But you know,
I think the key to that was his stability. You know, he
talked about what he told the team and basically it was a got have fun
and he took the pressure off the players. And you know, he's got
a lot of insight and he's a great leader. And I'm so proud of
that program right now and happy for them moving forward. So let me ask
you one more quick before you go, because you brought this up. So
we've been talking about this last maybe two weeks and how great this year school
year has been academically. Same for the safe that financials and we won't get
involved with that. But the football team, fantastic basketball teams have done well.
These two programs here, and we're thinking out of ten, maybe eight
point one, eight point two. We moved it up to be happy to
have a championship. So could you talk about just there the great year,
I'll say great year. Yeah. You know, we've got a great bunch
of coaches and they do a great job, and we know how it is.
You know, when you get in a competition, you got to win
the right games. And this year we've been able to do that. And
moving forward, moving into the Big twelve, it's going to be another challenge.
I think it will be a good one for us. But you know,
control you can control. And I don't think people quite understand that we're
not the only one that's having financial problems. And you know, you think
about COVID and you think about n C two, a D regulation. You
know, it's kind of put us you can't operate the way you did.
And I think Desiree understands that we need a new model and she she's working
very hard at putting that new model together. But finance is moving forward because
of the lawsuits Center are being rere pended right now. I mean it's going
to change the landscape of college athletics. Yeah yeah, and then you got
to find a way to deal with it and I l and all that on
top of that. So okay, thank you Mike as usual, Thank you
you batman. Take care to go good. Good. We went a little
over, but yeah, why not? Right worth it and that was good.
Anytime with Mike andre is good. So we love that. All right,
let's take our last break. We're gonna come back and we'll take your
calls. Five to zero four one, six seventy four forty anything we want
to talk about. Spent some time talking about nil and the price tags for
football players, which are incredibly high. But if you want to talk about
that, we can or football or basketbab football, baseball or softball and anything
anything on your mind. Club five to zero four one six seventy four four.
If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for
nearly forty years. Now, take a look back at the Loudolsen era in
my new book, Lessons from Loot. It was a labor of love through
the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends to give insight to
the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired
them. Twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's beloved coach.
Lessons from lout is an insight to how he built the program into a national
powerhouse. What one email me at Steve Rivera ninety five at gmail dot com.
Hi, this is formal. While get Laman huntly with Arizona Health,
imagine how home GM can change your health, your comfort, and your time.
Arizona Health is everything you need to transform your personal space and your life.
We off a complete line of cardio machines, multi gms and freewate equipment.
I'll certify fitness experts and technicians will set you up with the right equipment
and training to get you started to keep you going. Visit our shureroom today
at twenty second in Wilmot. Arizona Health the lead edge and exercise equipment.
What's your goal a new career or career advancement? How about transferring to a
four year college. PEMA Community College can help you make some day today and
reach your goals affordably on your schedule. With over one hundred programs to choose
from in financial laid available. It's time to earn the degree or certificate you
need to prepare for the career you want. PEMA offers free career exploration classes
so you can choose the field that's right for you. Learn how at dot
edu slash someday, I don't have to tell you it's hot. Hi,
this is round from picture ocks, pool geting and plumbing, make sure your
home is cool and comfortable all summer long. Routine maintenance can often prevent major
breakdowns. All us before the first sign of trouble All today five two zero
four nine two zero seven four eight or Picture Rockspooling dot com keeps rocks and
coming. Ready to save but not sure where to begin? Take the Pyramid
Federal Credit Union ten thousand dollars Saving Challenge and we'll guide you along the way.
Save five hundred dollars over six months as a member and you could win
big. Watch your savings grow to help you reach goals like buying a car,
owning a home, and more. Visit Pyramid FCU dot com slash ten
k challenge to get started today. Been really insured and sou do you want
to be? Part of a winning team. A Team Security is looking for
friendly, outgoing event security guards and event staff to be a part of our
team. We've been providing our outstanding services to some of Arizona's biggest sporting events
and concerts for over twenty years. We want you to join the action.
A Team offers a fun and exciting opportunity to work in the sports and entertainment
industry, with flexible schedules that are perfect for those looking for a part time
job or a second income. Come be a part of a winning team.
The A Team apply online today at a teamsecurity dot net. This is I
on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez sound Fox Sports fourteen to fifteen.
Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app Just Surgeon I on the
Ball. Hey, welcome back to My on the Ball hero Fox Sports fourteen
fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jagan Sauas. We've got a guy Kevin
in today. We have only eleven minutes left. You guys want to give
us a call? Five two zero four one six seventy four to forty What
do you rate the season? We asked this quick a lot right, But
now after the weekend, I think you everybody should be I'm up to an
eight point five. You know, if you know, if they go to
the World Series, you know, bumping up another couple of tenths of a
point, then pay attention to what Arizona does the baseball team does. I
think if both teams get into the World Series, you do the World Series,
you get to a nine nine, and then who knows after that.
We're not even including track and field because and golf, you know, golfer
men's golf has to play this week, and you know, and they're you
know, they I think they feel they've got a shot at the whole thing.
So there's still some stuff to be played. We still have a Colton
Smith in singles time, right, you might have Yeah, you got a
player playing for this. It's hard to it's hard to judge a TV show
before the season is over. You know, you gotta get the couple of
last episodes, the big finale at the end. You gotta see what how
it ends. Could be a Dallas episode. It could be a Dallas ending,
or like you know, dodn't even know what I'm talking about. I
have heard the show Dallas, Okay, Wow, it was a dream sequence
I watched. I watched a ridiculous amount of television. You are an old
sage guy, like I said, you're the president of Zimbabwe or something.
I even remember, like Mash and all that. You know Mash Yeah,
because he used to be on before w W On U s A and it
was the longest running show at the time. Use kids like you and they
sudden they don't know anything what don Rickles? Who? And I know what
a VHS tape is too. You're the youngest in your group, in your
family, I'm an only child. Okay, wow, you congrautch to your
friend, your your family. I don't know that's a good thing. Only
child. No, you don't act like could say it could be a bad
thing. Yeah, you don't act like one though. Yeah, Jay's the
only child. Even in his mind he's the only child. I think if
if only child, it was because you know, because there were gaps on
both sides of me. So I was Yeah, I was hit Tolindo.
Tolindo can't do anything wrong until he does something wrong, and then I guess
that in his hand exactly exactly again, if you gotta want to call,
please do where would you rate the program at this point, we had the
who do we have? On last week we had the bar Jason bar he
gave us about the city. Yeah, number one, how could you not
maybe one of the best years in a long time, if not ever all
around in a while, you know, and and and and when you're talking
about you know, they they've had great teams, you know, one or
two sports, you know, in the year. But now there's just been
a lot of a lot of good, you know, high achieving. But
we talked about this probably in November October when football was doing really well.
How how we could see this program, the program hold be like the mid
nineties of the heyday, of the heyday and back then though you remember this
years there used to be the top ten, top of the time. I
don't know how and now, but but it has that vibe. Yeah,
it does have that. And and again because you know, you have a
whole I mean, look at look at what Clancy's Shields did a tennis you
know, I mean we're talking backed off championships. You know Greg Hansen and
his calling yesterday, uh ran down you know how many conference championships Arizona had
won in the court you know since nineteen seven game it was like forty something.
Washington State won six six conference championships. It's like, you know,
when you're talking about the incredible number, that high number of Oregon State,
I'm sure wasn't that much higher. Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna,
I'm gonna dig that up again because it's you know when when you think about
that, well, Arizona has been winning all these conference championships, you know,
for all this time. Well, there's also a reason why Oregon State
and Washington State have been left behind behind because there they didn't keep up.
Yeah, they didn't keep up. Stanford's the gold standard for all that stuff.
Yeah, because they want so many. They would you know, six
three digits, right because of the Olympic sports, right that they just they
just killed on. But you know, I mean when you think about the
fact that the Arizona's got that many, I would like, I never would
have guessed that, right, Or you're too close. I think you're too
close. You're you're the forest through the trees. You're too close. Because
you remember, come on, if you're a competitor, if you're a competitor
and you watch you you remember the defeats more than you do the victory.
Yeah, because those defeats are painful, right right, and they are they
are, But and there were a lot of them, Steve, I mean,
there were just a lot of them. Of course, I'll give you
your biggest moment was the basketball team in ninety seven. Right, you're probably
your second one, although there have been many. Chicago Rosewan come on in
terms of basketball, in terms of you know, the highest of eyhs in
the lower yea that yeah, yeah, that yeah, definitely that that thing
that happened in in fifteen twenty fifteen. Yeah, and you just remember that
and some highs highs you know, you talk about football in ninety eight and
it didn't even involve you guys. It involved the secondary team that should have
had the game played some other time. Yeah, u c LA Miami.
It was, you know, they played that game and whenever in September,
October, whenever it's supposed to things going to be different. Yeah, way
different. But you know it's just I know we're getting, you know,
getting around to the you know, the end of all of this, uh
for you know, for with the PAC twelve being gone. But you know,
I I've liked being in it, you know, and I said they
were never consistently competitive in football, but they had you know, a few
good years. Well, what would you say the biggest biggest win would be
early in eighties when they beat USC with Pac twelve pack peck okay, Pack
ten, Pac twelve. Biggest football victory in PAC twelve, Pac ten and
Pac twelve. I'm actually going to go more late, more later, Morgan,
that twenty fourteen Oregon because because that essentially put them in the Pac twelve
championship game, you can make an argument that that was the biggest win.
Uh. Now, you know, if you want to say, you know,
which had a bigger impact. For instance, you know, beating ACU
in nineteen eighty two when ac was getting said to go to the Rose Bowl,
and that was when it was that night that you kind of felt like,
okay, we're going to be okay in the Pac ten, right because
they ACU came in ranked i think fourth or fifth in the country going to
the Rose Ball. If they beat Arizona and then they didn't, you didn't
even mention Arizona had beaten USC as number one the year before, and they
had beaten uc la is number two. The year before that, Well,
I was gonna say, you hadn't mentioned the USC victory. Yeah, and
then the Washington victory Number two, right went when Washington came in is number
one in nineteen eighty ninety two. So there were a whole bunch of those,
but a lot of those were kind of one offs, right where they
had a great win because in the end, the ninety two season, while
it's set up, the ninety three season record wise and stuff, was not
a great year. They lost to crap Ass Baylor in the in the Sun
Bowl, right, they lost to Asu, you know, in the rivalry
game at the end of that year, lost seven to six to So while
they had that great win against Washington, in the end, how much did
it really mean? But that Oregon win in twenty fourteen, you know,
you know they had the cow you know, Hail Mary win and all that
stuff. They got into it. They won a championship because of that,
and Arizona didn't win a bunch of championships in football, you know, I
mean they I think what the ninety three team was technically tied? Has has
anybody done? Has Greg done the top five games? And me? Have
you have? You are still a big list. I wonder if he's done
the Pac twelve only list. I don't know. In basketball, I think
those those are difficult because it happened all the time. Yeah, you know,
back in the mid eighties when they they're trying to establish themselves. Yeah,
as a power. But you know, god, it's it's, it's,
it's, it's it's kind of I guess it. Part of it depends
on what matters to you the most, the win that day or the impact
a certain win might have had. True. Uh, you know, I
I don't know. Oh yeah, I finally find that article where Hanson talks
about the number of championships that it won, but I'd have to go through
it. Who's who's first? Obviously Stanford, well he didn't he and listed
like, oh oh yeah, here it is. Stanford had one hundred and
some more than that two hundred and forty one. UCLA had one hundred and
forty four, Oregon seventy nine, USC seventy four, Arizona sixty four,
us ASU forty five, and they didn't have the rest of them. But
he said Washington State was last with six, so Arizona one, one,
two three, they were fifth, right in the middle. Of the pack
in terms of how many, that's kind of how we but you know,
they won all those swimming titles, they won all those softball titles, they
won all the all the basketball titles. You're looking about eight sixteen right there,
the sixty something Yeah, almost a third of whatever the hell? Yeah,
so you know, hey, what are you talking about? Is that
national? No? This Isa PAC twelve pack ten pack twelve ten got basketball
tons and yeah yeah yeah swimming. Yeah. So you know, I've liked
being in the PAC twelve and Pac ten. It's been fun. You know,
a lot of big games, a lot of great times. I'm sad
to see it go. But you know, you can't say that Arizona was
just you know, and also ran well, it was the best moment you're
talking across the It was the best move back then and it's still it was
because it, like you said, it kind of helped you establish that you
guys could compete with the big boys, right, and you did and you
did yeah otherwise, honestly, otherwise you'd be you and M right, but
with all due respect and you tap r yeah yeah, or you know Colorado
Stadium, right right, that's that's who Arizona was and what and by getting
into the Pac twelve, they rose above right, and they clearly competed and
it's just been great. Well, we'll have more of that. Yeah,
we'll talk to some of the guests that who've through it right, Okay,
all right, hey, thanks for being here today. We'll be back tomorrow,
hopefully lining up some great guests for you. But come back anyways,
we'll see what happens. See you tomorrow.