This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jagon Zaliz on Fox Sports
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R two SAD at iHeartRadio Station. A good Wednesday afternoon here at Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. I'm Jacob Zalaz, your host on I on the Ball Today.
Steve is on the road, as we mentioned yesterday, he's in Salt
Lake City. You'll be reporting in a little bit. But today we've got
a guest host, George Midis from a Showtime Cards, one of our great
sponsors, a big sports fan, and yeah, he's he's already thrown down
the gauntlet on Arizona in their game tomorrow. And Sammy, Sammy interned.
Sammy's here to help us get through this day. But you know we're here,
George, thank you for being here. Appreciate it absolutely, Thank you
so much. I always excited, especially March madness, and it does make
you mad, and it's exciting, that's for sure. You know, the
whole thing got off last night, the two first four games. There's two
more today. One of the Pac twelve teams, Colorado's playing in it.
But you know, we're talking about Arizona. Tommy Lloyd had his press conference
at the tournament after they're around their open practice today, So we're going to
play that in full here in just a minute, but just kind of let
you know what's going on. PJ Brown is going to join us. She's
in Connecticut with the women's basketball team. So we're going to talk to PJ.
She's the writer for the Airzon Daily Star covering women's basketball. We'll get
her and some of her thoughts on this team that's on the road with seven
players. Man, oh wow wow, seven players, And so we'll get
her thoughts on Arizona women taking on Auburn tomorrow night, trying to get into
the field of sixty four. And then at four fifteen, we're gonna have
Ben Boltch and you might know him. He's been on our show as the
UCLA beat writer. He's a writer for the La Times, but right now
he's covering Long Beach State. Did a story on Dan Monson and that whole
story about him getting fired on Monday. They said, you know, we'll
let you coach out the season. His team goes on a run, when's
the when's the conference tournament and now they're in the NC Double A tournament and
they're playing Arizona. That's just a weird story of how that happens, but
you know, yeah, it's crazy. So he had a story in the
La Times today. So we're going to talk to Ben about Dan Monson and
the other the other kind of ironic thing. There's Dan Monson, Tommy Lloyd
and Mark Few who was also in Salt Lake City with his team, are
all really good friends. And you'll hear from the press conference they all went
to dinner last night. There's some funny stuff coming out of that. But
you know, instead of have you hear us jabber, we're gonna go aha
and play the full Tommy Lloyd press conference from his NC DOUBLEA tournament presser today.
Steve Rivera's there. You'll hear him ask a couple of questions and so
we'll play the whole thing and then we'll talk about it after. So here
he's Tommy Lloyd at Salt Lake City. Hey, joining us is a coach
Lloyd uh Univers serious? I will I will have him open open with the
statement, then we'll open to the questions for the media gathered coach all right,
well, it's uh good to see everybody, uh excited to be here,
and uh, you know have lots of great memories playing in Salt Lake
and the NCAA tournament over the years, so uh, you know, here
we go. Yeah, tell me, Steve Rober on All Sports twosun dot
com. Was basketball never ever not going to be in your in your future
as a kid or whatever. Well, I think it always was, you
know. I mean I I fell in love with the game at a young
age, and you know, to be honest with you, I kind of
fell in love with coaching at a young age, you know. And and
of course I call young guys. I probably thought I was going to play
in the NBA, and then you know, then I kept playing and realized
I wasn't close to good enough. So uh, the coaching bug, you
know, really hit me early. And I had some I was just you
know, like a lot of kids, they get into coaching. You know,
you're you're really influenced about by your coaches when you're younger. And and
I had a lot of great coaches, you know, from from little league
and youth basketball, and you know, grew up in a small town,
so that made a real impact. On me. So yeah, I think
basketball, me and coaching was something that was probably always going to be be
together. John Karn, associate press coach Monson earlier talked about how you guys
went out for Petza and I had a nice time together. What what's what
was it like being out with him, being able to catch up with him,
and what kind of influences he had on just kind of the direction of
your coaching prayer. Well, you know, I mean I never actually worked
for coach Munson, you know, because he you know, he'd kind of
give me the opportunity. Then then he high tailed to Minnesota and then I
was kind of you know, left there and uh and and then you know,
Mark few inherited me. So you know, he's a great guy.
I mean, we have a ton of fun together. I mean, you
know, he's somebody that you know, you're always gonna smile and laugh when
you're with and you know, I know he's going through a tough time and
you know he but he's handling it with an incredible grace and uh, you
know, we just you know, I think he's thankful for all all the
opportunities he's had and the relationships he's made in this business and uh, and
I think we all know it can be a tough business and there's another side
to it, and uh, unfortunately he's going through that right now. Coach
had and Silly Arizona PBS, it's nice to meet you. I wanted to
ask about key Shod and the experience he brings from San Diego State last year
being in the National Championship game. Was there any advice that he gave to
any one of the players and maybe even yourself or your coaching staff about getting
to that point. Yeah, you know, we're fortunate, you know,
we have a lot of guys have their own experiences, you know, with
a tournament. You know, me, Coach Rob, you know, obviously
key Shod, Caleb, even Umar, you know, they've all been part
of those runs. And you know, I mean Keyho he is. He
has been very vocal, and I think his message to the guys is,
you know, you you don't ever assume anything, and it's literally a one
game at a time approach, and you know, and you got to come
out and you know, be willing to lay it on the line in that
one game. And and so that's been his message to the guys, which
I think is you know, simple, but it's beautiful because it's very true.
Tommy steven veron All SPORTSDUS dot com. Do what do you talk or
say to Caleb he's in the solutional slump? Do you tell him to shoot
yourself out of it? Just continue to play what you play? What do
you say to Well, you're a great player and and you're you're fine,
you know, I mean, he's a player like him that you know is
a is a score. You know that they've had these stuff's happened to him
before in their career, so they know how to respond. And you know,
I mean, there's no guarantee that he's going to play really well tomorrow,
but you know, I wouldn't be surprised if he did. And you
know, I think he's in a good way. He's had a good approach
all week, and you know, now just we need to get to noon
tomorrow and and get out on the court, and he needs us to let
it rip. John Kerns share to Press, you look at guys like Keishawan
and Caleb who had those final four runs in with their past teams, Well,
what is that experience done for Arizona in terms of helping you guys be
successful this season prepare for the postseason. I mean, how much is there
like leadership mattered to you guys. I mean it matters a ton, you
know. I mean, I mean, first off, you know, they
were significant contributors to teams that made it to the championship game. So that
tells you they're really good players. And you know, it takes really good
players to have great seasons. And and and they've been been awesome all year.
I mean, my my only regret is that I only get to coach
them one year because I've loved coaching them and and they're both just awesome dudes.
And I mean they're a joy to be around every day. They bring
it every day, so they mean, so it's been a ton of ton
of fun with them, and their experience has been significant, you know,
to to our success awestin gets case you TV and Spokane. You were talking
about your relationship with Dan, How what is it like when the world basketball
brings you also together with Mark and that relationship, well, I mean,
I mean we're genuine friends. I mean, you know, more than you
know. I mean, I think our friendships are before any professional relationships we
have and you know, and then that our wives, our friends, our
kids, our best friends more like cousins than than you know, friends.
So I know, all our kids really excited. They were all together last
night, and so it's fun. I mean, it brings a smile to
our face because you know that that's what our summers are like, you know,
our summers, you know, everyone at the lake together, hanging out
and yeah, so it just comes really easy for us to be around each
other. And you know, yeah, I mean, I'm grateful for what
those two have meant to me. Tommy. Dan wanted us to let you
know that he's going to run the Princeton. He told me that fifty times.
Who was your reaction because he's obviously joking. Yeah, yeah, I
mean, I just thought it would be great to see some semblance of offense.
So you know, uh no, I mean, hey, listen,
he you know, Dan's a veteran and you know he I think he knows
this opportunity he has, and I have no doubt that his team's gonna come
out, you know, ready to play with a spirited effort tomorrow. Coach,
you were there for so many years at Gonzaga, making the run to
the tournament every year, and now you're a head coach kind of making a
similar streak. Just do you have a different appreciation for it now that you're
a head coach or has your view on it changed since being a head coach.
I definitely have an appreciation for it. I mean, I don't know
if it's different. I mean, it's it's hard. I mean, I
think what we do is hard, you know, you know, and I
know we're you know, open for public scrutiny all that stuff. That's fine,
but like these jobs are hard, and they're hard on your family,
you know, and you literally have a twenty four to seven all consuming job
that it's it's tough to get away from. And and you know, I
think one of the greatest gifts Coach you ever gave me was, you know,
he made me feel like an owner. You know, I didn't feel
like just an assistant coach there. I felt like, you know, I
was in ownership with him of the program. So so I felt, you
know, the the importance of it, and you know, the agony of
defeats and all that stuff, and I know, you know, hey,
and and now it's probably you know, magnified a little bit for me.
So I definitely have an appreciation, you know, for for what he's had
to go through all those years when I was, you know, supporting him.
Yeah, it's it's it's not easy. It's definitely not easy. I
mean it's awesome. I love every second of it, but it's not easy.
And I think, you know, just being able to have this opportunity,
you know, being my third year as a head coach, you know,
you're like, Wow, this guy's done it for twenty five years and
coach Munson's done it for twenty seven years. It's a Yeah, it's I
couldn't imagine. So hopefully, hopefully I can get to that number someday.
But yeah, it's a lot. Jason cherwild kind authority coach. Obviously,
we know what happened last year and all that. How do you deal with
maybe an increased pressure on the guys because of that. There's no increased pressure.
I mean, that's just I mean, that's you could fabricate, manufacture
anything you want. We got a forty minute basketball game tomorrow against another team
that's a worthy opponent. You know, we got to come out and play.
I mean, there's no you know, if we're distracted by what happened
last year. Then you know, then maybe we haven't done a good enough
job focused on what we need to do this year. Brian Peterson with Azy
Desert's form. When you had Umar Ballo at Gonzaga, you red shirtar in
the first year, wasn't ready limited role that second year gets into a couple
of late minutes of an Ncy Deternament game. Could you see at that point
the potential of a fifth year? Now he's a guy twelve out of thirteen
double doubles. I mean no, I mean I couldn't see. I couldn't
see that. I couldn't see myself being the head coach at Arizona. There's
a lot of things, you know, when you go back to when we
first had Umar at Gonzaga, and yeah, I'm just really proud of him.
I'm really proud of how far he's come. I think those are the
stories that need to be celebrated in college basketball these days, because you know
that that, to me, that's the essence of what this sport has been
about. You know, kids, you know, transitioning from high school to
becoming an adult, you know, dealing with adversity, growing, having their
own experiences and and Umar's you know, really stared those down and overcome a
lot. I mean it there were some dark days, you know that that
last year at gonzag I mean, he got a he got in a pretty
tough spot. You know, he wasn't wasn't wasn't a happy person. And
you know, for for us to get the opportunity to come down to Arizona,
you knows, I think been really impactful on his life, and I
know he's been really impactful on my life. And so I love where he's
at, and you know, I'm I'm grateful that he's a significant contributor to
a really good Arizona team. Coach, this may be a silly question,
no, no, but Dan was talking about his relationships with the players,
Uh A few? Does you're Ben adamant? A lot of times we talked
to you about how specialties in your relationship with guys like you were and all
that. Was there someone that that taught you the importance of that relationships or
is that something you kind of just well, I mean it's probably a lot
how you're raised, you know. I mean I've always been a relationship person,
you know, I've always enjoyed other people's successes, you know. So
I just you know, when when I started coaching, you know, at
Gonzaga, you know, I was young, and and I could kind of
still get out there with the guys a little bit. And uh and and
I just realized really early that, you know, these relationships are really valuable
for me, and they're really impactful on the guys to have a coach that
you know is willing to put their arm around them and love them like a
brother. So yeah, I mean, I think, you know, part
of is just you know, basically how you're wired with your personality. But
more importantly, I you know, you want these relationships to be authentic and
organic. But you also want to be intentional because you know what what I
found, as you get busier in life and your own kids get older,
it's hard to manage a lot of relationships, you know, And and so
you have to be intentional with with the effort and energy you put towards your
players, because it's really important. And I don't ever want to lose that
or forget that. Okay, thank you coaching, Thank you, good luck
tomorrow, Thank you coach. A lot of interesting stuff there and more from
a standpoint of I feel like we learned a lot about Tommy Lloyd the person
right in all of that talking about how you know, the relationship with Umar
and just some of those things. Absolutely, I mean in life. Like
what it shows is in life and in coaching and so forth, we are
here. We're here to serve one another, including a coach. He's here
to serve his his team and the teams eights are here to serve one another.
They're friends and yeah, and you know in the relationship, you know,
I mean, he's he's got to play Dan Monson tomorrow, right,
relationships, that's the NANCAA tournament. If he loses this game, people lose
their minds. He went out and had dinner with them, you know,
we're friends and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I think it just
shows Tommy's genuineness and ruthenticity, which I think a lot of Wildcats fans who
have been around and seen him since the day got here, that that stood
out in his first press conference in his first season, to the lows of
losing in NCAA tournament games and you even you even see it then in that
press conference, and that he truly does care not only about the game,
but about the guys that he coaches, which as a as a fan,
I think is really cool and I really like to hear how he just really
simplifies things. Everybody around here is thinking about Princeton from last year and what
if they lose and this, and then they're upset about the fact that they
lost to Oregon and all this stuff, and he's just saying, you know
what, guys, we just have a game to play tomorrow and that's all
we got to think about. Nationally, that's the talk they love to roast
us and talking about how we're gonna end it soon. First round, second
round, that's not gonna happen. We really to go out there tomorrow'll take
our business. This friendship they're talking about with months and it's wonderful, and
the wives or you don't have this friendship. It's wonderful, but it ends
the minute they step on there, exactly exactly, and that's what you see.
All right, We're going to talk some more about that. We're gonna
get Steve, who's up in Salt Lake City and you heard his questions on
the press presser. We're gonna get him in the third segment. But coming
up, we've got PJ. Brown. We're gonna talk about some women's basketball,
which we haven't had a chance to talk much about. But they've got
a game tomorrow. They're a quote unquote play in game, but trying to
get into the sixty fourteen bracket. They've got Auburn at four o'clock. So
it'll be coming on during our show tomorrow, so we'll give you some updates
on that. But stick around and we'll have PJ. Brown for me theaters
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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 app just Surgeon. I on the Ball. Welcome back to
Time the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your in studio host,
Ja Gonzalez. My out of studio host, Steve Rivera is in Salt
Lake City, so we're gonna get him over the phone. After we talked
to PJ Brown from the airs on The Daily Star, who joins us from
Storage, Connecticut, where the women are playing in a first four game tomorrow
at four o'clock. They've got Auburn coming up, with the winner taking on
Syracuse. So Pj, how are you well? I'm doing much better now
than I was a few hours ago. I must say that. Well,
okay, you got you can't leave it, leave the listeners hanging in there.
You got to explain what you mean by that? Sure? Well,
right, Now, if you were to see me, you'd notice two things.
One is I look like a prize fighter who just finished eighteen rounds.
And I look like an old time sports writer named Bill Joss who had used
to wear glasses and have tape on his glasses all the time. So what
happened was I tripped over a sidewalk and my face broke my fall. Oh
man, well, you told me you spent some time in the emergency room.
But I hope you're all okay. No broken bones, right, no
broken bones. But I must give a couple people a shout out for their
help. The paramedics at the Gamble Pavilion were excellent. The paramedics and the
ambulance as well as the hospital which is two towns over. They were great.
And I do want to give a shout out to Arizona's President Bobby Robbins,
Robert Robbins, and Arizona's team doctor. They checked me out when I
actually came back and was there a little bit for practice, and they give
me the once over. And President Robins gave me tips on how to sleep
tonight, told me, yes, I will have probably a mild concussion and
I headaches tomorrow but we're all said to go, we're here to watch the
women play and that's it. And the finger work so you can type up
a nice story for for the readers, right, yeah, absolutely right,
Well, sorry to hear about all that, but uh, you know you're
you're being the trooper and uh, you know it sounds like you're handling it's
pretty well. So there's a game to play tomorrow. Yeah, uh,
you know, tell us a little bit about you know, where things are
right now. I'm presuming they've had their press conference of already, so what
uh, you know, what what's uh, what's what's it looked like over
there? Yeah, it's gonna be it could be a really tough defensive knockout.
Auburn is a team that sort of place similar to Arizona in the way
that they they focus on their defense. Excuse me, they also force uh
tons of turnovers. The only differences that they have a little size down low
and coach of Dia Barnes was saying today that they do have to you know,
stop them in the paint and make sure that they don't get those rebounds
and that those things might be key. She also mentioned that while they faced
teams in the sec they face. They played actually two pack twelve teams this
year, cal who actually who beat them in Washington State. But they still
don't know, like they haven't seen Arizona's defense. They haven't seen anything like
that before, and that most likely will play in their favor, the Wildcats
favor. So, you know, as we mentioned af Fair, probably one
of the big stories of this team has been how they've managed to get this
far seven players, you know, people you know coming and going, injuries,
all that type of stuff. They've been able to do this with seven
players, nearly beat you know, a number one seed USC two times.
They made a very nice run. You have to think about, uh,
the durability and and and all that. But also you know, in the
game like this, emotions are high, maybe you get a little tired,
a little quicker. How is Ada going to handle all of that? Well?
I think two things. One, they had a week little more than
a week off right after the Pac twelve tournament until they found out Sunday where
they were going in Tuesday till they came here to Stores Connecticut. That was
great because any of those little nagging injuries which everybody has at this time of
year, regardless if you have fifteen players or seven players, everybody has them.
Now they get to rest up a little bit. They took a couple
days off before, they went through some practice and got ready and then and
all of that. I think that helped them a lot. I also think,
you know, it's a tournament and they know, you know, you
got to win to keep playing, and they're ready for that. I think
they are. I think mentally they're ready. It falls into sort of their
mentality on that big run where they finished five and three at the end of
the season. This team is like, throw whatever you want at us,
and we'll take care of it. Like they just don't care. And they
don't care that they're playing in this first four playing or if they would have
just solidly been in a first round game, they don't care. They're just
going to go take care of business. That's how they they're thinking about it,
right, And I just think that they're ready to go out and play
them around. That will be it. George Midas, my guest host today
from Showtime Cards. As a question for you, PJ. In my business
records, you know play a big part of what fluctuates the memorabilia on this
this is a different type of record. Is this some kind of a tournament
record for roster the lowest roster seven players? I'm not sure because I know
that Notre Dame won a championship with eight players a few years ago. Yeah,
so I think that teams have played with eight. Well, check to
see if there's been seven or what the lowest is, But it's not really
that to us. It might seem like, what what's going on? But
teams have won at all with eight players. And that's and and also when
you get down to the NCAA tournament, especially from the elite eight on,
you're only using seven players, sometimes six. When you go back to the
twenty twenty one run that the Wildcats took a deal only you had seven players
playing from I think it was maybe second round or sweet sixteen on. So
she just stuck with those seven. And that's what coaches do in the tournament.
They've got their their main folks and they just run with them. Well,
and on top of only having seven, they're also very young. You
know, some key players are freshmen. And now you've got Helena Playo.
You know, the group veteran will call her as well as as Mary Martinez
to the role that you think those two the fifth year seniors, you know,
have to play how you know, I mean in a way of holding
this whole thing together and keeping everybody grounded and not let the moment get too
big for everybody. What are they doing as far as that goes, well,
you know, I think it's just what they've done the whole time.
I mean, what we don't see is that Helena is really the one who
makes jokes and cracks them up and is always laughing and joking around, which
seems which we don't see because we always see the more reserved Helena, right.
I think it's just the same leadership they've been providing over the last month
or so really is. And they know that these are the last games that
they're wearing in an Arizona uniform, and that means a lot to both of
them. They both I talked to them for our special story and even for
Senior Day. You know, this is their second home, and especially for
Helena, Dia is her second mom. She doesn't really want to leave.
We saw how as Mary was on the after the game, she was distraught.
She feels that Bett Shelby, the assistant coach, is her second mom
and Tucson's really taking her in as one of their own. They don't want
it to end. And I think that they're going to pour everything into these
games, this game and if they have more. And also we heard Skyler
Jones talk recently about how they as freshmen know that this is the end of
the line for these seniors and they they want to do it all for them.
So it's kind of a neat thing where they all feel that there's a
lot here. There's a lot, there's a lot of things that they want
to do here, and they want to play like they've played right. They
play with heart and that's why they've done what they've done over the past month
or so. That's it. It's been heart carrying them and we'll see how
long it can carry them. The ball is going to be in the hands
of J. D. Williams and Skyler Jones quite a bit. I know
Helene is out there handling the ball quite a bit as well. But you
know, two again, two true freshmen, who are you know, going
to be in the in the middle of it. You know, have you
seen sort of a growth during this time when there's been you know, they've
relied on them for so much. What have you seen from them over the
last you know, several weeks. Oh, absolutely, you know, at
this point it's almost like they're not freshmen. Remember this is the second season
and they've played, so they played more minutes. I think that three freshmen
combined than maybe any other freshman class in the country. You know, there's
a one like you were not talking about, like Juju, there's a one
off Juju at USC or Hannah Hidalgo at Notre Dame who start and they've played,
but like for three freshmen freshman class, so that's been pretty amazing.
They've both grown tremendously. We've seen that. We've seen how, you know,
Jada really sort of takes control of a game when she's out there.
She really is a leader in a lot of different ways. She hypes up
her team. She she'll get a charge or she'll do something and she's all
she's going and everybody else sort of feels that. And other parts of her
game. She's really starting to understand the system better and playing within that system.
Her shots are falling. We've seen her take over that game at Stanford
at the end, scored fourteen points and win it for them. You look
at Skyler Jones, she has gotten more aggressive on the offensive end, driving
to the hoop, knows when her team needs layups or get to the line
or something like that. She's not afraid to just do it, to just
go and do it right. And on the defensive end, she gets stealed
and she's getting She's doing really smart things with her length on the defensive end,
and we've seen that just grow over the year because in the beginning she
wasn't doing those things, and now she is. Same with Jada. You
even look at Brea. Brea in that last game looked more like sort of
we would expected her to look right. She didn't fall out, She took
the ball to the hoop really strong, she stood her position. She's really
grown a lot as well. All right, quick analysis, What do they
have to do. What's the most important thing they either have to do or
not do tomorrow? I think two things. I think one, they can't
follow right, they can't get in foul trouble, which has been all season
lately. They've cleaned that up. And I think they just have to play
their game. They play their game where they're doing what they're supposed to do
on defense and same on offense, playing within the system, and I think
they'll be fine. That's what it comes down to in these tournament games.
If you play your style and then you do the one or two things to
neutralize whatever the other team is thrown at you, then you win. Yep,
all right, correct the PJ Brown from theirs on the daily start look
for her stuff covering the game tomorrow and as long as there is only stays
in the tournament. PJ. Thanks for your time and take care of yourself.
Man, watch out for those curves. I will you know what,
I don't have that problem in two cents. You have a nice sidewalks,
say yeah, the curbs don't jump up, and you'd like to be there,
they don't. Thanks a whole bunch. Be well, sure, all
right, PJ Brown from there on daily start covering the women's team up up
in Connecticut. They've got a game tomorrow four o'clock in the tournament playing let's
call her playing game, whatever you want to call it. They're taking on
Auburn and then they've got Syracuse if they win. So we'll see how that
goes for them. So let's take our break, our buddy, Steve Rivera
allegedly will be joining us after coming up after the break, so we'll see
if we can get him and Jordan and Sammy and I will pick his brain
on what he's seen up there in Salt Lake City. So stick around.
If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly
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Rivera and Jacob Saliz they have their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports station
hat Fox Sports fourteen fifty Walking back around the ball Here on Fox Sports fourteen
fifty, I'm your in studio host, Ja Gonzalez. My other usual in
studio host, Steve Rivera's actually on the phone out of Salt Lake City.
We're going to talk to him here in a second. But I've also got
George made Is, owner of Showtime Cards, one of our great sponsors and
a great sports fan here in town. And then Sammy, our intern.
Man, we're all here. We've got a gang here today. Yeah,
mixing it up. Yeah, so Steve, you're there, but here the
weather it's fantastic. The arenas a little cold, but it's fine. A
lot of good stories out here. Well, you know, we played Tommy's
press conference and you know, you let off the questions and you know,
it seemed like there was a lot of we learned a lot about Tommy as
a person in this press conference, talking about you know, your question about
how he you know, always thought he would be in basketball, his you
know, going out to dinner with his friends, one of them who's going
to play in the Nancy Double A tournament game tomorrow. Things of how he's
handled you know, all of the stuff that's gone on. Just I mean,
did you feel like it was kind of a lot about that and less
about the game. Well, yeah, no question, because I remember that
Mark this year, iously got Monson's year, and and tom and he's saying
three some of of guys who started their careers that that it was my couple
of middlefest today and now they're going to face each other. But my story
formorrow. It's my column actually, because I did sing on on Caleb Love
earlier today, I called him to because I've been sitting on history for a
while. I talked today, I've talked to a lot of a couple of
players last week, talk to talk to his family, talked to Lloyd's family.
So I kind of start to string out that way and just how much
how much basketball needs to And that's why my questions were such as they were.
Did do we did? I mean, did you learn a lot of
things about him that maybe we didn't already know? Because I feel like,
on the one hand, we we we know that he's a very kind of
a calm, even keel kind of guy, but you know, we don't
know a lot about him beyond that. Well what you know, what what
are we learning about him? Well? The one thing that the player said
that I kind of didn't really know, but maybe since that he's very competitive,
very competitive. He wants to win just as much as the players do.
He's a feisty guy and he loves to come eat. I guess when
he was younger, he was his parentship me that he's an older brother and
his older brother is like three or four years older than him, and then
he's hang around his brother's frience and he was like, he was like,
your think that could be better than you. I could do this faster,
I could run faster, throw the ball harder. Uh. And so he
was kind of like the little pussy kids hanging around the older kids. Interesting.
Interesting, Yeah, So I wonder what what type of coach he really
is. Is he a players coach or is he that like just said,
no, I think he's all that. One of the things that I didn't
the story because it's already the most twelve hundred words. Uh. The story
I want to put is that he learned early when he was an assistant,
you have to be you have to be a fair coach because they want some
love to you know. You can't be yelling at them all the time.
And he was. He was still young when he started twenty four, uh,
and and helped them become players. So he was out there playing with
them. You still have that in him, and he learned that that was
a big part of being a good coach. The relationship to build with the
players. And we heard the answer to that one question where he said,
you know, the type of coach he is is more about his upbringing and
less about mentors and that type of stuff. Right, But well, you
know because you you know, I believe that too, because if you're if
you're have good parents and you just know how to treat people fairly and honestly,
that kind of comes naturally, doesn't it. And I smiled when he
said that, because not do that, you just don't, because there's almost
don't have egos or power trips. But I mean, how many to my
knowledge at least he is. He's not like that. Yeah, And I
feel like that type of coaching in today's works much better. They'll play for
you harder, rather in the dictator type of coach, you know, when
you're just yelling to do this, do you know where they actually you know,
they're they're gonna play for you and they're going to go all out.
And he's that type of coach. We're learning that. Yeah, No,
fortunate George Cube of madem Times. Obviously, I'm sure he's done by the
shop. Absolutely Christians. To me, he's as Munson called him, he's
a guys guy. Yeah, yes, absolutely, I mean I know him
personally and that's that's the type of person he is, you know, And
and I'm sure his players feel that way and they play for him. Steve,
Where do you think he sits in terms of the sort of the coaching
hierarchy? You know what I mean? You know, uh, you got
guys that you know, everybody you know is aware of, you know,
the the the tom Izzo's the uh uh you know that you know that level
of guy. And then you know Tommy's one of the you know, he's
new on the scene even though he's been in college basketball for one hundred years.
He's a third year coach. But how is his profile either being raised
or whatever? Uh? And how is that? Where do you think he
kind of sits among the coaching hierarchy. That's a good question. And I
think you you touched. He still knew this is his thirty year. He
needs three years, three wins of tying the all time best mark. Three
years you know, intro program, so that has to happen. If he
was crazy the final for the break it. Actually he's not there yet,
you know, at the podium today, but still self you know a lot
of people were in there just listening to what he had to say. He's
still self right. There's some other coaches. Mark Muny did the same because
he's marked for a number of years. Tommy has a long way to go.
And in fact, I was sitting next to somebody from You Connected You
and they said, you know, Tommy, Tommy's been here from that.
But if he doesn't do it this year at least out of this first round,
people are gonna wonder can he do this job to get this team where
he needs to go? And realistic that's right, because what if they fail?
And you're thinking, what's up? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I
mean should I assume that you also sat in on the Dan Monson interview or
press conference. Was fantastic because I did ask him a couple of questions,
what what what? What are your impressions of him and what he's going through?
I mean, holy crap, it's funny because he's funnies. I mean,
I don't even have to answer questions. He's on fire. I'm not
free and asked too. That's true. He was. He was a stand
up from it. The one thing he said to Tommy the other night the
last night, I've been putting the Princeton office. Yeah, we heard that
from the from the press and that Tommy said, well, it's nice to
see you're putting in some kind of an offense. I thought that was pretty
fun. Probably a relationship. And we called they wouldn't like to be playing
each other, but you know they are. They are. And I think
I was sitting with another person too, we were talking about first games.
I can't remember. It might have been the Maryland game in nineteen ninety seven
or four of those games in nineteen eighty eight where they're such a big favorite.
Do you remember at any time that they were a twenty point favorite in
the first round? Uh, nineteen eighty eight? Who played? Now?
They were? They played Cornell and there I think I think I don't know
if they did at that time they were doing a one, two, three
and four. You know, you were either a one seed or two seat
or whatever. But I think you could have argued that Arizona was the number
one seed in the in that tournament that year. Uh. But but you
know, it's it's funny because I feel like, you know, like I
said, we're learning all these things about Tommy Lloyd. The person, and
and it's kind of like people trying to get to know him who really haven't
had a chance to know him because, as you said, he hasn't been
around all that long. No, in fact, I talked to him.
Well he's cool in the story. Just how how you know he's been coaching
on a better person? Yeah, I've been hanging out with a little bit
from the Bugles and Fantasy cant because he goes he's just a dude, but
I mean, honestly, he's a dude taking five billion dollars a year.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right. So I also watched the the
players presser. It was very short, but you know, a lot of
questions and Tommy was you know, as was asked this question as well,
the Caleb Love uh Keisha Johnson factor in terms of both those guys both getting
to the final four keyshat of the championship game and how meaningful that is.
I know, you don't think it means all that much because we've had that
conversation, but Tommy does, and the player seemed to think that as well.
Yeah. Yeah, this other game, uh that they're they're here,
they have experience in it. I think there's much more to be said,
you know, not to be said too much of that. They even said,
you know, no, not really, they just have experienced it.
The one thing I want to say, I haven't read this, do some
notes. I think Caleb Love looks good. Uh. He spoke to us
for the first time since the the poker table instant. He didn't get into
any details. He said he couldn't really talk about it, but he's moved
on from it. He feels fine. Uh, he asked, uh uh,
Bruce Asten was not really you, And he says, I couldn't really
say, you know, just to confirm if it was in because the people
thought maybe there was a They call it a faith photo or whatever. But
he's moved on. The One thing that people don't know and I don't.
I don't think Bruce knows. I've sent to a note this morning. Apparently
his grandfather passed just recently, and his and his aunt. He said,
So I got him by myself. I went back to him and asked him,
let me ask the personal question if I can't. He said sure.
I asked him, well, did you just He said, yeah, I
my aunties as well, And I said, how's that affecting you? As
well, I missed him. I love him, that's all he would tell
me. Wow. Interesting, all right, Steve, So it's core than
just basketball, and then what do we know until we asked? Right?
Right? Right? So Steve, everyone's talking about how their experience is actually
going to help us. Caleb one final four key shot Championship game? Can
it actually hurt us? Like going there two hockey and just feel like good?
Question? Question, You've been here a long time and you've seen a
number of the games right in the tournament. And I again I said,
I'm not saying, well that, but they've been through a number of the
games as well. Uh. This is my thirtieth one. Uh and questions
I can for the Arizona and I've always thought that they lose the trumpet over
confidence. They think they're you know, the hoop and they come and walk
in they're not lose, and just what happens they lose. I don't think
that's the case with this team. One for last year. They know they
can't just do that any game. They cannot play that way. It's a
different game. Well, you know you right, and you'd like to think
that, well, they want to kind of forget it that maybe if you
don't forget at all and play with some urgency that they clearly didn't show uh
in the second half against Oregon. I try, you know, the more
I've thought about the game, the more I chalk it up. I chalk
it up to urgencies that Oregon had life or death urgency to that game.
They're not in the n CUAA tournament if they don't win that game. Arizona
was like, Okay, we're winning, but even if we don't win,
it's no big deal. And I think that I don't know, I could
be over analyzing it, but I feel like that that might have caught them
in that game, because Oregon, on top of having urgency, had good
enough players to beat them. And then they did absolutely well. There,
you guys hit it. Arizona first here against Princeton. They came in and
I thought they were probably uh, they had what twelve thirteen and taking half
of that one, that one brought away confidence. And then that's the last
Arizona East. Unfortunately, guys, guess what happened a lot this year and
then it would go away, right, Yeah, well we'll see, we
will see. Okay, Steve, thanks a whole bunch, man, be
safe. I know if you heard about PJ. Brown, but she took
a tumble and in the emergency room in Connecticut. So try not to be
tripping over curves or anything like that right now. All right, man,
be well and we'll talk to you. Definitely talk to you tomorrow after the
game. Okay, thanks, thanks about all right. That was Steve reporting
in from Salt Lake City. Uh, they were. He was at the
press conferences today. Look for his column on All Sports Tucson. He's working
on a piece on Tommy Lloyd. It's kind of this is the time of
the year that you do the sort of all encompassing uh you know, personality
pieces on some of the key players or coaches or whatever. So you'll get
that from Steve on All Sports Twocson tomorrow. All right, Sammy, let's
let's let's get out here. Take us to the break top of the hour.
We're going to be coming back breaking news. There's some All America teams
and stuff like that being announced today. So uh and it was the start
of Major League Baseball season for those of you who don't know that. All
right, we will be right back