This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Ja Gonzalez Sound Fox Sports
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R two SAD and iHeartRadio Station at good Good afternoon. Everybody, Welcome to
Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera,
He's Jaginsaus. We've got our guys sit in today. Fifteen minutes to talk
in this first segment here two hours on the air. If you'd like to
give us a quick call when we're not on the phone. Five two zero
four one six seventy four forty Jay, did you miss me? And there's
only one right answer. No, No, I didn't. That's not the
right end. That wasn't the answer. Wasn't the answer. Hey, Sammy,
Sammy kick button man. Sammy's good. He came in here. He
was prepared. He was way more prepared than you and I ever are its
fool, the young fool. He worked at it. Man. Look,
it was this big shot, right, it was a big shot. He
did a great job. We had some good conversation and it was a lot
of fun. So you became smarter after you. I did miss you a
little bit. Yeah, how's that? That's okay? He could none or
none at all, everything or none at all on one of those no in
between. You can't be a little bit pregnant, right Exactly, that's one
of my phrases. Yeah, okay, cool, cool of a big day
tonight or big night tonight. Who would ever thought this a month or two
ago, that Arizona needed a win against Washington State to stay atop of the
Exactly, that's what I said yesterday. And we said to Michael lev I
said, okay, you know, at the beginning of the season, these
are some words that you never would have thought we would say yesterday that Arizona
has a game tomorrow for first place in the Pac twelve against Washington State.
Yeah. And that was it. I mean, that's just that's really it.
And and and a win would prevent a sweep because they've already lost to
them already once, right well, And and a win, I mean a
loss, a loss that may be it for the Pac twelve, you know,
because they because they would have to pass Washington State to win the league.
They couldn't tie with them, they'd have to pass them. So Washington
State would have to lose a couple if Arizona and Arizona would have to not
lose any what's your schedule? Because they're not a role, they're nice.
They've won. I think we said ten of eleven or nine of ten or
something like that, seven seventh straight think some some yeah, some number like
that. I'll look up their schedule here. But you know, for if
Arizona were to lose tomorrow, Washington State would have to lose two times,
and Arizona would have to not lose at all. And I don't know that.
You know, we were talking yesterday. There's got to be a loss
in there somewhere for Arizona. Yeah, I think it's the last. I
think it's the last one or second last one last week? Yeah, wow,
who would ever thought this in Washington State? Good for them, Good
for them. The police need some news like this. You need some love,
They need some love. It's cold up there. Yeah, so this
will be their warm How good. I'll break your prediction tonight, Arizona a
win by how much? Have you know? It's eleven? Eleven and a
half is the last thing I saw? It seems like a lot. But
the eighteen and a half against a SU seemed like a lot too, because
that that AC would put up a fight. Yeah, and they clearly didn't.
They had no fight. And then here's here's the here's a well you
know you can you can if at Washington statebut arizonier night, you could see
them not losing another game because they've got at a s U on Saturday.
Then their home. Their last three games are home against usc U, c
l A, and Washington. Yeah, yeah, it'll be this is the
key game, key game, a huge game, and I can't believe it's
a huge game. And they're thirteen and one at home. So so on
top of their only loss at home was to uh it was a flukey game.
I think after they played there at ze time. Was it one of
the overtime Uh? No, they lost to Oregon at home. They lost
to before that must after the Arizona game. No, there was two games
before the year. Really well, I would have gift they still Oregon,
then one at US he then then I went home and beat Arizona. Okay,
we'll see what happens. I think I was gonna be okay with tonight,
but we'll see. Okay, And then would you get would you give
the points? Yes? Are you going to give the point? Maybe?
But I would give the point. Give the points, okay, but let
me tell you I'm not doing well so, I mean recently I've been missing
one or two. This could be the one or two. We were laughing
about the fact that I had the yukon night before last. Oh yeah,
yeah, how could you? Bobby? Daddy Harley was looking for you at
the stands. He said, I'm gonna knock you out when he saw me
up in the Seaton. It's gone up to thirteen thirteen. They're taking it.
I don't like that number. One fifty one, thirteen and one fifty
one. The number just scares me now. So it is what it is.
I'll probably stay off of it. What they scored last time up there,
they scored it was a big game. One hundred and forty three.
Yeah, oh under seventy three seventy yeah, okay, I might just do
this one of them. Yeah, anyways, but uh, I don't know.
You know, Tommy's verdy impressed by them, if you heard him on
his press conference yesterday. And they're playing well, I mean again, you
know, comparatively, they're twenty and six Arizona's twenty and five. Arizona's eleven
and three. In the league, they're eleven and four. I mean,
I know the preseason schedule is different, yeah, but the league schedule is
about the same. When when was the last time you heard an opponent's coach
not being impressed with a team coming into their place or you going there?
Well, I know, but it's kind of a seventeen they're the best.
But you know what though, but he the things that he said about what
defensively, yeah, just how defensively you know, he got just it just
sounded more of more than the coach speak. I'm not going to say anything
bad about the other team kind of thing. You know. There's just a
lot of things that they do. He talked about there. They've got a
quirky defense, he said, but it's not a it's not what do you
called it? A gimmick? A gimmick defense and it works, you know
that kind of stuff. So, well, we're gonna have We're gonna have
Greg Woods, who covers Washington State and is in town actually for the covering
Washington State for the Spokesman Review, so he will be on the on the
air, will remind him that we last we talked to him. He as
well as the rest of us, were all wrong when we were picking the
Washington State Arizona game. It couldn't have been further off. But the media,
the media wrong. What are you talking about? They picked him to
finish tenth in the league or eighth in the league, whatever it was.
What the hell do we know? Nothing? So Greg, Greg, you
know he could again, he could be your grandson. It looks like from
his pictures all these kids that we have on how old are you? Twenty
two? Just out of college? So Greg, Greg Woods will join us
here. So you have hopes, you have hope. What do you do?
I'm the president of the United States. Start coach of this old stuff.
And then uh, in the second hour, we're gonna have Jeff Neil,
who is the head boys soccer coach at bush Ridge. They want a
state championship. Yeah, we're trying to, you know, roll through and
get some of the state championship winning coaches and or players on the show.
Uh. You know, somebody tweeted us the other day said, you know,
be sure you got Sunnyside. Well we're trying. Yeah, But Anthony
Leone, the head coach as well as Audrey hey Man is the possible Olympic
Women's Olympic wrestler or out of the country right now at an Olympic qualifiers,
So we are trying to get them, so please be pitchid next week.
Yeah, we'll get him. We'll get him when we can. But just
want to make sure that the Sunnyside folks know we're not ignoring uh that program
right well? Okay, uh yeah, a lot of them. And see
who's in the finals tomorrow in the soccer points got both of the boys and
girls. All they do is win in that program, so we'll see what
happens that point. The South Point boys are playing Micah Mountains. There's gonna
be a Tucson state champion in the four A for boys. I think so
forty boys, so we will have a two state champion there and then a
bunch of the basketball teams are still cruising along, right Okay, cool,
if you guys want to call five two four one six Sunnyside boys, oh
yeah, got beat tenty four to oh and one and the yeah last week
this week one of the just reaching over the weekend. Yeah, oh yeah,
I saw the up in Phoenix, up in Phoenix. That's a tough
one, man. Yeah, to go undefeated and then losing a in a
state fine in early round rounds, the early round. Yeah, even in
the finals they were the they think they fished the eighth seed from Uh.
Yeah, Jagier was up there. How you can they always tweet me and
let me know how does that happen? Yeah? You know Arizona kids.
Man, what do you do? High school kids? Right? Right?
Okay, okay, back to U high school? Stoff got women's basketball on
the road. Uh did you u? Who do we have on? Was
it Candrea Canrea? Yeah? Uh? And I thought this was interesting.
We didn't talk about this after the that he said and this is probably him
probably waxing poetic, but very sincere what he said about Ada that this may
be the best coaching job she's done while here. I found that to you?
He said that, right? What did you think? Did you even
think what he what he said? Any thoughts when he said that, because
you know, we're always thinking of the circumstance. What was going on?
Right? When you think of the circumstance, and if you don't try and
if you don't try and make assumptions for why she's got few players. You
know, certainly, Uh true, you can make that argument that she's playing
with seven players, she's still winning games. Uh she's in the middle of
the pack in the a very tough league. Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe
it is. You know, it makes me go back to that that scene
in that movie Blue Chips, right when you know, in his rant at
the end of the at the end of the movie, Nick Nolty was the
head coach of a u c l A like team. I want to hear
this quote he thought he thought the best coaching job he did was the previous
year when they went like sixteen and sixteen or something like that. He said,
that was the best coaching job I did because I felt like I got
the maximum out of my players. We didn't win the number of games that
you wanted us to win, but I felt like that was the time that
I most got the max of my players. And that's what you're looking for,
Right If I got everything I could out of them, and that's the
best that we could do because and we gave it the best, then that's
what you're trying to do. Because there are times when you have a great
team, you have great players and you don't get the best out of them,
and you lose to Princeville, or you lose to Santa Clara, or
you lose to you know, Saint Peter's or whoever, and you feel like
you didn't get everything that you should have gotten. Sure, well, it's
well, first of all, where did you pull that quote from? Because
I see that movie all. I love that. It's one of those movies
that I can jump into anywhere in the movie and just watch the rest of
it. Shack, Benny Hardaway, Bobby Hurley's in it, Beheimen in it,
Bobby Knight's in it, or it's Traveling's in it, Louke Carni second
and second, lou Campinelli's in it. You know, uh, but all
these guys are in it. And and then Larry Bird's in it, you
know when he says like ninety six is shit when he came out, Well,
they got actual college players to do the college basketball scenes. And the
review at the you know when that movie came out was that it was great
because the basketball and it looked like college basketball right right. It was a
kind of updated version of my one of my favorite movies when I was a
kid one on one one one with Bobby Benson. Yeah, okay, yeah,
no, cool, Yeah, that's how you think. That's why I
pulled that. I see. In fact, if it's on, I'll watch
it just to see that end scene when he was when he ran, when
he ran, that was just kicked out the door, and it was kind
of a softer version of Bobby Knight that he was, you know, yeah,
exactly. He kicked the ball in it, he kicked the basketball in
it, he punted the basketball in it. Made me think that they literally
got that from Luke, you know, when Luke tried to punt the ball
at at Oregon. Yeah. Well, okay, okay, so many things,
man, Yeah, well you know, coaches got to motivate, got
to motivate. Okay, So tonight's game, whatever else is going on,
you want to talk about, let's talk about Shwan rucle. We have two
minutes, so Sean be and Sean well, we can't play the clip because
it's more than two minutes, and I want to play. You have to
beat something. I bleeped a bunch of stuff two minutes. I thought it's
like almost three, oh, because you went further than just a minute of
me talking about him talking about he went to the They we'll talk about it.
Yeah, we'll catch it on the rebound. But we've got some cool
stuff from Sean Miller. If you haven't, if you haven't seen his his
you call it a rant, right little bit of a ramp and his roster
providence. It's not that he touched the ball rant, but it's well,
I really you know, when he talks about what happened, really, that's
the first thing that came to my mind was he touched the ball. He
said, I just said this and that's all I said, and I got
technical fall for it. Well, Sewan being sewn don't mean he was so
shot in that whole Oh yeah, yeah, the whole thing. Well,
you think about it, and and this is no. I think Sean's a
fantastic coach in his way and his method, but there's nobody just dut dot
dot uh. He when he sat out the year, he gained a lot
of experience kind of re evaluated him. He found this revaluating his way of
doing things. And then I see this and I think I'm not sure sure
you would to I'm not sure where you found yourself. Well, look,
no matter what you are who you are, right, And that's exactly where
I was gonna go with it. Because you are who you are, you
are, you are, you could be, You can do things different,
you could get lighter sided. Maybe that was a better version of what he
could have done. That was worse, That was better than he touched the
ball. But in the end, and most often in a crisis, right
or or in a situation like that, when you're pissed or something, who
you are, that's most likely time that it's gonna that it's gonna come out
right right. That's how your defense mechanism is working there. Okay, let's
go. Let's go take our break. Greg Woods, the Washington State beat
writer for the Spokesman Review up in the Spokane'll they'll be on the show and
we'll talk about this game coming up tonight. So I'll stick around. Make
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Live, I mean, iHeartRadio. Wow. This is I on the Ball
with Steve Rivera and Jacob Salez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Welcome back to
Iron the Ball Here at Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Where in the hell am
I? I'm Steve Rivera, You're Jagan Zealiz. Now we have Greg Woods,
who covers the Washington State basketball. Greg Woods just wondering what he got
himself into by a green to view. Yes he has no he's been with
us before. I know that. But he's like, you know, two
men to two men and a beat writer. Two old guys. Yeah,
So what's going on, Greg, I know you're busy working already. Yeah.
Well, I they're wrapping up Shooter around right now at the arenas.
I've kind of been hanging out and watching a few that thing and it's exciting.
It was still guy, I mean, he's like six hours old tip
off, which is kind of the same. Here we are, here we
are so you know, we were Steve and I were talking and brought kind
of brought this up yesterday that nowhere during the anywhere during the season did we
think that today we would be saying that Arizona versus Washington State is a game
for first place in the Pac twelve. I mean, how surprise, shocked,
whatever word do you want to use? Are you about? You know
what the Kooks have done so far? Totally, it's been a big surprise.
I mean they were picked tense, I want to say in the preseason
pack twelve pool, which I mean that looks silly, but I mean at
the time I think it wasn't that outrageous. I mean he got I mean
almost you know, entirely new team. The guy. I mean, I
mean, you know, a fashion you know, running point guard, so
a lot of new pieces, a lot of moving parts. So yeah,
I'm pretty surprised. I mean, they would tell you that they're not surprised
obviously, but I think it just kind of, you think about it from
a good objective kind of perspective, I think it would max tense to be
surprised because of you know, just they lost a lot of the you know,
really because of you know, over the off season and much of like
has been the case under Klausmith's tenure, they just had to rebuild on the
fly. And so yeah, I'm pretty surprised. I'll do you know,
our surprise, Yeah, first place on the lines. Crazy. I'm wondering
if they had not been this good or not in this situation, you probably
wouldn't even be here. No, not at all. No, I mean
I once we kind of realized, I mean I think the first one,
we kind of realized that they might be as good as they be Arizona Home,
and I think people around the area were like, man, these guys,
it might be for real. So that's when I started kind of making
planes to come on trips like this. So I'm excited to be here,
this winning streak that they're on. You know, both you know, at
home and on the road. What did something click? You know? And
it sort of started, you know, right after right before they played Arizona
they won three in a row. There took a a loss that I can't
explain to and then a bunch of a bunch of wins after that. Did
something click? Did you see something different once this thing got going? And
if so, or if not, what what? What is it? I
just think like the more they played together, I think it's just a huge
for them. I mean, a lot of them that not play together just
you know, like I said, because of how new the team is,
so I think, just like it sounds very cliche. I realized that,
but like I really do think the cohesiveness has just been a very can't really
overstate how big of a deal there's these guys and then that I think that
combined with the implementation of just like the matchup zone they been playing on defense.
It was around pretty shortly after the d Arizona actually, in like late
January or so, they went to a matchup zone because they realized that two
of their guys would not become back in the injury and they needed to kind
of free up their main guys to not be invalligable. They need to not
kind of exhaust them, you know, for the long haul. So they
started playing this matchup zone. Was given a lot of teams problems just because
I mean it's it's hard to kind of get a hold on you know,
what's what are they doing on defense? You know, there's a lot of
qunching going on on defense, which makes it hard to kind of get a
looks on offense. So I think like those two things that the six use
for them, and most of all, I mean, the more they play
with each other, I mean, the more you can kind of job was
just cook it for them. And yeah, no time going down, that's
for sure. How long have you been covering the team? How long is
have you been covering the team? Last summer I got this, Well,
I've been covering football, so that I got the job, like last summer
covering the program. Okay, I remember that. So so now that the
coach and this happens, and you know, this basketball doing very well,
it's hard to win the police, Uh, this coach might be looked at
by other programs now totally. Yeah, I mean there's there's been some rumors
about, you know, if the Washington job comes open with Kyle Smith's lato,
I want to go there. I'm not sure whether up these are right
now, but yeah, I mean the more he went here, well he
shows that he could win, you know, wherever he goes. I mean,
he wanted Columbia, he wanted uh, San Francisco. He's won here,
like all these different places that like had not was good and you know
who knows before he got there. So I think like for him that it's
huge because he's just show that he can take you know, simil where it's
hard to win, like mans and you know, make him into winners,
which makes him a pretty attractive tendidate anywhere, but especially a place like you,
Doug, where you know they fod a few down years for sure.
So let me ask you, and I always ask this for guys like this,
So what's his secret, sauce, I mean, what's what makes him
that guy? I think it's a few things. I think one, he
just has like this awesome eye for talent. I mean, like this on
this year's team, for example, you know they have guys like Isaac Jones,
who played three years at a junior college, played last year Idaho.
He's like the second best player. I mean Miles Rice, who's the best
player, I mean, Whilezo was his only power five offer Oscar Cluff who
played center for them, also from a duco in Arizona. So I just
think that like he has just this I for uh, funding guys that don't
have you know, a million offers, and so that's been huge. And
I think he gives a lot of better a lot of time to his staff.
Jim Shaw, who's been awesome, Uh handled the defense. He was
a big reason why they went to the matchups going to be in with and
so I just think like his his eyes of talent and the staff he's put
it put around him has been awesome. And then just I mean, I
mean it's like the development of the guys on you know, that are on
the team now. I mean this within the season, they've been getting better
and better and better, which again sounds clu see, but I think that's
you know, kind of an understated the reason why they've become so good.
It's just the way they brought these guys along, you know, to doing
the first place. But also just like within the season that getting a lot
better. You know, I knew I as we speak At his press conference
today, Tommy Lloyd uh mentioned Miles Miles Rice, who uh you know,
had to go through chemotherapy last about this time last year for for lymphoma.
And and just in credit story, you know that he is or a couple
of years ago, I get no blast year. How inspiring can a guy
like that be, you know, for a whole team, and how much
has that entered into maybe why these guys are doing what they're doing. I
think it's awesome. Yeah, he Uh, you can't overstate how awesome of
a story that is. I mean, he he was read treating obviously his
true freshman year and then you know, you know, like you said,
set out with Huskins with film last year, and I think that's been you
know, huge for them. It's just been you know, someone that can
rally around and whatnot for sure. But I think, like I'm almost at
a point where and I think this, I think he would tell you the
same thing like he I think they're kind of past that. I mean that
they're past that because that's that that will stick with them for as long as
he lives. But like he's become so good so fast that like I think
the bigger story right now is like he's become so good as to diminish the
storyline of him beating cancer, which sounds insane, So like, I think
you have to be really good, So that's for the whole anything to do.
You know, our best are part of your story. But that's how
good he's been. And I just think the more he plays like this,
yeah, people will keep bringing up the cancel thing, but I think the
more he plays as well as yeah, it's just more about how awesome he
is in his first to a point in firefy basketball. Typically, typically there's
not a whole lot of fans in Washington States games. Has that improved now
that they've been very very good this year? For sure? I think the
first Arizona game in January was a season high in at ten, and so
I want to say that was like fifty three hundred or something like that,
and then the other game with ad Stanford, I want to say he was
close to that. I don't know, I'd have to go back in the
book, which obviously, I mean, it's nothing compared to the numbers that
you know Arazella's going in. But I mean, while do hasn't been good,
I mean in like a decade and a half. I mean, there's
just like a lot of apathy around the fan base, and you know,
understandably so for sure, I'm not signing Blaco, so it's hard to kind
of generate, you know, that that height when they haven't been good in
that long. So but I mean they're they're pointing well, and I think
fans are trying to wake up. And even I mean even those numbers for
as you know, relatively small as they are, are still kind of oppressive
just because of how long it's been that they've been just good and how hard
it is. The kind of kind of you know, engender that the heights
on the fan base within a single season. I they were trying to do
well. Well. You were talking about about about the coach and you know
just that he's he's got an eye for talent, but you know, on
the floor and you know what he's doing there, I mean, what what
what I mean? What is he doing that's got getting the most out of
these guys. You look at Miles Rice, you look at Isaac Jones and
the numbers they're putting up, and you know, again Rice is a freshman.
I mean there's something that besides you know, having a good eye for
talent, he's coaching him to do something. What is it that he's doing
totally? I think like a part of it has just kind of given these
guys confidence, uh, you know, giving him the green light to do
their thing. I mean not a lot of coaches, you know, would
would be that ready to trust a red shirt pressman in these biggest spots.
But I think it's just like kind of in viewing them with confidence that like,
hey, you know you belong at the stage. You know we're gonna
keep going you even when you know when you make the stage. Like I
remember, uh, maybe you dubbed a few weeks ago in Seattle, like
you know, Miles Rights at a table throwing overt overtime, but they went
right back to him, you know, you know the point after that.
So I think you're just kind of intangibles as are pretty bullet in that way.
And I mean tactically, I think he's he's awesome on defense. That's
kind of like you said, where uh Jim Shaw comes in a lot of
times they're always in confete shot type. Okay, how can we you know,
improve on defense? And uh what kind of works that were giving us
so I think like this tactically, he's he's he's putting the right lineups in
there, kind of figured it out after a little bit, like, hey,
you know, our our best lineup is having uh Miles right, sayma
Wells Offra Cluff, Isaac Jones and then Andrew Kmoby off. This think it's
just like kind of figuring out, you know, the right mind ups,
which they did about a month ago, and then I mean ever since then,
it's kind of all come together for him. Nice. So what type
of game do you I know, we got about four or five minutes uh
here, what type of game do you expect tonight? I mean, I
don't I don't think it'll go. I mean I don't think well people have
as easy as the time winning as they did in Pull Mincess there. I
mean, this will be for sure the biggest draft they've played in front of
the season, and I think very a lot of these guys maybe ever,
I mean for sure Miles right and playing at first year Pac twell basketball fame
off Cuffs, So a lot of these guys, it's like, you know,
it's hard to play in front of a car like that, especially when
they get going. So I think that's you know that, Uh, that'll
be a factor. I think if the coups can play at the pace they
want, because I mean these two teams are like very opposite to tempt the
pace, you know, obviously walking up one to get out and run twops
a rather slowed down and kind of working in the post. So I think
it's just more about, you know what, to dictate the pace and play
the way they want to play, which, yeah, at think of a
difference as they have in terms the play style. I think the team that
play they want to play, well, you know, pretty give it a
pretty big advantage concerning well, we're going to remind you that all three of
us actually when we had you on the show last before the football game between
Arizona Washington State, we couldn't have been further off than we were. That
guy, you know, well, I don't Yeah, I don't think anybody
saw that one coming. It's certainly not here, that's for sure. Well
let's uh, let's switch gears just a little bit here. You know,
all the stuff that's going on with the realignment. We saw that the college
football playoffs, you know, came out with their five to seven uh format
and stuff. Like that, how are the fans and the administration if they're
handling you know, what's happened to them? And what's you know, what's
the strategy, What are they trying to do? How are they what are
they trying to wind up? You have any ideas? I mean, I
if I knew what I I mean, I mean to be, I thought
you would just be speculating. If I had a better pull us, I
would you be reporting it. But I mean, I think among the fans
there's kind of a sense of I mean, I don't want to say gratitude
because obviously there's still a lot of you know, bitterness for you know,
having been left behind this whole cycle. But I think I think, you
know, they feel it could have been a lot worse. I mean,
they got control the whole freak back to for you know, so that was
a big deal, I mean, a big win in the organ States.
And I think with that they've been able to kind of kind of asteraloges some
fears, and you help fans realize that, hey, you know, we
might not be in the fact of twelve as we know it, but you
know, we still have a championships and obviously that'll be a lot harder with
the playoffs going to five seven, like you said, but I think there
is there's a sense among the fan base, hey, this could have been
a lot worse for us, and uh right now, I think they just
need to hammer out like TV deals and and took off times because I think
there's for you know, for for Coke Schultz, Kerk Saltz the president here,
it's like a bouncing act of like, hey, you know, we
want to you know, generate the most revenue, but but we also want
the exposure, uh forgetting that a sco times, which those don't always you
know, go hand in hand. So I think they got to do somethroning
out with that type of thing. With the tamplet. They'll begin that done
somewhat do and according to you know, different things I've read, so that's
kind of I would say the main priority right now, which is examply we'll
get some more clarity on you know coming up too. I'm curious about your
situation, your your first year there covering the team. You're you're a young
dude. Uh do you live in Pullman or in Spokane and you must have
a kind of almost exclusivity with the team because there's one paper and and the
TV stations are in Spokane. Yeah, so I live in Pullman and there's
really just two kind of daily uh outlets that cover them. It's me and
the two pot seven outlets called kuksand that cover them the most. So both
they're a writer and I both him and Ivan Pullman and most of you kind
of like most of the TV stations are out of Spokane, out of Lewiston,
so and that way, Yeah, it's it's cool to kind of get
into the scene because there's really just two of us that cover them daily.
And I mean even I'm the only one from from Pullman, Spokane that's here
on this trip. So a lot of times, just the way it goes,
I mean I said, very fortunate that I work at a paper that
has the budget, you know, and the willingness of semi on trips like
this because it's not a lot of yeah you know places do so so that
way it's awesome. And I mean I guess you know the team and they
all know me, and which you know, it doesn't really happen, you
know, it's the bigger and better you go, and just because there's more
media covering each team. So I feel very fortunate. Man, this is
cool and they're all, you know, very likable guys. That's easy to
root for us. So it's just so yeah, it's just it's a good
time. Well, fantastic. We'll see you tonight at the game. Don't
uh, don't get intimidated by fifteen thousand people and trying not to get in
all the between now and then, right, Yeah, it's a long time
before the game, so yeah, yeah, get some side. Yeah.
I've covered some games down field House, the Morris games and that was back.
Yeah, okay, I think that'll be pretty close for that. Yeah,
it'll be fun. There'll be a lot. Okay, good for you,
Greg, Thank you a bunch. We appreciate it. We appreciate the
time, totally. Thank you great, Greg Woods. He's for the Spokane
Review, Jokesman, reading spokesman, spokesmoking spokesman review in Spokane. Yeah,
uhr is to beat right, covering watch in state. Yeah, good area
if you could deal with that, but not me. Yea, too cold,
it's too cold, too far. My my cousin lives up there.
Yeah, and a great country. It's beautiful, great cold, it's beautiful,
but damn it man. You know, yeah, you know, eighteen
inches of snow in one night is not usual. No, In fact,
I asked this when it's cold here, just would you rather deal with one
hundred and fifteen or or twenty five for weeks? Yeah, go with one
hundred and fifteen two because I can golf from that. I shouldn't, but
I do. Okay, let's do it, all right, let's take our
next Raanko will be back, will take your calls. We're gonna have this
conversation about about Sean Miller coming up with the video that's kind of gone viral.
I'm upset about a technical. Followyguy, A couple of beepsp three beeps,
three beep out, three beeps. All right, so we'll be right
back. If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful
for nearly forty years. Now. Take a look back at the Ludolsen era
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Breaking down all the excess at Alls. It's Steve Rivera and Jagen Salvis.
This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey,
welcome back to I the Ball. Here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve, he's Jay. We have said with us we have thirteen minutes.
If you guys want to call, please do five two zero, four,
one, six, seventy four forty. Great to hear from you see you
about tonight's predictions and all that good stuff. But let's get to Sean your
friend, Shun everybody's friend, everybody's friend. Well, San Miller. They
first of all, I didn't realize that they're thirteen thirteen. Yeah, they're
not gonna get it. They're they're not doing one. But they had a
game of Providence, close game, it's that exavier and uh they lose seventy
nine to seventy five, which was a stunner to me because they were a
favorite. There will beg favorite and uh, you know, it goes down
to the wire. Providence is up by two. Uh, they go in
for a basket in the paint. Guy makes a great block and you know
gets the rebound, a couple of free throws in it's the four point game
and they lose. So after the game against Sean Miller got called for a
technical for in the first half. He was very unhappy about it. And
we'll let him explain it and then yeah, what are gonna say? I
was gonna say, and he's the guy who doesn't get many technicals. He
didn't get many technicals here. Or he was thrown out of that one time
maybe no, it was that one famous he touched the ball. Yeah,
he didn't get thrown off for that, so he he didn't get tossed,
but he got technically the tournament. He did the PAC twelve tournament. But
go ahead. But anyway, so he just had something to say about the
technical father that got called. It's a little bit of a rant. We
had to bleep out a couple of words, but you got to hear this,
and then we'll have a conversation, not so much about Sean, but
just about the issue that he brought up. I got a technical foul.
And you know, one of the things that I've learned, and I got
this, there's a tier system in this league, and I know what tier
I'm in. No one has to remind me. I haven't won enough.
I haven't been here long enough, I haven't been in the final four,
don't have enough championships or wins. I get it. But what I get
a technical foul and this is the second time on this for saying that's five
thousan in a row. Now that's five thousand in a row. That's a
problem. That's a problem, and I get it. I'll take my frightful
place on one knee. But what I'm not going to do is sit and
watch that other coach do anything different than sit on his one knee, because
when you get into these type of games at Creighton in Providence, I don't
want to give Providence one, one point or two points. That technical foul
came at the beginning, in the middle of the first half, and if
that's the bench decorum, then let's let's even out these tiers, all right,
don't pick on the on the week dudes like me. Spread that out.
Get some more guys. We didn't lose because of a technical foul.
The officiating was fine. I thought even des clause strong drive at the end.
Sometimes you get a foul on that call. But Gaines did a great
job. That was an awesome block. That's the play of the game.
He left the left corner, jumped above the rim and blocked DES's layout.
Awesome job. But when you get a technical foul for the that's five thousand
a row. You know, I get it, I know who I am.
I get it, but I don't know just just in terms of how
that feels for our team. And I just want to make sure that as
that tier systems in place, you know, the top tier guy can't do
one thing and then man, I'm sitting on my little, you know,
left knee and getting that that technical foul. That is sickening. There's a
lot at stake. There's a lot of players and people that work real,
real hard game can't be decided by that's five thousand in a row. Tired
of up? I miss him. Well, at the very least, he's
a pretty good quote. It's a lot of pretty good qu Again, when
he said, I said, that's five thoules in a row, I just
replaced that with he touched the ball. Yeah, well I heard. I
felt the same way. He wasn't as crazy with this as he was with
that. But when would you ever think that Sean Miller is a small dude.
Well yeah, I mean he's got it. He's got his reputation and
he's got he's Look when he was at Arizona, he was getting the calls
right. He was every coach at Arizona gets the calls. But and again
what was interesting to me was that he said this, right, a coach
actually came out and said, you know, other coaches get calls that I
don't get, you know, because I don't know that I've heard that much,
if at all, that a coach actually comes out and said there's a
tear system. That's what I thought was interesting about the whole thing. He
I think, do you believe what he said? Well, except for the
fact that the Providence coach is in his first year. Now, maybe he's
thinking, I don't get the calls on the road. He wasn't he was
at home. Oh oh, that's right, he was at home. So
that's what that's my point that that is your point. You're right, he
wasn't. He wasn't home, So I I don't know. I don't know
how he can sit there being Sean Miller, who's been the coach at Arizona,
who's into some of lead eights, and sit there and say, I'm
little Sean Miller and the coach over there on the other side is getting calls
it I'm not good. So so obviously I followed him covering for top years.
I think he's a very good coach. He does his way. His
his way is coaching his way. Uh as always listening and just now because
I've listened to it like three times now, and no, I just lost
what I was going to give you. Uh he you'll agree with me.
Very calculating. He says things for a reason, right, He doesn't bs
and and kind of just say things. He says things specific and every word
is calculating, of course. And he wanted to send a message here.
Whatever that message was, he I don't know, but he's not. He's
not Joe Schmoe coming off the streets and coaching. He's got a heck of
a resume. He's won a lot of games. And he's no small dude.
Yeah, no he's not. He's not little me. I'm not a
little knee. No poor you know, poor me guy, he's not.
But you know, the big issue to me is that his whole comment about
the tears system, because we know it exists, So we do we do
know. And I'll give you the perfect example of this. I don't know
if I've told this story years ago. George Raveling is a usc Okay,
they're playing here. Well, prior to that, just a few games before
in the in the non conference season, one of those hyphenated teams was playing
here, or maybe for some reason, Howson Satan States was playing here,
all right, and the coach, you know, there was a fall call
and the coach just turned around and he was actually facing us. He goes,
damn. He got teed up, and I'm like, whoa you Uh
yeah, I mean lou was still here. He just goes damn and he
got teed up. A few games later, George, same season, George
raveling as the he didn't like. As the ref is going by, he
jumps in the air, like you know, big man, big man jumps
in here, gets about a couple of feet off the ground and says m
f C s ing all right right right at the reft ref, I mean
in his ear, and the ref just went right by. Yeah, yeah,
he didn't hear it's going too fast. Well Corn said something like that
a couple of days ago. Conin You could hear see his mouth moving like
exactly that with the with your little words there. Yeah yeah, Well some
people have it and some people are, hey, you haven't heard it.
Yeah, I mean just said damn it. Well different right here, let
me ask you something. So, do you handle your kids, well when
there were kids, not their adult stuff, did you handle their discipline differently
because you expected, probably differently from all three of them. No, because
we knew they were talking about it behind our back. So what do you
mean? So you kept them all the year the same, like if one
you'd give them the same penalties if if they had penalties. Yeah, it
was all equal. Yeah, okay, are you are you? You're here?
The other Okay, some kids, if they're good kids, you kind
of say, you know, Jimmy, you shouldn't you know better than I
know. When I was a kid, we all got the hell beat out
of it equally. Well probably maybe maybe less less or more lashes for the
other kids. But you know what I'm saying. Were you kind of in
that boat? Are you favorite or not favorite? Well? I was always
the younger one, so I kind of got the bag. I got the
benefits. Well, I will tell you that my brothers thought that I got
off. They always thought that, Yeah, because that was the baby for
a long time. You'll be okay, you'll be okay, you could get
one. He did that, and I did this, and I got this
right. But there's always that welcome to coaching. Coaching the reps, I
say, I said, it was that my parents. It just happened that
my parents were getting softer getting as time went on. Let him go that
my parents were really young when they had those three guys who were all within
four years of each other. Well, you were like kids six. That
was four four, there was three six years. And then me as I
think Kevin Lee would say. By at that time, they're saying, let
him meet the rocks. It doesn't matter, he's not gonna get sick.
Let him. Let him play with the little electric electric put the put the
knife in the electric thing there. Now in that regard, yes, we
treated you know, you know Adam was like we were just you know,
afraid every little thing. And by by the time Rachel came around, I
said, she was playing with knives. She was climbing trees. You know,
she's played with knves. Maybe she'll be a cook. But again,
but the whole tiered system, it exists, It exists. Of course,
Lebron gets calls that, you know, Michael Jordan always got calls. You
know, it's over time, it takes time to build up to that.
But you ultimately do get it. I don't believe that he doesn't get him
because he still has the stare, he still has the presence, and he's
still Sean Miller and Steve we saw him get those calls. Hell, yeah,
Tommy Lloyd gets I don't want to Tommy Lloyd gets the calls here.
Sure he doesn't, and he doesn't mean. It's more about the place,
sure of course. And Tommy doesn't doesn't berate. He kind of like talks
to him. He's not a he's not a braider, he's not a He'll
yell, but then he's not gonna, you know, scream in the guy's
ears. He comes by, like he'll call him by their name. He'll
say, whatever your name is, Like no, But I just loved his
his tiered system a commentary because we've all known that it exists, and I
just don't think I've ever heard a coach say it but that way. Yeah.
Well, he had a message to send because that's what he does,
because he wants it, you know, that's what he does. He wants
the ref to be thinking about it. Yeah, So they showed the press
comments. I listened to all ten minutes of it, and I was they're
more interesting to see. Okay, he ranted for a long time without any
questions, and then he got like two or three questions and that was it.
And I'm thinking he must love being back at home. There's not a
whole lot of people following it, right since NATI newspaper, they have Cincinnati
and they have Xavior what else, And if you're thirteen and thirteen, they're
not going to follow you like they do here, right, And he loved
that. Right. You know he's not going to be you know, getting
shredded for going thirteen and thirteen or questioned about his play team's play. Right.
So I'm sure he's in't happy Bill, and he was. I'm sure
he wasn't expecting that when he left there originally to come here to get what
he got. I think he I think he underestimated what this was going to
be, no question, I think, And no question. I think Tommy
underestimates it, no question, because Tommy doesn't like doing it. But but
for Sean, I think that he can't, Oh, I can do it
and then realize he had and I said this all the time. In fact,
the story for you guys, it was that he had to feed the
beast every year, right, every year, and it got more and more
and that's kind of what got him in trouble. Were you how many times
can you feed the beast before it eats you? Ye, well, you
gotta keep feeding it doesn't eat, and it did eventually, it ultimately did.
Yeah. Okay, okay, we're here at the last minute. We're
getting close, all right. So we got Jeff Neil. His Push Ridge
three A boys soccer team is a state champion. And as we said,
it's one of the fun things I think we do Steve is get coaches in
here and we had the one A basketball coach yesterday, Craig Everson from the
Gregory School at three eight coach. You know, we're trying to get all
the state champions in here to just talk about their teams. Are very proud
of their teams. True hope that their fans and their parents and you know
kids at the school are listening when we know when we get them on the
show, because it's an opportunity. You know, Now, you didn't just
get a trophy. You got a trophy and then you got to go talk
to two old guys on the ring and that that's just got to be.
I don't know. I think it's one of the fun things that I think
we do that really I don't think anybody else anybody else is and so so
we're trying to get them all in. There's some more probably smart state champions
coming up this weekend, and we'll get them. And then we have our
guy here with breaking news, breaking news at the top of the hour.
Set. I hope you're loaded up, man, he says, he is.
Okay, all right, let's take our break and come back and be
breaking news. And then Jeff Neil from Push Ridge Christian Academy, we'll right back