This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat z
R TWUSA at iHeartRadio Station. Good, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to
Eye on the Ball hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty from Steve Roberta, He's Jiggensauce
Dotter, Guy Henry, and today welcome to Monday. I hope your weekend
was better than mine. I was gonna say, wow, you know,
I mean, yeah, you got you got beat up yesterday. Right.
The storm was that Hurricane Eldi Elda. I don't think so. It was
just to be I want. I'm not gonna say a basic Tucson monsoon.
But it was just one of our monsoons. It just came through here and
blasted us. Although you know I'm on the east side, you're on the
northwest. You reigned in my place, but we didn't get anything like what
we've seen across town. I was driving right before, about half hour before
the storm. That's gonna be a big one, and it got dark and
it's just, oh, it's good to be a big one. Yeah,
And it was a big one, right, it was you know, you've
seen pictures all over the place. You've seen parts of buildings knocked down,
a gas station torn up. Anybody have a place like to stay. Yeah
it was that bad. But yeah, trees all over the place. And
then you know it's midtown, right, there's a lot of stuff by the
U of a stuff up on the northwest side along the freeway, all over
the place. And like I said, I'm a Sabino Canyon Tanka Berdie.
So it just it skirted us. It got us the rain, but it
didn't get us anything else. Well, last week you talked about your storm
that was bad, and I said, no, we didn't get any Yeah,
yeah, no we did. Yeah that was on what Thursday, Thursday,
and it was it was bad, but it was just it was that
would also was just rain. It wasn't you know, howling winds and stuff
like that. So it was so I didn't you know, it didn't get
any of that. I got to turn off my sprinkler so I don't have
to water the lawn for a couple of days. But other than that,
you know, we were fine. Well, feel bad for you guys.
Yeah, it was bad all over the place. Okay, so let's move
on to the sports. A lot of things going on, drafts news.
You'll have breaking news. We'll say that for breaking news. Yeah sure,
so we have hen But how many guys so far? Three? Okay,
I know of the two, so all right, we'll get the third.
Yeah, there's the draft, Steve. I sat down and watched an entire
soccer match, which hard to finish. Which one the Coppa last night?
What if? What if? He was a great? The one in Miami?
It was a great We sat there and waited for it to start,
right, it was a disaster, the whole you know, the getting into
the getting into the stadium and all that. You know, waited for the
thing to start and then But so I sat through that, you know,
with my family. I may have sat through a World Cup final, but
maybe a handful. I just don't sit down and watch the soccer. Actually
nothing you know, I'm one of those guys, well nothing ever happens.
But even though you know, it got into the it got into extra time
and it was zero zero, A lot was happening. They just didn't score.
You had the whole the drama with with Lionel Messi and and his foot
and he was bawling on the sidelines because he was out and it might be
his last match. And then they showed his his ankle and it was like
a big old balloon. There was a lot of that stuff, and it
was I mean, I was excited by it, and you know, you
know, it was fun. I had fun watching that. It was my
It's kind of like my experience with hockey. Uh the last just a month
or show. Going over these game six games in the final three minutes was
like, holy yeah. They were attacking and attacking, they couldn't score well.
And and I actually watched the tail end of the the Euro match because
but only because I only saw part of it because I was watching the Dodgers
crap on themselves in for the second day in a row. And I'm not
gonna let Bill listener, Bill, I'm not going to satisfy him. He
thinks I'm going for fifteen minutes. I'll just say Dodgers crapped on themselves two
games in a row. The crap way to go into the All Star break.
But it's over. But coming out of that, I did switch it
to that soccer match in time to see Spain score the winning goal and that
was very cool. So you know, I mean I watched a bunch of
soccer yesterday. You created this storm, then I started show the storm.
Yeah, it was all on me. He'll have the three ory like Jay
watching soccer. Yeah. So now so I'm kind of sad here because it's
that Monday of the All Star break and there's there's nothing to watch. There's
nothing to pay it tend to do. Worst of all, there's nothing to
gamble on except for the home run derby, and I don't think I want
to do that. Yeah, that's when does that start? Five o'clock?
Five o'clock? Well, okay, that's It's like nothing murder this year to
me. Yeah, I mean, who are the guys right? Show hay?
Even summer league Summer League. I watched a little of it. I'm
not too excited about that. I saw the Berench guys play each other a
little. In fact, we're gonna have some Summer league Summer league guy here
about ten minutes right. Uh. His name is Kevin from the He covers
Stafford. He's the playboy played by play guy for Stanford Women. Okay for
Stanford Women. He also does also just played by play for the Warriors G
League team right right, or the NBA TV. Yeah, he does all
that stuff. So we'll ask him on the air. Uh So he saw
I know, I saw talked to him last week. He saw the Miami
guys, uh, pele and uh and key shot, So I wanted to
get his thoughts. I think he may may have seen him more than once.
Yeah, because because both the key shots, Like he's not so much
lighting it up, but he's playing very well. Yeah, he's doing the
stuff that we saw, right, and everybody's freaking out. Well where where
you been while he was in Arizona? Yeah, just you didn't stay up
late enough to watch him. So there you go. So that'll be good
just to get an update. What else well, and then we're gonna keep
keep working away around the Big twelve. And we've got Tim Everson. He's
the sports editor for the Manhattan Mercury, which is the hometown paper for for
Kansas State. I never even heard that paper, Manhattan Mercury, college town,
right, yeah, college paper, you know. Uh So he's he's
a sports editor and the beat writer for Kansas State. So we'll talk to
him about you know, as you said, just about the league, you
know, their impressions of the team's coming in. Uh, what we can
expect to see when are's on the place Kansas State because that's loving as a
as a pretty important game for both teams from a college football playoffs standpoint.
And so we'll we'll pick his brain about Kansas State and what we can expect.
I think they're picked to finish second. Yeah, yeah, so we'll
see what he's what he's got. So again we're gonna be making our way
around talking to various people out of the uh, out of the big twelve
we got, we had Graham Rosini. If you haven't heard the the conversation
we had with him on Friday, should go and check out the podcast for
that very Uh. He was a pleasant guy. I liked him. Yeah,
you know, smart guy. Liked him by the book guy to y
kind of very straight forward. I Doug Tamaro, there are media relations guy.
You know, I exchanged some text messages with him. He just said
he's a good dude, and he sure sounded like you. Yeah. So
he wasn't a short shoppers segulation. I mean, I don't like him anymore
than they did before, but he seemed like a good guy. So there's
that. So he's not that good of a salesman. Well, you know,
look, nothing's ever gonna make me. I mean, I look I
like Doug and you know, but the school in general, I still still
one of these days, you'll be at your death bed saying I forgive him,
No, no, no, freak absolutely not. Don't even think it.
I don't even think it. Please, I would never here's my apology
to that. Never tarnish my life with that, and that chucks. He
still run so anyway, So so yeah, it'd be it'd be good to
talk to to Tam and see you know what's going on up there. Uh
and uh, you know, their thoughts going into the into the football,
into the football. Okay, cool, Henry you okay, your your folks
leave from hell today yesterday? Yes, yeah, so their impression of two
son is just a hot place. Yeah, why did you come to school
here? Did you see the temperature drop? It dropped like forty degrees or
thirty thirty some degrees. It dropped from mid you know, almost one hundred
and ten down to like seventy four seventy four and sticky as hell. Yeah,
especially inside the house. Okay, cool, what else is going on?
Anybody calls, so you want to call us later five two o four
one six seventy four forty would love to hear from you. They just see
it's SEC Media Week, four days of media days in the SEC. Well
live here, they have egos feet. I saw some of the stuff on
the ESPN. Uh some of the coaches being then interview. There was a
there was a funny post. I think it was I don't know if it's
Pat forty. Somebody posted it that Nick saban On in an interview, must
have been on ESPN or something said that he's never obviously never been to SEC
media days as a member of the media, and that he got to he
got to media Days and they wouldn't let him in because he didn't have his
credential. He had to go back to his hotel and get his credential so
he could get into media Day. That's funny because I've told you that story
about lout right. Yeah, yeah, they wouldn't. You know, you're
just one of us now, dude. So he had to have to rite
or go get his ID from the office from the hotel and he sat in
the stands watching his t practice. It was like that Yeao commercial, Yo
yo yo, try to buy. Yeah, he was just obviously seven point
four. Yeah, yeah, I don't care. So we'll be seeing some
stuff coming out of SEC media days. You know, they're talking about them
having four or five teams in the playoffs, in the playoffs and all that
stuff, you know, all kinds of things. So you know saying that,
well, you know, and the Big twelve and the a CC will
each be lucky to get to you know that maybe between the two school between
the two conferences, I'll have three teams or something like that. So well,
but that's why a game like the Kansas State game becomes important. Right.
You know, you're gonna you're probably gonna have to have if you're coming
out of the Big Twelve, no more than two losses to get into the
to get into the in the playoff, because they're gonna take a three loss
SEC team over a two loss Big twelve game pretty much every time. So
you know, you're you're gonna have to You're gonna have to be in that
kind of position, so that that game becomes very important because it's a non
conference game. Uh, and so you know the winner of that game is
in a good spot because both both of those teams will probably be three and
o. Whichever team wins that game, it's probably three and all after that
game. Yeah, yeah, so we'll see. It'll be good to talk
to what's his name again, Tim Everson, Tim Tims okay cool cool or
Everson? I think it's Everson. Yeah, we'll get that name locked up
by the time you teach them. Okay, anything else. So you went
golfing? Nice? I did. I golfed a Saturday afternoon. It was
horrible. Uh, we got went over teares on the National It was it
was wide open for the front nine and then we got to the back nine
and it backed up. We played the front nine in an hour and a
half. We played the back nine in two and a half. But uh,
you know, it was hot, but there was like a breeze blowing
all day, and not like a hot breeze, you know, sometimes it's
so hot that the breeze just makes it worse. It was actually a cooling
breathe and it was it was nice and we you know, we we had
fun. Didn't get overheated, didn't take me long to recover, went out
and had a nice dinner with some friends on Saturday night, and uh,
and it was it was good. I wasn't like spent, right, you
know, I get home from one of those hot days at the golf course
and I just don't have I can't do anything rest of the day, well
especially under the seat. Yeah, but it was it was fine. And
uh we shot the same as I always shoot, So didn't that didn't change
at all? Okay? Uh anything else, Henry, nothing, any observations.
No, you didn't jump out of a plane over the weekend, did
you, like? Want? No? What the hell are you talking to?
Are more stable? Like they put their life in their hands when they
live in New York just by itself. You're manheat are you from? Where
are you from? You? But I'm not how you we're at. We're
at in district? Where where do you? Where do you did you or
do you live Upper west Side or Central Park? Compared to that? Yeah,
that's why I like, what give me a number? Oh that's okay,
Mickey mantles in that area, you know what I'm talking about. That's
right, that's right, stats from Central from Central that's like on sixty third
Okay, yes, yeah, okay, I didn't want in sixty third.
But I used to live going there. I only know that because I stayed
the Empire Hotel. You know that, Okay, I stayed there for three
weeks one time for utility you like I do. I wouldn't live there,
But I mean nothing against New York. It's just not my kind of place.
I like having a yard and all that stuff. But I did like
going there. I've enjoyed. I went there quite a bit when I was
working at t EP. Went to a lot of utility conferences and stuff there,
So I went through quite a bit, and I enjoyed it. Every
time I went and enjoyed the restaurants was a a I enjoyed the theater.
I went to a lot of a lot of a lot of plays and stuff
and musicals and things. I love all that, So I love going there.
In the three weeks I spent there, I mean I got I became
one of you guys, what more mean and grumpy? Yeah, way more
mean and grumpy, faster faster, walker, handshoved in the pockets, looking
down and if anybody looked at me, I looked grimaced at them. I
got back from I got back to Tucson after three weeks, and my wife
was like, what the hell is wrong with you? Well, are you
talking about what you want? A piece of mettle? It's I think it's
a very cool place. You know. I enjoyed it. Every time I
went there, I had a great time. To me. To me,
it's like Vegas. You don't I don't like, don't like going there too
often, get in and get out. Too big for me. My son
went to school in that area. I just know, I don't think.
More power to you, Henry, good luck to you, excellent tropolis.
Except for that three week time, I never had to spend more than three
or four days. Yeah, so I like it. I enjoyed that.
Okay, take a break. Hey, get a hold of mister Kevin Dana.
Right, Yeah, we'll talk some NBA Summer League ball. Yep.
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Salis they have their eye on the ball on Tucson's sports station, Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to woin the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen
fifty on Steve, he's Jay there, Henry with us. We don't have
our guet Kevin yet for so win keeping design the ball. I guess I
hope he's not doing a gay but's Oklahoma City and Miami to Vegas and Vegas.
Well he was doing it in nortow he might not be doing it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Okay, Yeah, we'll
see what happens. So I just texted him to give us a quick call.
Uh, it's a little late, Okay, I'm looking forward to that.
You said Miami's playing right now, right, yep, yep, it's
uh I think twelve eleven. I just saw a minute ago. Neither keyshod
Nor nor Pallet was in the game a second. Ope, but they've gone
to a TV timeout. So we'll see when we come back that your guy,
your your homiees playing. Yeah, iimy Hawkins. I'm I'm a little
surprised with Uh. Henry and I were just talking about Hawkins was a starter
from Miami last year. But yeah, he is a second year player,
right, so he qualifies to play in the league, is what you said.
So I'm gonna take your word for that. Oh, he just sent
me a note he thought he thought tomorrow. Oh he's fine, he's he's
okay, give us a quick call, all right. Anyway, So yeah,
Hockey's is playing for them, So okay, here we go. Kevin
is a shoe. Yeah, This is Kevin. Hi, thanks for calling,
in which how do you say your last name? Kevin Dana? Yeah,
sorry about I read the message today and thought you were calling about tomorrow,
but I can definitely do right now. Okay, No, no,
we're on the air. Thanks for joining us. In fact, we're just
talking about the Miami game. They're on they're plane and you've seen them at
least once. How many times have you seen them? Yeah? So I've
seen the Miami Heat play three games. I saw all their games in the
Cali Classic. Guy, I actually just stepped out of the gym that they're
playing at right now against Oklahoma City here in Las Vegas. Okay, great,
great, So that's why we want to have you on. What were
your impressions on both Arizona players. Yeah, so a key shot Johnson was
really really impressive, and I mean they got a steal that he went undrafted.
I mean I looked at five different uh you know, mock drafts the
day of the draft, and he was you know, squarely like low mid
forties, even high thirties. So the fact that he went on drafted,
that they could get him on a two way in Miami is a steal.
He was fantastic, especially the third game that he played. Uh it was
against the Lakers. He had like twenty something point. We interviewed him after
the game. I mean, he had fifty family members there because you know,
at the Cali Classic, his family's from the Bay Area. He was
really good. I believe Pela Larson only played two of the three games at
the California Classic. He had kind of a rough shooting start, but I
mean he he played really good at the start of the second game. And
look, I'm not worried about whether a guy makes or missus shots. I
know Pela Larson can hit jumpers and that kind of thing. He's an athletic
player, and I think that was a pretty good pick for Miami in the
middle of the second round. So let's start with key Shot. How are
they using him? I mean, he's he's six six, he's the same
height as Kimi hawk Is. He can't shoot like himI hawkas So how are
they using key Shot? Is he at the three or the four? Yeah?
I mean, you know today it's all it's you know, kind of
position. Listen. I can't quite remember if he was at the three or
the four, but I mean he did have the ball in his hands a
little bit, he was cutting well. I mean he was a defensive test
a big time and just his athleticism, just his athleticism and how hard he
played really stood out. And it just seems like such a good fit for
Miami for you know, they talk about heat culture over there. He seems
like a heat culture kind of guy. Interesting, Yeah, yeah, no
question you. I'm sure you had seen them before, hadn't you. You
you operate out of northern Northern cal right, Yeah, I do operate out
of Northern California. Now I had you know, I remember key Shots from
the San Diego State Final four run a little bit. But honestly, I
mean most of my work is in the G League, the NBA, NCAA
women's basketball. It is rare. Unfortunately, I don't get a ton of
a chance to watch men's college basketball right now. So I've seen Arizona bits
and pieces here and there when they play my Stanford Cardinal and that kind of
thing. But I didn't have a huge base of a key Shot Johnson knowledge
or Pella Larson knowledge, Like I knew who they were just because you know,
you hear their names around the pack twelve but I can't say like I
knew their games all that. Well, okay makes sense, Yeah, that
makes makes total sense. So just some of your general thoughts on the value
of the summer leagues. You know, I mean, look, anytime you
guys are playing, they're hopefully getting better. But you know, what are
the what are the the what's the management looking for when they see their guys
playing, because they're not playing against you know, NBA starters and stuff,
So you have to be like, you have to stand out by a lot
for them to say, okay, this guy might make it. You know
what, what are they trying to achieve? What are the players trying to
achieve? Yeah, I mean, well, I think what the players are
trying to achieve and what the coaches are trying to achieve sometimes are at odds
a little bit because I think some guys come into summer league just looking to
try to score forty points. And you know, to your point, Steve,
they're not playing against NBA starters and most of the guys that you know
that NBA teams have locked on contracts. They have those guys who can score
four points in an NBA game, and they're not necessarily looking for that,
but they I mean, I think like what they want to be looking for
is do guys play the right way? Do they know how to fit a
role that could be translatable to the next level. Do they know how to
be a spot up three point shooter? Do they know how to get back
and transition on defense? Do they know how to do those kind of things
that contribute to winning. They don't necessarily want to see a guy dominate a
ball. Now, maybe if it's a lottery pick, they're trying of us
in that way, sure, but for these other guys who are on two
way contracts or who are just undrafted free agents, unless you really get it
going and it's within the flow of the offense, they're not necessarily looking for
someone who's going to be dropping forty for you. So you cover the G
League as well, So I'm curious when you see these guys in the G
League, and you've seen a lot of them obviously, and they're really good,
does it even surprise you that they're not in the league because the league
is exclusive. Man, you've got to be really good. And now nowadays,
even if you follow basketball like US college basketball, there's a lot of
names we don't wrecky nice. Yeah, I mean, honestly, Steve,
at this point, I've seen so many really good players in the G League
ever play in the NBA that it's just the numbers game. Right. There
are five hundred and i'm one hundred and forty roster spots thirty times eighteen if
you include the two A contract. There are well more than five hundred and
forty players who can play in the NBA who have NBA talent, and at
some level, you just need to have one team to like you, whether
you know, it's something you do in one game that really attracts the team
to you, or the way you carry yourself. It could come down to
the little things about bench demeanor or you know, how how you interact with
teammates. That kind of intel can make or break a career for a guy
on the fringes of the NBA, or whether he has to go play in
Europe or some other league abroad. So it's those kind of things, because
there are so many good players who can score twenty points in an NBA game,
but there's only one basketball and so it's about finding what else you can
do to help the team win. Okay, so you know this question is
coming. Bronnie James. Yeah, okay, you see because I enjoy talking
about Bronnie James. All Right, if I told you, Steve that a
guy had a plus six wings fan, had a forty and a half inch
vertical with a consensus top thirty recruit who went five of eight from three in
the McDonald's All American Game, scored thirteen points in an NBA combine game.
Does that sound like a draft pick to you? The way you say it
convincing me? Yes, all right, exactly so like to me, he
has the profile of a guy who could be drafted late in the second round,
and he went late in the second round. Now, yes, nepotism,
sure that the four year, seven point nine million dollars deal. He
probably doesn't get that. If his dad isn't Lebron James and shirt, maybe
he doesn't get drafted. But I don't think it was crazy that that Bronnie
got drafted when he was a four to five star recruit, a McDonald's All
American who's coming off a cardiac arrest thing that really messed up his freshman season.
Now I am a lebron apologist, I will own that. But Steve,
I don't think it's crazy that this guy got drafted. We're not talking
about Manny pakiaw playing professional basketball in the Philippines like he used to do because
he ran the country. Basically, Like, this is a legitimate draft prospect.
And yeah, it helps that his dad is Lebron James, but like
he has the profile of someone who could potentially play in the NBA. So
I don't think it was crazy that he went late in the second round personally,
So Kevin, just real quick, I'm with my partner Jacon Zaliz here
too. So that's that was his question. He comes up with crazy questions.
Yeah, but Kevin, you also didn't bring up his stats from USC
So there's a little hit. There's that, Okay, all right, so
hey, you guys love TAC twelve basketball. Peyton Watson averaged three point three
points and two point nine rebounds per game his freshman year at UCLA and went
in the first round. Like, it's not always about stats, Angewin Davison's
second leading all time scorer in NBA history minus three points behind Pete Maravich and
didn't get drafted. It's more than just the four point eight points in a
game. Kevin. Let me tell you, I totally agree with you,
because I'm one of those advocates if you were good enough, teams will find
your numbers don't mean anything, right, And I guess I needed to ask
this is Jay Has he looked like an NBA level player though this summer?
That's the question, really, So here here's my answer. I think he
has looked like a summer league level player, which is what most late second
round draft picks look like. I think he knows how to play basketball at
a reasonably high level. He hasn't shot it well, but I've seen plenty
of people not shoot it well. Brandon Pajemski last year in Sudder League shot
twenty five percent from three and thirty three percent from the field. Like he
did not shoot it well, but he went on to have a first team
All Rookie season. Now, I think Lebron James Junior is a fringe NBA
player, which is exactly what this number fifty five overall pick is supposed to
be. So I like, I think he might have a future in the
NBA. He might not, but a lot of people who are drafted fifty
fifth overall sort of have an NBA future. And sort of don't. Right,
So do you think just obviously Pelly has signed his contract, key Shot
his two way, and I believe that they did that for a reason.
Obviously play up. Do you think they'll stick in the NBA. I think
key Shots will stick in the NBA. I think he has the right I
mean, I know it's way too early to say something like that, but
he just has the right attitude about him. He plays hard. The three
doesn't look broke, and I think that will something that will be refined.
And Pella Larson has like a certifiable skill at the NBA level. I do
like as of now, I kind of like key SHOT's NBA future a little
more, but that could definitely change. Yeah, right, other guys around
around the PAC twelve who you recognized, remember, anybody else will stood out
there? Maybe nobody's talking about it, right, we're not thinking about huh.
Yeah, I'm sorry you said from the pack swell well, from the
PAC twelve or anybody you know? All right, Well, I'm going to
do a Jalen Tyson game on Wednesday when the Warriors play the Cavaliers, so
I'll see what Jalen Tyson looks like on an NBA floor. I'm curious to
that. I liked his work at CAL. I saw fardas Amac, another
cow guy. He was with the Sacramento Kings in summer league. He's a
great rebounder. He needs to learn how to finish around the basket better.
I think that's a serious concern for fard Oz. I'm rooting for him,
but I think he really needs to get that figured out. Otherwise, if
he can't do that against NBA sort of athleticism, his his career might be
better suited for overseas. So though those are the first two names that come
to my mind, I'm racking my head for some other pack twelve guys that
I saw. Josh Tristopher, he's on the Miami Heat summer League team.
That this guy who was the first round pick just three years ago. He's
trying to work his way back in the NBA. He certainly has the athleticism
to get back there. They I talked with the guy with with a person
around the Miami Heat. They seem to like him in this summer league.
So yeah, those are some of the names that are coming to my mind
right now. I haven't seen Cody Williams yet. For the Utah Jazz so
that Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to watch him play. But those are
the names that are coming to my mind right now. Who have a couple
of minutes left. Let me ask you, I think you do the women's
Stamford team too, right you are you? Yep? So tell me what's
what's the not fallout but your thoughts on Tara leaving and then the replacement?
Now, yeah, you know, Kate pay is the perfect person's takeover the
program. Maybe she played for Tar for four years. She has been an
assistant coach for seventeen years. She knows the program inside out. That the
staff, It's been a pretty seamless transition. Everyone's very familiar with Kate.
They just had to hire one extra assistant coach. I believe she came from
Notre Dame. I haven't met her yet, but the rave reviews about her.
Look. I've known Kate for ever since her first year as an assistant
at Stanford. She's a great fit for the program. She she gets it.
She knows what it's all about. She knows what it what it means
to be a Stanford student. Uh and that's a big part there there at
Stanford to get that aspect of it. She has been great to me.
I'm a big fan of her, and look, losing keiky Uri often really
hurt her being at USC. That USC is going to have a chance to
win a national championship this year, So that's gonna that's gonna be tough.
The adjustment to having conference games three thousand miles away is going to be tough
playing in the ACCU. But look there there might be you know, that's
gonna be an adjustment. But I don't expect a Steve drop off. I
expect Kate pay to keep this thing rolling as best as possible. But what's
the buzz around the yeah, fleg department about all of this? And you
know, I mean, are people are they talking about and dreading the travel?
Are they just saying, look, it is what it is, let's
go. I mean, what's the feeling about about that? Because that's that's
as dramatic a change as there is any of the t I mean, I
can tell you the women's basketball staff is excited to see these new places in
the ACCU. Personally, Like, I think it's a shame that the PAC
twelve exploded. I'm still very upset about it. But I know that Stanford
and count did the best that they can do by moving to the ACC.
And so look, it's gonna be cool to see like Virginia Tech for the
first time, for Florida stay for the first time. We'll see how long
Florida stay last in the ACC and Clemson and before you know, there's that
whole thing going with the conference of them trying to leave. But but yeah,
there's the excitement of seeing new places. There's the reality of man,
you got to play so many games so far away from home. Well,
we'll see how we feel about this in a couple of years. But I
think Stanford and Colt did the best they could do with what they had.
And lastly, we got just one of one minute left your thoughts on Arizona's
idea, Barnes and the program and it so badly wants to get to that
top of that league. Now it's got a new league. Yeah, well,
I mean I went to you know, I remember when Arizona women's basketball
did not have a lot of people at those games, so Stamford was comfortably
beating them by thirty or forty Ada Barnes turned that thing around. I mean,
they were an Aarry McDonald three away from winning the national championship. She
has done a hell of a job with that program. Basically, from the
time Shantonese Folk died until like twenty nineteen, they were a complete afterthought in
women's basketball. But Ada Barnes really brought that program back. And look,
Big twelve. You got to deal with Baylor now, one of the premier
programs in women's basketball. That's not going to be an easy thing to do.
Texas is always going to be an Elite eight threat. So those are
some tough programs they're gonna have to deal with. But they came from the
best conference and in college basketball, well, it's a shame that there's going
to be no more packed well women's basketball because that was the cream of the
crop and now we're all over the play. Yeah, you're right, Well,
Kevin, you're pretty good at this. Maybe you should become part of
a professional you know. Hey see, thanks for having me on to talk
James and whatever. Hey, we'll have you back. Yeah, thanks a
bunch, Kevin, all right, thank you, thank you. He was
good. Yeah, he was good stuff and good stuff. I mean,
guys obviously knows this knows this stuff, right, I mean he dropped stone
Pulse name. I mean okay, yeah, who reads that? Right,
that's almost twenty years ago? Right? Yeah, okay, no good?
All right, let's come back and we talk more about it. All right?
Sounds great. If you're naires are a man's basketball fan, you know
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It's so hot and sticky. I can't stand this humidity. I'm melting
out. So you can either check for hot flashes than duck or call picture
rocks, cooling, eating and plumbing. It's not hot flashes. We're calling
the picture rocks, cooling, eating and plumbing right now at five two zero
four, nine two zero seven or eight Chicks Rocks, pulling, gating and
plumbing, Steve Rivera and Jake and Salez they have their eye on the ball
on Tucson Sports Stage, Jeff Fox Sports fourteen fifty streaming live on the iHeartRadio
wim, Hey, welcome back to my I on the Ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, You're Jake, and you're Henry and we
got fourteen minutes left in this first hour. When it call please do five
to two, four one, six, seventy four forty. It was good
to have Kevin on even dropped like you said a Shantanese Polk reference. Yeah,
yeah, few would remember that, and that was a big, big,
big part of the history of Arizona basketball. Yeah, big time women's
basketball, big time. Yeah. So, Judges, I've had the Miami
Heath Summer League game on and Keishad Johnson is in the game and came on
just in time to watch him get a steal breakaway, and so U it's
hard for me to argue with Kevin or and agree with him whether he has
a better NBA career than Pelle. And I say that only because uh I
said this before when I bet apparently made the bet with Brian. I didn't
think either of them were going to get drafted or either them would stick in
the NBA. They both offer two different styles, they're they're two completely different
guys. And the thing is that the same height, right, you know,
I mean it just didn't seem like you that that was taller, bigger
because because of the presence, but he's not that they're both listed at six
six as his Imy hawkis, but yet two completely different players. Pelee is
a you know, he's a he's an outside player. You know he can
guard. You know he can guard, uh, you know with the perimeter,
the perimeter guys, he's got it. He's got a three point shot.
Key Shot is more you see him more as an inside guy, a
physical guy. Uh can can you know, hold hold his weight in the
paint and still and depending on the perimeter, defend on the perimeter a bit,
but probably not Pelle would could defend a point guard. You don't see
Key defending the point guard, probably because he didn't really have to, right,
I don't. I don't know, because to me, Key Shot is
just a he's just he's a he's a Dennis Rodman guy. Needs to be
three inches taller, and he needs to shoot the ball better. If he
can shoot the ball better, he's Dennis Rodman to me in a sense that
he can go after balls and get twelve games. Yeah. But but again,
as you know, as as Kevin said, you know, he looks
like he works hard. Yeah, well he does hustles, he does,
he does. You know, you do all those little things. They're willing
to take those things and say, well, the other stuff will come along.
So you know, again, Solomon Hill is a you know, is
a perfect example of that. TJ. McConnell's an example of that. You
do all the all the little stuff, you know, they can you can
get to the big stuff because a lot of guys don't like to do the
little No. No, we talk about this like the TJ. McConnell's and
he said, you got to fit the system, and especially the system that
you're playing for, right, and if you're on the end of the bench,
you you're a guy that's happy to be on the end of the bench.
Those checks still cash, right, and you're happy to be there and
you're gonna do whatever you can to contribute. Yeah. The funny thing about
he's bringing is your Bronny question up? Hey, when he was just don't
put a name to the stats, right, Okay, sounds good. But
then if the other side you bring this name to the stats on the other
bad part, Right, do you think that guy doesn't belong? Yeah,
well you could use well you know this, the stats are good for what
you need them for, right exactly, it'll be interest to see. Let's
say Brownie hangs on and key Shot does not. You're gonna go, wait,
key Shots ten times a player, Bronne Jane, Yeah, what the
hell's going on there? Yeah, he's not playing for the for the Lakers,
right, No, that's just kind of and you know this because and
Henry knows this better than both of us, because you watch his party more
NBA games than I do, and you do. Uh, there's names on
those rosters that we have no idea who they are. And you didn't hear
them in college, and maybe they played a little for their international pairs,
but even the non college don college big names are on those rosters. You
know what I'm saying, Could you come up with one right now? And
just kind of there's dudes that we never heard before and they're playing. Yeah,
I'm playing well, playing well. They just didn't have the opportunity,
you know. And I'm not talking about the kid from Memphis. What's his
name? They got in trouble with the guns, No, no, no,
with Memphis, Memphis. Yeah, he got in trouble. Half to
half the gear set out Trumman and he and he played for a small school
and we knew when he's come out after the playoffs, right, but before
that, we didn't know who he was, right, Uh, and he
becomes that guy. Yeah, so yeah, again, it's as as as
Kevin said, and a lot of people say, you only need one time,
one team to like, one team to like you, and if you're
lucky enough to land with that team, then you got a shot. Gab
like Gab Gabrielle liked you, and that's the girl you found. You turn
out okay, you just need one girl like you. You know, we
really really really didn't have to go there, did we. You know,
you're just mad because your roof got blown off. That's all. Every every
every pot has you found yours. It was completely completely unnecessary, just totally
no, you're mad. You're mad because you have no roof at your house.
That's all that's what that's about. You're just crank. Roof is because
you're just cranky over there. My roof is good and shows you're just mad
at that. No, I'm just making it out. I'm still looking for
my one. You had one. No, God, that didn't fit,
that goes the wrong lead, glove don't fit, wrong lead, don't fish.
Let's quit. Wow, Wow, okay, all right, okay,
nobody want to call please do five to four one, six, seventy four
forty get us out of this mess. It helps us. We have nine
minutes. Uh uh what else? You know? It's like less than fifty
days of football before football start. Now we're getting there season. It's happening
fast, Steve. But uh, you know we're uh, we're getting there.
Man. We're going to talk some football. Did we did we find
out when practice starts? No? I haven't looked at that. You haven't
said, okay, yeah, okay, because that's we're less than two weeks
away. I'm sure it got to be July twenty eighthish or twenty ninth ish,
If not before that, it's gotta be sometime soon. But uh,
but we are going to talk some other some football with Tim Everson from uh
He covers football for the Manhattan Mercury, which is the local paper where Kansas
State is located. And we'll just get some thoughts, some thoughts on their
Wildcats also, you know, just you know, welcoming in Arizona to the
league. You know. Again, one of the things I want to ask
all these people that we talked to who were in the Big twelve, what
were you thinking about Arizona and ASU and as they as they were talking about
coming in, what was your impression you thinking this is good? This is
bad? They sucked? They don't suck, you know. Uh was it
like, Okay, well we'll take them because if we don't, you know,
our our league is terrible, you know, with Oklahoma and Texas leaving.
I don't know. I just want to find out, you know,
just an outsiders view, what they think of the of the four schools in
particularly Arizona coming over and sort of what's the reputation of what's Arizona's reputation with
them? That's that's my thoughts. So anyways, yeah, okay, okay,
did did you ever did you ever play the the that college video game
is out? Did you ever play that? No? No, I'm a
video game guy, like I said, that's because more we and no,
that's right. No, no, my sons. My sons played soccer,
so they played the song. They played the college football game. No,
no, you Henry, No, surprisingly not. I'm surprised too. It
was more like games. Okay, that makes sense, that makes sense.
Why you ask? Just it came out today? Okay, So is that
the one they're getting six six thousand dollars or something like that. Our players
getting six thousand dollars, six hundred, six hundred game will raise I guess
six Yeah, six hundred dollars they needed they get if you allow your if
you allow your image to be in the in the game, you have six
hundred bucks and a copy of the Why wouldn't you write why not free money?
Yeah? I mean because it's you're either in or you're out. You
can say, well, no, six hundred bucks is not enough. That's
say fine. In the game. Did you see that? What's his name?
Arch Manny initially opted out, and then he said he did a video
like a week ago announcing yeah, and then he said, I mean,
okay, yeah, not like you need some money, right, put me
in? Yeah, maybe someone will play me. But you know, seeing
guys like you, the generation right, justin Spears and some of these guys,
they're on social media and they're showing videos of the of the plays from
their games and stuff like that. They're playing it again. I played it
a couple of times and it wasn't any good at it. But my son
who's thirty one now, and he was, you know, a little kid
when it first came out, and it hasn't been off for eleven years,
so he was twenty when they stopped putting it out. You know, they've
been waiting for it, you know, but all his buddy's been waiting for
it. Their wives must be very happy about that. Let's take this call.
Hi, you're on the air and I on the ball. How's it
going today? What's up, Brian? Don't talk to me. I just
to worried about you. I'm fine, thank you. That's me every day,
Brian, every day. No, no, no, this was a
bad weekend for him. Well, because the Dodgers were not very good.
My softball team, my my co ed softball team could have beat the Dodgers
the last two games. They were terrible. God. I mean I sat
there and I watched that game and on Saturday, I'm going, Okay,
they're up nine to four, no big deal, and wait for the next
one. Yeah, and yeah, that was ugly and I was worried.
I was really worried about you. Jay. I was fine. Look,
here's here's why I'm fine, Brian is because they're so far ahead in the
in the Western Division. Look, you know, you go through this thing,
you get you get it out of the way and get onto the playoffs
and see what happens. But you know what, I've got no no expectations
of them in the playoffs because they're they don't have the pitching to make it.
They don't have the pitching to make it. You know, all the
guys are hurt. So don't you know, I'm I'm at peace with where
they're headed. You know, maybe maybe they'll make maybe they don't make some
moves. I mean, there's plenty of time. Yeah, you know,
try to find some pitching. I mean, if they're counting for Kershaw to
get back there in trouble, well, Kershaw bureau a bunch of guys,
a bunch of Yeah. So every every team has the same problem. Yeah,
exactly. They they hammered they hammered the Dodgers, So that's what I'm
saying. I saw that, and I'm like, they're not going to beat
these guys in the playoffs. So I'm not worried about it. Yeah,
I just I was just worried about you, you know. You know,
but Adam text me and told me you were fine. You're playing golf.
Yeah, we were golfing. We were golfing on Saturday. And I did
see that mess on yesterday and I just changed the channel. Hey, this
is how bad it was. I changed the channel to a soccer match.
Oh that's that's pathetic. So there you go. That that was me.
I'm all good. Okay, thanks all right, Brian, thank you.
Okay. So, so did you see the play that Radugo made yesterday?
Oh you ran in on the ball and they went over make Yeah, yeah,
that was a that was a walk off, right. Yeah. I
also saw the walk off where the the catcher, the Colorado catcher, threw
it while threw it over the picture's head on a on a throwback, you
know, just got about throw it over his head. There was a runner
on thirty scored in the game. Who teams I think the Colorado I think
against Uh might have been Saint Louis, I don't remember, but that they
lost it on that on a bad throwback to the picture went over, the
pictures went over the picture's head and uh, the run scored from thirty and
that was a walkoff. So yeah, I didn't see it that just you
know, Steve, it didn't feel like stuff like that was as regular as
it is. It's like the baseball has gotten worse. Yeah, it's funny
because just the fundamental stuff. Well, the thing about it, there's how
how can we say this because it said less maybe less Homer Before we see
these things out because everyone has a video, and now maybe because all the
games were publish or published or whatever, we see it more. Yeah,
I don't know, I don't know. You do see a lot more gaffs.
But but all the baseball games have been on TV for quite a while.
I mean, y yeah, the headline and highlights and stuff. You
just seem to see more really bad like what the Dodgers did yesterday and in
that second game, you know, the who the hell did they play the
Tigers? They scored the two winning runs on bunts. You know, they
had a guy on second. They were bunning them over the ball. You
know, it was a pop flight bunt. Nobody could get to it.
They threw it, and the guy's up at third, and then the guys
ends up at second, so they bunt again, try to throw the guy
out at third and throw it away and he scores in the winning run score.
It was like stupid, It's all stupid stuff, you know, and
and it just seems like there's more of that, you know. And then
the discussion about, uh, you know, what's the Mendoza line now,
right where it used to be two hundred twenty four was what we used to
call the Mendoza line, and I'll have to look that up. But now
it's it's like every team's got four guys in their batting order, you know,
at it's two hundred, two hundred batting average. Just called them Mendoza
line. And now it's like you go to you go to a lineup and
there's four guys batting under either around or under two hundred. Right, Well,
who's the guys are considered stars? Well, even if they're to Kyle
Schwerber, you know, he hits forty homers a year, but he bats
one eighty. Well, but he's a star. The guy who's the leadoff
for the Diamondbacks, he's about two hundred now, he's about two ten or
whatever it was. When I saw him, he was like one seventy five.
You're your leadoff here. Used to have to bat three hundred at least
to get on base, right, you had you had to be batting three
hundred. Yeah, and now it's like it doesn't matter if you can runs,
you're good. Jay, I'm a firm believer, like fundamentals, blah
blah blah. And now they talk about trajectory and that's just play the game.
And maybe I'm too old. Just hit the damn ball, Just hit
the just hit second. There've been over three thousand homers this year, and
then there've been like twelve thousand strikeouts or something like that. Yeah, just
step to now. No one talks about the strikeouts exactly. Yeah, okay,
all right, Hey, we're at the top of the hour. Henry,
Oh my lord, you too, I know. And he's going to
be back with breaking knees, aren't you, Henry. He's got it all
right, We'll be right back