This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez Son Fox Sports
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Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm
Steve Rivera, He's jagan Zaus got our guy Sammy in today. Just want
to let you know that it's basketball season, but it's not. It's not.
For the first time forever, it's not. People are still talking about
football this late in the season, which makes sense that it's a football town.
They are. I again, I've always said that, so yes,
but it's it's still football season. A lot of cool things can happen.
I's done some simple mat Steve, That's what you know, and I've got
to I still got the headache from that. I'm doing that too, bliss
too. Everyone that can still win ten games? Oh yeah with ten games?
Yeah, okay, they can't. Beautiful dream he has they got.
I'm not gonna be ragging anymore because people get on you. You went out
okay, which isn't inconceivable anymore, right, right right, and then you
win your bowl game? Yeah that's ten wins. Okay, Yeah, I
could, I could become even more better looking than I am right now,
but that's not gonna say I think. I think. Yeah, Okay,
so there's a possibility you and my boy Sammy were oh yeah, dumb and
dumber. They have a chance you get to them. Well, no,
I don't. I don't believe that. Okay, but let's go to the
both. Let's reopen it. So what do you think the chances are that
yours happens, that Arizona does give me a percent like eighty five eighty that's
gonna win ten games? Yeah? What do you want? Because I think,
honestly, I think the only thing that's in the way is Utah and
that game is here Utah, and then they're gonna win the bowl game.
What did I have to win the bull game? I'm eighty five percent?
Did you even get eighty five percent in your classes? At you of a?
Well? Why are you asking that to put it in perspective? No?
Here, here's you hear me out on this. Okay, you know,
I mean, I think they're gonna crush Colorado, and I think they're
gonna crush ACU, not because they're gonna go out there and put eighty points
on the board. Because those teams aren't gonna score right. So I so
I think I think those two are wins now at this point. So Utah
coming into town, who knows? I you know, I if Arizona beats
the hell out of Colorado this week, I could even see Arizona being favored
in that game against Utah. I don't know about that, Joe, what
do you like your Okay? I won't dismiss ten games chokes saying that give
me a percentage on the ten. I think you have to consider us beating
Utah. Sure it could happen, but then who do we draw on the
bowl right to get the tenth win? We don't know who that last opponent's
gonna be. If we go to the Holiday Bowl and we have I don't
know, ls you, I don't know if that's the thing or something like
that, something like that, A team like a team like that. I
just don't don't see us beating the lsu're like, I'm trying to think
of teams that we could play, like uh, Kansas State, which we
open against them next year, Like Kansas State's a dang good football team,
not to say we're not. It's just we don't know who that last team
is gonna be. So I'll give it a I just think the Utah game
is gonna be a lot to handle for us, so I'll give it a
forty five percent change. Let me let me tell you what and where I'm
coming from on that ste because I have, up until Saturday, I have
continued to believe that this bubble is gonna burst, okay, And Nico's probably
gonna call okay because I ran into him and his dad before the game and
they asked me, deserves on a win tonight, and I said, no,
I didn't because I just I just see Arizona and me keeps thinking they're
not gonna win the next one, and they keep winning. He's seen it
too much. Yeah, So now at UCLA has finally convinced me that this
team is really good. We're you know, they've got three losses, but
when you think about their three losses now in the context of everything else,
you think they shouldn't have three losses, right, And they almost didn't have
right. So I'm thinking this is like a this is like a ten and
two team, you know, because because you know, they lost two games
that they shouldn't have lost when you think about what they've done since then.
Right, So that's why I'm thinking, Okay, I'm gonna believe now that
they should win their next three games, and if they do that, bring
on whoever you want to bring on in a bout. So you you this
is what I know of Jiggins all through the years. You overcorrect, you
overcorrect, Okay, in this case, you overmight over correction. This might
be. This is a way over correction. And I don't mind that you're
things to ten because it's a good possible. It's a possibility eighty five percent,
though forty five is more realistic. It could happen. I don't disagree
with you. Do Utah here, you play out of your mind, you
beat them, and then the yellow sue scenario whatever. Well, the fifteen
percent that I'm not saying one hundred percent accounts for maybe a loss to Utah.
But what about I hate to I hate to even bring it up.
What about the ASU game? What about the ASU game? So you're not
you know, how did you see what happened to them? This? Ye?
Hey, I know exactly how bad ASU is in Colorado is and just
bad? Okay, And I'll say I'll say it to somebody. Arizona's offense
is way better than Utah's offense. Okay, sure, and their defenses are
about, in my mind the same. Well go ahead, no, no,
no, I was trying to go ahead, you go ahead. Well,
I just think the Utah U of A game. Watching the way U
of A has played the last five weeks, I think they're very Utah esque.
They're very tough. Yes, their offense is not super flashy. They
have really good players, and we don't make a lot of mistakes right and
on the defensive end, we're a bunch of dogs similarly to similarly to Utah's
team, and we're really well coached both everything I just said Utah has he
has had for a while. Look that game Saturday night wasn't ass kicking.
U c l A never had a chance ever. Go ahead? That might
Hi, How you're on the air and I on the ball. How's it
going today? What's up? Brian? Well, I'm just wondering. You
know, Steve has zero chance of getting any better better looking, so our
our ten chance to win ten games, it's probably the better odds, I
guess, but to win ten games, it's it's still going to be difficulty.
No, it is going to be hard to overlook Colorado this weekend.
You know, those guys. It's a dangerous team because they're playing for nothing
right now. And what you're what you're also factoring in, Jay is is
the emotions, time and circumstance, all that stuff. Well, we'll play
We'll play a dead fish clip in a minute, that one that we've right,
you keep them from yeah, team from getting you know, So,
Brian, did you think that they would beat you sally this weekend going in,
Oh, yeah, I really did. Did you call last week?
Did you say that, Yes, yeah, we'll have to. I thought
they had they had a fifty to fifty chance of winning. Maybe, okay,
maybe it is okay, yeah, you know, but you know,
but that's not as good as you're gonna get because we still don't. My
biggest concern with the football team is what happens at the end of each They
gave up that that touchdown at the end touch down at the end of the
half, which they should never have given up. Like they said, they
were playing soft defense for some reason. Yeah, but just play the defense
you always play, because what's gonna happen, You're gonna wind up. You
talk to me, completely different teams than playing UCLA because they have good defense
and they have an offer. But again, that game have Cam Rising quarterback.
They're still a pretty good team. That game is in Tucson, Brian
and Utah. Utah has lost, has brought really good teams and lost to
really bad teams in Tucson. So that I just you know, again,
I just think it's a high percentage that Arizona gets get you know, wins
wins out. Again. I don't know what's gonna happen in a bowl game,
but you know they're playing everybody. You see them playing everybody from I
think it's a big twelve team has to come to the Holiday Bowl. So
you know you're talking about Kansas or Kansas State. None of those teams scared.
Oh yeah, so anyway, yeah, you know we we still don't
you know, when we can't overlook this game this weekend. I don't think
they're going to because I think if you say, you know, Colorado's you
know, play, Arizona's playing for something, all right there they're playing and
I just don't see them, you know, taking a step back at least
from a from an emotional standpoint, or or overlooking anybody. Arizona is not
not a team that should be overlooking anybody. That team played excellent. They
may they made the one turnover that happens. You know, that team played
so well, I mean offensively and defensively. And I don't care what anybody
says until Lafita has a terrible game. He's the quarterback. He's a quarterback.
He is he is, all right, Brian, Hey, thanks about
you, man. We'll talk to you later. So getting back to the
planet is going to make Steve I have a have a good head. You
go ahead, No, okay, before your point. So, I got
somebody texting me someone you may or may not know, but is entrenched in
the program. Okay, not in the football program, but in the Arizona
right. What's I won't say is Jay? What's Jay thinking? One?
And two? Well, I kind of explain you're kind of a homer,
but you are he's too much kool aid because Utah Utah is a program,
right, and that's that. And you understand that. No, I do.
I understand all those things. But what I'm saying. My point is
that I have finally come around to believe that they you know, they weren't.
They haven't been getting lucky. They know they haven't been catching breaks.
They haven't been you know, the turnover here and the turnover there, and
you win a game. They've been beating the crap out of here. This
is not your father's of UA football team. In fact, in the first
three weeks or four weeks whatever, they got unlucky they've been. They've been
beating these teams because they're better. No, no, And how many times
could you say that in your And that's my point. Don't disagree with all
the ones sitting here believing that they're better than two of the next three teams,
probably as good as Utah, and I think they can take anybody that
they play in a bowl game. Let's go. Let's take this higher on
the air and on on the ball. Hello, hey jem, they also
be usc every place, but on the score of exactly and the same thing.
The Mississippi uh Mississi State the most important game of the last decade,
poison that would be the most important game. Well, yeah, Utah really
on the line if they played like this week's the most important game. Well,
you're hanging around, you must be hanging around Jed Fishers at it all
and uh, you know, I think they I think they're capable of beating
Colorado up and bouter, but you know, we'll just have to see.
Well there probably had So Jim, are you using Jim? Are you using
a voice changer on your on your I'm the one that Jim, Jim.
We can we can, Jim, Jim, we can barely hear you.
We can. We can barely stop, Jim stop, we can barely hear
you can barely understand. Okay, let's play every game. Okay, thanks
all right, Jim, thanks you. We could barely understand. But we
we kind of got again going back, and I'm gonna keep repeating it,
Steve, It's just that Arizona they're better than these teams that they've been probably
think. I don't disagree with that. I think they're better than USC think
about it. I mean, okay, right, you might say, well,
us he's you know, got Kate Williams and they got this offense.
Well, Arizona matched a point for point and I'm sorry, but the airs
on his defense, it's ten times better than the USC's defense. You play
USC again and you're gonna kick their as. I hope you're not expected an
argument from me because the only thing I don't agree with with eighty five percent,
the Utah thing is a little tough too. And so I think if
we beat Utah, Utah will be the best team out of the last three.
They're better than so if we that's a team where you need to beat.
If you're if we're gonna talk about like being a legit pro didn't didn't
Utah lose to Oregon State? Who did they lose to? They lost to
organ State at the beginning of the year. But you stayed on a Friday
night. Yeah, but that's that doesn't mean but now they got to come
here, right Yeah, I mean look, look, I mean when the
time number, when the time comes, I'm gonna believe I'm gonna sit you
and go go. Arizon's not gonna win this game because they never win that
game. But then they're gonna win the game. Proved me wrong, shoot
and shoot called back. Whoever's tried to call call back after the guest In
fact, it is okay, okay, we have to call because we only
have two minutes, we're gonna go to Ryan Hanson. Yeah, okay,
yeah, so we are gonna talk some basketball today, uh with with both
with Ryan Hanson, who does the color color commentating on There's on a radio
broadcast, and then Greg Hansen, who had a piece in the in the
Star today or yesterday, just talking about the history of the pack Troll.
Just get a little historical perspective. Is the last packball basketball season? They
have the special section, Yeah, yesterday and I went went I read some
of that. So again, if you're calling right now, just call us
after the break. We'll have more time you call. We had to get
out to our break here in just a second. Anyways, discussion, you
know, I mean, I I'm I among all the people I hang with,
I'm the last one on board with this. Okay, those guys have
all been going, but they've been doing it for years. Well but we
all been doing it for years. But I've been the doubter. And again,
like I told you, you know right there right there, standing right
they're standing on the you know, on the concourse that Lowel Stevens. I
told Nico we're not going to win this game. And then they beat the
crap out of them. That was That was good because if you said they
wouldn't, they would have lost. But I mean again, this wasn't a
flu. You know they'll they'll beat UCLA eight out of ten times from what
we saw lid. Yeah, no, it was a good game. Yeah,
all right, let's go and take our break again. Ryan Hanson coming
up. We'll talk to him. Arizona basketball with the opener tonight against Morgan
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free evaluation today. Breaking down all the exes at OHS. It's Steve Rivera
and Jacinsovins. This is I on the Park on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Ian the back here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera. He's Jay Gonzalez. Now on the phone. We have
Ryan Hanson from the Other Nations play by pay the other guy. How why
are you running? I'm doing great. How are you guys? Are you
ready to roll? Hey? I'm ready. I mean it's amazing how quick
it came this year. It felt fast. But at the same time,
boy, it's been a long time since Arizona's unceremonious departure in the eNCA tournament
back in Sacramento. So I'm glad to turn the page and get us going
on a new season. Well, on that note, I think that Tommy
is too. And the reason I said it is because every chance he gets
and these questions come up. And I asked him one three months ago,
are you glad that it's kind of we're moving forward quickly? And he says
yeah, And then he goes into the history of how he's going to learn
from that loss, and he said this, He's owned it like crazy.
I love that he's owned it, right. I mean, you can run
from these things, but the real truth about it is, and you guys
know this because you've done this a long time. Unfortunately for Tommy, that
Princeton mark is never going to go away, right, going to be brought
up every tournament. It's going to be brought up this March. Oh,
well last year. This is what happened to Arizona. But you have to
go through those valleys to learn to get better, and then, as we
know, to appreciate the peaks and the top of the mountain when you get
there. Yeah, it's you know, I mean, I don't know that
it's it's I mean, I know it's a two verses fifteen, but it
doesn't feel like the Santa Clara loss. You know that one hung on loot
till the till the end. People will continue to remember this, but I
think it happened so early in Tommy's you know, tenure here that if they
if they go off and do something great this year then or the next,
it's not going to hang on. It's not gonna hang on Jay. They'll
always remember it, but it won't be like a badge on his back.
But remember it, right those This the Santa Clara think came right after the
East Ennessee State game, right, so it was back to that probably why
right? Yeah, I think you guys are both right in the fact that
this, while it's an isolated incident per se, if Arizona goes in substance
toe again, yeah, now you've got more of a storyline to it and
a narrative potentially. But I'll also add to it. Twenty twenty three and
now going into twenty twenty four, it's a different era of college basketball than
what it was back in nineteen ninety two, nineteen ninety three, where upsets
happened, and in fact, same day Purdue goes down to a sixteen seat,
So it's not as rare. It's happening more frequently. There's more parody
in college basketball. With the transfer portal, the nil money, we're going
to see I think more upsets. Look at the Final Four this past year.
Who was in it. It wasn't Chalk, it wasn't Blue Buds.
So the stain may not last as long. But the best elixir, the
best remedy to come off of that situation, is to have a great season
and a deep run. And that's what we're all have hope for on opening
night of college basketball. So it starts and I think on Morgan State and
then boom, here comes Duke. You know, your thoughts on playing a
game like that that early? You know, I mean, you've barely had
a chance to get your feet wet. Now you're headed over to Cameron.
What are your thoughts on that? I'm excited about it. I love it.
It hearkens back, and I don't want to always harken back to the
Loud Olson days. Sometimes we can get to to fixate it on that.
But you think back, and I'm not saying this is the national title year,
but the national title year, the first first first game of the year
was North Carolina right on a neutral court. So this isn't uncharted territory.
So when I think about what Arizona is looking for tonight in tonight's game,
they really need to sharpen some things up. The exhibition games taught them a
little bit about taking care of the basketball. Well, tennight, you're playing
a Morgan State team that wants to turn you over. If Arizona doesn't play
sharper, will they lose? Most likely not going to lose tonight, but
will they be in the best position to take their road trip to Durham and
Cameron Indoor where if you turn it over there you get run out of the
gym. Yeah, no question. In fact, the lineups that we'll see
tonight will be nothing like we'll see on Thursday, I mean on Friday.
Probably, right, I think you're going to see in the first half,
at least to start, you'll probably see a little bit more of what the
quote unquote rotation will look like. But you're right, Steve, I think
for the non conference games that are of this variety, where Arizona is playing
a mid major at home, you're going to see Tommy hopefully starting to try
to build a deeper, better, more quality depth and bench for the Wildcats.
He's talked about that it's something he wants to improve upon, so he
better show that tonight, right and play more guys. But when you go
to Cameron, when you play Michigan State on Thanksgiving Day, are you going
to be able to be as liberal with your roster in your minutes? Maybe
not, because you definitely want to win those games and sometimes you've got to
play the best you've got, especially on Friday on the road. At arguably
the toughest place to play a road game would be in Cameron. You're probably
not going to see ten, eleven, twelve guys get tons of minutes.
What are you most curious about this team? You know, there's a few
things that I'm curious about, and I'll throw one out at you that no
one or maybe few people are talking about. Replacing the easy baskets that Julis
Tavellis got Arizona. I think it's an underrated thing of what a Zulus was
able to do. He rim Ran, he got easy baskets in transition,
you could throw the ball into the low block consistently and get easy shots from
him. Can Arizona replace that? Are we going to get high percentage shots
elsewhere? I think we'll feel a little bit of pain of not having a
Zulus there, just like you would in any year losing a very good player.
But I think that's one that not a lot of people are talking about.
Let me give you another that we've talked about a number of times here.
Who's going to shoot the jumper from the perimeter. Who's going to make
the jumper from the perimeter? You know? I think Arizona's got a couple
of guys that I really believe are going to be consistently good shooters. Are
they going to be Steve Curse, Eline Stodemyer, Probably not. But I
think Kylon Boswell and Caleb Love are going to be above average shooters for Arizona
in this offense. They can score at all three levels. I think they
complement each other with playing downhill and being threats to take it all the way
to the rim. Actually having guards that can finish in traffic at the rim
this year is going to be a luxury for Arizona. It was a deficiency
last year. I think what that does is that opens up opportunities for kickouts,
for wide open perimeter shots. So I don't think there's gonna be the
saline, there's gonna be the speed per but I do think by committee they've
got more than capable shooters in Kylon and Kaleb. Well, what you know,
I've been talking about Keishad being the guy that he just looks mean out
there and you know, somebody who sort of an enforcer kind of guy that
maybe Arizona hasn't had in a while. I compared his look and I'm not
you know, they're different sizes and stuff like that. Just the look on
his face, his presence on the court to a Brian Williams who just get
the hell out of my way. I'm gonna knock you down if you get
in my way. You know, I'm gonna dunk on you. I'm gonna
do all these things. But he's in the four spot, not a five.
But I mean, I'm That's what I'm looking for from a guy like
him, in a presence that maybe Arizona hasn't had in a while, Because
look, Zulis was a really good player. He just went through all the
things he could do. But you know, his reputation was he's kind of
soft and he wasn't a guy that was going to enforce under the basket.
I feel like brings that. I don't know what you what you think so
far from what you say, Yeah, I think there's I think there's a
number of guys that kind of have a nasty streak in them that we didn't
have across the board. And I think you're right. It starts with key
shod. I will say that Brian Williams had a screw loose in a good
way. Uh, it wasn't just a nasty streak. He was a little
out there and and that's what kind of led to his his greatness a little
bit because he was so crazy. But that's that's a story for another day.
But I believe is going to give Arizona those dirty grunt plays. And
I'm not saying that because he's not capable or he's not skilled. He is
skilled. He's extremely athletic, but he's not afraid to get his nose dirty
and he's not afraid to mix it up a little bit. I think that's
where you're going with it. Jay Is does does Arizona have some dogs?
And I mean that just in a good way? Are they Are they willing
to mix it up a little bit? I think kJ Lewis has a little
bit of a dog in him and he's a tougher, hard nosed guy who's
not afraid to mix it up a little bit. And and Arizona in the
Princeton game, you saw guys and for lack of a better phrase, shrivel
in the moment. Yeah, And I'm hopeful that this group has more dogs
that that when the when it gets tough, when you got to get a
rebound, when you got to get a basket, when you got to take
the ball to the rim and finish hard, or you're you're going to be
at the free throw line or both. Arizona has a number of players that
today look like could fill that role for us. Now will that will that
play itself out? That's where we have the season. We're going to see
that growth or evolution or guys you know, step up into that role.
So I have a combination of guys for Kisha, Jean part Jane, I
mean Gene and uh and Bennett Davison kind of that combo athletic guy who can
do a lot of things athletically. That was just my and that I think
that's a good a good mixture because you look, he's Keyshot is not as
robotic as Gene, but he's not as fluid as Bennett either, Right,
He's an more athletic Gene, but a little bit more robotic Bennett. And
that's a good point because Bennett gave you. Both of those guys gave you
tough rebounds, they gave you hustle plays, they gave you steals off the
ball, they gave you athleticism and athletic plays in their own right. That's
actually a pretty good comparison. You know, a lot of people that I've
talked to, they're trying to put, you know, Keyshot in the role
of is he Richard Jefferson is the Andre Guodala And I don't see him in
that three man role just yet. He's got I think there's some grass that
needs to grow on that progress for him. It's probably closer to a Gene
Bennett comparison. So let me say this. We had Reggie on the show
last week and I talked and this was an observation that's not going to hit
home, but it hits a little bit, so that the backcourt is very
good the one this year, and they're not They're not Damon, they're not
Collid, and they're not Reggie. But they have those qualities and we'll know
maybe they are down the road because those three were very good for the ninety
four year, right, but they have a number of guys now who can
fill those roles in a three man rotation. That's a great that's a great
comparison. I'm not surprised that Reggie, you know, drew that because of
the personality and you're you're the one that pointed that out to him. But
I like what you're going with the tools and the toolbox. There's there's different
there's a screwdriver, there's a hammer, there's a saw in all of these
cases. You look, Jayden Bradley, could he fill the role that Reggie
filled in that year in ninety four? Kind of not a great shooter at
that point in his career, a lockdown defender, going to get up in
your shorts to take it to the rim and finish. That's kind of where
Jaden's at right now. Caleb love. Let's get the very careful not to
compare him to Khalid Reeves. He's not necessarily going to put up eight hundred
and thirty four points in his senior year like Khalid did. But can he
be a bucket getter for you? I think so. Can Kylon Boswell be
a scoring point guard that could control games, could use the pick and roll,
could score at all three levels. I don't think he's got the spurt
ability that Damon had, but he's he's a great point guard in the making.
I kind of like those comparisons when you see the different tools in the
toolbox on the perimeter. Now, I like our backcourt on November sixth,
I really like our backcourt again. A lot to be seen, but good
comparisons, do you no? Well? And you know, and you talked
about Tommy and you know what he you know what he had to go through
this last summer. But I don't know. I mean, you're maybe you've
been around him more than than we have, but he's got to be pretty
dang excited about the roster he put together, especially coming off that loss.
And we're you know, there were a lot of naysayers about him in his
recruiting for a guy who can't do it right. Yeah, for a guy
who can't recruit right as they were saying that after Princeton or he's not going
to be able to recruit. I mean, he's got to be fired of
about what he's seen on the court so far in spite of that last Yeah,
for sure, and knowing Tommy like I do, and I think you
guys have seen it. I don't think he listened to the critics when he
got the job. I don't think he listens to the critics when he loses.
I don't think he listens to the media that went crazy when he was
the all time leader in wins for a too in his second year as a
head coach. Right, so he gets the praise on that. I don't
think he dwells on those things. As he calls it. He's what is
a day to day, long, necked along neck, paycheck to paycheck kind
of guy. And so that's a good approach as a college basketball coach.
You don't get too high and you don't get too low. But Jay,
your point is, I think he sees this and the talent level that he
has. I believe he sees the upside of this team and knows that he's
got something special if Arizona can stay healthy, if the pieces and the roles
fit how he is strategically putting it together, and knows that it's a long
season, and so you know, Arizona season is not going to be one
or lost tonight. I'm not going to be one or lost on Friday night.
But each of these two opportunities this week are building blocks. And he's
such a good perspective guy that I think that's how he's looking at it.
So last question before we leave. I think one of the things that's going
to benefit Arizona is they're not in the top ten. They're kind of floating
at twelve. I think eventually they'll get into top five, top seven,
but there's no great expectations, of unrealistic expects that's for their own Yeah,
no, for sure, Arizona is probably right probably ranked right where they should
be. But you know Arizona historically, and you guys know this, and
November in December, if Arizona does what it has done the last two years,
if Arizona does what it did under Luke, it will find itself in
the top five. If they go and play close or win on Friday,
or you know, come out unscathed or with only one or two losses.
And they lose close to Purdue and they lose to Duke, but they beat
Michigan State, they beat Alabama, they beat Florida Atlantic. You're going they're
going to find themselves squarely in that top five, you know position. But
I like what you're saying in regards to expectations on opening night of college basketball,
Arizona is probably they're a top twenty five team with still a lot to
prove, right exactly. Rhino is always thank you very much, good stuff.
Thanks guys. We'll see it Michael shortly, all right, manute,
good stuff, great perspective. You're not too high, not too low.
And that's it. I mean, you know, he he sees it closer
than we do. Yeah, you know. And he's not over reacity.
No, no, no, not overreact or that. He's not me.
I was gonna say that, but I'm glad you did. Hello, my
nag, I know who I am. Ill, my name is Jay.
I have an issue. I'm an overreactor. I know who I I know
who I am. That's funny, that's good. You know what I'm good,
all right, We'll take your calls five two, zero four, one
four forty as we head to the Arizona men's basketball opener, you give us
a call five to zero, four and six and for forty women also kicking
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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 fifteen. Hey, welcome back to
Winding the Ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty on Steve your Jay. You gotta
sign me in with about thirteen minutes. If you were trying to call us,
to call us back, we get the phone line open code line.
Remember, uh please do five two zero four one six seventy four to forty.
Glad to hear from you. You have a correction or something. Yeah,
we're talking about again, both projections and whatnot. We'll get to some
of the Jetfish clips as it relates to that. But the Holiday Bowl,
go ahead and answer that and just put it on hold for a second.
The Holiday Bowl is Arizona, Arizona twelve versus a sec. So it couldn't
be Kansas. It could be Kansas in the Okay, let's take this call.
How you're on the R and I on the Ball. It's Jim again.
I've been you didn't hear anything I said, no, no, But
but listen to us. We're trying to tell you. We're trying to break
in to tell you we couldn't hear you, But go ahead, make it,
make it cool. Okay, Yeah, what were you trying to say?
I was trying to say that every game they play for the rest of
the year is the most important game of the decade, and whether or not
they win, whether or not they win will depend on whether they're the best
team or not. It'll meet it a matter of do they meet the moment
every moment? You know, you know, you say decade, which I'm
not gonna disagree. Why the decade has been bad. It's been bad,
but decade includes twenty fourteen. They were twenty four you're close, maybe eight
or nine years. Yeah, yeah, I agree, Yeah, because it
was because it did get it did get so bad. You are correct on
that. Well, I'll agree with you. They need to make the moment,
not what they did last week, this moment. So Jim, real
quick to uh, have you given up on the FAFEEDA stuff that you were
talking about? I mean the Jayden Deloro stuff. My way I'm looking at
it. He's not the quarterback. Wow, wow, Jay Okay, he's
a good one, man. Yeah, he's a goody. He's a good
one. And let me tell you, Jim, Jay. We go to
these press conferences and right now he's the Remember last week I said it was
there. Two weeks ago it was Coke Colman. Yeah, to feed It
is hard to overlook that, all right, Jim, Hey, thanks much,
man, appreciate you calling back. Thank you. I mean, come
on, I don't know what you have. Let's do with your clips.
We can talk about well real quick. I was walking into you know,
the press conference, and as I got to the door, the feeda was
coming out. I think I'm taller than him, and I'm a shrinking five
nine, So say I ran in coming out the door. I think I'm
tallerant. Well, yeah, what you no? Yeah, yeah, I
used to be five nine. I'm not anymore. If I tell you what
exactly you know, I can't I'll trip over. But we know, Hey,
Jay's coming. Let's take this call real quick. How you're on the
R and I on the ball. Hell there, I was hoping you guys
would help me break down the Antonio Pierce saw get here. Okay, yeah,
especially since he's in the news here late. Yes, Well, do
you have a question or do you just want to know? I just want
to help me straight now, he he originally had a son that he kind
of was going to go to U of A, but he persuaded him to
go to a s U. And was he not one of the guys who
helped sabotage? I heard at the end Herman Edwards maybe over recruiting. I
heard one of the final nails in his coffin. Right, Well, Antonio
Pierce was the guy who was kind of leading the illegal recruiting thing during the
COVID period. He's not a sabotage he was. Yeah, he wasn't a
sabotage and they he was doing that because that's what he was supposed to be
doing. But no, he he yes, he's the one who sort of
led that whole thing. And he's the first, one of the first ones
who got in big trouble for it and lost his job. So yes he
did. He was involved in that, got fired, landed with the Raiders,
and now he's their head coach, which is crazy. Yeah, so
far, so good, one game in, but they they playing hard for
him. We'll see. They got a tough schedule. But I just wanted
to break it down what you fellas, you know, the scoop. Yeah,
and he was an interesting saga is the really interesting because he was a
U of a guy left here and got on bad terms and what I heard
and I'm just going to say it because of so long ago, even if
it's just a rumor that when he was trying to, you know, get
ready for the end NFL and do his work, that John mcovic would not
let him work out and use the U of a facilities really and that it
pissed him off so much that, like, you know, when he was
playing with the Giants and you don't have the beginning of a game, they
would they say, you know who they are and what college they went to.
He would never say University of Arizona. He would say his high school.
He would say his junior college that he went to, and he would
never say University of Arizona. He was so mad at them. And then
he goes lands at ASU. Obviously wanted to kick the hell out of Arizona
while he was at ASU, and then all that happened at the bottom of
the barrel. Yeah, those two got two peas in a pod when it
comes to that. All right, Hey, thanks about you break it down
for me, Thank you, thanks for calling. Yeah, so we were
talking before what were we talking before? I forgot already at Okay, let's
play we got it a little bit time. Let's play a couple of clips
from the Jetfish press conference. Okay, this conversation that Jim was having about
being ready for Colorado when not overlooking them, is that number two? Yeah,
go ahead and play lay that one. I mean there were some fluke
things that have happened to Colorado. I mean they're up twenty nine to nothing
and a half times. I'm sure that they weren't expecting to not win that
game. Okay, that's not the one. That was your question, Yeah,
that was my question. We're but oh, look, okay that the
bowl qualified one number four. He was talking about looking ahead and you know,
you've qualified for a bowl game, and how do you keep them from
looking ahead? Yeah? I mean the game. I mean we qualified for
a bawl. That doesn't mean really anything other than we qualified for a bowl.
We have It wasn't the last game of the year. It wasn't that
we were five and six and you know, won the twelfth game to get
to a bowl game, and then we go find out that two days later.
Where we're going just go now, we go play Colorado and we try
to get to seven and three, and that's the goal. It's you have
a little bit of a let's call it. You want to our goals is
to play thirteen or more games. So we hit that goal. That's all
that happened. We hit that goal to play thirteen or more games. Now
we have an opportunity to reset and start trying to achieve other goals and one
of which clearly is going to be to go want to know this week and
figure out a way to make sure that we take care of business in Boulder.
And that's really it. I mean, you know, look, that's
how they're gonna do. We as fans, we get to look ahead to
talk about winning ten games and stuff happen. Let's take this call. Hi,
you're on the air and eye on the ball. You Gabe, how
are you guys doing, Gabriel? How are you doing? Pretty good?
We gotta we gotta got a great win on Saturday and finally Arizona is relevant
again. Gabriel, do you do you think they're going to win ten games?
Well, Arizona needs to focus on beating Colorado. They have a very
clean game, no penalties, no penalties, and no mistakes quite frankly,
going into the Colorado game and going into the A s U game, Well,
I mean the team up north and and against Utah, So they gotta
have they gotta be narrow, they gotta they gotta focus on who's in,
who's their next opponent, have a clean game. And and I wouldn't say
Arizona is the hunted, but they gotta take care of business, right And
I was, and I was at the game on Saturday, and I was
very impressed about how how how the fan crowd was there. I've seen there
was about fifty thousand people at this at Arizona Stadium. So if Arizona keeps
on winning and keeps doing keeps stacking season with a lot of wins, then
Arizona's gonna be finally a football school. Yep, yep, Thanksgiving. I
agree with you. Game. Hey, thanks about man, Glad you made
it down for the game. So did you did you q my question in
the in this? So let me say this because to his point, I
thought, I thought they had very few penalies, ver a few penalties,
one turnover. I think it was they played a very clean thing. To
your point of playing, they really did and They've been doing this for a
while now, but this last week in very few penalties, a lot of
nice things, and you you could just sell Fafeita is smart, Team Mac
is smart, Herbie is very smart. There's a bunch of those. That's
why I prompted this question. That was a great question talking about, you
know, the the IQ of his players, and this is what Jed Fish
had to say about that. Yeah, I think there's no doubt that our
team has a very high football IQ. We throw a lot of football at
them. We run a as we said, a pro style offense with the
exact same verbiage as a lot of NFL teams use. These guys understand that
each week we have a different game plan based upon how we want to attack
coverage and how we want to attack a front. If you're going to be
a game plan specific team on offense, then you have to have high football
IQ. If you look at what we're doing on defense, we have plenty
of different personnel groups. We move guys in and out to different spots,
we play different coverages, we teach different pass concepts and run run fits,
and if you're going to do that, you need to have a high football
IQ. So we believe that if you come to Arizona, you have to
have a football IQ that's going to allow you to be a pro. And
that's what we look for. We don't look for guys that just want to
line up right and left. We don't look for guys that just want to
play in a system that doesn't motion. We don't want to look for guys
defensively that only want to line up and do one job. We want people
that are smart and that want to play on Sundays. And if you want
to play on Sundays, you better be able to pick up a lot of
football in a short period of time. So when he was talking, I
thought it was a great answer. I wasn't expecting that answer, but it
was a great answer. He never mentioned a player, never mentioned a player,
but I mentioned the guy. I was thinking, did I'm ticky when
you say this? You know what I'm tinking? Did you listen to that?
South Point kids? And not a just not a not in a bad
way, but but well, you know, as he's as like, as
he's talking is answering that question. The tail end of that question, really
the light bulb went on. That's why he's recruiting so well, because he's
telling you, guys, you could you come here for and for four years
We're going to prepare you for the NFL. Right, We're not just trying
to win college football games. We're trying to get you ready for your dream.
You know, I was just gonna ask you that. So what do
you think the players come to play football? Exactly? Exactly right? You
know? And what you know, what did Chip Kelly say about teammate he
could be the best receiver in the country. You're getting that, You're getting
that kind of notoriety and respect. Are you listening Dorian Singer? Right?
You know where did Dorian Singer go? He's disappeared off the mat and and
you know thought that USC was a place to go to be to be relevant.
Imagine if he's here, Who's who are they talking about right now?
The time about Arizona, the time about USC, but in a bad way.
The talk about USC and how disappointing they've been, and Arizona is the
program on the rise of Steve I'm you know, you get again You're gonna
talk about my overreaction, but you can argue it depends on what happens with
Utah that Arizona might be the third best team in the league. They are,
depends certainly playing like that, right, we'll see after next week.
Yeah, but they are. It's hard to tell them that, but yes,
yes, And and who would have thought that going Nobody, nobody,
not even not me, not anybody that I know, thought Arizona could finish
in third place. And it's it's gonna be This last month is gonna be
fantastically fun. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun. And when
was the last time you said that twenty fourteen, fourteen, Well, there
was the Cluff Tate year that was, you know, but they were that
team wasn't going somewhere. It was. It was just an exciting team because
that stretch of games. But this is a team that you feel like in
for the long haul. All right, let's take our break. We're come
back, Sammy overreaction reaction second exactly, Sammy's got breaking news coming right up,
right back.