Streaming live. I mean I heard radio WAF. This is Eye on the
Ball with Steve Rivera and Jacob Salez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Welcome back
to Vollking on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty on your host Jacob Zalas. Bye,
buddy. Sammy is in here running the show today. Woo. So
we're gonna turn her over to Samue right now for breaking news Eye on the
Ball, breaking news, yes, some literal breaking news. Georgetown head coach
ed Ed Cooley is stepping down after just one year at the program and had
some very interesting words to say, saying that this project, this rebuild,
will take a lot more, a lot longer than expected, in that some
of his personal relationships have been tarnished by it as well. So he's stepping
down after just one year after year, you know that says that that says
a lot about what a mess Patrick Ewing made of that job. Well,
I think it was already a mess before you and found here. And not
to say that Ewing made it worse, made it better this that the other,
but it says a lot that Ed Cooley from the job that he was
doing at Providence and the program that he had built, came over and had
these expectations and after one year one year was like, I can't do this.
It's gonna it's gonna take a lot more than just me, which is
really really interesting. So that just broke and then Washington State had basketball coach
Kyle Smith. I don't know if you guys talked about it. Yesterday He's
headed to Stanford, Yes, and he had a really his press conference was
really really cool. He was talking about his son with with autism and Stanford
having a lot of really really good resources for his son. So he got
a little emotional about that. It's a great yeah. And that was very
cool because because you know, when you think about these coaches, you think,
well, they're only about sure the basketball. You forget that they have
families. I remember, you know, people talked about you know, Chris
Peterson and you know, shit, he takes the the USC job. He
was up at Washington he said, should he take the USC job? When?
Uh, when the time came and he's got a special needs Yeah,
a special needs kid that uh he needed to be in Seattle. Yeah,
and people, why wouldn't you take the OC because I got a kid that
has stuff that he needs to be up here, right, and you forget
about that. Yeah. And Dan Lanning, the head football coach for Oorgon,
he was asked constantly when his name was being thrown in the hat for
Alabama, and I remember in an interview he was saying that his family and
his kids have like been grounded here in Oregon now and that they have this,
they've built this relationship with the schools and this, that and the other,
and to pick them up and move again would just be a lot.
And so I do I do respect a lot of those coaches that just can
can say no and comfortable where they're at and and and you know, and
they they have to. I mean, they've got they've got things, and
they've got you know, they got families, and they've got all this stuff,
and you just forget. Yeah. Switch Gears, the president of the
nc double A this past a couple of days, was asking states to ban
NCAA player prop bets, And that was something that we didn't include in the
Tommy Lloyd segment, but I find it really interesting. Obviously, sports betting
within the United States is is state based, so but it is college sports
and college players. And I think NIL has had some had some stuff to
do with this. But because before this you couldn't bet on player props with
now, and you can't do it in Arizona. They never they've never allowed
that, but other places have allowed that, And I that's a no brainer
rule because you got these are young kids that can be easily influenced into something.
Sure, and so you know, when you're talking about pros, they're
making a bunch of money. You know, the the the likelihood that they
and there's still some guys who are going to do that, but the likelihood
is it's not as easy to get to them as it is to get to
you know, a kid, a college student, you know who might need
a few extra bucks and whatever. So I have no problem with that.
I've stayed away from from college preps anyways, because it's just I mean,
I've been told a million times, what are you doing betting on eighteen to
twenty two year olds? To begin with? Sure, Now, if you're
betting on one individual eighteen year old, that's that's not good. I agree.
I think there's always lines that and there's lines in the sand, and
I think the NCAA and the even the people betting on this stuff should take
a look at themselves. Like you said, they're eighteen to twenty two year
olds that are playing a game that ninety eight percent of them won't play past
the college the college game, and so they're they're having a good time.
They're competing, and it's really really a lot when you're betting on someone to
have however many points, how many rebounds, right, and they're just trying
to win a game and for some go to class the next day, you
know. So that's really interesting. Now there's only sixteen teams left. Jay,
we talked obviously about a couple of them, but you're some honestly pretty
interesting stats storylines within you games. So Duke and Houston are playing in the
upper right corner. I think that's a great game breaking and they've never played
against each other, Wow, the history of ever Duke basketball Houston basketball,
first time ever. So that's a cool one. Should be should be a
really good game. Duke's been playing really well. Houston got an overtime scare,
so we'll see who comes out of that one. Uh. Top left,
you have yukon Stsu right the championship from last year rematch. That's right,
Holy cow, So you can't even think of that's why I'm here,
Why I'm here. Moving on to the Gonzaga Perdue game. So this is
Gonzaga's ninth straight Sweet sixteen. So a lot of times, especially the last
couple of years, it's been O Gonzaga was this or is this small conference?
Good story, but hasn't won a lot of big games mark few And
Gonzaga has been to nine straight fund their nine straight Sweet sixteens. Right,
really really good. Say what you want about what conference they playing and stuff.
When you do that, you've been pretty damn good. I agree,
And Perdue and Zach Edy, who is arguably the most dominant player in the
country, is the first player since Luell Cinder or crime Ol Dujebbar too in
his first two NC double A games have fifty points and thirty five rebounds through
the first team. Wow. So he's in and that that that that hits
me right here, because I you know, I saw Luel Cinder as a
kid and I loved watching him play for U c l A. And Zach
Edy and Purdue have a good thing going. He looks like that, I
mean, he you know, I'm trying not to give you a lot of
props here because I know you took Purdue, but he he was He's a
he's a beat, He's unstoppable. I don't I'm not saying I think if
Arizona had to play them, I don't know what we do. I don't
know that they could play him as well as they played him when they got
to beat the first time. And I do think if they do play Creighton
in the Elite eight, their their big man is is pretty good as well.
So that's those are my numbers there. You go to Clemson and Arizona
the game that we've been talking about. So Clemson is the best free throw
shooting team in the country. Wow, shooting at a team percent of seventy
nine percent. So that could be important if the game's close, they're more
than likely going to hit their free throws. And I don't know, I've
watched you with a lot we have good percentages, but sometimes it never feels
like, well, it always made like when you need the free throws that
it's Thumarbalo at the line. Yeah. Always, and you know, you
know when when he gets fouled under the basket, I'm like, crap,
this could be an empty possession, you know, when they got when they
made a good play to get him the ball under the basket, and and
that, you know, and not not not taking a shot at Umar about
that, but that that's what it is, you know. Of course,
the other night I had a game and I'm trying to hang on on the
line and the guy goes to the line and is a fifty percent free throw
shooter. Yeah, and he makes two free throws, and I'm like,
what the hell is this? Hey, that's how it goes sometimes, you
know. And the Arizona and little nugget that I like, Kylon Boswell has
dipped down under this at just nine point eight points per game, but before
we had had five starters double figures, which is the nation's best. So
something to look there. Illinois and Iowa State a lot of a clash of
two different styles. I think. I think that's a completely understated game.
Again, people were assuming that as good as Iowa State's been, that they're
just going to kick their asses. Illinois is a three seed. Yeah,
Illinois top four offense in the country, Iowa State top four defense in the
country. So that'll be that'll be fun. And we all saw what Iowa
State did to Houston. That was ugly. That was just ugly ugly.
Marquette and NC State so interesting. Nugget Shaka Smart has yet to be has
yet to go back to the Elite Eight since his Cinderella run pcuh So that's
been a while and NC State now has won seven seventh straight game straight game.
Every one of those games would have been their last game. Yep,
I agree and unbelievable. A lot of people look back to that shot against
Virginia. They don't make that shot, they don't win that game. The
bank the bank shot bank like half court. Yeah, exactly, And honestly,
I think that's gonna be my favorite game to watch this week. Tyler
cole X back. It seems seems virtually unguardable, but NC State is the
hottest team in the country aside from Yukon, and they have three really really
good players U n C and Bama. Bama is the oldest team remaining in
Oh no, no, sorry North Carolina. Their average age is older than
the Oklahoma City we had that yesterday. Okay, yeah, it's funny.
I'm like yeah. And an interesting thoking about this game is Alabama has yet
to be uh yet to play in a final four in program history. There's
four teams Bama, Clemson, Creighton, and Tennessee yet to play. I
thought they got beat early. That's they were one. They were the one
seedon Yeah, okay, you're And the last two teams that haven't been to
the Final four play against each other. Tennessee and Creighton UH to go to
to the Elite eight to then play for a Final four. And Tennessee has
Dalton Cannet, one of the best players in the country. If you haven't
seen him, he is fantastic. And Creighton under McDermott, it seems like
they've had a good enough teams to go to the Final four but have yet
to go to the final four. So that is the quick breaking news you
look at it. There's really not a lot of not a lot of other
stuff going on. The stuff is still really hanging out there. I know
he didn't do anything. I really hope he didn't, genuinely for the sport
of baseball. I pray exactly. We didn't cover this yesterday because I think
it happened even during the show. Then you kickoff rule and the hip drop
rule in the hip the hip drop, I don't even know what that is.
I don't either, So I'm you know, but did new kickoff thing
I have? I saw a bunch of tweets on it yesterday. It's like
it's like we're headed towards playing t ball. Just put the ball in the
twenty five yard line and let's go. But and I just feel like,
you know, I get, you know, with the with the bodies that
the way they are and stuff like that. But football is a game where
you get hurt. I I I agree with that, and to that level
of if they're going to get rid of it, stop beating it around the
bush and just get rid of it. And if you're going to want to
do an on side kick, you do a fourth and twenty play, right
something. That's what That's what you get rid of it all together exactly because
there's still going to be the people that are going to get hurt in this
new rule, new format. And yeah, I understand the protection rules.
Yeah I agree with you, Sammy, But I grew up playing football.
The first my first uh tagle football game, quarterback, I broke my arm.
It's it's how it goes. It is the only play I got to
play in and and freshman and JV football. I was on the kickoff team.
Yeah, because I was fast, and so they you know, I
was little, but I was fast. They thought I could go out there
and get into somebody's legs and tackle them. Yeah, and that's the only
time I got to play because I was little. I agree, and I
totally get it with the the all the information that comes out posts and all
this, that and the other. But then you it's it's a larger it's
a larger picture thing though. Yeah, it is. Then what are we
what are we doing? But all right, real quick, I want to
play this clip we got from we picked up off of off of a social
media of Steve Kerr. It was on the on the Final four twitter feed.
Just somebody did a little brief two minute interview with Steve talking about his
his Final Four experience. Here's what he had to say, thinking back thirty
five years nineteen eighty eight, Final four, what what kind of comes to
mind? What are the first memories that you think about? Well, the
good memories were advancing to the Final four. You know, I'll never forget
our game in Seattle Elite Aid we beat North Carolina and the feeling of just
pure joy and elation for our team, coach Olsen, for all of our
fans. It was incredible. My second emotion is thinking back thirty five years
nineteen eighty eight finals. I'm not sure what happened there. We're gonna have
to fix that. We'll try and play it, play it back during the
during what maybe at the end of the show we didn't I didn't listen to
it before we put it on. We just threw it on there. So
I'll fix that and we'll come back to it. All right, let's go
and take our break. Sure, we're going to have John Court, who's
gonna be calling us from he's the Arizona gymnastics coach. UH. They're playing
in the they're participating. You don't play gymnastics. They're competing in the UH,
in the UH, in the NC Double A regional that Faydeville, Arkansas
next week. Nine times, nine teams get into each regional. UH.
They've got a shot at this. They're not one of the sixteen top seeds
in the in the in the competition, but they are. They're in and
it's like I think I believe his fifth in a row that they've reached NC
Double A. So he's really gotten the program going. They've had a great
season, so we'll let him talk a little bit about and bring us up
to speed on what we can back from his teammate. I think you'll see
you can see those competitions on ESPN. So we'll be right back with John
Court Arizona Gymnastics. The Window Depot is more than a Windows store. The
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evaluation today. Breaking down all the exes at alls, It's Steve Rivera and
Jacin Salvitz. This is I on the Park on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty.
Welcome back time the ball Here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host,
Jacob Zalas Steve on the road in La. We had a chat with
him a little bit ago. Now on the phone, we've got Arizona Gymnastics
coach John Court joining us to talk about the season. He's had another n
C Double A Championships appearance. Aheaded to Fayetteville, Arkansas next week. Coach,
thanks for joining us. We appreciate you being here. Thanks thanks for
having me. Jay really appreciate it. So tell us a little bit about
you had some an amazing year again, Uh, a lot of a lot
of records being set and and a and a and a team that, uh,
you know, just kind of was good all year long. Tell us
a little bit about your team, you know, throughout the year, and
then we'll talk about, uh, what you're expecting to see next week.
Sure, sure, Well, we have a we have a fabulous team.
We're very well balanced throughout all of our classes. And I'm fortunate enough to
work with two great coaches, a trainer, and academic counselors and sports psychologists.
It takes a village to have our success, and it's been a very
special year. We've we've changed us. We have changed our train of thought
from last year. We wanted to score higher. We want to go a
little bit deeper into the NC Double A tournament. We want to do better
in our conference and try to make this season very very very memorable and we
were We have absolutely been able to do that so far. We still have
a few more meats left, we hope, and we're going to keep the
magic going through NCY Double. Ash Well, when you talk about that,
what kind of you said you wanted to do these things? But what do
you as a coach see as the adjustments or the changes that you have to
make to get to where you want to get to. As far as that
goes, We've always really paid attention to the details in practice, and that's
something that we focused on a little bit more because our sport is subjective.
They're definitely get you get points for style, right, but some one is
also judging you against somebody else that's doing something very similar. So we dialed
into a lot more landing and handstands and always have been supportive of each other.
So they're a loud group that's here, really loud, which which is
nice. And we've also changed our schedule around a little bit to see a
different type of team. And okay, and so how did I mean,
how did it come out? Obviously you're you're back in the turn and in
the tournament, back in the in the n C Double. As you set
some scoring records and and things like that, both individually and as a team.
You did, did it come together as much as you had hoped or
better than you had hoped, or there's still some things that you're reaching for.
Well, I'm a coach, so there could always be more. There
could always be more when you're a coach. The first, the first really
stands out. ESPN hosted a competition we were fortunate enough to go through this
year. There was four teams up in Utah, there was Boise State,
Nebraska, North Carolina, and we really set our sites to go into that
competition and it it was going to be on live TV the ACC Network,
and we were able to do that. In the last rotation we were down
by five tens, we came back to win it and that really was a
springboard, one of the springboards for our success this year. So you tell
us a little bit about some of the individuals who maybe you know shined a
little you know, did more, maybe more or as much as you would
hoped for them in the different in the different events. Well, we have
some really great seniors leading up and Malia Harbor with your senior, A lot
of deeps is a senior as well as Caroline Harry Jess Jessic Castles. Our
seniors are doing nine of the twenty four routines that were doing every every single
night the freshman class came in. They're certainly ready to play. They've been
doing a bunch. I think that Emma Strom is one of our sophomores.
She's probably the most improved player from last year where she didn't play much,
and she has been a three event starter this this year. Four right,
right, and Ali fears in the all around, certainly carries a load at
every single meat and that that is our roster night in and night out,
from meat to meet. You know, do you set your sights on different
stuff? You know? I mean, good, look, we're football guys.
Basketball guys. You game plan for the other team and that kind of
stuff. With gymnastics, it's more about what you're doing right and and but
how do you you know what kinds of goals do you set for a specific
meat? Is it all about scoring? Is it you know, hitting certain
things? I mean, educate me a little bit on that. It's the
second thing that you said, it's about hitting certain things and controlling the controllables
and what I mean by that is that's our form, that's how well we
perform, you know, dance wise expressions. How many hand stands do we
do? How many sticks do we have? You don't have to know anything
of out gymnastics, but you know what the stick is, you know,
and soone lands something they shouldn't move, all right, twenty four routines?
How many of those things did we accomplish? And hopefully our score is reflective
of what we accomplished. Right now, do you see a progression over the
course of the air. You like a team that's got to be getting,
you know, playing its best as the season goes on. And how much
can you you know, how much can you move as far as that goes
right, because the scoring and the and the performances are so you know,
detailed, and you know a tenth of a point where half of you or
one hundredth of a point can make a difference. How do you look at
that over the course of a season. Well, you want to peak towards
the end, but you also have to be ready to go the first the
first night of the year. Our consistency has been our strength all year long,
and we've been scoring that high high one ninety six area. We scored
a one ninety seven back in January. We are a team that makes routines.
We're we don't we don't miss a lot of routines. We have not
done that all year, and we have a good reputation for doing fundamental exciting
gymasters. Yeah, so what what what are your sites set on next week
in Arkansas? Uh? You know, do you have do you have the
have the growth, look at some individual stuff that they need to get done.
What do you want to accomplish as a team? I know you you
know everybody wants to win it all right, but uh you know what what
do you what are some realistic thoughts about what what would make you happy next
week? Well, you want to play as long as you can. Obviously
every coach, well every coach will tell you that. So if you can't
make the national championships, make the sweet sixteen, If you can't make the
sweet sixteen, make all of your routines, because your national ranking is also
going to be based off of what you do and that need right, So
if you can't make the sweet sixteen, maybe you finished ranked seventeenth or eighteenth
in the nation. That's a yes, Okay, Okay, any issues with
you know, where you got to go, who you got to compete against,
uh, that type of thing, you know, going to this particular
regional. Well, are our session. We have Kentucky, Arkansas with a
three seed. Nebraska is behind us. So Nebraska we saw opening night.
Arkansas we competed against at a neutral site in Texas, and Kentucky we haven't
seen it. Yeah, so certainly we want to control what we can control,
but we have we have to be good. Okay, we have to
do our best gymnastics in that biggest moment on Thursday afternoon. All right,
and and what what will that be? You know, you know everybody getting
or you know some people, some of them girls getting you know, highest
scores for the season, those kinds of things. Or are you keeping an
eye on the other you know, on the other teams? How are you
looking at this when you're actually competing. Well, but coaches can watch the
other team. We'll we'll take care of that because we know, we know
that there's some matchups that we need to win just score wise in order to
advance, right, So we're going to look at that for them. We
want them just to maximize their routines, don't give anything away and go big.
We have nothing to lose, right, right, everything to gain.
I would say Arkansas might have everything to lose because they're they're they're hosting.
It's a different type of pressure. Wow, okay, all right, you
mentioned that you know a bunch of seniors you have, I mean, how
how much do you relying on them to kind of you know, hold it,
you know, get the team confidence, hold them together, you know,
pep talk's in the huddles, those kinds of things. Do you rely
on that? Yes? Absolutely, I'm a I'm a player's coach. I
don't believe in over coaching. And it's so important. You know, they
trust each other, they feed off each other, and they can also motivate
each other in certain circumstances. You know, if I were to sit down
and watch uh, your your meat, which I you know, I think
I will because I'm just interested in who am I looking for? What am
I? What am I looking for? In terms of, you know,
a specific athlete in a specific event, you know what's gonna what's gonna knock
my socks off? Well, if you're looking at vaulting, okay, you
want to look look at Malia. Look at Ali. Those are two of
our best vaulters. Ali won our won our session at Pac Twelves on vaulting.
If you're looking over at bars, Sophie dur is one of our freshmen.
She's a fantastic bar swinger, and so is Ali. They both averaged
nine to nine. You want you want to look over there, balance in
looked at anybody, they're they're all awesome. And they also broke the school
beam record this year up in Washington, and we tied the bar record this
year. So both both those events very high scoring. You can look at
really anybody and floor. We have three of the three six routines or seniors.
Okay, this year we start with Emma Strom Creushman lead sophomore lead up
does a fantastic job. We closed out with Emily Mueller Emily Harbough. So
there's plenty of entertainment over there. How does this compare to for instance,
like track right where you're track and field you you know you have you know,
you know about where you are performance wise you're hoping to meet you know,
go out and get a personal best or whatever like that is it's a
is it a similar kind of approach in terms of how they you know,
how they performed. They're looking at what they've done in the past and they're
just trying to do better than that. Right, You're really trying to beat
your own times, Right I was. I was selling my vaulters at the
speed of the sprinters. But yeah, so it's it's just it's fascinating to
me. I was always a fan of, you know, watching the Olympic
gymnastics coming up and stuff like that, and it's just it's always fascinating to
me. You might I'm like, I don't even know how they do those
things, and like, how do you make that move the very first time
and not you know, and not be afraid of injuring yourself or something like
that. I'm that guy who thinks of it that way because I know I
would never want to do with what they do. Well, that's why we
got to get you to come in the gym one day and we'll give you
a little one on one on one. The team can help you out and
you'll feel good next time and you watch you watch me. I don't know,
man, I think I break the bars. I don't know. I
don't know, Well, John, I do appreciate the time. Uh,
good luck next week. We'll keep an eye on you and uh, you
know, go get it man, you know, as you said, you
know, get on to the next one, right. I just want to
keep survive in advance, and certainly good luck to the basketball team playing this
week out in l A. All right, well, good luck to you.
Thanks for your time. We do appreciate it, and we'll talk again.
I appreciate it. Jay bear Down, all right, John Court,
Arizona gymnaskis coach headed the Fake FAIV. I mean serious, I did you
know. I mean I grew up in the you know, Olga Corbit and
you know, all those and I was fascinated by that. Yeah, you
know, and and it's really it really caught my in high school. This
is the weirdest thing. And I don't know why this happened. I was
at our high school. It might have been a senior. It would have
been seventh It was after the seventy six Olympics, so I would have been
my senior year high school. And Nadia Komenich had in the Olympics. She's
the first one to get a ten on her routine and stuff like that.
Some for some reason, the Romanian gymnastics team came to our high school.
Damn performed in our gym and they were here or they were I must have
been in for an exhibition or something like that, and we, you know,
the whole school went went to the gym and there's Nadia Komenich, who
I had just seen in the Summer Olympics, and I I was always fascinated
by that. And I don't even know why, but it's like when I
watch the Olympics, you know, a handful of sports. I always liked
the track and field obviously, but you know, I love the gymnastics,
swimming to a degree, you know, and stuff like that. And I
just always done that. And now my sisters, I have two younger sisters,
neither one of them. They did some cheers and stuff, but not
really serious gymnastics. But I I watch it and I go, who the
how the hell did you do that the very first time? Yeah, you
bring up a good point. How does your brain think to like, Okay,
I'm gonna be able to do this, but I need to do this
motion first, then this then Like it's a progression. I think, like
you do one thing one day and then in a month Awsen, You're able
to do this, Like the first time you do a flip a backflip on
a balance beam, it gives me the GB Like we're a couple of guys
who just you know. But you know, if you're an athlete like that
and you have the confidence in your ability to do that, you do it.
But I don't know how you learn to do that. No, yeah,
I it probably starts with I don't even want to speculate. You got
I can barely stand on a balance beam exactly right, right, exactly,
you know, walk a straight line. Yeah, I'm lucky that, you
know. Yeah, So all right, Okay, we're gonna be back in
a few minut Well, no, we better hang on here for a couple
minutes because Ryan Hansen, we're gonna get him for the next segment. Ryan's
in in l A. Obviously, he'll be doing the game tomorrow with UH
with Brian Jefferies. Get some of his thoughts. I know he preps,
you know, quite a bit. We'll get his thoughts on Clemson. Yeah,
he'll be able to give us a nice little deep dive. Yeah.
Yeah, because because I genuinely do think that people listening, people watching all
week long, ESPN, whatever it may be. Like, I genuinely don't
think the Tucson people know who Clemson is exactly one hundred percent, And I
agree with you again, you know, you know, you know, one
of the guys at lunch said, well, yeah it's Clemson. I mean,
how good do we gotta be? And I'm like, you better be
pretty damn no. Like my I'm in my text chains with my buddies,
it's like, well, we should take care of Clemson, right, I
go, No, you can't. You can't. You can't just say oh,
we'll just take care of someone, because then you lose by fifteen.
They're there for a reason, exactly. They're absolutely there for a reason.
Like everyone like you MEC crushed them. They were like, oh good,
good Baylor team. Yeah not even here, Yeah exactly. All right,
let's go and take our break. We're and come back. We're and have
Ryan Hanson. We'll get to him. He's in LA and we'll get a
solid preview of Arizona Clemson tomorrow. So stick around. If you're an Arizona
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio WAPP. This is I on the Ball with Steve
Ravera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty Welcome Back Time on the balling
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Jaconzalez. Your host Steve is in LA.
We had to chat with him a little bit ago, and we're gonna
get a little another perspective on this Arizona Clemsons Sweet sixteen game tomorrow from Ryan
Hansen now on the phone calling what we called him in La. Right.
Appreciate you joining us today. I know you've got a lot of stuff going
on over there calling the game tomorrow with Brian Jeffries. Initial thoughts on this
game tomorrow, I mean, you know, what do we think of Clemson?
First of all, any team that you're going to face and the Sweet
sixteen is going to be very good. They're going to be very good at
something or many things. And when you look at what Clemson does, they
are exceptionally efficient on both ends of the floor. All of their metrics suggest
that their efficient offensively shoot a high percentage and on the defensive end, they
do a great job of limiting their opponent from getting to their percentages. And
look no further than what they did in the NCAA Tournament. They limited high
powered offensive teams in New Mexico and Baylor to below their scoring averages and drastically
below their three point shooting averages, especially the Baylor Bears. I mean,
Clemson has only allowed nine made threes in two games in the nca Tournament.
There is going to have to recognize that this is a solid Clemson defensive unit.
So you know, a game like this is a game of wills,
right, if they're the styles are that different, It's kind of like,
okay, who imposes their will? How does Arizona do that? In light
of all this, if Clems has been able to handle to other teams,
you know, you know, up tempo teams like that, well, first
of all, I think Arizona is much more disciplined offensively than Baylor, and
that's something that Clemson will have to contend with. The Wildcats need to stay
true to their DNA and what does that mean. It means offensively, it's
an inside out attack. Arizona needs to establish the paint as their place to
feast, and that means Zumar Ballo posting up early and often. It means
Arizona cutting and back cutting, utilizing ballstreen action to turn the corner and get
into the lane. Arizona does not need to settle for three point shots,
but they need to be confident in taking three point shots when that opportunity presents
themselves. I would add one more, maybe two more points here Jay to
how Arizona for it faces this game. First of all, while Clemson does
play a slower tempo than Arizona, Wildcats don't need to be frenetic. They
need to push the tempo like they always would after missed shots and turnovers.
And then lastly, expect a zone of sorts at some time or multiple times
during the game. But watching Clemson, they do deploy a zone defense,
but I don't believe it is the zone that Arizona faced against Oregon or USC
meaning a very good zone. I think we'll see a zone, but I
don't think it's a zone that the Wildcats will see exceptional length and exceptional athleticism.
But they have to be prepared because Arizona that's the tactic for most teams
is to try to throw a zone just to see how Arizona responds. Well,
time, I got asked today, you know you've got you know,
how do you build a team that can win different ways? And it's like
it's the team that has the ability to do that, especially in the nincy
DOAA Tournament, when you're seeing teams that you haven't before, you got to
be able to do that. And I mean they've shown that they can win
in a lot of different ways, but you know the consistency of it,
you know, running in, you know, running into a team that is
way different from what they've seen before. They you know, sometimes they're there,
sometimes they're not. How is that going to play into tomorrow? Well,
as we have seen through the postseason, we have, uh, you
know, we've seen a little up and down Kylon Boswell amazing in the Long
Beach State game, not exactly his style and his game against Dayton. When
I when I see what Arizona's toolbox is, the guys that they can go
to. The balance affords them the ability to play through different styles, play
against different tempos, different defensive looks because they don't have to rely on one
singular player to be the stalwart offensively for them. So that balance on the
offensive end affords them the ability to withstand maybe an off night for one or
two cats on the offensive. Vent. Now you and I both know,
as you advance in the tournament, less and less players can have an off
night, right and Arizona can't withstand multiple guys having bad days offensively, right,
well, and we saw, you know, in the Saturday game.
You know, Caleb Love came out lights out in the first half and then
all of a sudden he was kind of gone in the second half, or
maybe it's something that the defense did, but nonetheless he had two very different
halfs. So there was that inconsistency even within a game. And you know,
he's they need him for forty minutes. You know, I agree and
disagree. I don't think Arizona has to play lights out for forty minutes tomorrow
to win. I don't think they need Caleb Love to go for thirty for
them to win. The game is an EBB and flow game every sporting event
that you watch, even in football, it's not like, well, the
New England Patriots with Tom Brady have to score every single time they touched the
ball or they'll lose. You know, they have to be at tiptop.
You know, Tom Brady can't throw one incomplete pass. Caleb Love's gonna mince
a shot, right humar Bilo is gonna give up a dunk to PJ.
Hall. Clemson's gonna go on a run just like Dayton did. Why because
that's sports. Tiger Woods is gonna miss a punt, It's gonna happen.
I don't think Arizona has to play over their skis per se tomorrow to advance
against Clemson. They just have to do their job defensively and not allow Clemson
to have the lights out game and play as Arizona basketball should. But a
lot of fans get hung up on what happened in the first half, Why
didn't they blow them out? What happened in the second half, Why did
Dayton go on a run? Because that's sports, it's gonna happen. You
just have to mitigate the big runs and withstand the rush of adrenaline from the
other team and make sure that you have more minutes of great basketball than your
opponent. Well, in terms of what Arizona does and the things that the
reasons that they win, whether it's you know, the the inside game with
Balow, you know some some you know their guards, you know play extremely
well. You know, what's the most important thing they've got to do in
terms of what they do game in and game out, take care of the
basketball, which if I were to say that in for tomorrow's game, Clemson
does not turn you over a lot. So that means if Arizona's turning it
over, that's problematic against a team that doesn't do that. In general terms,
Arizona needs to continue to dominate the glass. Number three team in the
nation and rebounding margin. Clemson not a great rebounding team. They're plus three
on the glass, but Arizona is plus ten and this is one of the
best rebound margin team that Arizona has ever put on the floor. You have
to be good at what you're good at, and that's what they're good at.
They need to dominate the paint. I think Clemson is very good in
the paint, so that's going to be good. Question good big men,
not elite level athletes, but crafty, smart big men that can face up,
take you know, and take lamar Ballo away from the paint, take
Mo creeb Is out to the three point line. I think the bigs you
know, have to do their job. And Aaron almost got a knockdown shots
THENCE tournament is about making shots. Uh, and the Wildcats cannot miss bunnies.
They can't miss the layups that they missed against Long Beach State. UH.
They need to They need to do what they would normally do from the
field on a field goal percentage standpoint. Tommy talked a little bit about where
he was asked about Keishad Johnson, and to me, I mean, look,
you they're all playing pretty well. Everybody's contributed, and I thought way
at the beginning of the year key Shot was going to be a key from
the standpoint of he's the guy who brings a physicality, an attitude you know
of uh, you know, don't mess with me kind of attitude. And
now he's added a three point shot, which has been he's shot some He's
made some crit shots in these first couple of games. To me, I
feel like Pela's going to do what Pella does and as long as he doesn't
have a really bad game, turns the ball over a bunch of times,
you know, same with Kylon. I didn't think Colan played horrible last week.
He just didn't score on Saturday. He didn't do anything horrible. Keyshot's
got to be a menace out there in my mind against a team like Clemson.
You recruited Key Shot from San Diego State for tomorrow, right, for
the next four games, hopefully, and his contributions are immeasurable because you said
it. He can be a score for Arizona inside and out. He can
be a rim runner for the Wildcats to put pressure defensively on the opponents.
He can be a versatile defender and guard the point guard from the other team,
or guard their five man and every player in between. He's an energy
guy, he's a rebounder, He's an elite level defender. He can knock
the three down. He just has to be assertive of offensively. I don't
want to put so much onus on key Shod, but he is Arizona's capital
X factor. I don't know if there's a lot of teams that can account
for a key show Johnson. I don't know if Clemson has somebody like a
Keyshaw Johnson. As Arizona advances in the tournament, there will be players that
are like him, and you'll have to kind of play above your norm as
they get closer and closer to a championship opportunity. But I agree with you
Jay that the time is now. Keyshod was brought to Arizona to fill a
hole exactly for tomorrow's game. That's a great way to put that, because
you're right, I mean when. I mean, I remember when they when
they signed him up, when it was you know, certain that he was
coming here. I thought, that's the missing piece, that that that's kind
of the missing piece of even the last two tournaments. Yeah, and you
know, not again, I don't want to put pressure and not that.
Listening to this broadcast, I wish he would. He should be listening to
you and Steve Rivera every day. But you know, as you said,
everybody needs to be prepared to play well. I just think if key Shod
plays well, that's a difference maker for Arizona. Yeah. Yeah, what
you've been around the team? What do they seem like? They lose,
they ready go? You know, what what's it been like over there at
practice and all that stuff? If you could say they're loose with an edge,
if that's possible. I was in the locker room with them, interviewing
some of them, and of course they're they're loose, they're laughing. But
then when we walked out onto the court and we were able to see them
on the practice floor just a bit ago at Crypto dot com, Uh,
there was an edge though to them. I thought, Tommy is the one
that's setting that loose but edge nature, and Tommy, I would say,
in his first three years has more often been loose than has an edge.
And I feel like he's developed a chain since we started the nca Tournament.
I think that's cascaded down to the team members. So that's right where I
love to see Arizona basketball. I think there's some school, some teams that
need to be more edgy than loose. I think Arizona needs to be both.
Yeah, well, you know, Tommy took that loss to Princeton as
well, you know, and so maybe he's a little still a little pissed
off about last year. By the way, Jay, just FYI, I'm
ready to bury the ghosts of the Princeton Tigers. I'm kind of done talking
about that. But I understand from it because that question was asked in the
press conference, and I can understand Tommy's going to get that question until he
exercises the demons and gets probably needs to get to a final four for the
press to stop asking that question. And we know this from a historical perspective
because Luke could not exercise the East Tennessee State and Santa Clara demons until Arizona
got to the Final four. In ninety four. Yeah, and it was
asked every press junket the entire year leading up to the Final four and ninety
four and probably rightfully so. No, absolutely absolutely, and he'll, you
know, he'll, he'll, it'll, it'll happen for him. And people
forget he's year three as a head coach. It's not like he's year three
at Arizona and he was the head coach somewhere else for a bunch of years.
This is his third year as a head coach, and I think that's
lost on some people because of how good he's been these first couple of people
don't realize he's brand new at this He's brand new. The cupboard wasn't there.
Let's not say that it was empty. Ben Mattherin, Dayale Terry,
and Christian Holoco all went to the NBA after Tommy's first year, so there
were horses in the stables that could run for Arizona. But putting it in
perspective, Jay, and you know this, if Arizona wins tomorrow, Tommy
Lloyd will tie two really good coaches, Brad Stevens and Brad Under for the
most wins in the first three games as a head coach in the history of
college basketball. So we know Tommy has that record for most wins in the
first two years. He needs one more win to tie those two guys,
Brad Underwood doing it at steven f Austin, Brad Stevens doing it at Butler.
So I love it. A Final four, berth So, a clinch
tomorrow and Saturday would make Tommy the winning his head coach in the history of
college basketball in his first three years as a head coach. That's not easy.
It's a huge accomplishment. Getting to a final four in his third year
as the head coach would be rarefied air. We're eighty minutes away from that.
That's a long way, basketball. But appreciate the journey that Tommy Lloyd
has brought all of us on in the first three years. All right,
Rhino, appreciate the time. Go get it tomorrow, play a good game.
Give Brian our best for that as well, and we'll see if we're
talking about a win on Friday. You got appreciate it, boy, all
right, thanks a bunch. All right, that's Ryan Hanson in LA.
He'll be coming. He'll be on the call on twelve ninety with with Brian
Jeffries. I'm I'm excited, man, I'm excited. Ready, I'm ready
to go. Let's play this game. Let's I agree, what do you
think let's get I think I think they win. I think they win,
and I don't think it's I think it's comfortable, right, and by that
I mean an eight ten point win. You're not you know, you're not
up a similar to the day. Yeah, similar to the game. You're
not up against it in the last couple of minutes. I think Arizona's their
talent is just it'll just show. And I think they got the pieces.
I think convincing will be the word. I think they I think they'll be
ready to roll. Tommy, like you said, has that chip on the
shoulder to big game for him. I think they get it done for me.
I think this team's proved when it's focused, it's really damn good.
I agree. All right, we'll be back on Friday. No show tomorrow.
We'll give the day off to watch to watch a game Arizona's on at
fourrow night and we'll be back on Friday. So we hope to see you
then. Thanks a much for being here.