This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat z
R two SA at iHeartRadio Stave Yet. Good afternoon, Welcome down to the
ballure on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host for the day again,
Jay Gonzalez. My partner, Steve is still day to day. He's out
today, so it'll be just Kevin and I today kind of kicking things around
for you. We've got a lot to talk about, a lot of stuff
happened over the weekend, and so we'll we'll throw that around. We've got
a couple of great guests. I'm trying to fix my volume here on my
headphone so I don't blast myself out of the park with my own voice.
But again, Steve will be out. He's probably gonna be out a couple
more days, but we'll walk him in back obviously when he gets back.
In crazy weekend, US Open was crazy. A lot of weird stuff going
on in the College World Series, incredible plays, a lot of that stuff.
The NBA Playoffs Friday night, there was a blowout, a blowout of
blowouts. I mean exactly. Uh, the the Edmonton oiler came back that
uh that series is going is still going as well, and then uh,
you know, just here we go, man, heading into the summer.
We got a lot of a lot of things to talk about as we headed
in the summer with Big twelve and moving to the Big twelve and those kinds
of things. So got a couple of really good guests today. Uh Justin
Spears, who who had obviously had a long sit down with Brent Brennan,
had had a big piece of Q and A in yesterday's arizon A Daily Star.
You know, we had fifteen minutes with with with coach Brennan last week.
But obviously, uh, don't don't get into as deep as things as
as a Justin got to get got to. So we're going to talk to
Justin about his conversation with him, kind of pick a little bit his brain
in terms of what he's thinking about Brennan, how he thinks he's doing,
those kinds of things. Uh So if you have and read that piece,
uh it's a very long piece in uh In, there's one daily start it's
in the Sunday paper. And then we're going to bring in another another newly
named inductee to the U of A Sports Hall of Fame, and that's Kenzie
Fowler Kensey Fowler Quinn. She's been on the show a few times, you
know, she's an analyst for ESPN, does women's softball on ESPN, and
we talked to her before the tournament started, but we didn't know she was
going in the Hall of Fame. So we decided to bring her back and
go back, you know, go down memory lane of her time you know
here at the U of A. How she feels about being uh in the
Hall of Fame. She's an employee of the U of A too, so
it really really yeah, really interesting thing. Has always been a great guest
for us. Was really uh uh really happy that we asked her to come
on and be able to talk about this great award. So here we go,
Kevin and uh NBA tonight. Uh they're back in uh, they're back
in uh Boston. You know, one of those games where it's over or
it's really on. Yeah, right, totally. You know, if if,
if the if the MAVs can go back there and pull this one off,
keep it going, go back to their place where you think they'd win.
Now you're talking about a game seven, such a blowout, does that
you know? Does that? Do you do you sense any carryover? Do
you feel there's any any carryover something like that? Or is Boston saying you
guys got nothing, You're coming to our place where you can kick your ass.
I think I think it's it's I don't think Boston is fretting anything.
I don't think they're fearful yet. I think if they lose this game,
I think, like you said, then it's kind of on because then you're
going back to Dallas. They have home court, right, They've now taken
a home court from you, right, And so yeah, I think I
think today's game obviously is the Vitals. It could be the end of the
season, right, But I think this game is is more so the emotional
teeter point than the last. I only saw some of the game because I
went out to eat on Friday night. The game was on where I was
having dinner, and I'm like, I'm watching, I'm like, who are
these guys? Right? Who are the Mavericks? Who are the Celtics?
They didn't look like what they looked like, and you know, even the
MAVs I mean, they didn't look horrible in losing those three games. They
just got beat. It was like, who are these guys? Yeah?
And I think I think that I was listening to Dan Patrick this morning and
he brought a very fair point when you when you were down thirty seven,
which is the biggest deficit in the finals since nineteen ninety seven, at what
point do you kind of just say, all right, mentally on to Boston,
right, we'll get them on Monday. Yeah, and you, I'm
sure you do. You know what point, you know, you stop more
for fifty to fifty balls, or stop trying to you know, chase down
block, you get the last rebound or whatever. At what point do you
start preserving energy for Monday today or make sure you don't get hurt? Yeah,
and that there's I think there's a lot of truth to that. But
still they got down thirty seven, right, they found themselves in that position
for some reason. Dallas came out with their hair on fire. The Celtics
did not. And there you go that You've got a game where you got
people thinking, look if Dallas, if Dallas had barely won, people had
saying, you guys are done. Your toast you're over, you don't have
it. You know, you won a game at home that you should have
won. But the way this thing turned out, that's what has people talking.
Yeah, and I think it's it's also the way that people the general
public feel about the Celtics team. I don't think that they have the same
belief that they're as strong as like past. Well, they're not one of
the great teams. Yeah they're not. They're really good, yes, they're
really good, but we really don't have one of the a great team.
I mean, this is one great season for the Celtics team, but we
have we won't have a dynastic team right now, right and then. And
that's the thing spot. So it's weird for fans kind of seeing Luke the
star that Luka Doncic is kind of being you know, smothered out by this
elite roster that the have, and you know, and at various points that
during the season, I did hear people say, oh, this is a
great team, this is one of the great teams. I'm like, I
don't see it. I mean, they've got really good players and Jason Tatum
is a really i mean he's a he's a great player, but you know,
you want to tell me that they're you know, you can talk about
them in the in the context of Larry Bird and and and those guys,
or you know, go back even further, you know, the the John
Havelichek teams and Bill Russell teams at one. No, they're not. They're
really good, and they were the best team in the NBA all season long,
and they showed it, they proved it. But I'm sorry, you
know, they're just really really good. I think they're probably the best team
we've had in recent years. Yeah, they say that in the Nuggets team
of last year. I think you'd have to probably go back to maybe the
twenty sixteen era Cavalier Warrior teams for a comparable. I don't think they're one
of the all time great rosters ever, that's the definitely a modern yeah.
Yeah, but yeah, I totally agree with you on Yeah again, hands
down the best team in the league, hands down, no doubt, no
doubt, right, no doubt, one of the best teams in the league,
but not one of the great teams of all time, correct, you
know, And you just can't say that. I think it's as good as
Tatum and Brown are. They do take enough nights off, so to speak,
air quotes that they don't really have the top and the all time guy
right now that I think if like let's say, Tatum, was it like
one level above, if you did take that perennial MVP kind of quality guy
step right then I think you're talking about this team in that kind of way.
But I don't think they're there yet, at least not this Honestly,
I don't think they're even close. All right, Celtics are six and a
half point favorites tonight. What are you doing with that? I might I
might have to dip into the player props and do a money line something,
but stay away from the game. But yeah, honestly, I think the
Celtics probably cover tonight. Yeah. Yeah, their minus two sixty five on
the money line plus the Mavericks of plus two fifteen. Yeah, I'm the
same. You know, I hate I hate those lines in the six and
a half five, like a five to seven point spread. I hate that.
With the season on the line, you know, the Mavericks are going
to fight until the clockheads zero, right, and so if it's a ten
point thirteen point lead with two minutes left, yeah, and they start playing
the foul game and they get a couple of cheap threes on the other end
of six point and then and then and then you've lost. Then you've lost
your bet. So I don't know. I yeah, I'm the same way.
I've played the over under a couple of times, and I've hit the
under twice, so final, yeah, but it's now down to two ten
and a half. Both times I hit it, one was one was two
fourteen and a half and one was too fourteen and I both and I was
just under by about four points, four or five points each time. Two
ten and a half seems I don't know, or yeah, two ten and
a half tells me. It's like you're betting that number. You're either deciding,
all right, this is gonna be a tight, you know, nervous
kind of game, or they're just going to shoot the lights out. Boston
is gonna get hot and hold them to ninety, but they're gonna score one
fifteen, right right. I don't know. I don't know. I don't
know what I'm doing with this one. We'll see, we'll see, all
right, So it should be fun. I for one, hope the Mavericks
win. I want the series to keep going. I hate having having these
seasons end. I hate having seven game series end in four or five.
I want them to go on. I want something to watch on TV.
You know I do. Yeah, this time of year. You know,
yesterday, you know my you know, my family was over for on Father's
Day. We had two TVs going. We had the US Open going.
Then my son wanted to see he had one of the EuroLeague uh uh games
going. I was in England and slow, fuck you England, and somebody
asking the wrong and then and then then we had the Dodger game on,
and Dodgers had a bad weekend. Mookie Betts got his hand busted by ninety
eight mile an hour fastball. Well, I mean he's got a bust at
hand, he's got broken hand. And then and uh and Yamamoto, they're
they're great picture that they're paying hundreds of millions of dollars for when on the
h went on the I l with a with a rotator cuff. So it's
a it was a bad weekend for the Dodgers. I don't feel like they're
far enough out ahead that you can say, don't worry about it. You
know, you know, you lose one of your bed probably your number.
I would say, you're number two or three starter, and then you're you
know, Muki was a favorite to win the m v P and now he's
not. Yeah, they are. There are currently eight games up on the
padres eight and a half up on both the Diamondbacks and Giants. So it's
not it's not an unimpeachable position. It's not. It's not. And I
mean I was watching the game when Mookie got hit, and like he got
hit, I'm like, that hurt, that hurt. And then he's writhing
on the ground. He literally could not stand up. His hand hurt so
bad. They were trying to get him up and he couldn't get up.
He was that's the kind of pain that he was in. I mean,
it hit him right on the outside of the left hand. So if if
you're you know, if you see him holding the bat, it's the bottom
the bottom hand, right hand, you here the bottom hand where you're pinky,
And they hit him right on the left side of the left hand and
apparently bust, so you knew it was bad. You know, sometimes guy
gets hit, you know, he's shaking his hand. He goes to first
base and he's Okay. He was writhing in pain on the ground and rolling
over and he couldn't get up. That must have been an awful feeling.
In ninety eight miles an hour. Ninety eight miles an hour, it's right,
small, right, and then you're holding the bat so it hits you
and there's no give whatsoever. You know, a lot of people ask him
because if you have, if you've seen show hey bat this year, he's
basically got this shield of a glove on his lower hand on the bat.
I don't know if it would have protected the outside of the hand where Mookie
got hit. It's more for the top of the hand. But you know,
guys are wearing different stuff. Mookie didn't doesn't have hand protection on the
bat. I'm sure he will going forward, but he, uh, you
know, remains to be seeing how long he's going to be out. And
uh and the you know the Dodgers, uh god did they Oh they won
yesterday, so they went too out of three, but they ended up splitting
the six games at home because they lost two out of three to the Rangers.
So I don't know, man, it's uh, that's that's a bad
deal. I mean, you can lose guys. But you can't lose that
guy, right and two of those guys, Yeah, a couple of those
guys real quickly. Did you want to talk about the US open? I
do, and I don't because I'm I'm a Rory fan. I'm a big
Rory fan, and I don't like Bryson Deshambo despite him trying to turn his
image around and be a player of the people, you know what, to
me, he's still a live guy. He's a trader. Uh you know,
when when when when? When people do that, you know, try
and change their image. I wonder how much of it is for the money,
because I know I've got to change my image to you know, be
seen better and get my endorsements, and how much of it is real?
Okay? I tend to I tend to be suspicious of people who do that,
you know, because to me, you are who you are. Do
I believe people can change? I absolutely, one hundred percent do So much
of what he's doing seems fake to me. That's just my opinion. I
could be wrong, and there's probably people listen out there telling me I'm full
of crap and I'm a butt head, and you know, give the guy
a chance. Fine, you know, my mind's made up on bryceon de
Shambo. So I was not happy that he won it. The two putts
that Rory missed, I was telling you off air as I'm watching and as
he's getting over those puts, I'm going, I can't make this under these
circumstances. I don't make this putt. And then he missed both of them,
and I'm like, you know, And then did you see there was
a stat that he's four hundred, like four hundred up to that putt that
he missed at that distance that lost you know, the last putt on the
eighteenth, he was four hundred and ninety eight out of four hundred ninety eight
in putts of that distance or less, he had not missed one and almost
the last five four five hundred three and a half feet in the last five
hundred tries, he had not missed that putt. And then he did that.
Yeah, and now you're losing him for the TPC River Highlands that he
was supposed to It's the last signature of end of the season. He was
supposed to participate in that. He said he's gonna take some time off.
He built himself. He looked melted. He looked. You know, there's
all the video of him waiting to see if Sham he looked, and then
he didn't. He left. He didn't stick around for the median. I'm
a little disappointed he did that, completely understand because what are you going to
ask him? How do you miss that put? You know, well,
I missed it because I missed it himself, right, probably upset exactly.
He's been criticized heavily for for not sticking around for that. But I feel
bad for the guy. But what are you gonna do? He missed the
putt, and uh, he didn't win the US Open, and he blew
it. I mean, he no other way to say he blew it.
I hate using the word choke, but he blew it was his to win
and and he missed two easy putts it would have won it. And that
that's all you can say. All Right, let's go and take a break.
We have Justin Spears coming on. We're gonna talk some Uh, you
have a football. He had some time with with Brent Brennan and did a
big story that ran in the paper yesterday. So we'll talk to him about
his time with Brent Brennan and heading into the Big twelve soil stick around.
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is I on the Ball with Steve rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen
fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio while just Surgery I on
the boll Welcome back to I'm Bolling on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your
host for the Dave Jay Gonzalez. Steve is still out. He's as mentioned,
he's day to day. I got Kevin here and on the phone.
We've got Justin Spears from the air Zon Daily Star, a football beat writer
covering the Cats. I had a nice long talkic with with Brent Brennan,
did a big long Q and A that ran and yesterday's Ave Zone Daily Star.
If you haven't read it you want to kind of get a sense of
what Brent's Brent Brennan's been up to. It would be a good read for
you to find that out. Justin, Welcome to the show. Thanks for
being here, No, thanks for having me. Now you say Steve is
day to day, Like, what are we talking about here, We're talking
about a hangover, just having a little too much fun. Like, what
the reason he's his day to day status. He's got a family issue.
He's back home. It's going to take a few days to get through it.
And he'll be back here later this week. That's all. That's all
I can say. That's all been given permission to say. So there you
go, there you go. Oh well, well, heart's out to Steve
now, seriously, that's my guy. I love I love Steve Man.
He's the best yet to hear back on the radio show. Yeah, one
of the good guys. So you had you had a nice long time.
How much time did you get with him for this Q and A about you
know, twenty minutes or so, and you know, we talked about a
number of different topics. I basically just wanted to just check in with him
to see, you know, what's going on with the football program and Arizona
hasn't really had any availabilities and right adding those late additions through the transfer portal,
So there were a lot of things I wanted to talk about. Plus,
you know, with college football and I mean college athlod in general,
and just so much is changing in the landscape, you know, like we're
seeing logos getting added to fields, We're seeing all sorts of things being changed
with nil and everything. So you know, there was a couple of topics
that I really wanted to touch on and also his camps that he's holding right
now, the Brandon football camps that are wrapping up this week. And you
know, he added an element to the Arizona football camps, which is girls'
high school flag football. I think, or I think it's just girls flag
football period. And you know, girls flag football is such a rising sport
right now. It's going to be added to the Olympics in twenty twenty eight.
So lots to talk about in upfront. I'm really glad that I was
able to talk with Cook fronts. So when I see a Q and A
Okay, I'm just going to I'm not gonna lie. I jump around,
right, I look for the questions that I'm most interested in and work my
way down. So the question that I went to first was was the team
AC and I saw he just said he's moving along and progressing. Great.
That's it. That's all you're going to get out of him. So have
you heard anything else? I mean, what the injury even is. Yeah,
I haven't heard what the injury is, but we just know that it
happened in his left leg. It was a one on one drill that he
was doing with cornerback to Carlo Davis. And those two have been going at
it now for the last really couple of years. But in the spring to
Carl Davis and t Maac have been the go to battle, the one that
everyone wants to watch. One Saturday practice, they got tangled up in a
one on one drill. Tea Mac gets up, limps off the field.
That's the thing. He stood up by himself, limped off the field by
himself. Then you know, limped to the locker room and that's the last
that we've seen from him in his uniform. And then you know, we
saw him rolling around on his scooter and he has a cat or a walking
root on his left leg. And I will say this, we don't know
what the injury is. We don't know the severity of it. But you
know, the way Brent Brandon was talking about it during the spring was that,
you know, team's going to be fine. He just had a small
procedure that they wanted to be a little cautious about. So they wanted to
just hold him out for the rest of spring, get that little procedure done
and get him ready for training camp and the season. And one thing that
both well for Arizona fans who are wondering, Oh, what's going to happen
with t Mac. There was a Father's Day post that the airson A football
team put out and they showed all the guys that are you know, in
town, including the transit portal editions, and you could see te Mac in
the background walking around. Okay, so he's the fact that he's walking around,
moving around, I think is a very good sign for Arizona. So
I don't think it's too severe. But I'm not a doctor, so don't
quote me well again. And I did mention to Brent when we had him
on the show. I said, you know, Brent, every ten win
season Arizona's had, they've basically taken a dump the next year. So you
know that you got it. You know you got an injury, you got
that. You just got to tell us you're not you guys are going to
take a dump this year. Because that was a It's just been tough to
be an Arizona fan when with these kinds of expectations that this program has for
this coming season, right, I mean a lot of people are talking about
Arizona as being a contender in the Big twelve. I think I saw Rhys
Davis said that you know, Arizona's a sleeper. Watch out for them.
Some people are picking them as high as third. I've seen some you know,
in fifth, but you know, i've seen them be they're ranked in
some preseason rankings. There's a lot of expectations, and you wonder, when
you're a new coach, how hard is that to deal with that stuff.
Brent seems to be okay with all of it, as you mean, a
coach is totally okay with expectations and you know his team, actually, we
don't win some football games. This is, you know, really kind of
un something in your territory with any first year coach, because you know,
for the most part, when you're taking over a team just lost their coach.
Most of the time it's because they lost and the coach got fired,
right and then and then even when if it's so good that the coach left
for a better job. In today's college football landscape, you know, players
enter the portal and go to other programs and leave, and then the program
that you know was winning games and had all these great players, you know,
kind of gets knocked down. You pegs, and then your expectations kind
of taper off a little bit. But you look at this whole situation and
it's very unique because you know, Brent Brennan is the first year coach,
but you got arguably the best quarterback in the conference in Mel Fafida returning under
center, and he's got a whole year of or mostly a year of,
you know, playing experience as a starter. And then you know, tear
Roll mc millan is the best receiver in college football in my opinion, And
I think that Tea Mac has the qualities and the traits that make him an
NFL wide receiver even today. I think he would be the highly tied of
receiver in today's NFL if you were to leave so with the offense, and
then I mean, shoot, you look at the defense. I mean,
Jacob Manu could be the pack the Big Twelve defensive player of the year.
You know, I filled out my preseason poll and All Big Twelve team,
and I have a handful of Wildcats on that team. I got Jacob Manu
as an All Big twelve linebacker. I got Takaro Davis at cornerback. On
the offensive side, I got Noah Fafida team Mack of course on the offensive
line. I got join A Saviania at right tackle, left guard Wendell moy
and then kicker Tyler Loop. So think about all those guys that I just
mentioned, and I mean, sure is the Arizona Football b Rider probably going
to pick more Arizona guys to be on his All Big twelve team in comparison
to the Iowa State and the Kansas State and the Texas Tech guys. Probably,
But honestly, like speaking, you know, from my earnest opinion,
I really think all the guys that I just mentioned are all Big twelve guys.
And you know what, there's some that I left off, including defensive
back Trade and Stukes. You know, Duaynea Quina. This man has coached
so many high level defensive backs and he knows what it takes to be not
only just a great corner or defensive back at the collegiate level ball to the
NFL level. I mean, I mean the guy coached for Jim Thorpe Award
winners and Dwayna Keina has put guy like Trade and Stukes in the mix with
some of the best defensive backs that he's ever coached. And so I think
his ability to cover the pass and also make open field tackles and defend the
run, you know, trade and stukes. I mean very very rarely did
you ever see him miss tackles and I mean once he once he grabs you,
he was going to bring you down. And now was that? So
him back in the fold with majority of the defensive secondary coming back along with
the transit portal guys that they got to really help, you know, step
in and help out right away. I just look up and down the robster.
I love what Arizona's doing right now. Are they gonna be world beaters?
We'll find out. I truly believe that. I put this in my
All Big Twelve poll. I got Arizona as the third best team in the
Big twelve. I got them behind Oklahoma State. I also have them behind
Iowa State. And people probably think what Iowa talking about? Man. Iowa
State is returning ninety percent of their starters. They went seven and five last
year. You know, if Arizona can go you know, five and seven
to ten and three, I would imagine, you know, Iowa State with
returning majority of the starters, can do a lot of damage in this upcoming
season. But Arizona they don't. Iowa State, they don't play Oklahoma State.
As a matter of fact, I think they have a pretty favorable schedule.
I could win them a lot of games. And if they are able
to get to the Big twelve championship games, all if that's are off,
and if they were to win that championship game, then they're getting a first
round by and they're going to the CFP. And who knows, Jay,
maybe we're talking about Arizona plane in the Rose Bowl. I that I had
that conversation with some guys that last week. I said, you guys,
we're closer to the Rose Bowl maybe than they've ever been because because of that,
Because if you can get into the playoff, you can get bracketed into
the Rose Ball. Don't get me going on that though. Don't get me
going on that. So we got a few more minutes, and I want
to get back to brand and so. And look, when we ask coaches
to compare, they always they never want to compare. They'd want to compare
one player to another. I'm going to ask you, though you've had whatever
time you've had with Brent Brandon so far through spring practice, various press conferences,
in this conversation you had with him, give me the me how he's
like Jetfish and how he's not like Jetfish compared to the two in terms of
how are they different, how are they alike? If they're alike at all?
Wow, that is a really good question. The differences in similarities between
Brent Brennan and Jetfish, Well, I feel like if you were to go
out to a bar, Brent Brennan is more like a beer guy. Jetfish
is like a cocktail guy. All right. Honestly, I think probably the
biggest difference between them is that Brent and Brennan isn't looking elsewhere. He doesn't
have his eyes moving around. And I've heard from some pretty trustworthy people that
even before Jetfish was looking at Washington, I mean he was looking at jobs
in the middle of the season, he was he was putting out his feelers,
you know, because Arizona was winning football games, and right Jetfish had
developed such a great reputation that I mean, he's already got a great reputation
because of the coaches that he worked that he's worked with, in the great
resume that he has. But it's just very interesting to me that, you
know, Jetfish was, you know, keeping his eye on some other jobs
before the season ended, and to me, I just think that Brent Brennan
is at the place that he's always wanted to be at. I know he's
a U c l. A alumnus, but if that U c l.
A job opens up, he ain't taken it. I mean, this is
the job that he's always wanted. So Jetfish is an opportunist and he always
will be. And that's why I smell the bs when I when I hear
him go into an arena at a Washington basketball game and tell the fans that
they're going to be there for seven years, and it's like, my man,
you haven't been anywhere longer than a few I would hold off on the
promises and telling people that you're going to be here for the long haul because
I highly doubt that, because, you know what, you kind of hitch
that to a lot of people down here in Tucson, and that simply wasn't
the case. So I think that, you know, while Jetfish he did
his saying, man, you can't you can't deny what the job that Jetfish
is. But even if Brent Brennan goes ten and three in the season and
wins a lot of games and gets Arizona back to you know, being a
national brand. He ain't leaving anywhere, and so I think that, to
me is the biggest difference. Now the similarities. Honestly, they are both
very people personally. I guess they're they engage well with people, they engage
well with with donors, with boosters, with people who are surrounding the program.
I mean, you know, say what you want about Jetfish. I
mean the guys I did a lot to I guess, get people to buy
into the football program. And he promoted the hell out of Arizona football,
right Mark, He did it very well. He did, and Brennan is
doing the same thing. So man, I didn't think about that. I
mean, there's there's a handful of differences and similarities, but those are probably
the biggest. Yeah, well I loved you. I loved your cocktail versus
beer guy. Right, Uh, you know, Jed is you're You're right.
I mean I would walk in and I could imagine Jed with a you
know, a Gin and Tonic, a tall one, you know, in
his hand, and Brent just wants to have a beer with you on hangout.
I love that. I really that that sort of said all I needed
to know about, you know, because you and you know, you and
Lev are going to be the guys that are going to be around them the
most. I know, the other media guys in town are you know,
are around but you know, you as the beat guy, you'll you'll see
him more probably as often or get deeper into him as than the rest of
us. And so I appreciate the the perspective on that, But that was
a good That was a good, good way to put that like that,
justin I appreciate the time. Man. Uh, you know, I know
you got a got a summer ahead of you, but uh, we're heading
towards what big twelve media days just in a few weeks, right, Yeah,
we got Big twelve meda day coming up on July ninth and tenth in
Las Vegas. I will be out there providing the coverage for Tucson dot Com.
And then, yeah, hopefully as a diehard Lakers fan, maybe the
Boston Celtics could be the first team to blow up a three zero final weeks.
Hey, okay, okay, you brought it up. You brought it
up. You said the word Lakers happy, unhappy, the Danny Hurley thing.
How did you take that I don't know he did call his players a
bunch of idiots, or he said he said I like coaching college guys because
they're a lot dumber, or I mean something like a long I don't know
how I'm gonna take that up on one of his guys, but he's a
maniac, and damn it, I wish he was the head coach of the
Lakers because they would be much like Jim Harbaugh coaching the Chargers. So I
think it's a big miss. But it looks like uh, mister J.
J. Reddick, the second best shooter in college basketball history behind Set exactly
all right. Justin, Hey, thanks a bunch. I'm sure we'll see
you around and we'll catch up with you again. Hey, J you're the
man. Go Dodgers. Let's see you later. Justin spirits from there is
on a Daily Star. Uh, you know, perspective on I thought that
was really good. I thought the way he put that was was really good
message and clear. Yeah is it? You know, Hey, you know,
kind of slick guy over here and then just kind of the regular let's
have a beer, sit and sit down kind of guy. So I agree
with that totally. All right, So we're gonna take our break, We're
gonna come back. Well, we'd love to have you call us five two
zero four one six, seventy four forty. Would you think of Justin's portrayal
of of of Brent Brennan If you haven't read it, read the story all
the other stuff going on? Was that a choke job by by Rory McElroy?
Do you use the word choke for that? I think a lot of
people are so stick around. Give us a call five to zero four one,
six, seventy four forty we'll bring it back. If you're an Arizona
men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now
take a look back at the Ludolsen era In my new book, Lessons from
Loot, It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former
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how he built the program into a national powerhouse. Want one email me at
Steve dot RIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com. Hi, this is formal
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is it hot? In here or is it just me? Honey? I
always think you're hot, but it's June and we all know it's going to
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com. Steve Bravera and Jacob Salaz. They have their I on a book
on Tucson's sports station, Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Fuck back, I'm bolling
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Thanks for being here. We've got a caller
already on the next second, so let's go ahead and take the call.
Hi. You're on the air and I on the ball. Hey you guys,
this is Gabe. I wanted to talk I hope you guys are doing
good this week. One another thing I want to talk to you guys about
Arizona going into the Big twelve. Is that obviously in the in the Ped
twelve, Oklahoma Texas all leaving, so we don't show us Arizona fans and
Arizona we don't need to worry about them, right. And then also and
Arizona is leaving the Pac twelve. They all leaving Oregon, Washington, and
USC, those three schools that Arizona basically did struggle with and not sometimes beating
them but in return begetting beateen. But yeah, Arizona has a huge chance
to dominate that conqueror that conference in regards to football. And so yeah,
I'm happy that Arizona is in the Big twelve. The one question I have
for you for you guys is out of the fourth schools in the Big ten,
Oregon, Washington, USC, and Ucla, who do you think is
going to struggle the most the most? Oh, that's not even close.
And if you're talking just football, it's Ucla. Ucla struggled in the Pac
twelve. You know, I think there's a lot of opinion and I agree
with it that Oregon will actually contend with Michigan and Ohio State, you know,
win the league white thing. Washington's gonna be very good, but they
lost a lot of guys and you know, they've got a new coach and
Jed Fish, so they're gonna have some adjusting to do. And that's a
tough place to do that. In USC. You know, you never know,
right USC could be really good or they can do what they did last
ye be really bad. But U c l A. I don't know.
I just don't think they've got guys right now. They also have a new
coach, a guy who's never been a head coach before, as best as
we can tell, a very likable guy. But I don't know that they're
that they've just got the personnel to compete now. Having said all that,
I'll say and I agree with an opinion that you hear often about the Big
Ten. It's top heavy. People like to think of the Big Ten Football
Conference as this massive, knock you on your butt conference. They've got to
two and a half good team, three, let's say three. Let's add
Penn State in there. The rest of the league is crap. There's a
bunch of teams like after Penn State in the in the Big Ten. There's
a bunch of teams like that in the in the Pact twelve. So I
think Oregon, Washington, and USC bring three more teams that are gonna make
it hard on Ohio State and Michigan to go undefeated like they've been going undefeated,
they going defeated because weekend and week out, they don't have to be
great. They've only got to beat two or three good teams in their league
and then they're undefeated. So that's gonna make it hard for them. So
how are their fans gonna get used to having teams that they can lose to?
So I I to answer your question, I think UCLA is going to
struggle the most, probably followed by Washington. I think USC will hold its
own, and I think Oregon will contend. I think well, Ucla will
definitely struggle by I think USC will definitely struggle with them more because you never
Nora and plus USC always has all USC always dominate on the Pact twelve.
But going against Ohio, say in Michigan, you're you're gonna play against the
big dogs. Washington is probably gonna struggle because they're gonna they're gonna have a
new coaching staff, and don't get me started on the Trader. And in
regards to Oregon, yeah, they can't contend, but I think they're in
the bigger They're gonna play against the bigger boys. So who knows as this
point now and look and and you know to your point about the Big Twelve.
I agree that with that too, you know, and across the board,
you know, not just here in Tucson, but media who are talking
about the new Big twelve are all kind of saying the same thing. It's
wide open. Arizona can go in there and contend. You I think Utah,
I think the media is probably gonna pick Utah as the favorite in the
league. Well, we saw what Arizona did to Utah last year. So
you know, I think Arizona's in a position where it can. Uh.
You know, look, I don't think anybody's ever gonna die dominate that league,
but I think Arizona can be can contend in that league probably year and
a year out, starting the starting this year, presuming they can keep up
the type of recruiting that they've had and that NIL and all that doesn't turn
everything upside down on them. So that's what I think. I'm glad that
you brought the whole nil scene. I think the one thing that I'm gonna
the last thing is I'm gonna say, is well, the whole nil thing.
Everything needs to be equal. Every school needs, every school needs to
pay a call athlete one hundred thousand dollars a year, not a million dollars.
Everything needs to be legal. And regards to Arizona, I think I
said this recently, but I think Arizona needs to be the first college to
pay their athletes a livable wage. Yeah, the first be the first college
should do that, and then other schools will do the same. I think
that's one way to to compete against the big boys. So that's my two
cents. Well, I appreciate appreciate your two cents gave. We do as
always, so yeah, I understand where you're coming from on that, But
there's a lot to shake out on that, so we'll see how it goes.
Thanks a bunch for calling Gaby. I always appreciate it. You know,
Gabe said something there. He says he wants it to be it's never
It's never been equal. It's not going to be equal. It's still going
to be those who have the money, have the have have the advantage.
And it's just gonna be interesting to see how it shakes out once everybody's got
to pay their players. What what does that look like? And UH and
you know, do we do we continue to have the the different UH levels
of UH, the finances that dictate everything. I think we still I think
we still will. But you know it's always been that way, you know,
whether it's been resources, coaching, whatever ever, Arizona has always been
middle of the pack on all of that. I think they'll continue to be
middle of the pack on all of that. And you just got to go
out and get good players and hope every folk every so often you get you
get a group of guys that can compete with anybody. And that's what you
know that Arizona is what had I think four to ten win seasons now ninety
three, ninety eight, twenty fourteen, and then this last year four in
my lifetime, right, that's I think we can continue to expect that.
Maybe a little better being in the Big twelve because you don't have, as
you said, we don't have Oregon, Washington and USC to contend with year
in and year out. Maybe it gets a little bit better. Maybe they're
they're at the top of the league more often, maybe they're winning eight,
nine, ten games more often, being in a league where they're more on
the level with all those guys. But you know, when you're talking about
are they going to be you know, national contenders? Year in and year
out for playoffs. I don't know, you know, it definitely seems hard
to be able to say that fairly at this point in Yeah, especially without
having seen the new team next year yet. Yeah, but yeah, I
think you're right to say that you can start to expect more successful seasons.
Yeah. And my other point, you know, on that is again going
back, going back to the Big Ten. You know, the Big Ten
is just not as good as people make it out to be. It's been
it's been Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State for however many years, and
then every once in a while, I was good every once in a while,
Wisconsin is good, and that's it. That's all you got. Nebraska
hasn't been any good since they got into Big Ten. They've been no good.
Northwestern's been okay a couple of times, but they're like Arizona, right,
they'll have a ten win season, then they won't have another one for
another fifteen years. And the program is kind of a mess right now.
And the program is a mess. So you know, I mean, look,
Iowa with the worst, one of the worst offenses in the history of
college football, maybe a history of football, right got into their League championship
last year. That's all you need to say about about the level of the
Big twelve, of the Big Ten. It's as a conference. It's got
three good teams and nothing else. So that's why I think USC and Oregon
can go in there do well. Washington may it takes some time to adjust
if they but if if Jed can recruit like he recruited recruit to Washington at
that level that you know, at a Washington level for what you know,
if he can recruit and get players and coach them up, they can be
They can be pretty good. And now you've got six teams in that league.
I don't know how long it's gonna take or if UCLA will ever be
good at football again, but they've not been good in the Back twelve for
a pretty long time. There seems to be a lot of optimism from fan
bases like Arizona and Washington and Oregon that are moving to these new conferences and
looking to find success. How do you think the fans of like teams that
are maybe losing spots at the top of the about these other franchise right program,
Yeah, I mean, how does how does Texas How does Texas Tech?
Feel about Arizona. Arizona and Utah come and over, you know,
with with some pretty good with some pretty good teams. You know, if
you've been battling to try and get up there, you've been dealing with uh,
Oklahoma and in Texas. Now they're gone. You're going, okay,
catch up, breath, here we go. And then A said, you've
got a couple of teams and look, Utah, they're gonna find out in
the Big Twelve. Utah is a good program. Not just in football,
they're they're a good program in football, They're a good program in basketball,
the other all the other sports. You know, watch out for Utah.
I think, uh, you know, and you know, in Arizona's in
a similar position as Utah and not maybe not as much success in football recently,
but certainly they're gonna walk in there with you know, with some with
some street cred or whatever you want to call it in basketball. So you
know, I think it's gonna be interesting to see how they're fans, how
the Big Twelve fans take these teams coming in and saying, wait a minute,
this is what you know? You know, because because look when Utah
and Colorado came into the into the PAC twelve from the fact, well into
the Pac ten became the Pac twelve. I didn't I wasn't worried about those
guys. I wasn't. You know. Then you talk, you know,
got it stuff together, got into a couple of roseballs, and like,
okay, you Todd did a good job. Colorado hasn't been any good,
you know. In fact, they've been terrible. They've been they've been terrible.
So, you know, looking at it from a Big twelve fan,
now they're seeing these teams coming home and they're saying, how good can they
be? They're they're the scraps. You know, the Big Ten didn't want
them. That's why they're in our league, right it. It's conning interesting
to see when you know, when Arizona goes and plays Kansas State and the
non conference game at the top of the at the top of the season next
year, if Arizona goes in there and wins that game, Kan's State fans
are going a wall, whoa, whoa, whoa, Where do these guys
come from? Yeah? Where did they? Where did they come from?
And then all of a sudden, I thought we were only wildcats here?
Hold on, no, right, Arizona, Kansas State is considered one of
the favorites in the league. If Arizona goes up there and wins that game,
all of a sudden, make they make a huge statement, and Arizona's
a favorite in the league. Yeah, a whole new sheriff in town.
It'll be it'll be interesting to see how that, how that comes out.
All right, So, I you know, I know, man, I'm
starting to get really excited about this because again, as much as I hated
and I still hate what happened to the Big to the Pac Twelve, I'm
excited about the Big Twelve for the reason that you know, justin stated you
know, look, Arizona, you get and you know, you get into
the Big twelve championship, you're probably just get into it. You're probably in
the playoffs. Yeah, and then what all you gotta just get in and
then anything can happen. I feel like almost that time of year where every
fan yeah, I don't know, you know, I don't know, you
know, And and I like that. I like that feeling going in.
I mean, if we were ACU right now, I'd be going, you
know, can we just go to the Mountain West. I would hate going
in, right, I would hate going into into this new league feeling like
we're just going to get our faces kicked in some more. And look,
I think AC is going to get better. I like Kenny Dillingham so far.
They got you know, got a good recruiting classy are probably going to
get better and be tougher to deal with. But I'd much rather be going
in with the team that Arizona has, the hope that Arizona has, the
belief that Arizona has that they can kind of be a factor in the league.
I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, we can be pretty nostalgic about
the Pack twelve and be sad for but move on, baby, you can
be excited for what is to come. To turn the page, exactly,
turn the page. Okay, we're here at the top of the hour.
Okay, Kevin's gonna bring us some breaking news. Then at about four to
twenty, Kenzy fowl Er Quinn, one of the new members of the Arizona
Sports Hall of Fame, will be joining us, and we'll go back down
memory lane with her softball career at Arizona that got her into the Hall of
Fame. So stick around