This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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Welcome to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve Rivera. You're jagon Zalis. Another day closer to the opening day,
A couple of three weeks. We're inside of three weeks. Side of three
weeks. We went went to the the scrimage on Saturday. U saw what
I saw. I don't know what I saw. I was hot. Well,
we'll talk to Jed Fish about what he saw. Yes, yes,
we have some clips, right, we have some clips. I did notice
one thing, and I wrote about it on Saturday, was that this team
looks much better than it has been the last few years. And of course
during the summering years we saw what we saw and we didn't know until we
saw it U, and then the last two years have been improved. From
someone's time, right, they're better. This team is different than all that
because you're so athletic, and it's very noticeable, very it's noticeable very noticeable.
It's hard to come from practice right, right, because you're playing against
each other. They're doing these things. But but the things are doing to
each other, it's very good. What does that mean. Well, they're
they're scoring on each other, they're defending well against each other. It's not
just you know, one dominating the other. It's it's equal good. Yeah,
that makes an you sense, it does, and you know, and
that's one of the things about you know camp, right, is that there
are you know, if the defense looks bad, if the offense makes the
defense look bad, you worry about the defense. Right, the defense makes
the offense look bad, you worry about the offense. So they're both gonna
have their days. And I didn't get I couldn't go to the scrimmage.
I had a memorial service I had to go to. So that's my excuse.
I'm sticking to it. And you're fine, you're fielding for you exactly.
She wasn't. She complained about these. It was it was really bad,
but you know so and that you know, so it's good and bad
when you when you have that thing going on which you kind of like to
see, is that they're kind of kind of even but you know, by
all accounts, both sides look good, is what I hear? Yeah,
no, no, no, And they have good spots. Delora looks sharp,
it looks very good. The wide receivers as you would expect him,
look good. Of the running backs, Wiley looked fantastic, Speedy, Speedy
Luke good at times. He needs to handle the ball better, but you
know he's gonna make an impact. Finally, you know, a couple of
years in, right, so they have people again again. Hey, you
have to convince me, right, Mikey doesn't like it. Mikey's kind of
starting to like it. Yeah. You know. One of the things that
to me is it kind of sticks out to me in terms of how to
think about all this is that, you know, last year, you know,
we felt, okay, they've got all these players, They've got t
act they've got Jane Delora, they've got Speedy Luke, you know, all
these guys, and it kind of like they weren't. They were good,
but maybe not as good as you hope. They weren't good weekend and week
out. It's like, guys, this was the first time they were all
playing, and now Delora had played, but not with these guys, right,
and they were young and and and so it was kind of hard to
you know, you you expected more from them, right, You expect a
team act to be breaking touchdowns and and and he did a lot of great
things and some of those things, you know, but he had a lot
of you know, he was he was he was right out of high school.
Now, you you know, when when you watch them this year,
you realize these guys got a year under their belt. And it shows.
Yeah, right, it shows when you see them a little stronger, a
little bigger, a little more confident and knowing more about what they're supposed to
be doing. I was gonna ask you if you can go to Draft Kings,
one of our big sponsors. Uh, it's just still at four or
four and a half five whatever it was five five, So it went down.
It went from five and a half down, So the numbers are are
not giving them favors. Right, If that's the case, I still like
over five. I still like it, even though I bet against it with
you. Uh, but even the Fins wins, I can't remember they only
have like two and a half on that in at least I saw something,
Yeah, I'll look, which is kind of strange because if they've gotten much
better than you've already you some people last week we're talking eight, right,
seven, eight? Well, Jake Fisher said eight, and then we got
a call right after that saying seven or eight, seven or eight. And
I don't know if it's the kool aid or the Tucson fans talking and calling,
but I don't see it that good. But six seems very reasonable,
very reasonable. They're they're still at five five over five is plus one hundred,
under five is minus one twin. Yeah, so they're favoring under five
yeah, which which which you know? So the basically the odds are saying
four or less. Yeah, So I think the locals over are taking the
over. The Nationals are taking the end, taking the under because of reputation,
reputation. It's all about what have you done? Later? You know,
you've you're you got five wins last you're great, But you're in the
league. That's a lot tougher. Tell me what does Colorado? Can?
You see what Colorado has? I can because everybody Nationals are favoring them,
right. I don't know what their locals are, but some people are saying
two three there, and it'd be an improvement. Colorado was at UH three
and a half three and a half. The under three and a half is
minus one thirty five, so it's leaning towards towards under under, but it's
it's three and a half and one. You know, Jay, You know
Jay, because we talked about this, They're not gonna mirror Arizona in the
second year. Jed did because they did let well, yeah, they went
one eleven and flipped their roster completely over right, But but does that go
to bad right? Right? In Arizona went from what they went they won
one and eleven to five to five. So I'm thinking Colorado could do that.
We don't know that. We don't know, but but if Arizona could
do it with what they had, there's a chance Colorado could do it.
Which was it? I had thought at some point I might throw something on
Colorado under under three and a half. Yeah, because I just think this
is gonna be harder than anybody at Colorado thinks, particularly Dean Sanders, particularly
his kid, the quarterback, this is gonna be harder, harder than it
is. But I wouldn't, you know, Dean Sanders is as extractor.
He don't know you don't know what what you know, what he's gonna bring
and what they're gonna do this whole year is gonna be fun to watch.
And I say that not surprisingly because of all the good teams, right and
everybody's gonna be after each other, this beating the last year. Right now,
it starts early for DN. They open up with TCCU. So you
know, if TCU goes out and beat some forty one to seven, you
know, you think, okay, you know, but if they don't,
But what if they don't. But if they don't and and you know,
they hang in there, let's say it's a you know, a thirty eight
twenty eight game or something like that, you know you're gonna go, okay,
they've got something. If you put twenty eight points up on the team
it was in the National Championship last year, then you might, you know,
you might have a shot at something after winning one game, one game,
and I don't winning looking bad, only winning one game. I mean
sure they didn't look as bad as their Zonta looked. And it's you know,
but they look you know, they didn't lose to an NAU, but
they looked they they were in Arizona handle them really well three and a half.
I have to look at their schedule. I really liked that. I
really like that. We'll see what happens. But I just bringing the IM
up because of the compare and contrast them being one eleven and Arizona doing really
well. I do like what Arizona's doing. It's without question. Uh they
look they look better well again, you know, and you you with if
you with some continuity, you'd like to think that they will be better by
having guys in positions that played those positions last year. So with that,
let's go to my question to Jed about the team looking noticeably better the talent
different talent difference. Okay, you what exactly was the question? It was
over the last three years you've been here, blah blah blah, You've gone
from this to this this and uh you and I'm asking the question right,
so it's very noticeable. What do you think? And then you kind of
gave me a long answer to that question. Okay, Well, yeah,
I mean I think what we tried to do, and we talked about this
each year right from you know, we really called year one year zero.
We were not able to really bring in any players from the outside. Most
of the players that we had than a few random transfers there at the end,
were players that were here and we had to try to develop them in
a short period of time to play the type of football we wanted to play.
The next year, we really tried to do a great job of recruiting.
That was t Max class and Feature Price Socks class and Speedies class and
Jonah's class, and both Jonahs and that class really came in and made a
difference. And then obviously then we had the transfers come in with Jaiden and
company and then Cowing and etc. So the talent has continued to build.
But I'll tell you what else has been the development of the players that either
we're here or that got here. The way they look, the way they
really are work in the weight room, the way they are taking care of
their bodies in the training room. I mean, I'll get a picture from
the training room and there'll be thirty guys in there getting treatment, taking care
of their body, getting ready for practice. And when you have that mentality,
that's when you start really seeing a difference. So I think each year
we hope to have better talent every year we're here. That's the ultimate goal.
So it was a long question, a lot of answer to my question.
So I used the back half of that for the weight room and they're
they're working hard to get better. I didn't need the front part of it.
You know, we know who's here. But that's very apparent. I
think the previous years, you know, and that interview that we had with
the guy a washerman and when he brought up the one in one thousand,
I think that's always gonna stick with me because they had nothing there. Right.
If that doesn't translate to nothing, I don't know what does wow that.
Yet it showed how little effort and care was put into forty just getting
players, not just one year, right, not just two years from a
bunch of years, for a bunch of years, including the last including Ritron's
last couple of years. You can argue, I know he had Khalil Tate,
but you know, it seemed like the recruiting, you know, kind
of you know, fell off a little bit in his last couple of years,
and so you know with the whole thing where he had coaches who weren't
recruiting and stuff like that. So I think that it's, yeah, there's
a huge difference. You can see the effort. I guess what you say.
He can see the fruits of the effort to go out and get guys
and have guys and keep bringing in guys to challenge the guys ahead of them.
You know, if Jayden Delora goes out and plays like Craft the first
couple of games, there's a quarterback behind him who he'll be happy to take
his job. And he looks good too, looks very good. You know,
he talks about, well, let's let's run this click because he talked
about he played basically three receivers last year, Dorian Singer of T mac and
Jacob Cowing. And somebody asks about, you know, now singers back.
I mean Cowing is back. T Mack is back. I've gone and got
Montana long last name from Colorado. But he talks about other guys and what
might be happening at the receiver position. Yeah, I think we're getting better
there. Kevin gray and just had a little bit of a nick on his
shoulder, so we didn't play him very much. He's done a nice had
a nice camp. Malachi needs to keep growing and learning, but as a
lot of ability, Carlos showed up today. He looks like he's got something
there. You know, those guys have all gotten better. I think that
there's a really you know, there's a lot of places for these guys to
improve and make an impact. But I and AJ showed up today. AJ
had probably his best day. So yeah, I mean, I think guys
will play more, will substitute more. You know, our our goal is
to develop, developed, developed, get them ready, and then when they're
ready, we play him. And we don't really worry about how many reps
a guy has. We're going to play the three best and then when the
fourth best is ready to go in, then the number three guys gonna be
able to take a break. So it's on the one, two, and
three to pressure four, five and six to keep getting better so they don't
have to play every snap. I don't know if you saw the Twitter tears
that they hadn't it was it was football? Did where was it? Noween
was the second tier and and t MAC was the fifth tier, But basically
it was the top like twenty five receivers in the country, right right,
So two guys very respectful for a unit that's uh that lost one of its
best players. USC was was he was, but but it says a law
you wouldn't have seen this a few years ago, was then against if you
go to I know that, I know, you know there's a lot of
guys in all these groups, but all these awards that players are unwatched the
true score, you know, and you didn't There's a whole bunch of them
and you didn't see any of that. You saw none of that for for
for a lot of years. So that means not only are they getting better
players, but you know, people are recognizing that they've got better players.
You know, I talked about this when back way back when coming out of
the Macavic years and Mike Stoops was, you know, struggled, got got
a little bitter, got a little better, And I loved at the point
that they were in the conversation. And by that I mean on day right
on college football game day, they talk about Arizona when they talk about one
of their games coming up. Then they then they had a game, they
hosted a game. They hear against Oregon being in the conversation because for whatever
people think about oh, you know, AP polls and stuff like that,
if they're not talking about you, when you get to the end of the
season. It's harder, you know, to get the attention to be in
a bowl game or to have guys get All America honors, and being in
the conversation has always been very important to me to have people talk about Arizona
in a good way and not a bad way because they get did get talked
about how bad they were for a long period of time, and it's so
infrequent that that happens. You know, maybe he could run a little longer
streak of that, right because it gets choppy choppy in the past, you
know, But but they are in the conversation. You know, there was
a you know, the podcast that I listened to with with Dan Wetzel and
Pat Forty. You know, they spent they spend a bunch of time,
you're during the recruiting, you know, during all the recruiting stuff. I
mean, they zeroed in and talked for about five minutes or so about Arizona
and the guys that they were getting, and so it's it's it's just very
cool to be in that position. Okay, we gotta take a break here,
get have your morales, get a cull in. We're gonna talk a
lot about high school season and things like that as they start their season in
a few days. Now, we're gonna talk about today's a scrimmage with you
of a in Israel, right, I'm sure you saw watch the game on
the other half. And then we'll also have Troy Hutchinson to talk about.
He was at the scrimmage, so we'll get a to watch the game.
Yeah, well we'll get another view of you know what he's seen what he
saw at the scrimmage on Saturday. So stick around for all that, but
we'll be right back with have your morales. We'll start kicking off some of
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you, breaking down all the excess and os. It's Steve Rivera and Jaden
Zommits. This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen. They Hey,
welcome back to why on the Ball here Fox Sports Fortune Foim Steve,
He's Jay. Tell me you have haf the guy who never sleeps well.
I have to I sadly have to agree with you. Vampire. Yeah,
So what's what's got you busy these days? Uh? I co football it's
coming up pretty fast, too fast. Actually, it starts this Friday,
for one, are eight teams in southern Arizona. And then the following Friday,
the twenty fifth, is when all those schools are playing. So it's
coming up really fast. Let's go. Let's go to some of the small
schools, because there's a few of them, you know, in and around
the Tucson area. And I shouldn't even call him small anymore because like schools
like Sabino and like that are in are in three A. So tell us
a little bit about about those guys getting started this weekend. Sabino plays at
Coolidge and Sabino has Cameron Hackworth, who's a three year starter at quarterback.
I get looked at by some colleges, you know. And you have the
Barry Hill brothers, Savan and Samar Schamar has been offered a scholarship by the
view of a he's a junior. He's got great size. He actually plays
wide receiver and linebacker, which is uncommon jesually wide receiver, cornerbacker, safety,
but he's played linebackers. How strong guy how big is he if he's
a line if he's playing linebackers, he's got good size. He's about six
six one two hundred around there. Yeah, I mean he can get around.
He's like the edge like he called it, the mic linebacker. I
don't know all those terminologies, but he he covers a lot of ground.
So a lot of good talent. Even at the smaller school level. Huh
oh yeah, yeah, even if it's three I mean three A is perceived
to be like small school, you know, because it's not forty five or
sixty. But the schools like Sabino and Push Ridge are annually very tough teams,
and they play against fourty teams and they beat them. I mean,
they were very competitive Sawaro. I think Sabino's beat Sawaro the last couple of
years. That's a big rivalry up there. I know Jay knows all about
that. Point that out. Unfortunately, I had just gotten out of high
school when Sabino all of a sudden got good and they started beating the crap
out of Sawaro. So right, you know, because that didn't happen while
I was a well, I that's all I know. That's all I know.
But that was that was also nineteen seventy seven. I don't ask you
how many tackles? Yeah, exactly exactly did you play football? Jay?
I didn't. I played freshman in JV and then that was that was all
I had, and I got tired of I got tired of getting killed.
I'm just saying you couldn't find a helmet big enough. Well, the helmet
was big, but the pants were long. Okay, so you gonna be
busy. Which games are you gonna highlight this week? And if not all
of them, well, there's there's not a lot in Tucson. Actually,
the Semino Coolidge game is at Coolidge push Ridge doesn't start until twenty fifth or
a three eight team, but they don't start to twenty fifth. A lot
of two eight teams are playing on the road. So even though it starts
this week, there's not a lot going on in Tucson. Uh So the
next week is when it really gets hot and heavy with like you guys to
point out before like sell Miranna plays cell point huge game. I mean that
that's a huge game for for you know, power points and all. That's
that's what they still call him, you know down the road because look,
you've got two really really good teams and somebody's got to win the game,
right. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting because Cell Point, you know,
they have that defensive line with rushing and Will high and on the ends,
and they have Cordova and then nose tackles. So that's that's gonna be one
of the best defensive line ever in two sons high school history just because of
their they're projected. All of them are projective play at a Power fives or
Division one school at least. You know, Arizona's got Will hide and rushing
already on board as commitments, and Cordova has been recruited by you know,
he's been in the past, has been recruited by the UA and Order Dame
and some other schools, so he's still on the board. But uh,
it's gonna be interesting to see those guys going against Miranda's fast paced, uh
quick read offense. I think Miranda's gonna use set to their advantage because they
don't want to have the quarterback sit back there and just let those guys key
on them. So they're going to test cell Points linebackers in secondary. I'm
gonna take rushing in Wahai, Will have enough time to get to the quarterback.
But well, that's that's part of the fun thing of watching it unfold.
And that's at sell Point next Friday, the only time sell Points playing
another Tucson team in town or Southern aers on the team all year, that
is all Phoenix teams. Oh Man, mostly yeah, well yeah wow.
So so you've been doing this a while now, you grew up here,
You've seen a lot of games. You've seen a lot of people come through.
Have you talked about this being the best one of the best ever,
if not the best ever? Defensively on the line? Has has Tucson?
Uh well, how far has Tusan come with that? In terms of athletic
abilities? Things like that school's going to three kids going to bigger school and
stuff like that. Uh well, I mean school has developed like a niche
and along the way sometimes you know, like stell Point's built up a reputation,
have been running back strong. Uh with Bijon and some of the other
ones that have come through in recent years, like Bettis and Goodman last year.
Just just the string of really good quarterbacks. Will Height not related to
uh, do the Will Height that's going to Arizona but Anthony will Height was
a really easy plus a thousand yard rusher. The South Point has an identity
in a running back school. Miranda's starting to be like a quarterback school because
they're turning out quarterbacks that are that throw for over twenty five hundred yards.
Sabino went from aj Skaggs, who through for at close to three thousand yards
on. They have Cameron Hackworth who that he's gonna throw full four thousand this
year, which is unheard of. That's going to be a record. He's
gonna shoot for that with forty touchdowns. So, I mean, there's certain
schools that have developed, uh you know that you know that identity, uh
you know, and it's it's been uh, you know two Sound High in
the past. They've had the lineman like Mike Dawson and Bill Dawson and some
of the other guys that played there. It's it's every every generation seems like
there's there's a top of the line players playing at different schools in certain positions.
Who besides those two, who are some who are some of the schools
around here, you know at the upper levels that might be competing you don't
have a shot at maybe making some run in in the at state. Well,
cdo. And we all know that what happened at CDEO last year with
the unfortunate off the field, uh situation that reduced that resulted in I think
it was seven or eight players, most of them seniors, were basically checked
off the team for that year. You know, some of them are back
or at least one of them is back this year reinstated, and it's that
team has more than twenty seniors on his team and there and most of them
are good, like Skylie Woodard, another guy that you have a has been
looking at. He's alignman. Uh. You know, Tristan McClellan is a
great quarterback. He had a good year. He got thrown into the mix
last year. They're they're gonna be a team that should win the for a
championship or be right there because they got a lot of people back and they
went to the semi finals, became an overtime away from making the championship game
last year. So they're they're one of the favorites to go all the way
this year. Well, that's that's very good and very interesting. Well,
they're losing all those guys, you're still get in as far as they did.
How how did they do that? Because you can't lose guys like they
lost? Right, Yeah, you guys have talked to dust In peace before,
right. I mean, he's he's like a he's the ultimate players coach.
Those guys think of him as the father figure. And I think he
used that as a situation where like, Okay, they're gonna do this to
us, Well, we're gonna we're gonna bond together. We're gonna show them
what we can do despite this, you know, terrible situation. I mean
he was in tears when I interviewed him about it, about the players,
because he was thinking more about them and their futures than anything else. And
I think the players just rallied around him the way he made them bond together.
Yeah, no, No, I agree that he's just a good guy,
A good guy who avided his time as an assistant coach and now he's
here. He's been a head coach for a while now, right, he's
I think it is the fifteenth year he was under new Gent right forever.
Yeah, he actually played at following Walls, I think when Nugent was there,
maybe at an assistant coach, and then then he coached under him at
cdo Yeah, anything else besides football going on. We gotta keep prior out.
Yeah, well there's all the fall sports. There's volleyball, golf,
you know, swimming, cross country. A lot of kids come out to
those, Andy and I and I think Down four was their Saturday at the
USD Media Day that which is a great event. That's got some of the
the players out there, the athletes of all the schools and different sports.
I mean, something that's never really happened before, and it would be nice
if they continue that. All the districts or schools put something like that together.
That was something Dedy Wheeler must have engineered. Yeah, it generated with
to USD and then it's the two Sun High. Ad said that she would
take it on to put it on Stephanie Miller at the at their jam.
You know, I think I think next time probably they'll they'll get more notification
out and get some more media out there, because those those kids eat it
up to see the camera in front of them not they're not used to that.
And a lot of them I asked, have you ever been interviewed for
and they said no, Maybe like of those athletes and the parent the parents
loved that stuff too. They love seeing their kids getting that stuff. And
you know, like when we get a coach on the radio, that's one
of the things that generates, you know, a lot of interest. And
we know, we know, you know they're on the they're on the radio
and they were listening the school is everybody's listening. But you know, it's
it's that's a lot of fun. And they always well, you guys,
you guys do that all. I mean, I heard that the Sam Mills
interview at the Morana Softball I mean, that's you probably had the whole Miranda
community they're listening to him speaking. It's it's that's huge. I mean,
that doesn't happen. By the way, thanks thanks for that, because he
was really good. He was great. I heard the interview. He's yeah,
he was very informative and emotional and I think we both had tears in
our eyes at the point. Well, you guys have had have had kids
play sports, you sports that some of the stuff he was talking about it
very important. So I don't know if you want to make a prediction or
not, because I can't remember if all sports twos on dot com does this
a player of the year. Who would be your leaders in the clubhouse right
now for football football? Yeah, Ilie, you're rushing defensive end at sell
Point. Uh, let's see. There's there's a different players that are going
to step up. The Kylie Woodard had CDO I think is gonna be huge.
He's got any of you looking at him more and more, and Arizona
has been out and on him going down the line. You got some of
the CD a lot of the CDO. Caden Luke is going to be a
big time player. He's a fullback. Uh, he's like a Michael Stott
type player. He'll he'll get some looks. You know, there's a lot
there's there's above a Mustay in the quarterback at push Ridge. You passed for
over to twenty six hundred yards. His brother, Tyler Mustang was a walk
on at the of A. He's gonna I would guess that he's gonna earn
a scholarship by by next year or the way his physical abilities. Cameron Hackworth,
he says he's gonna throw for four thousand yards and have forty touchdown passes.
I don't I don't doubt him with the amount of talent he has around
with the Berry Hills and a lot of the receivers he has there, what
are his uh what are his uh specs? You know, you know,
hight weight. That's that's where the question marks come in with him because he's
like five nine, one hundred and eighty around there. He doesn't have a
lot of heights. But I mean, you look at Kyler Murray. He's
not the tallist guy. Of course he's he's had his moments at with the
Cardinals over your questioned, but but he won a Heisman, So I you
know, I think a size in this today's age of offenses is not as
big for the quarterback because a lot of them run have mobile quarterbacks who quick
reads and run out of the pocket to mix defenses us. So I think
he could have a future. I know he's played defensive back also to give
himself himself more of an opportunity to get noticed. But he definitely has a
strong arm. He's got a great football I que, and he's got tremendous
accuracy, so he's got he's got the tools. Yeah, I was gonna
say, you want to make a prediction and say who has the best chance
to win a state title? I think cdo studio and then the self point,
as I would their defense might be one of the best and not the
best in the state. At the six are not defense. You have a
chance to win a championship obviously, So they're not open division this year.
They're six A. There's six A. If they get if they're ranked one
of the top eight by the end of the the regular season, they'll be
in the Open Division playoffs. Oh gosh, that could very well happen.
Yeah, that could happen. Yeah, so they might have to go up
against some of the top tier teams in Phoenix, but I think, you
know, with that defense, they can probably manage that. Yeah, how
was we haven't had on the show in a while? Uh, Scarring,
How's how are they doing downe there? He's still trying to develop. I
mean I think that was the first year last year and then they I think
they only had one winning season in their whole existence. So that's that's the
struggle down there. You have to compete with no gallas and it does not
too far away. Walden Grove, that's a that's a tough area because those
are all good, especially Walden Groves. That's a good area where the students
and generally don't go to Rio Rico, so he's still trying. He got
almost a new staff this year because a lot of the other guys went on
to different schools, so he's still he's still in the building process there.
Okay, okay, well thanks a munch. What's high? They got a
new coach too, right, Zach Nevleff. He's a self point running back
coach. And I've mentioned the running backs at self point in recent years,
so he's behind a lot of that. So he's he's very young guy.
He relates with the players very well, and they got Adam paul as A
as a assistant coach. Cam Gaddis, who's the young guy he relates with
players, so he's uh, he's got some some youthful exuberance going on there.
Let's see. It's gonna be tough for him to win right away because
the way the program was last year with an interim coach and things very much
in transition. But I think a couple of years from now, two three
years or training things around. Well, have your thanks for your youthful exuberance
today? Is that what you call it? That's what you call it.
I'm using it on you. Now taking out are you you're probably working?
Yeah, taking out? No, I'm go ahead to do the CDIO amount
of the scrimmage right now. Sleep took it up and a half time.
Thanks a much, Thanks a much. Never sleeps, he doesn't. Yeah,
he doesn't. But you know what, he's the guy, right you
go, you want some information on high school, you go to him and
Andy and you get they know everything. They know all the players, they
know the coaches, they know what's going on. So that's why that's why
we get him on here, so so that we don't have to go do
all that. Right, I'm looking forward to I really do want to go
to that Mirana. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what is that fifth
R five? Yeah? Okay, yeah, I really want to go check
that out and see what these do you guys from south would look like.
And you know how good is Mirana? Right, We've had their their coach
on a few times, so I love to see how that works. Okay,
so let's take a break. Okay, let's take our break. We'll
be back and uh we'll maybe do some more jet fish stuff from practice.
Yeah, talk about the best gamestball game. Okay, we'll right back.
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live on the iHeartRadio Whap. This is I on the Ball with Steve Ramira
and Jay Gonzalez on Box Sports fourteenth fiftday. Hey, welcome back to the
ball Fox Sports fourteen fifty of Steve Rivera. He's Jiggins. Also, we
have about twelve minutes if you're gonna give us a call. Uh, did
you go to the scrimmage on Saturday? That be good to hear see what
you thought. I think there weren't very many people. It was too dull.
Heart Yeah, I think I think the next one, which will be
at at night Saturday, be the last last chance to get a good look
at him. Probably a little further along right practice wise, and we might
see more. Looking forward to going too now Yeah, no, okay,
if you want to give us call, please do two O four one six
seventy four forty. Thanks Saber for coming on board. We all we talk
about Jeff Jets one more time. Basket basketball basketball basketball. I saw,
I saw probably three quarters of it. Yeah, I kind of stopped paying
attention to it when it got out of hand. Yeah, it was.
I thought I thought Israel Israel would be a better team. They weren't well,
and you know, and I wasn't looking at the score so much.
I mean, of course, if i'd have been looking at the score if
a zone was losing, right, But they took him in pretty early on.
What I was watching for was what does it look like right, and
what the different guys looked. Sure, it looked the same. Let me
say this, except for one Ballow is big, like a big big.
I noticed that when he went to the press conference like two weeks ago.
Yeah, I'm thinking what happened to follow He like ballooned yea, and not
in a good way. Yeah. I would assume that that wait is easy
to come. If he needs to come off if he does, let me
know because I need that way to come up with me. But he's big.
Did you notice. I guess I didn't pay attention so much, so
I big. But maybe he needs to be big. I don't know,
but he was big. Same ballow though, you know, kind of but
he eversone was gonna be very good on the inside. Wow. Okay.
That and that's one of the first things that I that was I kind of
noted was the rim protector that they have. There's a whole bunch of them,
right, if you produce their names right, you could not you know,
guys could not go in the in the lane on Arizona. And no
matter who in there, they're gonna be And we didn't see Henry Henry today
because he was out. He was out with flu or sickness. Uh,
they're gonna be This team has a lot of I said, this not a
death blah blah blah, whether he uses it or not, but they're gonna
be very good. Yeah. Well, and then another one was was you
know Borrow Eaton and the guy that we talked about, you know all summer
long with it, you know, when he was you know, playing in
the international competition he just looked and it's not being Philip Philip. Yeah,
I think I told you that. Yeah, it's not that he was scoring,
it's his presence on the court. Yes, right, he's confident,
he looks like he knows where he needs to be. He's you know,
how did you notice this? I'm just I was just watching him play so
so I I think I said this before before all this, uh, last
year, we had a chance to see him in the summer and he stuck
out. He stood out to me, and I'm thinking, who's this kid.
I didn't know these kids, Philip, and I'm looking at him.
Oh, he's gonna be very good. And then he didn't play, right,
I'm thinking if he's storing him, like stored him purposely because he didn't
need to play him. I said, this dude's gonna be good. Like
he's got a presence. Is at the word to use? Yeah, he's
got a presence. Yeah, and it's it's it's just a weird good vibe.
Well, and here's the thing again, it's not about the competition that
he was going up again, just watching him on the floor and the thing
that the thing that the description I have for him is he's a better version
of Pelly Larson right, smoother, smoother, more more confident with the ball,
more confident defensively. And again we don't know. I mean this was
you know, who knows what the competition level was, But just the way
he was moving around the court, he looked a whole have a lot more
uh, in control of himself like he knew or he was supposed to be.
Wasn't afraid to take the ball, wasn't afraid to take a shot.
And if that's the guy that he's gonna be, he's gonna help him.
Yeah, no question. In fact, I saw him, like I said,
more than a year ago we had the contemp and we were invited to
go watching him and say who's this guy? And then I watched him a
lot and he didn't get to play very much. Uh. And then you
saw him in the open in the camp this year where everyone was doing and
the internet, and then I saw him today and then I'm thinking he wears
number one, and I you know, didn't put the bullet. It takes
a lot of guts to where and there's a reason for that, because you
think you're number one, right, Does that make sense? I think he's
going to be a great surprise for this team. Yeah. I again,
at the very least, you feel like there's a guy there that, you
know, whether or not he's a starter, is a guy that's going to
contribute. Yeah. Right, He's a guy that looks he looks like he's
done the work. Yeah, and he looks the part in a weird way
to contribute. He's like, he's what a six seven? Yeah, he
wing guy. You know, he's not Sean Elliott with the first step,
but he's you know, he just looks very as I said, confident and
aware of what he's out there to do. Yeah, you know what,
that's a good guy. I wouldn't even know who to compare him to.
I probably need to see him a little bit more. He's not Judd,
he's not Sean. Maybe he's not Michael Dickerson. Check a Slovakian guy shooter,
no, kind of a little quick kind I thought, yeah, yeah,
okay, I just need to see more of them. Yeah, we
do. And again, okay, I'll give you that I was making I
was making fun of some people. I was watching the game. My wife
was, you know, was in the house that Jesus works at home I
said, I'm having a great time on social media watching people make predictions about
the season off the first quarter of the game. How did you know?
I was just watching people, just not so on Twitter, watching people on
I wasn't watching the life, but just watching people on social media already making
predictions about And then what got into it was we were having some fun with
some guys, you know, some of the guys that I that I chat
with, and I guess we're going undefeated those cruise there's always those us.
And we were laughing. I mean, it was a joke. We were
we were laughing about that. But you know, they again. But what
it looked like is it looked like what Tommy has been doing since he got
here, running up and down the floor, playing some defense, trying to
block some shots. Yeah, trying to steal the ball. Uh does?
And it looked it looked familiar. Yeah, it looked familiar, great very
good players. And again that to me, that's not what I'm looking at.
What I'm looking at is what did that look like? Sure, sure
Boss will look bigger too. He doesn't look like a point guard, does
he does. He looks like a running back a bit. Yeah, But
they're gonna be solid in a lot of good places. Of course, again,
everybody else is getting better too, got good players. Let's see how
Tommy handles them. But again, we've said this a thousand times. I've
said it since I started covering him in ninety one. You can go thirty
four and old and March hits. If you're March comes and you don't go
to your seat or whatever. Yeah, you had a bad season, but
you know, I was looking at you know, I was looking at the
stats, and he played a lot of he played sixteen guys. Yeah,
he said what he said he was gonna do. Uh. Keisha Johnson scored
twenty four points. The thing the thing about that is eleven or fourteen shooting.
He was making bass, he was ducking, and he looks very good.
This team is gonna be athletic. It's probably gonna be maybe more physical
because of a couple of guys that transferred in. It's gonna be a lot
to like, a lot to like. It's funny though I didn't wasn't paying
attention to your feed, but I saw some people on Facebook. I'm glad,
I'm thank thankful to God that Tomry Lloyd is our coach, and I
think four or five months ago people wanted him to get the hell out of
town because he lost to Prince and then they couldn't get recruits. Yeah,
oh yeah, then they couldn't recruit. Yeah, yeah, no, you
know, I know, well, like you said, relax, relaxed to
your guys and even relaxed about what you saw today. You know, just
again it's it's more of you know, just just what do they look like
on the court. What are they doing on the court, doing the same
thing they've done, but you've got you're seeing guys do that right, new
guys right into the system of of you know, running up and out.
You know, they were a little sloppy with the ball a few times,
got some turnovers and some bad passes stuff, but they were always hustling.
They were hustling up and down the court. And when you have a lot
of people you can play, that'll happen. I think Bobby Robbins got more
of the TV, get a lot of TV time, all the fun games
and the firing there. But uh, you know, they were fun to
watch again as as they have been all along. Sure, and I think
that uh, you know, I if this is a sign of what it's
gonna look like going for Yeah, you know, then then you know,
play the games and see how that works. You know, once you get
there, once you get into the games, it certainly looked familiar, and
there were new guys doing stuff that the old guys sure have been. You
know, we're doing so that part of it, that part of it.
What did they say, but it was someone basketball doesn't stop, It's continue
to look this way I'm home. Was the last time, honestly, this
is honest question. When was the last time you say everyone was going to
be very good? Honestly? Never? Yeah, never, never. You
always say that, yeah, because they're always gonna be pretty good. Yeah,
yeah, they may. I'll be to some people's like they're gonna be
the one the top, in the top two or three in the conference.
They're gonna probably be ranked most of the year, top four seed. You
know, they might get into the top ten. You know, they spent
some time, you know, in the top five, you know in the
last few years. You know, that's just that's what you expect anymore.
And now you know, Tommy Lloyd certainly hasn't done anything to change that.
As they head into a season. So h it's uh again. It was
fun to watch. I just wanted to see what they look like. They
got guys. We'll see you know when when games get going. But uh,
you can tell that Tommy's just trying to get guys some work and let
everybody you know, do some stuff and see, uh, get some films.
They say, you know, get some film on these guys. And
that's that's what he's doing. Played sixteen guys. I know, they took
sixteen guys play. Oh then two more didn't they have and there's two more.
There's two more that didn't play. Yeah, so like they gets uh
you know, and this was more of a bonding trip. It was more
of a let's get to know each other. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy the
ride because it's gonna get to be work again soon. Uh. Some fans.
Bruce has already posted his first you know, his game story. So
if you go to the airs on a daily start I Wonder dot com,
you can you can see it, just you know, different quotes, you
know, yeada. Yeah, it's funny because and he and time, he
was very serious about this. Don't read too much into what we were doing
and starting line up stuff like that. That's starting line up flashed up at
the beginning of the game. I'm like, whoa, what wasn't I didn't
know what it was. Oh it was it was a bar of each and
end. Well. Uh god, I've seen it. Uh Boswell, Dylan
Anderson started, Boswell did not start, Bradley started, Uh Jade Bradley was
the starting guard. Uh. Palli Larson started, Dylan Anderson started, more
Eachan and started what Ballo didn't start. I can't I can't think who the
who the fourth? The fourth start? And it'll change next and it'll change.
So he'll he'll do, you know, he'll do a bit different guys
throughout the I just temper temper everything because it is what it is. It's
it's an exhibition traveling exactly. But but they did look good. They look
talented, well, they look talented, and they looked like they know what
they're doing, you know, Yeah, I mean it did look a little
again, it's a little rough around the edges a few times, but it
looked like what Tommy Tommy's teams have done the last few years. And you
know, it's like the system is in right, but now you just come
in and find a way to fit into that. Just let's take our break.
We'll be right back, and uh, we'll have breaking news.