Steve Ribera and Jacob Salids they have their Eye on the Ball on Tucson Sports
Stage. Chef Fox Sports fourteen fifty, Welcome back on the balling on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Jacob Zalez hosting here. Well, Steve Rivera's in
Salt Lake City. We just had him on the air, so if you
missed what he had to say, you'll be able to catch it on the
podcast. We also had Regie Geary in the first hour breaking down that eighty
five sixty five win for Arizona over Long Beach State. I got George Maida's
from Showtime Cards here hanging out with us, as well as Sid the intern
running the show capably. And we've got said here ready to break out the
breaking news. This is Eye on the Ball breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen
fifty. All right, so we'll start with, you know, basketball news
today. Obviously it's a busy day. Women's tip off yet or you should
be about to tip off. I guess are there in the first four Obviously,
like we mentioned, to start the show down to seven players. Seven
players to begin this tournament run. It'll be super interesting if they can win
this game, just because for this team to to to really get a win
with this, with with everything that's happened this year, anything they do from
here is bonus. Bonus is cake, right, It's it's it really is
because you know, you just and you know, we talked about this off
air. A team may play with seven players Arizona. You know, the
men played with seven. They had a seven man rotation last year, but
there was also an eighth and the ninth and the tenth person on the bench
if it was foul trouble and then or whatever. Arizona doesn't have that.
They got seven players on the plane over there. If they get in foul
trouble, if if somebody rolls an ankle or whatever, you know there,
you know, it's an issue. You know mentioned that in that that double
overtime game against USC They in the two overtimes they had five players because two
players had falled out. So and we'll see, but yeah, that's about
to tip in stores, Connecticut. So we'll see if Ada and and your
group can pull you know, pull out a win and hang around over there
and and get into the field of six. I mean, they have no
pressure, they're they're playing with money, and yeah, they're just out there,
Hey, if we can win, we can win, right, And
you know the fact, I think you really have to give them a lot
of credit for the fact that they just even got this far. Sure,
right, And then moving into the men's news today, obviously we mentioned the
three point shooting. Well today it was the most three pointers made they in
a single NCAA game for Arizona. They beat their record from twenty twenty two
in their first round game. So today they at thirteen. They had leave
eleven and the right State game back in twenty two. Okay, all right,
they shot a whole bunch of them, though you got to say the
volume, the volume was they shot thirty five of them. They were thirteen
of thirty five. As mentioned, Caleb was was three of twelve. So
but you know, so it wasn't a great percent. Well they say if
you make thirty five percent of your three pointers, you know where instead of
getting into that's sort of the number that says, okay, they were worth
you know, it's kind of a break even point. So you know,
Arizona was about there. You know, they were thirty of seventy two from
the field forty two percent, So not a great shooting day, but they
put eighty five points up on the board, So there you go. I
thought it was interesting the Long Beach State a d when he was talking about
the firing of their coach, he said it was made to inspire the team
to make a run. Really yeah, wow, exactly, He's not true.
Yeah, so no, you know what, I there has to be
a little bit of bittersweetness for Tommy because he's basically ended the career of a
good friend to hit him, you know, one of his good buddies.
Not whether Dan Monson goes and coaches somewhere else, you know, remains to
be seen. But at least, you know, he ended his season,
maybe maybe even ended his career by beating him today. Yeah, And then
moving into other news the Dodgers, as we talked about bus today fifteen to
eleven, Yamamoto was chasing the first a late late game, as you said,
even when you woke up this morning, game still going. But they
finish up in Korea, so they get come back to speak strain, which
is unusual, right, And there's some people, as we talked about yesterday,
some people are not happy about opening the season you know, out of
country somewhere, but but yeah, Dodgers got beat. I you know,
I woke up this morning, you know, immediately checked the score. It
was still the top of the ninth. The Dodgers were down twelve to eleven.
I turned it on Manny Machado was coming to the plate and he hits
a three rung dong that just yeah, he hit the he hit into the
ozone. It was really far, really far. So do you think with
Moto's they're still learning the like the American game? Or No? I don't
think that. I think that these guys, you know, playing, I
mean they know and the right and the guys who scout him, they can
tell can he pitch or can he not pitch? Right? It's not like
they're I mean it was. Is a good major league pitcher more dominant in
Japan? Most likely? Sure? But you can see when a guy a
guy's velocity. Can he move the ball around? Does he have a breaking
ball? Does he have a change up? Does he have the pitches to
be able to pitch at this level? You can tell that, you know,
you should be able to. But one wonders first game, your first
inning, Maybe he was nervous. Who the hell knows? Right, you
know, maybe there's so many things, and you know, look you want,
I mean, how many times have has a guy gone on and pitch
great in his first game and then awful after that? Look, I mean
these horrible days, right, the best pictures have horrible days. Although I'm
gonna say right now that I'm glad I didn't draft him. He got taken
before I could do them. So there you go. Moving into NFL news,
the Cardinals have opened up their number four pick. They're open to trading,
open to any offers. So we're gonna see what comes about. But
so they're not suck on Marvin Harrison junior. Yeah, so maybe Harrison advocates
maybe won't happen. I don't know. Wow, interesting, what's his name?
Howard called yesterday and he was all excited about getting Marvin Harrison Junior.
I'm like, all right, you know, I believe in him. I
think that that'd be a huge mistake if we move off. Well. Yeah,
Jody Ailer on on Monday and he thought the Arizona should trade the pick
and go get some guys, you know, get some linemen, get you
know, just go get a couple of a couple of lower number ones and
maybe a or one for next year. Just do something because they need guys.
Sure, they need guys, and so that was his opaining. I
don't know one way or another, what you know what they ought to do.
But what I do know is that the Cardinals often screw this up,
so whatever they do is probably gonna be wrong anyways. But that's just me.
Other NFL news, the forty are listening to Brandon Ayuk offers as well.
We'll see what they get. I know the Jaguars had a package to
get him, but the Niners didn't think it was enough, So we'll see
what goes there and then I don't know if you guys been seeing any of
the rule changes that they're trying to do. The kickoff will tell us what's
going on with that. Well, I was specifically talking about another one,
but you want to elaborate on that. I don't know they're talking about changing
the kickoff. I didn't see that one. I saw the the hip drop
tackle with the NFLPA came out. The players, yeah, said if you
change it, it's gonna be tough on us to turn. We've been they've
been taught to tackle the entire line right and then to change you know the
fundamentals of it right, well, you know, and again, you know
when you talk about, for instance, you know, when when you sack
a quarterback in mid motion, you've got to figure out a way not to
land on the guy. How the hell are you supposed to do that.
I've never agreed with it. I get it. You don't want Tom Brady
or Aaron Rodgers U you know, uh uh uh, you know Patrick Mahone.
You don't want those guys getting hurt. But it's almost let him play
for speed the momentum, just like freeze. Yeah, you got to let
him play foot through it. And if you know what, if you get
hurt playing football, then guess what you made the choice to play football.
I've never agreed with that, and I know a lot of the the NFL
guys, you know, get off my long kind of guys don't agree with
it either. But you know, if they're gonna now start saying you can't
do this certain kind of tackle, like I get the horse caller, right,
I get the horse caller. You know that's easy, Yeah, that
you don't go for. But but you know, to say you can't tackle
a certain way, I don't know. I have an issue with it.
Yeah, so I do have an update on that kickoff rule proposal. So
basically what the committee wants to try to do is kind of go towards the
XFL route. So I don't know if you guys have seen that, but
so the kickoff players they'll they'll line up rather than rather than you know,
a collision. Yeah, so there the plans basically try to limit it,
but there's so many chang's they're wrecking the game. I did see also that
they're saying that if they do that, then if you want to do an
onside kick, you got to tell the other team, and they got,
yeah, we're going to do an onside kick. Well they're ready for it.
I mean, there's a there's a line where it kind of come on,
man, it's just like, look, if you don't want to get
hurt, then don't play the damn game, right. That's that's how I've
always thought about it. If you don't, you know, if you're if
you don't, if you're afraid of getting hurt, go go play Tilly Winks
or something. I don't know. So many rule changes too. I mean,
you've even't seen it in the Super Bowl. The overtime. The players
didn't even know the exact rules on it. Too many rule changes can too
many. You're you're trying to you're you're trying to, you know, manage
all these little pieces with these rules, and then you change this little piece.
But it changed. There's a fallout in other areas, right, yes,
Now you know, let's say you do this kickoff for all night.
You probably can't return kickoffs for touchdowns anymore. How hard does that be?
Right? You know? The just so many things I don't know. All
right, arizon't about getting about ready to tip off in the women's tournament.
So we'll see. Uh he had to det Barnes on the screen here.
Well, we won't do a play by play, but we'll keep you updated
on what's going on, all right. One rule that that won't change,
though, is the touch bush. They said that that will stay, all
right, I will stay so made it fun. It made it fun,
right, you know, the Eagles mastered it. I think you know,
okay, everybody that's they're gonna allow the rule. Now you go figure out
how the hell the Eagles do it, and uh, and and and and
get better at it. If they're gonna let you do it. And then
moving into basketball stuff, Kevin Durant pass shack on the scoring This now eighth
all time eighth. Wow, I wouldn't had him that high, all right.
Yeah, So that that's both the big news I got. I don't
know if you guys, you're a young guy, Kevin Durant, is he,
like to you, one of the all time greats? No? Not
in my opinion. No, in my opinion, there's very few. So
they gave him a permanent contract. One of the few players I think for
me as far as this generation, the players that I'm gonna grow up and
remember, is Lebron Curry, you know those generation generational guys. And he's
not a generational guy to you, not to me as far as I mean
he he got a couple of championships in Golden State. But I mean what
Lebron and Curry did. They they changed the game. I mean Curry completely
the game. So you sell his cards and stuff like that. I mean,
where where does he sit in that He's not very popular in the hobby.
He's not very popular, and he sit is right like, uh,
Purry, he's very He's just very likable. You know. Purry likes so
in the hobby, you have to have that those kind of characteristics likability and
I believe it or not, looks help, you know. So you know,
crays the good like a kid. Lebron' says Lebron. He's gonna sell
all the time. But Kadi, even here in Arizona, doesn't sell as
well as one would think. Wow, even though he's just up the street.
Yeah yeah, wow. Interesting. What's one player right now that's on
the younger side that you're seeing we'll ring in all talk about like the Phoenix
Suns. On the other hand, though Devin Booker, we sell a ton
of Devin book can't even keep him in stock. They like him. Yeah,
well again, a guy seems like a likable guy, right, you
know, he's he's meaningful to the team. You know, those are the
guys. It's I've always thought that, you know, because they talk about
you know that, like Barry Bonds, right. I really feel if he
would hadn't been such a turd to the media, he might have actually had
a chance to get the support to get into the Hall of Fame, right,
but but you know he was like he wasn't allowed and they said he
did this, So he's out, but he's not. He's not banned like
Pete Rose. If the media wanted to vote from they would have voted for
him. But there were too many guys out there who just said, well,
I've got a reason I can stand on this reason to not vote for
him. He was I mean, he was, I mean he was,
and you know, and and so I mean, was he one of the
best players ever? He absolutely was. Did he cheat? Hundred percent?
Believe that he did. But he you know, they always say, well,
he would have gone into the Hall of Fame anyways, You're right,
he probably would have. Okay, but he had this career where he was
just a grouch for his entire career for no reason whatsoever. And now he's
not in the Hall of Fame and he never will be. Well, he
might be down the road, maybe somewhere down the road. All right,
is that it set? Yeah? All right? Man, Okay, Well
we're at we're at a time for a break. We're gonna get mat mealbock
on here. We'll get his take on on the game today. Arizona is
up to four nothing lead against h against Auburn two minutes into the game.
So let's see what happens there, But we'll be right back with Matt Mulebock.
The Window Depot is more than a windows store. The Window Depot is
a one soft warehouse with everything you need for your complete Homer model. Shop
the aisles of pre built cabinets in a variety of colors, granite and courts,
countertops, sinks, skylights and hardware. To complete your project. Need
a custom order, we can help. Our designers offer free design services and
can special order everything you need for your kitchen, our bathroom remodel today.
Shop the Window Deepot dot com or find a location near you. The Window
Depot more than a windows store. Steve Rivera here to talk about Doroto Rocket
Materials. I needed a lot of gravel from my driveway, so I called
Eric at Rock. He found out the amount and color I needed and boom,
it was taken care of and at a great price. How do I
know radio commercials work. I heard one of his on the radio. Dorato
Rock and Materials provides a wide range of landscaping materials, including decorative rock,
boulders, gravel, soil, and sand for residential and commercial use in the
Tucson area. They are locally owned and have been around for more than fifteen
years. Give them a call at five two zero four zero zero four two
three three. Where do you buy exercise equipment? Arizona Health Arizona Health Arizona
Health. Of course, to feel better and look better, it makes sense
to buy your fitness equipment from the people who know it better than anyone else.
At Arizona Health, our goal is to help you choose the equipment you
need to reach your goals. Your health and fitness deserve the best you deserve.
Arizona Health the lead Madge and exercise equipments on twenty second just west of
Wilmot. Did you know sports cards at Memorabilia are setting record sales last month
of nineteen fifty two tops Mickey Mantle So for twelve point six million, Lebron
James Rookie So for five point six Also, collecting cards is a family fun
hobby that can be very profitable. If you want to start a collection or
expand your collection, check out Showtime Cards. They are one of the leading
card shops in the country and have served our local community for twenty five years.
They are located on e Speedway. That's show Time Cards at Nova Home
Loans we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to enjoy the independence that comes with home
ownership. Paul Volpi is ready to help you find an option that best fits
your needs. Whether you're a first time or veteran home buyer or want to
get cash out with the refinance. Nova has a variety of home loan programs
to meet your unique situation. Visit voltpeteam dot com, that's Volpe team dot
com or called five two oh six eight five six two six today in MLS
three oh eight seven, arizon A b K nine Z two nine four two
Equal Housing Opportunity, How to commitment to Lyndrix cyn credit rates and available loan
programs or subject to change with Unubice. It's twenty twenty four, a new
year, and it's time to think of recognizing your employees, salespeople, managers,
team members and agents with a Creative Award for the great job they did
in twenty twenty three. Come visit Creative Awards. Beautiful showroom with over one
thousand items to choose from. Creative Awards is located at two twenty eight West
Rackman Street and Tucson. Or visit Creative Awards website at Creative Awards AZ dot
com. It's that time of year, summer in Tucson. Time to take
control with temperature control for all your air conditioning needs. We'll keep you cool
during all the hot streaks. All you have to do is stay in control
with temperature control where we handle everything you need with prompt response, affordable pricing,
and sound solutions. We also excel in plumbing and electrical work. We
handle everything you need. Give us a call at five two oh eight one
five five six sixty five or visit our website at tempdash con dot com and
remember, stay in control with temperature control. Need Concrete hard Works Concrete has
it. We have more than twenty five years of experience with all things concrete.
Installing sidewalks and patio floors are our specialty, and handle masonry work and
retaining walls. We're locally and family owned. Just let us know what you
need, how you want it, and we'll take care of it. Leave
the hard work up to us. We're Hardworks Concrete. Call us at five
one two nine six' two five six six zero or visit our website Hardworksconcrete
dot com. We'll put the work in for you. Gout bugs termites,
bees, or rodents. Arizona Pest Control will hunt them down. Arizona Pest
Control is your complete desert pest management specialist tests. Can't run or hide from
Arizona Pest Control. They use only the latest and most technologically advanced methods of
pest elimination available, which minimizes the effects on the environment. Let Arizona Pest
Control get rid of your bad bugs, termites, bees, or rodents serving
Tucson and Southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azpest dot com to
schedule your free evaluation today. Steve Rivera and Shacon Salez. They have their
eye on the ball on Tucson Sports Big Jet, Fox Sports fourteen fifty streaming
live. I mean iHeartRadio apps. Welcome back time in the Ball on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host for the day, Jay Gonzalez. My
buddy Steve is in Salt Lake City. We had him on the show a
little bit ago, calling in so you can listen to that on the podcast
if you missed it. Got a guest host today, George Modis from Showtime
Cards, one of our great sponsors and sid the intern is here and on
the phone. We've got Matt Mulebach, former Arizona guard, TV analyst.
We're doing a lot of college basketball all over the place. I'm assuming you
were. You were all over this game today, Matt. Just let me
just throw it out there and you know, what did you see or what
do you think you saw? Well, thanks for having me on the show.
I think I think number one got it dub Yeah, very important.
So survive in advance is, you know, the most important thing above all
else. So I thought that was I thought that was great. You know
it was I guess if I dive into it a little bit. You know,
it felt like the first half Arizona was a little bit tentative. I'm
not tentative. They were just a little bit maybe not there's I mean,
not one hundred percent on full tilt. And you know, then they turned
it around. You know, it felt like it felt like a game that
in a good way, like it was a good matchup for them. Right
Long Beach State wants to wants to play and go up and down and they
want to have you know, eighty five ninety points just like Arizona does,
and that that really plays into Arizona's hands, and that just it just happened
to be a good matchup and they took advantage of it. You know,
I thought they I thought that the biggest takeaway for me was that when they
it got up a little bit the first half, and then that there was
that big run by Long Beach and they got down and I thought they didn't
panic, you know, they stuck with it. They just kind of kept
playing possession by possession and then went on a big run of their own right
before half and then to start a second half. So how much do you
think in that first half or even just walking on the court. You know,
last year's loss in the first round was weighing on them at all.
I know Tommy tries real. He just said, you know, I'm not
even thinking about that. We've got to win a game and that's all I'm
thinking about. But as a player, you know, are you walking on
the court or if you fall behind by five points, does it enter your
head at all? I don't think. I think you as a player probably
try to keep it out. But when you get down by five and you
hear the crowd start to, you know, swell in terms of the underdog,
I mean, I can't imagine it doesn't get in your mind a little
bit. You know, it's it's just part of that tournament. And each
year, I will say this, you know, each year is definitely a
sort of life of its own. But you know, I think I think
players and coaches alike. Like it's almost like golf, right, they always
talk about golfers having scar tissue, right, and you know, the young
ones they've never missed any big puts. But by the time you're you know,
thirty five, thirty eight, they always talk about the older ones through
a little bit. And so you know, you've had your puts, you've
made, you've had your puts you've missed, and very few people ever in
the history of the world tiger Woods, maybe a couple others, Jack Nicholas,
you know, didn't miss them. But it's the same in basketball,
Like I was, I was thinking about this the other day, like,
look, every team in its history, if they go to the tournament a
lot is going to have some runs and they're going to have some some years
where they get bounced, right, So you know, there's always to me
a little bit of scar tissue, but you're you're doing your best just to
keep it out. Yeah, So a big key today. Obviously, the
you know, Colin Boswell had had a very nice game of one of the
best games he's had in quite a while. On the flip side of that,
Caleb Love struggled shooting the ball, but contributed in a lot of a
lot of different ways outside of shooting. Let's talk about Kylon first. He's
a guy that people say, you know, when he's good, Arizona's really
good. What do you see today with him? Well, I think I
agree with both of those because those guys are are both scores and you know,
I mean, Calem is a big time shooter scorer. He's a you
know, he's a guy that looks for a shot. He's gonna hunt his
shot. He always has and always will and and you know that. But
Boswell is too like Boswell's. Boswell is more of a probably more of a
scoring point guard than he is a you know, kind of a pass first
point guard. Even though he hit pass it in fact today was he was
awesome. He was a assist one turnover, which is you can't get any
better than that. And but but he hunts his shot, you know,
and I liked his aggressiveness. You know that that long beach team played his
own and they both they both want to fly. They were not intentative,
and I'll tell you last year in the second half, those guards were of
Arizona were tentative. They were very tentative. It's one of the reasons they
lost. And I do appreciate the fact that they you know, that they
were that they were aggressive. I think that's important, you know. And
when you when you talk about Caleb Love, you know, the shooting struggles
that he's been having. Is there a point that it weighs on him or
does he just every game go out and say I'm fixing this today. I
mean, how is he going to handle that? You know? I Caleb
is probably different than I am. Like I would I would probably shoot less
just because I was more of a passer, right and then I would shoot
shoot second. But that's what he does, and so I think for him,
there was a little It's funny, there was a little frustration. He
missed that free throw in the second half. You can see him kind of
shrug his shoulders, like this is kind of starting to annoy me. But
he just keeps firing. That's just his personality. And I think he's he's
got a mind for it. You know, he's got a good mind to
to kind of it's like a defensive back. You just got to have a
short memory, and he does. And so I think, uh, it
was nice to see him hit a couple of jumpers. So he hit that
one where he got really squared up and he had had a ton of time
to take it. He once he has his time, and I think he
takes good shots. His percentages go up, I think I give anybody.
But the step back that he shot right after that, that told me that
he was kind of feeling it a little bit. And you know, I
think that's a good sign, you know, going into the game Saturday.
Yeah, so we talk a lot about how this team has so many different
parts and then when they're all working, you know, they had the five
guys in double digits, Umar got his his his uh double double. You
know again, Boswell was dealing you know, eight, eight assists, one
turnover. All those pieces come together and that kind you get a twenty point
win out of that. But how do you do that again? You know,
you got it an eventuae you know coming up, Uh, you know,
what's what's the mindset? These next couple of Days. Yeah. Actually
Dayton ended up winning that game. Yeah, you're right, Yeah, yeah,
they came back and won that game. But you know, I think
Dayton. Dayton has a terrific offense. They have one of the most prolific,
you know, three point shooting teams in the country. In fact,
I think they're third in the country in three point percentage, which is which
is pretty amazing. And they get that their their top twenty in the country
in terms of getting their points from three point shots. And and uh so
that's that's a team that they're going to have to really, you know,
focus on on getting those guys off the three point line. And I was,
in fact, I was just looking at that they ended up winning by
one point. I didn't realize that. What a game, huh. And
But anyway, it's it's going to be interesting because, you know, because
there's such a good shooting team in Arizona. Let's let's let's be honest,
like they've struggled with a couple of teams that have shot it well this year.
Stanford had a big game shooting at Oregon, stayed at a big game.
But look, I think I think they're gonna know, like, hey,
that's that's the focus, you know, get those guys off the line,
and uh, and use your size inside. I don't I don't think
they're particularly big team. And so I will say this though. One thing
they I did notice they did they did was they changed defenses a lot,
and you know, that's almost like an Oregon team or something like that.
So that's that's not easy to prepare for. I think you've got to be
really sharp and some people, you know, you want to identify what they're
in and it's almost like you just got to run your stuff and not worry
about what they're in. So, uh, they've got the game under the
belt. Everybody's breathing easier. You know. You you had you didn't lose
in the first round the whole time you were in Arizona, right in the
four in your four tournaments, I did not know. We we've lost to
the final four is Sweet sixteen twice and we did lose in the second round
one year. Yeah. Yeah, so you know, after the first round
win because there's all this pressure, right and I'm I don't know if the
players are feeling it. Certainly the fan we're feeling it, yeah, going
into the day. But you know, you got to get that first win,
then you do you know, what's what's your mindset in terms, Okay,
we got one, and do you I know you don't want to relax,
but you certainly have to feel better about it. What what you know,
how do you handle the success? You know, that's a good that's
a good question, because you do have a little sigh of relief to win
the first one, especially if you're pushed, you know, and and and
you know, and especially if they lost the year before, Like those are
those are real things, and I think I think it should give them a
little confidence and a little bit of where it does take the pressure off a
little bit, but I want to also be clear, like it doesn't take
it all the way off, I guess because there's a team with a two
seed, and and you know, if you don't make it to the sweet
sixteen with the two seed, you certainly feel like you like you've let one
get away, right, and that's and that doesn't feel good. So as
much as as much as they can kind of have a little bit of a
breather, you know, I think I think it's it's it's it's going to
be right back on it on Saturday, And I think that's the key.
You've got to be able to play in the perfect roads. You got to
be able to play not feeling that pressure. But it's it's really difficult.
Let me tell you how they did it. What were those in between game
days like for you? Because as I recall in the ninety yeah, you
guys lost in the second round, But that in between game, how much
can you do? And what are you focusing on? You're focusing on yourself,
you know, as a player, what are you thinking about? You
know, with that day in between you and now you've got a second round
game coming up. Well, I think I think two main things is,
yeah, yourself, you know, what what's your team feel like? What
do you guys? You know, you always focus on yourself first, like
what are we trying to fix? What are we you know, what's what's
going right? What's not going right? I remember in ninety when we lost
in the second round, it was sort of a harbinger of things to come,
because we played awful the first day we played South Florida, and I
mean we just it was weird because a week earlier we rolled through the PAC
twelve. We played some really good teams. We blew out every team we
played. We blew out sc who was pretty good, We blew out Stanford,
who was a tournament team, and we blew out UCLA ended up making
the Elite eight I think that year, so we could not have been playing
better. And then five days later we played one of the worst teams we
played all year. Nobody knows why. You know, We're just we were
just it was like we were walking in quicksands, and all of a sudden
I could tell like there was a little bit of trepidation from the team.
It didn't feel great. And but then what you're doing. The second thing
you're doing is you got a short turnaround. It's not like the Pac twelve
where it's a short turnaround and you know the teams typically right right, we
know the style or the team or the court we're playing on. You might
know a lot of the players you're playing against. This is this is it's
a it's an odd feeling because it's usually something completely brand new. It's a
new team. You don't know how they play, you don't know who their
players are, so you're trying to you're trying to get accustomed to who they
are and what they like to do pretty quickly. Yeah, I asked Redie
Gary this he was on earlier. You know what was the best? What
was Loot like, you know, on this day, you've won a game,
You're getting ready for the next game. You know, settling was he
you know, very technical? I mean, how did he treat those days
in between? And what do you recall from the way he did things when
you guys are getting ready for a second round game. You know, I
felt like I felt like Loot he was a little bit of the old school,
like like John Wooden, like you don't want to you don't want to
treat it like too differently, you know, and and and sort of put
pressure on yourself. I mean, but at the same time, sometimes you
know, you gotta you gotta one, like I mean, me and Steve
have talked about before. I think sometimes with Luke doing that, it was
a little scary in the first couple rounds. But I felt like with Luke
every round we won, his confidence got got you know, just increased,
and he almost became in a cool way like Matt Off and I used to
talk about this, He almost became like I would never have said, you
know, Luke was super cocky. So he was a very confident coach and
confident about his team and his players, but he almost became cocky in between.
Once we started winning a couple of games. It didn't usually happen till
about the second weekend, you know, the first weekend, I think he
was, you know, just trying to get our team through it. And
fortunately, I can said my three or four years, we did. But
I felt like the more we won, the more he kind of got this
this sort of like swagger to him, which was awesome, you know.
I mean, I think I think that's why Luke's teams typically performed really well
after they got past the first or second There was a few slip ups,
but I think everybody goes through it. I don't think not only there's a
team out there that's immune, you know, from from conference, I mean
from MC tournament upsets. It's just the way that way it goes. All
right, Man, you're having fun with this? You know? Are you
a fan? Like, were you nervous as hell today going into the game?
Uh? You know, how, what's your What's how are you as
a fan with this? That's a great question. I've I've probably been different
a different type of fan over the year at different times. I think now
I probably purposely lower my expectations to avoid some sort of like fall. But
I actually felt very good about this game just because of the style. You
know, the style was right up Arizona's alley. The next the next game
is is different. You know, it's not the same style. It's a
slowdown style they've got. I just looked this up. They've got a really
good player, their center is a fantastic player, and so that will not
be easy. They've got shooters, and they've got a guy inside so and
and a team that plays a little bit slower and kind of you know,
junks up the defenses. So it'll take I think for them. You know,
it's it's all about their energy, and it's all about their concentration and
focus. If they're ready to play and they're focused, you know, they're
a better team than Dayton is. But at the same time, Dayton's a
very very good team. All right, man, Hey, appreciate the time.
Thanks a whole bunch, get back to work like everybody else, and
uh well we'll see what happens over the weekend. Appreciate the time. Sounds
great, Thanks you appreciate it. Matt Othic mexcuse me, man Meulebach.
Uh, you know again. You know he got to a Final four as
a freshman with Arizona in nineteen eighty eight Sweet sixteen. A few times,
but you know he did have I covered. The last game I covered was
was that as covering basketball, was that Alabama loss in nineteen ninety and that
he was right. I forgot. They had played really bad against South Florida
and then they played even worse against Alabama and got blown out. That was
it. That was a bad time. I remember coming home for that,
and that was in Long Beach as a matter of fact, and I remember
thinking, what the hell just happened? It was and he said that was
a good team. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they were good. They
blew through that. They blew through the conference. So all right, we're
gonna take our last break. Would love to hear from you five to two
zero four one six seventy four forty give us a call, your thoughts on
this game, uh, your thoughts on the next one coming up, and
how your bracket's doing. We'll talk a little bit about our bracket that we've
got, our show bracket and how things are going with that one. So
come on back five, two, zero, four, and six seven before
forty if you want to give us a call. If you're an Arizona men's
basketball fan, you know it's been successful for newly forty years. Now.
Take a look back at the Ludolsen era in my new book, Lessons from
Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former
players, coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who
led them, competed against them, and inspired them. Twenty five chapters for
his twenty five years as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons from Lout is an insight
to how he built the program into a national powerhouse. What one email me
at Steve dot RIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com. Hi, this is
former Wildcat Leman Huntly with Arizona Health. Imagine how home GM can change your
health, your comfort, and your time. Arizona Health is everything you need
to transform your personal space and your life. We off a complete line of
cardio machines, multigms and freewate equipment. I'll certify fitness experts and technicians will
set you up with the right equipment and training to get you started to keep
you going. Visit our shure room today at twenty second in Wilmot, Arizona
Health the lead edge and exercise equipment. What's your goal a new career or
career advancement? How about transferring to a four year college. PEMA Community College
can help you make some day today and reach your goals affordably on your schedule.
With over one hundred programs to choose from and financial laid available, it's
time to earn the degree or certificate you need to prepare for the career you
want. PEMA offers free career exploration classes so you can choose the field that's
right for you. Learn how at PEMA dot edu slash someday work in a
state of care. If there's a hotspot in your house, you may have
leaky duckwork. The Department of Energy says ninety five percent of homes do those
leaks can pull in dirt and humidity. I'm Roninus, the owner of Picture
Rocks Cooling. You ask how we can tackle those leaky ducks and keep cool
air in and dirt and humidity out with aerocal Call Picture Rocks at five two
zero four four zero four zero six ninety rosy Cheating and clumbing. The holidays
are fast approaching after a difficult year where shre where everyone could use a little
financial help. Pyramid Federal Credit Union is bringing back the Holiday Helper Loan,
a low interest, short term loan that can help get you through the holidays.
In support of our community. Pyramid is making our donation to the Community
Food Bank of Southern Arizona from each loan. For more information or apply online,
visit Pyramid SEU dot com slash Holiday Helper. All those are on approved
credit. Other restrictions may apply. Pyramid Federal Credit Union Insured NCUA. Do
you want to be part of a winning team? A Team Security is looking
for friendly, outgoing event security guards and event staff to be a part of
our team. We've been providing our outstanding services to some of Arizona's biggest sporting
events and concerts for over twenty years. We want you to join the action.
A Team offers a fun and exciting opportunity to work in the sports and
entertainment industry, with flexible schedules that are perfect for those looking for a part
time job or a second income. Come be a part of a winning team.
The A team apply online today at a teamsecurity dot net. Extremly live.
I mean I heard radio app This is I on the Ball with ste
Brivera and Jacob Salez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Welcome back to the ball
here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm your host, Jacob Zalas. Steve is
on location in Salt Lake City, UH, covering in Arizona. I've got
George Midas from Showtime Cards here and as well as sid start to tak your
call. So we've got first call coming in. Hi, You're on the
air, and I'm the boy. I love your show man, appreciate that.
So I just want to throw my two cents in here. MA would
love to hear it. I think this is the easiest past we got this
here. Okay, can you turn off your radio? Do you turn off
your radar's in the background? There you go hear me? Now? Yeah?
I can you hear much better now? All right, day, So
I want to say that I think this is a year that we have the
easiest pass actually to meet Alabama. I believe in the elite, right,
so all right, No, it would be a care to be there either
North Carolina or or or Alabama in the lead eight if they get to there.
So I think, you know, nobody this season, nobody had us
for anything. So I think, you know, being in Arizona, being
an Arizona fan and having the final and the Final four year in Phoenix,
I think this is this is a year that either I think we should be
we should be there. I don't know what you guys think of us getting
in the bracket, you know, I just I just feel that this should
be our year at least to make the final four. Man, what do
you what do your guys take on that? Well, I think we've been
saying all along, George, and I think you'll agree with me, is
that they're good enough to it's just a matter of could be destiny that you
know, it happens to be here in Arizona. I mean, it's it's
it's a long way to go, uh North Carolina could be you know that
that could be a challenge right there at the elite eight. That's where I
see us kind of getting to and then that could be a difficult game.
I will I will say this, Okay, the last time the Final Four
was in was in Phoenix. Was the year that they got beat by Xavier
in the Sweet sixteen, which was completely an unexpected and unexpected loss for Arizona
and Sean Miller and those guys. But this team is certainly capable. I
I you know, I got agree with you. But it just a matter
of you got to get hot and you got to do it, and you
got it. You need a little luck, sure, right, what do
you think anything any anything that happened? Well, I love your guys to
show a great time, you know, dive home and go cat well,
appreciate you, appreciate you calling, Thanks so much and thanks for listening.
All right, No, you know again, I mean we sit here,
we talked about about all that, George, and I think that from the
day they beat Duke, we thought, wait a minute, what do you
know? What do that was met? I mean, and and you think,
okay, I mean the number one team right off the bat over there,
So you're thinking this team is capable. But over the over the course
of the season, I think we've all said they they've lost some bad games
and they're capable of losing to a lot of guys. But guess what,
so has everyone else. Right, But that's it and you're right, and
they lost so and that, and that's the deal. And and so you
know, you do what Tommy's going to do. You go game by game.
That's it, right, They got dating tournaments and momentum and see who
does it at the end, right, And as Matt Mealbux says, this
is going to be a different game. And you know, I think I
mentioned in the you know, in the first hour that when I saw that
Long Beach State was going to try and run with them, Thad Airson was
going to win this game. I know it was close. And then you
know they they were in the first half and Long Beach State had a lead.
But if you're going to try and run with their zone, you're going
to lose, right, And then they lost by twenty. Dane's going to
be different, so and they're going to slow down. And as Matt said,
you know, their downfall against Stanford, against Oregon State, against Washington
State, against Purdue was not being able to defend the three point line.
And that's what these guys do. So that's a little scary when you think
about that for this game. Come I think this, if they do go
out and and win against Dayton, I think it's not it's not a great
win for Tommy. But it's definitely a good win for Tommy considering that this
same team that's lost against this play style, right, has showed up and
they win a game against in the in the big moment, right, and
if and if they can do that, because look they're gonna say, well
it's just Dayton. Well just Dayton is a seventh is a seventh seed in
this tournament. It gives you confidence, you know, like I talked about
like loude Olsen, he gained confidence every every win they have the tournament.
I mean, it gets Tommy confidence as well, right, you know,
and and you know, if aar Zona does beat Dayton, you cannot discount
how important that would be and what a good win that would be, you
know, to win that game. So you know, it mains to be
seen. But uh, you know again this things about matchups and is Dayton
a bad matchup for Arizona. Well, we're gonna find out. You know.
You think if somebody's a three point shooting team, based on what we
know about Arizona this season, a good three point shooting team is a bad
matchup for Arizona. But you know, we if we know that, I'm
guessing Tommy knows that. I'm guessing the players know that, and they know
they've got to get out there and defend that. And and I think the
caller was what he meant to say. It was like this, if you
look at it on paper, it's not your typical staple schools on there.
You know, He's like, if we have a path, this could be
this could be a pattern. Certainly, you know, look, they've proved
they've beaten Alabama, and you know, there's nobody there's a lot of the
a lot of the predictions that I saw was that if Arizona in North Carolina
play, Arizona shoul win that game. You know. So these are people
who analyze the hell out of this and stuff like that. Who you know,
who knows what they they know or what we know. But I think
that what you're going to find out is that how Arizona is going to handle
h a game where or a team that they've had trouble with, right,
that's what we're gonna you know, and and and that's that's how you win
the tournament. You do things that better than you did them, you know.
Early sure you learn from those. Yeah, and we'll find out on
Saturday. But for now, the vibe is great out here in season and
you can see it and feel it, and we're gonna definitely enjoy this win.
Yeah, they got they gotta feel they gotta feel pretty good about it,
you know. But again, they have to keep they just got to
keep their focus right right, you know, don't screw this up. Think
about the fact that we're good. Let's just go out and do what we
do. Sure, that's what they have to do, and we'll be interesting
to see if they in fact can't do that, because it's gonna be a
hard game. But I think a little of the pressure is off. You
know, they've won their first game. It's not for you know, they're
not losing in the first round. I agree with Matt muleback. If they
don't get past this one and get at least to the Sweet sixteen, it's
a disappointing season. There's some people say it's a disappointing season if they don't
get to at least to the Elite eight. Then there's some others that say,
if they don't get to the final four, it's a disappointing season.
What do you what were you on that? Well? I mean sweet You
definitely want to get past the Sweet sixteen. Even a couple of years ago
we had that great team. I think it was in twenty two. We
had a Mathrin Dalan Terry Coloco and we took it to Sweet sixteen and we
lost that game. It was kind of disappointed. We thought we were going
to get further. So this is a similar situation, similar type of team
where we've been in the top five most of the season, top ten for
sure. I'd definitely like to see us get to the Elite eight. Yeah.
Yeah, Otherwise it's it's not really you know, as successful. Yeah,
me too. I should update on Arizona. I think they're up.
It was twenty to twelve. They've gone to the half. I don't know
if that's still the score. I think it's a low scoring game. Yeah.
I don't have it on my thing here, Yes I do. It
is it's just a second year. Yeah. No, oh, they're at
a time out. I'm sorry. Four fifty four left in the in the
first half in Arizona is up twenty to twelve. I saw they're at the
studio, so I thought it was halftime. So they're at the under under
five time out in the in the second quarter up twenty to twelve against Auburn,
you know, to eleven seeds. You know, you think they got
seven players that you know they can't be favored. Well, they're both they're
both eleven, right, Yeah, so you know, Auburn is feeling as
fortunate to be in this, uh, in this bracket, in this tournament
as Arizona is. So you go, Auburn's got the ball, So we'll
see what happens here. But uh, you know, goet On. I
mean, they're they're obviously there to you know, take their shot at this
and to see what see what happens from there. And I mean, like
we mentioned you, one of the reasons why you can't overlook this win is
because upsets in March are inevitable. And if you're if your team can somehow
survive the first round and keep going, that that's huge because we saw last
year with even Purdue, there's there's there's no team that any team, right,
That's that's the beauty of the beauty and the sad this. So this
is if it is your team, if you're on the wrong end of this,
yeah, and then you're right and anything absolutely can can happen. So
I'm trying to see where Arizona winds up if they do, in fact win
this game. I don't they don't know. I don't. I don't even
see where they are in the in the darn bracket. So we'll figure that
out for Saturday. When do the times come out later on tonight? Right,
one game after all the games they played, TV dictates, so they'll
decide, you know, the matchups, and and they'll set up the whole
day exactly. Again, I think being in the West, they'll be later
in the day, maybe you know, mid to late afternoon or in an
early evening second game or something like that. So we'll we'll find out.
But uh, you know, it also depends on who else wins and and
who doesn't. So we'll we'll see what what happens. So I think,
uh, you know, look, Arizona's in a you know, they're in
a good spot. You know, just the fact that they're still around and
that's a great right, That's all that's all you can ask, you know,
we're still playing, Uh, and so we'll see what happened. And
it seemed closer than it was, but the score says twenty points and that's
that's a big win. Exactly exactly, George. And that's a really good
point, is that we thought it was this was a close game. It
really wasn't for most of the second half. Let's take this call. Whoever
that was calling, please call us again. We're just trying to keep an
eye on the phone here, but we got got to talk and try again.
Well, we'll take your call. We want to hear from you.
But you're right, I mean, because it was close, people think that
was a really nerve wracking game. Well, it was a nerve wracking for
a half and then everyone just kicked their asses, which is what we want
to hope they were gonna do. They weren't. From about five minutes into
the end of the second half, they weren't threatened. So I feel like
fans also have to remember that most of these games early on, they're gonna
be close early on, especially the Illinois game. Also, even going into
the second half, Creighton was in a battle and then they took so the
good teams usually second left teams. Yeah, right, I found it.
I found there's only women on the bracket. They're in storage, Connecticut,
and I should have made sense. They're in the they're in the Connecticut bracket,
the Connecticut site. So uh, if they win, they would play
at three point thirty on Saturday against Syracuse. Uh. And then then if
they win that they probably have Yukon on their on their on their plate on
the on the twenty fifth, which would probably be which I think would be
Monday, right, which would be Monday. So that's where they're at right
now. But they're up twenty to sixteen. Uh, make it twenty one
to sixteen with three minutes left in the half, so five point lead and
running up and down the running up and down the court again, give us
a call. We got about two minutes left, five to two zero four
one six seventy four forty you guys taking taking the cats in the net and
the next game. I haven't seen a line on it, but uh,
oh yeah sure. I think as far as I've seen from this game today,
I think there's no reason why I shouldn't. I'm going to stay away
because I am the kiss of death. I was about to say, please,
I know people are asking me in Hope, so let's talk about the
who do you guys have? I think I you know, I came out
yesterday and I thought, I think Arizona will get there. In Yukon,
I have Houston was where I was thinking, I don't know, I've settled
in on Houston. I think Houston will get there. And and then I've
got Tennessee. So that's that's my that's my primary final four. I've got
a number of other brackets with some other teams I think I've got. I've
got North Carolina in one, I got North Carolina beating Arizona and the Elite
eight and one. I think I've I think I've got Marquette in one.
I think I've got I might have taken Iowa State over Yukon in one because
it's just there's two and you CON's bracket. That's a that but you know,
just and not because I think Iowa State's better anything like that, It's
just that it's hard to don't It's there's a reason it's hard. People don't
go back to back because it's damn hard. And so you know, I
almost feel though that if you Kond loses, it's going to be to somebody
we don't expect him to lose to, like maybe not in the late eight
but the sweet sixteen. I think back to when Arizona beat Kansas in the
in the Sweet sixteen that that year. You know, yeah, so you
know, I don't I kind of feel like it. You know, it
could happen there if in sweet sixteen the number four seed there is Auburn.
Auburn is yeah, so you know Auburn team, they're capable, right,
yeah. I think typically we have what about one or two at least one
once he lose the first weekend. I think it is in their second round.
So it's gonna be curious to see who it is. There's a lot
of it is fun. Yeah, right, somebody is, somebody is,
so you know, all right, that's great. That's our show. Great
show, Joe, Joe, George, thanks for being here, being here
again tomorrow. We do appreciate that we're having fun. We'll get a couple
of guests tomorrow who can talk to break this down a little bit. Maybe
we'll get somebody who can talk a little bit women's basketball with us. They're
up twenty two seventeen, two forty left in the first half against Auburn in
this playing game. Sid, We'll see you again tomorrow as well. Thanks
for running the board. Appreciate it. All right, everybody, We'll see
you tomorrow.