This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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R two sad in iHeartRadio Station. Yet. Hey, good afternoon, everybody.
Welcome to Iye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve Roberta. He's jagan zaus who got a bonus day with Kevin today on
a Friday Friday. You have nothing to do. No pizza needed this time,
you know, pizza, but we got it anyway. Anyways, and
dang that was good. It was good. Wasn't It was different? It
was really good. Yeah. Okay, so Friday, welcome everybody. Give
us a quick call, give us your thoughts on whatever we have. I
think we do have a fun show today. We usually have the opinionated Jig
Fisher right on Friday. So he'll be back. We haven't had him in
a couple of weeks since the announcement of the game. Yeah, he played
in an Alamo Bowl, Okay, yeah a freshman, Yeah right, and
not as a freshman because twenty fourteen Junior twenty twenty twenty ten Arizona was in
the twenty ten Alima because then Mike STIPs got fired. The next year and
he was also in the two thousand and nine Holiday Bowl, where he'll remember
those two. But then he added two more under rich Rod played in the
New Mexico Bowl to come back against Nevada, and then the next year in
the Independence Bowl. Okay, so we'll talk to him. Four bowl games
in his five years. They're not bad, oh okay, And then we're
gonna have a fun guest. Four fifteen, Ricky Anderson tried to reach out
to him and finally he got a hold of him this morning and he's coming
on. When I think of Wisconsin and basketball, of course think about the
Sean Miller tie, but I also think of the big game with Wisconsin and
Arizona in two thousand. Ricky had a big part in that, good and
bad. So we'll get with him, have a little fun because he's one
of my guys. I really like Ricky. See what he's up to.
I know what he's up to, but we'll let him talk about what he's
doing. Good looking dude, man. She had the picture that we had
on our social media, like yeah, you know he still looks like he's
about twenty five. He's about six foot five ish. Yeah, and I
pulled him up just before the show just to like see what he looked like
back when he was playing. You know, he had that he had the
he was the Way band. Yeah. It was awesome, awesome what everyone
loved Ricky. He was a little goofy dude. He was a goofy dude,
like a prank. He wasn't little, but he was. Yeah,
you know, saying, but you like a kid, you know, you
have to look a kid. Playful, Yeah, playful. So he was
a good dude. So we'll tuk and have some fun with him at four
seventeen, four fifteen around there. Uh okay, so now we're back,
we're gonna have some and uh some Tommy Tommy clips, right, you have
them already? Cute, Yeah, we're already cute. Up. You want
to get into those? Right? Yeah? Yeah? So you how many
did you have? What did you We have? Like seven of them kids?
Okay, really kind of wanted to start where. Look, the media,
the fans, everybody's trying to play up this Wisconsin. I don't know
if you call it a rivalry, but you know, obviously the Arizona fans
are unhappy with what. You know, they hate Wisconsin every but somehow they
think winning this game is going to make them feel better about twenty fourteen to
twenty fifty. It's called the Jiggins Ali's curse. It's called I'm a bitter
man. I hate you because you beat us. But he is my first
my question, no, no, we we'll play. You want to go
in that one first. I don't remember him talking about Wisconsin otherwise, Well
at the start, where you know, just kind of talking about this team
focus and stuff like that, let's let's go, let's play the first clip.
But this is right at the top of his press consence makes sense.
We've just practiced a few days. I mean, you know, probably been
a few good moments and a few average moments in practice. It's like any
other week that you would have you know, I haven't. There's been nothing
different in our approach, you know. I I I think that we're getting
prepared to play the best team we've played so far this season. I mean,
and they're on a roll right now. And you know they might have
started out and dropped a game or two against good teams or on the road
and and I think they've got that figured out, and they've beat really good
teams lately and they beat them handle. He's so we know we got our
hands full with a really good Wisconsin team on Saturday. So I mean,
that's one hundred percent. Our focus is is that I know you called that
a shot yesterday, well playfully called it a shot at Michigan State and Duke.
But don't you guys think that Wisconsin, like as it stands today,
is the best team we played so far? You can you can say that,
I mean arguably say that because you know, Duke has now lost three
games. Michigan State's lost I think three or even four, including one to
when to Wisconsin. In fact, we wouldn't be talking about Duke of Michigan
State if they were not Michigan State or Duke. Yeah, that's kind of
I guess that's kind of the root of my question is are we sure that
Wisconsin is not just better than Yeah? Well, let's play clip number three
because that's when that's where he talks about Somebody asked him about can you take
anything from Yeah, you know, I think the way they be Michigan State
you played, I don't know, you know, what what you take from
the game other than they went in and and and punched Michigan State in the
mouth. I mean that they went in and did that. So we know
Michigan State's a tough, physical team and you know, so it's impressive for
Wisconsin to do what they did on the road. You know, it says
a lot about their group. Yeah, well, I mean that's what college
is right now. I mean, were we are in December eighth or whatever
it is, and you could be tough on December eighth or whatever it is,
and you still gotta win. And again, as he meant, you
know, Wisconsin was one and two, you know, coming out of the
box, but they're you know, losses to good teams and and then now
they you know, want a bunch in a row. And so yeah,
I mean it's you know, he can say that this is you know,
this is the best team they played. So you know, again, you
know, Arizona fan wanted to make a big deal of the of the stuff
that happened eight nine years ago here also back in two thousand, the game
you know, you know that we'll talk about with Rick Anderson today, but
you know, he's just talk about the series This is two questions he started
talking about. Then you asked a question in the middle of it, but
he was just asked, you know, what what he thinks of this whole
Oh, I think I think part of this goes into playing how the series
came about. That's where this starts. And then you get into the question
you ask some question about you know, past games. But I mean,
I think you think both sides were looking and you know, and you know,
I know they'd reached out to us, and I think we needed a
home and home that started at home this year, you know, with us,
you know, starting to want at home and home on the road at
Duke this year. So it just kind of worked out. And you know,
we want to play great programs, and you know, to you know,
to be the type of program we want to be, you've got to
be comfortable playing teams like Wisconsin, and you know, I mean Wisconsin the
team that you know, when I look at them, I mean they have
all the makings of a team that you know, can play deep into the
tournament and and those are the type of teams we want to compete against.
I'm sure some people have already told you about the history of the yeah,
yeah, for sure in the mid twenty fourteen, fifteen. But beyond that
as well, Yeah, I don't know much beyond that, yeah, that
much longer. I mean I need I need a historian like you to help
me out with that. But I but I know there's a significance you know,
you know recent you know that that you know a lot of Arizona fans
feel passionate about, and I'm sure a lot of Wisconsin fans. So I
think that's great. I mean, you know, I mean that's zero impact
on this game, but maybe it's fun for the fans to you know,
reminisce a little bit and kind of get their juices flowing. You know,
good programs want to play other good programs, and and so so we're excited
to have the opportunity to play a really good Wisconsin team on Saturday on National
TV. You Arizona fans are a bunch of bitter days, bunch of bitter
people. I'm not you know, I mean, what are you talking about?
Okay, let me say that. Let me not as it relates to
Wisconsin basketball. Yeah right, Okay, you know, my heart, you
know my you know, my heart got has gotten broken a million times with
Arizona Sports, mostly in football. You know, I was very sad about
the eighty eight loss because I wanted to do I wanted to cover the national
championship team. Uh, you know, I I'll I'll make fun of Rick
Anderson today because you know, he made he and his boy, he's made
my son cry. Uh in the two thousand and three lead eight and not
meeting Kansas in that game and to go to the final four. But I
don't think he was on that team. I want to say he was,
because that was he might have been, but I can't. I can't remember.
He was of the media guy. It was three man okay, okay,
because he played ninety nine and two thousand, right, didn't play.
He registered in the two thousand and one season. Then he was here for
two thousand and two and two three. That's why I was on that team.
That two thousand and three team, Like I said, it was the
one that's been the number one of the longest. Right. It had It
had Salem, had Luke Jason of course Channing, yeah, and they had
I had Hassan and they had Andre. It had to have if they lost
Kansas, right, yes, yeah, But how come Ricky was not a
big I don't remember Ricky being a big part of that and when they probably
needed him to be a big part of it. That's I will ask him
because because that doesn't ring a bell to me for whatever reason. Yeah,
and there was what it was pretty damn good. Just for the guys that
you listed listed with Andre and Halsa being number they were freshmen. Yeah,
but still but you know what, Kansas was a pretty good thing. Yeah,
they were okay. So so yeah, so he's aware of the situation.
I think everybody, how can I say this? Everybody in the building.
Obviously the old and new knows the long history. Didn't you give the
number yesterday five and two or oh yeah, the let me look it up
real quick, something like that, five and two, and then it hasn't
been pretty I think, right, well the most record the record, Yeah,
well because the three hard ones though, you know, beat they beating
number one as the number eight beat the number one, and then and then
uh these ones, Yeah, no, I get the heartache. I can't
I understand the heartache. Yeah, and then you think Wisconsin, No,
they were pretty good. They got to to final fours, get them back
to back. So between two thousand and nine and twenty and fifteen, they're
three and oh against us all time. Well because the Sweet sixteen, No,
that was Wasyow State who beat him on the last second shot. It
was Ohio State Sweet sixteen twenty thirteen. I think it was yeah, A
god, I can't remember birthday exactly, but you know, anyways, all
right, well let's move on to uh. Then you know the question going,
okay, you guys are number one. How is that being handled?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh in in uh, you know, in
the locker room and and you know, and on the uh on the uh
on the court and stuff like that. And you know, Tommy right like
he's deflecting on this one. So that's going to play that player. It's
not much more complicated than coming out and playing really hard, playing with great
passion, playing together, you know, And and I don't I don't think
you need a ranking to do that. So I don't think there's anything crazy.
I mean, we you know, we we we don't sit around and
we haven't talked about it. We don't have a banner hanging up in the
in the locker room or anything like that, because we know, I know
this, we could get our butts kicked on Saturday and still have a great
season. That's how these seasons go. So where we're the only stock we're
putting in is we want to come out and play. We're hoping to play
a good forty minutes on Saturday, and and anything beyond that. I mean,
we really haven't thought too far ahead. The outside noise is outside.
That's always the case, good, bad, average, it's always on the
outside. So on the inside, you know, we we have a strong
culture and a belief in the in the things we do, and and we
just try to get better at that stuff. And so you know, everybody
telling you how good or how bad you are has no impact on what's happening
inside our locker room. So Jay, when that question was asked, I
don't know who asked you. It's a good question, but I'm thinking you
don't know until you know. And then the question was us Monday, Tuesday,
Yes, no, yesterday? When'd you forget yesterday? It was just
okay and that and that was there. So I'm thinking a good question.
But the thing is, you don't know h how it's gonna affect you until
you're actually actually in it. So he can say this yeah, and and
but I think in the games I've covered and the teams I've covered, the
number one killer of success has been being highly rated, highly ranked, and
highly considered not maybe not right away, but eventually because a lot of the
players think their poop doesn't stink, and that just an excludes it to Arizona
basketball, It's life, I mean life. You think you can get away
with Stylet you know what I'm saying. You just think more of yourself.
You feel like you don't have to work as hard, right right, right.
It's hard to interrupt you. But I think what you're saying is like,
it's harder to look for the small ways you can improve, and no
one's bringing that to you. Sure, only bringing how great you are.
Sure And and the other team wants to beat the crap out of you and
plays sometimes out of over their head. I mean, I can't tell you,
Dan, you've seen this Washington Arizona went to Washington State, didn't have
a chance to be there as well. Washington State found some white, tall,
white guy and scored thirty five points. And I'm not joking and I'm
being serious. He just destroyed him and you wouldn't know him from the roster
or when they came down here, Washington State came down here last year one
and and one. It just happens. Yeah, I mean it happens a
lot. It happened, well, it happens a lot. And and teams
that don't pay attention to that. Again, I don't know if that's right
the right word, but you know who get caught up and all that stuff
that, Yeah, you're right, those are the ones that and if you
can avoid that, which is what Tommy's trying to do, you know,
make them not think of well we're number one, we should win this game.
You know, get out on the court and still know you got to
play as hard as you were going to play, whether you're number one or
sure. Sure they need to do. One of the things that reminded last
year when they lost the Princess and I think it was the day before or
one of those days Virginia lost. I think it was before. Surely after
one of the team's gotta beat. And I'm thinking this is the one thing
that Arizona should point to. These teams can get beat. Yeah, and
you're one of those teams. Yes, if you don't show up, you
could be that guy be that team. Yeah, and then they were,
and then exactly exactly because it happens. Yeah, especially in March. Speaking
up, Princeton has a one and oh record against Arizona. Yeah, they're
over five hundred against Arizona. And you're right, Wisconsin's two and five.
They played as far back as nineteen sixty three and look that much. And
then not long after that they've only Wisconsin and Arizona only played once in Tucson,
by the way, and the Wildcats on that one, yer was did
you say, I don't I don't know what year that wasn't my website?
Yeah, okay, all right, ouch, what's good? Hard out?
It is a very hard all right, we're gonna be right, be right
back with Jake Fisher talks and bowl stuff. He played and he was on
four Bowl teams at Arizona during his time during his five years here. So
we'll see what he's got to say about the experience of that. So stick
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schedule your free evaluation today. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera
and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on
the iHeartRadio wapp Just Surgery. I on the Ball, Hey, welcome back
to you. I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty M.
Steve Rivera. He's jacobsas now on the phone. You have great sponsor Jake
Fisher. Jake Howay making a guy here me. Okay, yes you're good.
Your little echoed, but you're fine. You did so. Tell me,
as a former player who's been through a number of number of bullgames,
how is it? How cool is it to be in one? It's cool
to be in there, But, like like Jetfish said in his press are
here this week, you know, you either go there to win the game
or you're there just because you know you're there to enjoy it. So if
you approach it like a championship game, everybody's obviously even killed, they're getting
ready to go play. For those that are just happy to be there,
normally they're the ones that lose. So as long as these guys go with
you know, the intention actually win the game. You got everybody on the
team basically just buying into what's going on, I think they'll be okay,
but you know, kind of like we did our first two Bowl games.
When I played, there were a lot of guys there that just showed up
because it was a fun time and whatnot, and we lost as a results
of it. So hopefully they had the right way. Well, you mentioned
those two, those first two, you know, big bad loss to Nebraska,
and then you actually played in an Alima Bowl. It was Oklahoma State.
That was sort of the beginning of the end for Mike Stoobs and he
was gone after the following year. But the OWNII Bowl, you know,
just the atmosphere of that kind of stuff. Just describe some of that,
you know, since that's where the Cats are headed this year. It's crazy.
The coolest thing to do down is actually they have a SeaWorld and they
have this huge roller coaster. They got all the cool stuff, and the
SeaWorld there was better than the Sea World of the year before when we were
in San Diego. Other than that, I mean, you go visit the
Alamo obviously, the Alamo Dome is awesome, the river Walk. I was
not twenty one, so I did not get to enjoy it properly, but
I mean everything around there is awesome. You know. I mean, shoot,
there were guys that might have been late for curfew a few different times
just because there's so much to do. But yeah, I mean, those
guys are gonna have a ball. They deserve it. And I will tell
you San Antonio is a very unique town. So wait, what was the
score down there? Six to ten, late for curfew? Thirty six to
ten equal mind late for curfew. Okay, I'm saying some of the guys
it totally makes said snow totally okay. Well, okay, so we were
we were on our downfall that year, and literally it wasn't for like three
or four plays in the first few quarters, it damn here would have been
tied. It was just it was those same mistakes that kept losing us games,
you know, throughout the downfall that year. I just heard late for
few. There wasn't too many people. It wasn't anyone important settled down there.
There's only two people listened to this show, so you know. So
you know again, so that in your five years there, you had one
year in the middle where you where you sat out because you heard you heard
your knee I had knee injury. So in your four games of actually you
know, being on the field. You went to four bowl games. That
must have felt like we've heard Josh Paster talk about, you know, they
won a national championship his freshman year. He thought, this is easy,
we can do this. But uh, you know, did the bowl game
kind of become an expectation for you ever? Well, yeah, they were
in an expectation because the year after, the year after they went to the
Vegas Bowls the year that I got there. So from there we were on
the off or trajectory and we just assume that every year we're going to get
there. First year obviously went to a great bowl playing against Nebraska. That
was, you know, my childhood dream school was kind of surreal watching them
fun out in the field. And then they did a triple option. We
never got recovered and they just basically bowl rad built. So that wasn't fun.
Obviously, the next year we're talking about the alme Bowl. Year after
that he couldn't play, and then Rettront's first year New Mexico Bowl and there
were fireworks at the end of that one. I was like, in the
back of my mind, I'm like, damn, I'm about to go through
bowl games. We come back when and then senior year when we were down
there in Louisiana, that was definitely the most unique experience we've had. But
it was fun. So you get to, you know, enjoy all the
festivities and everything. But at the end of the day, all the upper
classroom, you can tell them they're to win the game. A lot of
the younger guys, you know, they'd go out and enjoy the scenery and
whatnot. But you know, you got coaches and you've got good leadership.
Everybody's going to show up for the game and that's the most important thing.
So I think one of the things that I think that's cool is you you
go and some of the guys get nice some swag, some cool swag.
Do you have any of the swag that you were given from back in the
day. Yeah, Actually I did have a lot of swag doing back in
the day. I'm very very I don't spend very much money, guys,
so I try to keep all my stuff looking that. So what do you
have? What'd you keep? I mean I got stuff from every single Bowl
game, like watching, whether whether it's the gifts they gave us, whether
it was the gear they give you before you hit the plane, whether it's
you know, just little things that you buy while you're out there. I
mean I got something from everything I got. Obviously you have the rings I
got, you know, watches. I still got a couple of things that
I bought with a you know, a best Buy gift card when we were
at San Antonio. I still got things obviously, like stuff you after the
game where after the game they give you like four or five different shirts and
you know, pairs of shorts pants everywhere you go. The last two because
it was so damn cold where we were playing, they gave us a bunch
of hoodies and whatnot. So I still got all of those things. Oh,
very cool, Very cool. So you mentioned, you know, Nebraska,
you're you know, you still talk about being a fan of Nebraska.
You know, Everzon who's got Oklahoma in this in this Alima Bowl? Are
you are you like, are you still in or were you ever or are
you still in Oklahoma? Absolutely hate those guys because growing up in a Nebraska
fan or but you know, when you think about Oklahoma, what do you
think about I mean, when you're born into a family that's been supporting Nebraska
their entire lives, you have any natural hate for Oklahoma kind of like being
born in too Son, you have a natural hate for ASU. So it's
one of those things to where obviously, because I played for, you know,
two of the Soups brothers, you know, you kind of start to
gain a little bit more appreciation for you know, how they were able to
separate that program and continue to you know, that program to the next level.
And to be honest with you, venomals. I mean I actually enjoy
him as a coach. I mean when he was that Clemson, he was
awesome, always had some of the best defenses in America. And then you
know, I think he got I think he got a couple of the guys
on the staff that we played with. I mean, you got beaten Bow,
and then I forget. I think they got one or two other guys
that were down here at too On at some point. So Latrell, I
think it is up there too. I mean, they're doing a great job,
and you know, obviously I'll get a root for Arizona, but I
want it to be a good game because I want those guys to go out
the right way. Too. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I say
this all the time because I think that you of all my people, I
talked to all my buddies, or where are you gonna call him? You
were the one that got it, sput On. Sput On. In fact,
you said, we want to apologize because you had him only at eight
wins, but everybody else was kind of more tempered and all that. So
congrats, and you know you deserve that because you believed. You believed,
and I think you believe because you saw something. Right. What was this
thing that you saw? Well, it's just a talent level, you know,
I mean going from year one, year two, and I think just
the fact that they have the ability to tap into the transfer portal when you
really need it, and these guys they're able to you know, they're able
to go out and recruit so well that first year. I mean, in
the back of your mind you kind of go, well, if they can
recruit that well, and they're selling the dream the NFL obviously, wherever one
of these guys wants to go. You know, all the years that those
guys either spent or coaching there, and I guarantee we're going to be able
to land a couple of big fish in the transfer portal. Well, first
year all offense and then going into that third year coach Fish and all those
guys said, okay, now we've got to address the defense. Well,
if they do as good of a job addressing the defense as they did addressing
the offense, and that you know next year we're going to be a good
team. And you have a lot of guys that were still you know,
maturing on the obviously on the roster. You know, Jordan Morgan, you
had the team ax of the world. I mean, I knew no if
Fafida was going to be good. I didn't think he was going to step
in this pass. But I mean, you have a stable of running backs,
you have a few NFL offensive linemen. I mean, the receivers are
awesome, and if they were able to do what they did to the defense,
what they did at the offense, they were going to be awesome.
And when you have some folks around the program, you hear some stuff and
it's kind of like, all right, it looks like we got, you
know, a bunch of NFL guys on the team. So I'm going to
go ahead and guess that we're going to be good, even though you have
kind of a crazy pack twelve this year. But what I will tell you
is. I think that the PAC twelve was awesome this year, but I
think they suffered from a lot of how don't I say this? I mean,
they basically ate each other alive. Yeah, you know. I mean
if it was any other conference, I guess you had half of the conference
wasn't as good. You would have a you know, a lot more teams
up there in the upper echelon. But because he had so many good,
you know, fifteen to thirty ranked type teams in there, you know some
of the team you suffered because of it. But hey, whatever, No,
you're right, You're right. They accennibalized each other. Well, all
right, that the world's looking for us rank I'm gonna take them a little
bit of a different track because the Heisman Trophy is going to be announced on
Saturday. You played against a guy who ultimately won one. Marcus Mariota,
you played against him in twenty thirteen, and Dominican Sue you played against him
in two thousand and nine. I think he was in the running, although
he's a defensive guy. Obviously didn't win it. But do you know when
somebody is that good that they should be in consideration for that? I mean,
do you see that when you walk on the field with those guys or
you see them play or whatever. You know, when you play against them,
you say, Okay, that guy's different. Yeah. So my freshman
year I didn't get on the field a lot. We played against a guy
named Sooby Gerhart. Yeah, and he had a lot more rushing yard than
a m did. I thought he should have won it, but they were
only eight and five, so he didn't win it. The next guy played
against Andrew Luck. I think he should have won it. He was in
a system where he wasn't going to rack up the kind of yards, but
I thought he was clearly the best college football player in the country. And
then he had Marcus Mariotta. So I mean we played against a bunch of
those types of guys. I mean, they're a bunch of guys that maybe
weren't on good teams that if they were in a different situation, you kind
of looked at him as that guy. But they didn't have enough around them
in order for them to succeed like you would think they would. But yeah,
I mean, obviously, you know Lego, you watch the tape and
you kind of like envision this is kind of what they're going to look like
out on the field and then they're better than what they show on the film.
Well, it's ridiculous. So yeah, no, I think, to
be honest with you, I'm gluten for Penix. You know, Pere pocket
Passer obviously. I mean watching that Pac Til Championship game, he was so
cool, calm and collected. I was like extremely impressed. You know,
Bonnicks Obviously with the two losses, I think he's out. Jayden just because
he went to ASU, I'm saying absolutely not, he's like four. But
other than that, I'm going, yeah, well that's why I That's where
I was going with you, because what you said about both you know,
Gerhart and Uh and Uh and Andrew Luck, right, you know, their
teams they weren't in the hunt for the national championship and stuff like that.
I thought, I agree with you. I thought both of those guys should
have won it, and I think Christian McCaffrey should have won one. But
yeah, you know, but you know, and so Jayden Daniels is in
that kind of Andrew Luck position. His team isn't playing for the national championship,
but yet he's up there. He's actually the favorite. You know what
what's your philosophy is that you think it should be a guy who's not only
really good, but on a team that's really good, like you know,
like Panix is that type of thing. I'm trying to justify my vote.
I've made my vote, and I'm not I can't tell you what I voted
for, but I'm just trying to figure out, you know, get somebody
else's opinion on these three guys. The way I see it is if you
have just ungodly numbers, I don't care what team you're on, Like I
mean, if you have eight or nine wins and you have just ridiculous numbers,
sure you should be there, you know. I mean that was kind
of like what ended up happening with with Toby Gerhart. I mean he had,
like I said, like four hundred yards more than Ingram, but Ingram
played for the National Chambership, right, So when it comes down to that,
if you have crazy numbers, you know, eight nine wins, that's
fine, you deserve to be in the conversation. If you're someone that has
a little bit less, but you've commanded a twelve to oh, thirteen to
oh team going into the playoffs, then obviously you should be there, especially
at a quarterback position because you control everything on the offense. However, if
you have there's an asterisk if you have played at the university up North,
you're disqualified. I love that. Okay, hey just tell us. I
know we're kind of up against your deadlines or are we with with health insurance?
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thank you guys for having me on the show again. Beard out all right,
thanks Jake's fah all right, cool Jake, Jake with his great opinions
and his one sided again. You know, we say he's got he's got
knowledge that we don't have. Really, I love to I love to try
and pull that out. Very cool. All right, We'll take your calls
five two zero four, one forty. We'll wrap up this this hour with
your calls heading to breaking News at the top of the hour, and then
we're going to have four Arizona basketball player Rick Anderson from the late nineties early
two thousands. He was in one of those Wisconsin NCAA Tournament games for Arizona.
So own stick around for all that. If you're an Arizona men's basketball
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Jake and Saliz, they have their eye on the ball on Tucson's sports stage
Chef Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to the ball here on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jake Kevin want us today?
We had fourteen minutes. Heady's going to give us a quick call. Please
do five two o four one six seven four four Zero'd like to hear from
me. That's all I got. That's all you got? Pizza? All
right? Well, you know what, let's we got a couple more clips
from Tommy because he had it. He had a couple more interesting things to
say. You asked him about watching how does he watch college basketball or does
he watch college basketball in all his spare time? That that was an interesting
answer. So here's what he had to say about what watching games as a
coach when you're not coaching and you don't have a coaching head on, do
you watch games as a fan, other games as a fan, or do
you even have time to watch game? Well, I watch games, but
you never watch them as a fan. You know, your your eyes are
always on. They're trained maybe a little differently, and so yeah, I
mean, yeah, we you know, so my wife said, that's what
we do at night. We we watch games and you know, games are
on. We'll change from game to game, and you know, but I'm
I'm you know, doing other stuff too around the house and this and that,
but you know, it seems like a game is always on. So
uh, you know, you just you know, you peek a little bit
here and there, but you know, your your your coaching eyes always on.
And you know, I've I've learned a lot of really good things in
basketball that have helped me as a coach by sitting on my couch watching a
game at nine o'clock, you know, watching somebody else do something, because
you know, at the end of the day, you know, every coach
is somewhat of a thief. You know, you're you're you're taking from others.
So yeah, so yeah, I definitely I I enjoy that aspect of
it. You know, we we've talked about We've talked to other you know,
like former coaches often you know, players and stuff. How do you
watch sports? Yeah, you know, it's like Lamon Hunt And we asked
him that last week and he said, no, he watches the defense and
and other coaches do that. I think we talked to Tim Kish about that
the other day and he said the same thing. He said, and he
pays attention to schemes and and stuff like that, and that that's how it
interests him. I thought that was again another interesting answer. Yeah. So
so this is the question that Bruce Pascal got poked at a little bit bike
by Tommy asked, if you know he sees some similarities between what he does
or what Arizona does and what Wisconsin does and get a sense of what we
might see tomorrow. I do think there are some similarities, you know,
I think they have you know, they have organized set ways they move with
some fluidity to him that aren't rigid, and they have different you know,
little patterns they run that they're really good at. And you know, we
have a different version of maybe similar stuff and maybe we just do ours at
a little different pace. But you know, both teams, you know,
I think have a fluidity to them that makes them hard to guard. And
and you know, I really enjoyed watching them play and scouting them. You
know, I've you know, I haven't played against Wisconsin. You know,
I think we did, you know, maybe back in Maui, you know,
and you know, two thousand and nine, which is what thirteen fourteen
years ago, so you know, which is cool because you know, I
mean they if I went back and watched that game, there was probably some
similarities to what they're doing then, you know, and I'm sure they've evolved
a little bit, but they definitely have a system that they're proficient at running.
So you know that they're they're really good at it and it's fun to
watch. Uh take a guess. Do you don't know what the spread is?
I haven't take a guess. I'm gonna say Arizona by four seven and
a half. It seems like a lot. It seems like a lot,
but I think they'll cover. How do I know? I haven't seen Wisconsin
playing all But when let me ask you before you hear you can't. I
can't evenrase this. So I want to ask that question, when you think
of what Wisconsin, what do you think of? Don't think of the past,
but what do you think of you know, big ten physical, slow
down the shop. Yeah, guys are going to place to play at a
relatively slower lace, right, But it sounds like they really don't. That's
my point. That's why you think about something and you say something else.
Yeah, because I mean, you know, I mean we saw Michigan State,
right, and you know they were you know, classic big ten physical
push you trying to push you around. Yeah kind of team, some shooters
on the outside. They really only had one. But nonetheless, you know
that that's what that's what you think of, you know, of all the
of all the teams from the Purdue, you think the same thing. Yeah,
you know with with eat in the middle, you think, you know,
they're they're just gonna, you know, pass the ball around till they
can throw it into the middle and try and get something right the line.
The line has actually moved to eight and a half. Yeah, that seems
like a lot. Now you're thinking, I'm not too sure. I think
anything under like nine and that I mean it's really close. But anything on
nine and a half, what do we have for an over under forty seven
and a half? Yeah, that's still that's a lot of points. Seventy
five, seventy three something like that. That's a lot of points, especially
for a team that could slow down. Right, it doesn't seem like a
lot because you think Arizona should score in the eighties or nineties everything. But
you know, I thought that with the Duke game, right, and they
didn't get to the over right, and they and they moved the ball and
they ran the ball both right, right, And it's a home game with
Wisconsin. I think it's gonna be packed, it's gonna be crazy, But
you just don't know what you're getting out of Wisconsin. Yeah, I think
it's'd be fine. I think it'd be really cool. So and then I
think you asked him about Caleb Love, right, Yeah, and uh,
you know, Caleb Love was the guy that I'm not gonna say polarized fans,
but people wonder why they were getting Caleb Love going after Allen Boswell,
yeah, uh, and the guys that they had a little worried that because
he had he had committed to Michigan and then he goes So all these things
gave people, I think, sort of a bad impression of Caleb Love.
Plus the way I asked the question was because he has a reputation of being
a ball guy. But the ball hall gas you guy. Yeah, And
I asked Caleb ab of that too. I said, you have a reputation
of being the shooter guy. But he's leads. He leads a team and
assists. Right, He's been more than just he's got to go to steals
too. He's been playing well. So here's what he had to say about
Caleb Love. About Caleb real quick. He's done very well to this point,
and probably beyond what people thought because they think he's the score. But
I think he'd be doing assists as well. I mean, I mean,
you know, Caleb is one of our better playmakers. And he's just a
really good basketball player, you know. And and I know he's a really
good shooter. You know. I know, maybe he's three point numbers.
You know, people may not say that, but I've shot with him in
the gym enough. I know what good shooters look like, and and you
know, I'm pretty confident by the end of the year his shooting numbers will
be pretty impressive. So just a really good player. But you know,
he's still learning. I mean, one of the great fun things about coaching
him. This is my you know'm my first season coaching him, So I'm
learning him. He's learning how we play a little bit, and uh,
you know, I I'm finding things here and there that I think we can
help him with. And and he's been really receptive, you know to maybe
changing some some habits and some techniques here and there, and uh, you
know, which make said a lot of fun when you're working with a guy
like that, you know, I mean, I've really challenged him to contribute
to the game in other areas because I'm just a firm believer if you if
you know, you try to participate in all areas of the game that eventually
you know you're you're going to get great numbers across the board and you're gonna
have a significant impact. So he's done a great job with that. I
mean, I'm really happy with where he's at. And you know, I
mean, I I think he's you know, I think what I don't know,
a few games back or whatever it was, he had a kind of
a four or five minute stretch where he kind of exploded. I think I'll
have a few of those over the course of the season. But I'm not
necessarily looking for that from him. I'm looking for him to be a really
good, experienced, all around basketball player that just makes good decisions possession by
possession, and he's he's doing that for the most part. So I don't
think I've maybe have said this on the air publicly, but I've said this
to a couple of people that I think that if Arizona does really well,
it's going to be because of Caleb Looke. It is the problem with that.
If he goes dead, this team is in trouble. And I say
that, I'd say that very reluctantly because I've already screwed up with the Philippe
comment from two months ago or whatever it was. But uh, but they
rely on him to score, not a lot, not a lot. But
he's a scorer. Well, he's a he's a guy that when they need
a score, like we need one now that he'll he's not and he's not
a friend. He's not afraid to shoot. And you also see times when
he can feel or you can tell that he can feel like Okay, we're
we're in a little bit of a rut here. I've got to do something,
and he does, and he goes after that and tries to do something.
But for my money, which means nothing, it's a quarter and a
dollar or whatever. But I would go to Boswell for a shot. That's
why I actually to go with did you check? Yeah, of the percentages,
Caleb Love actually before get percentage, he actually leads our team in points,
assists and steals and and percentage wise, he is shooting thirty nine percent
from the field, eighty one from the line, and twenty eight point six
from three. Boswell, you're getting fifty one from the field from the free
throw line has not missed this year and fifty four from three, which is
so who you're going with? Yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna. But
what I do think, though, is that you know, Colin Boswell was
gonna, He's gonna get get you some points. But Caleb Love his his
aggressive aggressiveness and his fearlessness. You know, he'll get you a bucket eight
different ways. But sometimes people, Uh, the fearlessness is what scares me
because you don't know if it's a good fearlessness or a bad feeling. Sometimes
being over aggressive is not a good yeah or being yeah, you know you
try to do It's that whole thing I'm trying to do too much or trying
you know when yeh. But but I like the fact that he's come here
and found a place for himself, uh you know, with within what they're
trying to do, and he he might be the guy from game to game
or in a given game, but you don't get a sense he's always trying
to be the guy. That's what I was gonna bring up when you were
talking about how if he goes so lifeless you speak on the core, then
you know the team will go the same. But I actually think he's not
being relied on to score. He's being relied on to create. I think
like the great shots for Boswell, you know, driving kick, whatever it
is. And I think the daily being with Tommy Lloyd is really helping him
be that complete player the time he was talking about, because if you see
him at U n C, I think he was relied on to be more
of a ball dominant player. But here the ball is always moving, something's
always happening, and he's just Steve. I kind of sea, I kind
of disagree with you on the if he goes dead, they go dead,
because he you know, I think he can not have a great game and
they can still still be really good. Whereas last year if Azulas had a
terrible game, or if uh, you know Cresa had a terrible game,
or you know something like that, or the year before if Ben Matheron had
a terrible game or what it showed and it really impacted the team. They
got so many guys I think that a guy did not have a great game,
and and and it's not it affects them, but not as much as
before. You go ahead and say what you're gonna say, and then I'll
say what you Today's point. When we played Duke, I mean, I'm
looking at his stats here and I remember him having a slow game to start,
but he finished it really exactly. He was three for ten from the
field, one for five from three, but he did have and he won
that game. Yeah, no, no, no, I totally agree.
The thing about it. The thing about it with him is that I think
that as the season goes on and seven game is not a good sample,
So it's really it's not that you're gonna see him be more ball dominant try
to score more and sometimes he shoots those threes from way distance. Yeah,
yeah he does. Let's take this quick call higher on the air and on
the ball. Yeah. I have to say, Jay, you're right.
I think unlike the last couple of seasons we only had a couple guys to
depend on, we got a lot more than just Kyle and Bobswell and Love.
Wait, we can any night, we can have four or five guys
scoring double gas. Okay, let me put that to test. And that's
one of the things I was gonnail j okay, both you guys. So
who you got from the perimeter outside of without mentioning Boswell or or or Caleb
Love? Are you gonna go to Are you gonna go to Johnson Patterson?
Who? Who? Okay, you're gonna charge? Are you gonna trust yourself
with pillow? No? But I mean okay, and we got some time
to cultivate the bench. We got some a couple of months. I'm talking
about shooters the pimeter. I mean, come on, are you gonna go
get it? Are you gonna go to bollow in crunch time? If you
have to get a foul? Okay, that's two. What about Crevs Crevis
or that other guy, the other Mariska. See he can hit some flip,
can make them from the three. Okay, okay, okay, okay,
same to you, J I mean, who are you gonna go to?
Oh yeah, I mean if you need one basket, you need a
three pointer, you're gonna give you You're gonna give it to your best shooter,
which is But I also but if if Caleb Love takes the shot,
I don't have a problem with it. You do I because you have to.
You're gonna have to live and die with him. And because you know,
you know, if they're coming out of a timeout and they need a
three pointer, you opposing coach is gonna blanket Colin Boswell. So you got
to have another guy. Well, I think they're gonna try to do both.
I mean you need both the guys in. Letsten pay attention if there's
those two are not in the game together. Yeah, what happens? What
happens? Yeah? Good question, No, really good question. But it
just seems like there's there's less drop off whoever's in the line. Heyward,
those first, we thank Vinny Kevin. Okay, no, no, so
we'll pay attention to when they those two guys, where's the scoring gonna come
to? Where it's come from? But yeah, I see they have options,
is what I'm saying. They have people options options. Well, that
means A Bradley's gonna have to step up Bradley kJ Lewis, which which may
be the other guys. Howard's point, Pela Larson is shooting forty five percent
from the three round. How many shucks has he taken? I don't know,
but he has been shooting a little bit here and tell you some some
open spot ups. It's not it's not a lot. It's not a lot.
He's five of five of eleven, So that's that's not a lot.
That's not bad when you're when when other guys are shooting more though, I
mean, he's making the open run. All right, let's take our break.
When we come back, breaking news at the top of the hour.
She's on five. She's so hot.