This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Ja Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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R two SAD at iHeartRadio STATIONIA. Good afternoon, Welcome down to the ball
here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host for the day. Steve
Stephen Vera is out. This is Ja Gonzales. Steve is up in Phoenix
with some NCAA tournament media project that he's been working on, and it takes
him out of pocket for a little bit. But he's up there doing some
media work with this this tournament thing that they're doing, and I'm showing him
more about it when we get closer to the tournament. But I've got intern
Sammy here to capably and faithfully fill in for Steve Davie. What's up,
Sammy? Not much, man, I'm ready to muck it up, make
it fun. I wrote some stuff down, went into went into some Arizona
analytics a little bit, and some deep numbers people might want to know.
That could well. As long as you push all the right buttons and make
me look not horrible, we're good. And then we'll try and keep the
conversation going, and of course we'll take your calls. Five to two zero
four one six seventy four forty five two zero four one six seventy four to
forty give us a call. We're gonna be talking to Arizona basketball here.
Coming up in a minute. We've got some clips from Tommy Lloyd's pre Washington
State press conference. Today. We're gonna have Michael lev from there Zone Data
Star is going to join us at about three to twenty. We'll just talk
about all the festivities of the last few days of the last week or so,
a new athletic director at Arizona, Tommy Lloyd's contract, and anything else
that's been going on. He's been out of baseball. He went and he
saw twenty twenty four to five win yesterday or something like that. It's something
awful. But Michael joined us for a little bit and then we start.
We're gonna start running through state champions in high school sports, and the first
one up is going to be the Gregory School Hawks. Their coach Craig I
think it's Everson might be ever, so we're gonna ask him. Uh head
coach over there won his third at at the Gregory School and the school's fifth.
So they they basketball. They beat North Valley uh a three point shot
with just under man and left was the was the was the difference against the
team that'd beaten earlier in the year by only two. So this was a
you know, a hard fought game. And so we'll talk to him about
winning his third. That takes me back. It seems like just the other
day I was playing high school basketball. That's gonna be sad a little bit.
Well, it doesn't seem like just the other day that I was in
high school. It was like ancient times. I'm you know, I think
of, you know, the Colisseum and the Parthenon, and I think that's
when I those were being built when I was in high school. But Tommy,
Tommy Lloyd had his press conference today. One he started off with some
non basketball subjects. I guess you could call him that little commentary about his
contract. He talked about hanging with Mike Candrea. Well during this time,
the Candrea has been the assistant A d had an interesting take on nil,
which will play later in the show because it'll generate some conversation, I think.
But he he did you know obviously previewed Arizona, I mean preview to
Washington State game, which is tomorrow night, nine o'clock game for those of
you who need an alarm clock. You know, I'm gonna have to go
home and take a nap to be on on my toes. But you know,
we're getting towards the end of the season. You know, things are
shaping up, and that's kind of what he talked about in this first clip.
Just you know, they're you know, things as he says, things
are shaking out. Let's see, here's what he had to say about the
place they are in the season and what he thinks of his team. Right
now. You're getting down to, you know, I mean towards the end.
So so things are tightening up and starting to take shape a little bit,
and and you got to take advantage of opportunities put in front of you.
And we have to and you know, our opponents saying and feeling the
same thing. So you know that that's what makes it, you know,
special nights. You know, I like where we're at. I know,
you know it hasn't been easy getting here, but but we never asked for
it to be easy. So I'm looking forward to you know, game by
a game as we go down the stretch of the season and seeing how the
scenes plays out. You know, I don't expect us to be perfect,
you know, but but hopefully, you know, we incrementally, we keep
inching forward, and you know, as we get towards the end and you
get the tournament time, hopefully we're we're playing really good basketball. I mean,
that's my only hope. You know, they're they're on a six game
winning streak right a couple of those games on the road. You know,
you want them to get, you know, into a into a rhythm.
Uh And you're saying, you know, being in a rhythm is something that
they haven't been. I mean, they look like they were in it in
the first part of the season, but then it was up and down.
They went on a streak, they lost four out of nine. At one
point or something, they were five and four over a stretch. I think
the word that he used was incrementally And for me, at least the last
two to three weeks, you've I think it has gone a little under the
radar national in terms of what's been going on. Yukon until last night,
had been playing high, high quality basketball, you saw produced stumble against the
Howe State, but they've been playing good and there hadn't been this nationwide.
Like oh, Arizona's back in the team to beat in the country, and
all of a sudden they rattle off two wins on the road, which that
road trip is one of the hardest in the country. And now they come
back. This game tomorrow's, you would say, maybe one of the biggest
games of the season, even though it is at home. Washington State,
they're the last team to beat you of A on their home court, so
it's gonna be an interesting test. But incrementally, Tommy said, hopefully this
team does begin to peak in March. Right, well, you're gonna hear
me say some words that nobody ever would have thought would be saying today.
You know, at this point in the season, this game against Washington State
tomorrow night for first place in the Pac twelve. I mean, that's an
unbelievable statement to make. But when you think about the fact that Washington State
handled Arizona pretty well up in Wase, they beat him. You know,
Washington State wins this game, it's unlikely Arizona's gonna win the league because they've
lost the tiebreaker, they will have lots of time break to watch the state
they would have to pass them to win the league. You know, they
still got that LA road trip coming up. They've got Oregon coming to town,
they got to go to Asu. There still a lot of games left
for them to maneuver through. And if you want to win the league,
I think you have to win this game. Tommy said his guys are well
aware of, you know, where they are in the standings. He said,
They're not dwelling on it, but they are aware. We our guys
always, I mean, kind of have an idea you know where everyone's at
in the league. And I think that's important. I mean, you're you're
you're competing against eleven other teams for a regular season championship. So I don't
think you want to be naive and have your head in the stand But you
know, I think we for the most part, as we play it,
we understand that every game counts as one one win, one loss, and
so we want to stay focused on that. We don't. We try not
to get too complicated and say, well, if we win three of the
next four, I mean that that's for you guys. You guys, you
guys can play all those games. We don't, so but yeah, I
mean, I'm sure our guys, you know, I know, our guys
know you know what this game means and the potential impact you'd have on the
conference championship. You know, it's been a while since. You know.
Look, even early in the season, I mean when there's a last to
Washington State, we were like, what the hell? Right, you know,
how did that happen? Right? Well, they're good, they are,
And I mean we talk a lot about this year's Pack twelve being a
little down. USC is not good, Ucla is not not good. Oregon
is even not as good to Oregon stands there mediocre. So some teams had
to step up in Washington State and Colorado's playing really good basketball as of late,
aside from U of A thumping them at home. But those seem to
be the three teams that right now, if March Madness were to start tomorrow,
those would probably be the only three teams from the Pac twelve that would
get it. You'd have to think, right, yeah, I mean you're
yeah, you're saying that there's not much beyond that. No, and so
to have Washington State come to Tucson ranked, and like you said, you
they didn't think that three weeks ago they'd be playing Washington State for really the
Pac twelve Conference championship, right like this the season championship, yeah, I
mean the regular season championship. They're on a seven game winning streak. They've
won ten of eleven. I mean, they're hot. You know, that
streak started with USC back in January they beat Arizona and they've just been on
a roll since since. They lost an overtime game to Cal, which I
have no explanation for. Where was that game? Was that Cal? Was
that Cal? You know, hard to win on the road, you know
again, Yukon knows that as well as anybody today. I mean, they
got thumped last night. So you know, this whole thing of you know,
it's hard to win on the road, and it is, and they're
in is what Arizona's got going for it tomorrow now? Yeah, because Washington
State they're twenty and six, well, Arizona's twenty and five. Yeah,
you know, the Arizona's eleven and three in the league. Washington State's eleven
and four. I mean Washington State and they played you know, basically the
same schedule, so they've got to come here and that that's a big deal
for Arizona. That's what I was gonna say. That's the biggest thing of
if we've learned nothing this year, it's especially this year. It is extremely
hard to go on the road and win college basketball games. And UFA found
that out the hard way when they went to Corvallis. They lost to Washington
State, and they should they should have that salt in the wounds tomorrow and
listen, Washington State's coming to McHale, like you is gonna be comfortable.
We love playing at home. We haven't lost all year at home, right,
and so that's it's gonna be. It's a nine o'clock tip. That's
that's realistically no fun but fun, well, it's no fun for us.
I don't think the players really care, but you know, may I don't
know. Maybe Washington State guys do because they got to wait here all day
and wait for the game to start. But you know, when you said,
you know it's hard to win on the road, it's hard to win
on the road anywhere anywhere. You know, we saw last night you come
goes to Creyton and Creighton's rank. So the Cran's a really good team,
I think, But but they got thumped. They didn't just lose, they
got the hell beat out of them, and it was bad, and it
was bad for a long time. You know, Yukon jumped out early.
I think they were up eleven to five or eleven to three or something like
that, and then all hell broke loose and the next thing you know,
Creighton's up by twenty and their places went crazy. They stormed the court.
But Cranon's a really good team and and Yukon went over there and clearly was
not ready. Yeah, as someone as two people that but had Yukon last
year, Yeah, it was it was not a great sight to see.
But again, Creighton's one of those teams where they have a lot of guys
that were on their little little run last year, had her back, and
they play in a conference where every game is going to be a good game,
and frankly, they've been playing really good basketball at ESPN, like in
quotes on their lead today is Yukon ran into a buzzsaw and Creighton and that's
what it looked like last night. You can't up to last night. Some
people would still probably say they're the best team in the country. They looked
every part of it right, and that that does just show that no matter
your record, no matter where it is, if you go on the road,
you're going to be put to the test. And so that's right.
If you can win games on the road, it's it's that much more Well,
think about this, you know, hypothetically, Let's say the Arizona Washington
State game, the first one was in Tucson, and Arizona wins that game,
and Arizona's going to Washington State tomorrow. You're thinking they got no shot
or a very little shot. You're thinking that Washington State is going to the
likelihood of Washington State winning the game is very high. If this game is
in in in Pullman tomorrow, it's here, you know, you'd like to
think Arizona's gonna take care of business. They're on a roll. And the
forty five point thing that they did to AFC, that, I mean,
that was just mean. It was just mean and nasty. Yeah, but
we don't care, well, no, we don't, of course not,
but you know, I mean, just but what they did to AFCU,
it tells you that they're playing pretty damn well. Yeah, and that seems
to be the case. A lot of when we get into late February early
March is when Tommy does have the guys playing really well. Right the last
what two seasons have gone to Vegas and won the Pac twelve Championship and then
in the actual tournament it hasn't been the same. So the the often question
of when is your team peaking or are they peaking at the right time.
Coach cal Perry talks about this all the time. I don't want my team
peaking in November. That's the last thing I want. I want them You
were scared that Arizona had done that. I and I'm I'm still a little
nervous. Let's play this one last clip before the break. We've got some
more. He had some things to say about a couple of his guys that
I want to make sure to play. But he talked about he just basically
talked about, uh, Washington State, what we can expect to see tomorrow
night. They're playing extremely well. I mean, they're they're they're you know,
they got a really unique mix of players and their coaching Staf's done a
great job putting them in you know, good positions. You know, defensively,
you know they're you know, they're kind of running this zone demand defense
that people are struggling to figure out a little bit. And and you know
it's not a junk defense because it's legit and they're they're doing a great job
with it. And then offensively, you know they're they're you know, they're
making sure the ball's in the right guy's hands. They got people playing their
roles really well. You know, they have two big guys that are really
unique and the fact that they can they can both are comfortable with multiple dribbles,
which you don't find a lot of big guys doing these days, and
and they're both good passers. So it puts you in in tough situations defensively,
you know, where you got to make some decisions. And and you
know they're you know, obviously their guard play. We talked about Rice earlier.
It's it's it's it's you know, it's been as good as we've had
in our conference this year. Again, you know, he knows they're good.
You know, Tommy's not gonna get caught by surprise, and you'd like
to think that the team's not going to get caught by surprise, and say,
these guys already beat them once, so I think its gonna be ready.
It's just gonna be a matter of okay, who plays better, right,
And early in the season when they lost to Washington State, it was
maybe was the fact that, Okay, Washington State is good, you'vey didn't
know how good they actually rire. And now I think the conference you've especially
and even though in the nation they' ranked twenty one in the country, like
they're starting to get attention from those that maybe weren't respecting them early in the
year. And that respect will be will be seen tomorrow night, and I'm
sure Tommy's hoping the fans are going to take this seriously enough to show up
at nine o'clock tomorrow night, because that's a that's a tough one. That's
a tough game to get started. All right, let's take our break where
to come back? Michael Levell join us from there was a daily start,
he's a columnist over there, and get his take on the new ad who
he met yesterday, and also talk a little bit about how Tommy's contract came
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Jagin soommits. This is I on the Park on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty.
Welcome back on the balling on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host for
the Dave Jacobzalez that my buddy Steve Rivera is off on a different assignment.
I got interned Sammy here and now on the phone, we've got Michael lev
the sports columnist at the Airson Daily Star. Michael was with like everybody else
was at the press conference yesterday with Desiree Reed Francois, the new athletic director
at Arizona. So first of all, Michael, welcome, thanks for joining
us and give us here, you know, give us your initial thoughts on
the person we met yesterday. Yeah, she was very impressive in the press
conference. Like I feel like it was one of those situations where you're wondering
is the person going to win the press conference? As they say, and
I feel like she did for the most part. I wouldn't say that it
was like a blowout victory, but a solid and convincing victory. To be
sure. She's very deliberate in terms of what she said and how she said.
It's very much like what's your name, you know, give be your
name again and addressing people in that very personal way. And she clearly sad
fun this before. You know, like she was very polished. You can
tell that she knows how to quote unquote worker room, which I think is
very important in that athletic director position the way that it is now. I
mean, it hasn't changed in this regard that much over the years, and
I think it's more important than ever that you need to be able to build
relationships in order to raise money, right, I mean that's kind of that's
kind of the deal, Right, that's the job, and she has a
track record of doing that, and she's you know, about to undertake that
task again, and so much of the job is you know, just getting
having the money, right, raising the money, but in her and so
she's coming into a place where they're sort of they've sort of been out of
money. Maybe that's over stated it, but they're you know, a huge
deficits. She's got to fix that, obviously with the help of the administration.
But you know, she's in a situation where, you know, it
may be tough to raise money because people are saying, well, what did
you do with what we've been given you? And why are you in the
situation that you're in. She has to fix that, and that's an added
challenge for somebody. Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the
main reasons that Bobby Robbins targeted her, as she has shown that she can
raise money she can turn around a budget. She can uh, you know,
flip a balance sheet in a positive direction. She did that at Missouri.
It's not going to be easy for her to do it here. But
you know, it's also it's it's it's money, it's spreadsheets, it's as
as as Robin said, I mean, there's there's a lot of ways you
can attack the national debt, right you can you can cut, you can
grow, you can tax. There's a lot of different avenues that she can
pursue. I think naming rights is something that she's probably going to take a
long, hard look at as an additional revenue stream. And there's just an
overall need to modernize the Athletic Department's finances and structure and outlook. You know,
I mean, things have changed. She herself said, it's like it's
like being the CEO of a one hundred and forty million dollar corporation these days.
And you know, I don't think that I'm a huge Dave Peky fan,
and I think he's a great guy, and I think he did a
really good job here, but I also don't think that he's a CEO kind
of guy. And she seems like she's cut out of that mold and that's
exactly what Arizona needs. Is how much do you think how much do you
think being a lawyer helps? Steve and I talk about that a little bit.
To me, it's more from the you know, the way you know
a lawyer operates and thinks. You know, they they understand processes, there
certain way to do things, in certain ways not to do things. How
much does that help in a position like this do you think? Oh,
I'm sure it helps a lot. You know, you're you're arguing right more
a case, you know, one way or the other. When you go
and when you go and meet people, you're trying to win them over right
to whatever it is that you know, your job is sort of asking you
to do. Whether that's you know, in a lot of cases that's going
to be raising money and you know, maybe people are tapped out or they
feel like they've given enough, but she's going to go in there and present
her case. That's that's why they should give more and what they're going to
get out of it. She was very I liked how she talked about surveys.
She's like, I'm a big survey person and going to send out a
lot of surveys, so be prepared for that. But then she also added
that you know, we're going to listen to the feedback of people, right
and we're going to respond accordingly. I'll be very interested to see what she
thinks of the game day experience at football games, which I don't know,
Like I'm I'm kind of a traditionalist in that regard, Jay, Like,
I don't like the DJ and all the loud music, Like you've got the
band out there, let the ban, let the band play, Let that
be the main source of the audio in addition to the crowd itself. You
know, I've heard a lot of complaints about the noise at Arizona Stadium.
So we'll see if that's one of the adjustments. That's what's coming based on
what she sees and thinks and based on the feedback she receives from those fans
surveys. You know, one of the things that that you know, struck
me a little bit was that you know, she came here because she wants
to be here again. You know, when when you're in Arizona, you're
when you're a two Zona like me, or you're you know, longtime Arizona
fan or boostro whatever, that's kind of one of the things that you want
to see, right because Arizona is so often people coming to Arizona are on
their way to somewhere else. And we know that there's been a bunch of
coaches who've who've done that, h one more recently than others. But you
know that to me, you know, and that that's one way to capture,
you know, the Tucson community. And and you know, because regardless
of whether we think we're big or little or whatever, you know, the
Tucson wants people like them, and they want people to want to be here.
And and I think that's what Brent Brennan has sold. Uh, you
know, Tommy's done, And that's what I mean. Jed Fish sold that
and then you kind of poop pooed it and walked out and walked out the
door. How how big of a deal do you think that is for her?
I think I have two different schools of thought on this. One is
I think she could be someone who's here for a long time. I think
she will have an easy time connecting with the community. I mean, when
you start dropping references about loud Olsen in nineteen ninety seven, I mean that
goes a long way. Start with, She's also a Mexican American, which
I think will will help her to make a lot of positive relationships here in
a community that has a huge Latino population. So I think those are all
sort of you know, on the one side, that trends toward yeah,
she's in here, she's in it for the long haul. On the other
side, you know, when you look at her resume, it's kind of
fish like, right, Like, she has jumped around a lot. She
was only at Missouri for two years. She was at ULV for four years.
She seems like she's very ambious. So you know, this might be
a situation where she comes in and she's here for only a few years and
she fixes things and she moves on to the next thing. Now, if
she does that, I think that would be fine. Yeah, Like,
I don't think people have the same emotional attachment to the athletic director that they
do to a successful football or basketball coach who decides to leave on their own.
Soolition right, right, So I don't think people would be all up
in their fields if she decided to leave after a few years. If she
does the job that she's been tasked to do, exactly, because I do
believe that in the end, you know, once once the I don't know
this hurt that some fans are feeling wears off with Jed. His legacy here
will be that he came here and he fixed the football program, and he
left it in really good shape, and without him, whatever success happens after
that might not have happened. So you know, there'll be fans who ultimately,
I think we'll get to that. I mean, that's how people felt
about Larry Smith. They were pissed when he left and went to USC but
they love the guy to you know, till he died because in the end,
he put Airson a football on the map. So you're right, if
she fix things and goes off to somewhere else, I think that'll be fine.
And I think, yeah, maybe fans have probably kind of said,
okay, we're fine, keep saying that you want to love your stuff like
that, but if you leave, you know whatever, we'll we'll deal with
that. Yeah, It's just it's just not the same thing to me as
as a football coach or even a baseball coach like k Johnson. You know,
people are really really upset, uh with Jay for leaving here on his
own. It's just not something that had ever happened before, like Arizona.
But an athletic director, I mean, look, they are kind of you
know, they are a front facing figure. They're out there in the community
a lot. They're they're you know, in the stands. They're the ones
who are on the court, you know, during the during the timeouts,
you know, handing over the trophies or the awards or whatever. But there
just isn't the same attachment to with the athletic director among the fans there as
there is to a big time coach. Well, speaking of attachments to coaches,
Tommy Lloyd got his five year deal, uh five to six million,
five million, escalating the six million dollars. The deal got done. I
know, if there were fans out there freaking out because of what happened with
Jed and all the narratives you know, tied to that, Oh they're not
getting Tommy's contract done? What the hell is going on? It's done.
He talked a little bit about it at the top of the press conference today.
You know, what did you hear? What do you know? Uh?
Is everybody happy? Uh? You know all of that stuff? Yeah,
I think a job well done by Bobby Robbins, I'm sure was very
intimately involved in this particular proceeding considering the timing of it and not you know,
not having a full time athletic director in that seat while these negotiations were
going on, a good job by Tommy's people as well, not making this
thing very public. You know, agents definitely have a tendency to do that
at times to create leverage for their clients. But you know, when you're
doing something like that during the seasons, you know, there aren't a ton
of openings out there. I guess Ohio State is open right now. Some
other jobs could come open, but hey, you know what, we don't
have to worry about that because Tommy Wood's not going anywhere. He has stated
many times that you know, this is a place that he wants to be.
It fits his DNA, you know, like he's just he's not a
big, ceady kind of guy. Maybe this is this is about as big
a city, uh a big a media landscape is he ever wants to deal
with. Yet it's one of the most successful programs in the country, right,
so he's kind of got the best of both worlds in that regard and
This is a great and positive development for Desiree. Read francois one last thing
for her to worry about, exactly. I've got the basketball coach locked up,
not going anywhere. Everybody loves him for now anyway, and unless they
flam out in the state tournament and then and then, you know, you
know how fans are. But he's done a great job, and I think
he's going to continue to do a great job. And he really seems like
he is a great fit for this town, this this culture, in this
community. We're talking to Michael lev sports continence that there is on Daily Star.
Michael, let's talk about the game tomorrow just briefly. We only got
a couple of minutes. You know, I was telling you, Sammy here
words that I didn't think we would be saying. You know, this time
of the year. Arizona's playing Washington State tomorrow night with just a couple of
weeks left in the season for a first place in the Pac twelve. I
mean, holy hell, you know when it's just I mean, you're you
know, you're a you're a Pack ten Pac twelve guy. You were at
USC, you covering USC before this, so you know, history of Washington
State except for that period of time with with us in that period of time,
they've just not been any good. And now here we are basically have
the same record as there Zona, both overall and in the conference, although
you know Arizona's had a tougher schedule. What are your thoughts on this game
tomorrow night. Well, first of all, I think Kyle Smith has done
a great job and he's definitely someone that I think some bigger programs will look
to poach in the offseason because of how well he has coached up to Cougars.
Clearly, this is a big time revenge game scenario for the Wildcats,
and they have shown over the last couple of years that almost any time they're
in that situation they will come through in a big way. So I think
they're going to win this game. The crowd will be hyped up, They'll
be hyped up. When they're motivated, they are really hard to beat.
I'm a little bit worried about the back end of this home stand against Washington
just because it's such a tight turnaround. You've got a ninety and Thursday game
and then a noon Saturday game that won't have nearly as much hype or buzz,
so I think they could be come out a little bit sluggish maybe in
that game. Then again, you know, we thought they would be fatigued
for the Colorado game on the seals of that multiple overtime victory at Utah,
and it wasn't the case at all. They totally powered through it. So
I think all those experiences that they've had over the course of this season are
going to serve them well as we approach March. A little bit of a
letdown game concern for Saturday, but they've been through it before and they've shown
they can handle it. That speaks to a maturity factor that we you know,
that we really didn't see earlier in the season. It's going through those
experiences, learning from them, growing from them, makes you a better basketball
club. All right, Michael, appreciate the time. As always, We'll
see you at nine o'clock tomorrow night. Be sure to get a nap.
Thank you, kare talk to you soon. As Michael lev Sports comments that
there is a Daily Star, I'm always gracious to join us and always with
great insight as well, So thanks for having him. So we're going to
take our next break. We'll come back we've got a few more Tommy clips
to play. It had some interesting things to say about a couple of his
guys that I want to make sure that you see you're here, and then
we'll take your calls five two zero, four, one, six, seventy
four to forty We'll be right back. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan,
you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look
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a team security dot net. Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app. This is
I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen to
fifteen. Welcome back by on the balling on Fox Sports fourteen fifty on Jacobzalez.
My usual co host st Ribera is off on another assignment to this afternoon.
I've got intern Sammy here capably filling in for Steve and giving us some
really good insights so far, and so Sammy, thanks for being here.
Of course, just had to chat with Michael lev about well, about a
bunch of things about the Tommy Lloyd's new contract, which look it's done.
It's out of the way, let's move on. Tommy did have a little
comment about that at his press conference today and it kind of answered it in
the most Tommy way. I mean, obviously, but you know, I
mean I don't I don't coach for a contract. I mean I coach for
a Thursday's game. You know, I'm looking forward to that. And you
know, there's obviously a business side to everything, and and you know,
I'm pretty fortunate to end up on a good side of it. But you
know, I slept last night like I usually sleep, you know, ate
the same microwave dinner I usually eat. So I don't think nothing's really changed
in how I'm approaching things. What do you think that microwave dinner is?
Jay? You know, I'm guessing one of those little like raviol and cheese
thing kind of thing. You know that you get a little green box and
you just pop it in there three minutes and it's out. I was thinking
more of like a Hello. I think he's like a Hello fresh guy,
Like he gets some of those microwavable things from like Costco. I was singing,
like some vegetables, mashed potatoes, and some chicken. But you know
that's a classic answer back in the day, man, it was TV dinners,
the TV dinner with the with the fried chicken, the corn, the
mashed potatoes and gravy, and then the dessert that burned your tongue because it
was so damn hot. So you know, like an apple pie or cobbler
or something like that. But those things took like an hour to cook,
to cook in the oven. So you like, you can't you didn't have
We didn't. I'm from an area that didn't have microwaves, so that'll that'll
tell you how old that is. Gotch So but uh, you know,
again, the contract's done. Everybody should be happy. And as as Michael
Michael lev said, you know, it's something that the new ad doesn't have
to worry about, right. It's it's all taken care of something that struck
me in I don't know if you've got this, Hammy, but both in
the release regarding Desree read Francois and in the release regarding Tommy's contract, a
lot was made of the fact that a lot of this money is coming from
Boosters, and I get it, you know if i'm their PR guy,
saying you need to say that some people don't think you're spending all this money
that you don't have. But to me it also sounded like, is there
more money because things are changing over there? You know, have they gone
out and convinced people that we need to fix this and we need some help
doing it. I mean, all of a sudden, there's all this booster
money being thrown around. Yeah, if you were if all this were to
happen, had to have happened like a couple of weeks ago, we would
have been asking, Okay, what is this money situation, Like how deep
is it actually going? What are the size of the pockets of boosters people
at the university? And I think there was some not a lot of time,
but there was some as the dust settled with the whole university money thing,
the athletic department and how they spend their money, and obviously probably Dave
Hekey was the fall of that. But having that kind of been a couple
of weeks, now we get into a new athletic director. Everyone's happy,
we get Tommy Lloyd back, We're we have a new football coach, and
it seems as though some levels of excitement people now begin to forget about some
of the dollars yep and I have not heard one person say, what are
we doing paying the basketball coach five million dollars a year? No one,
I don't think you'll get one. Yeah, or if somebody says that they're
gonna get smacked down, really yeah. And I mean it's also too like
you'd think that Arizona basket men's basketball is probably the highest maybe liked watched program
at the University of Arizona. And so we quote unquote have had our guy
and now we have our guy for even longer. So no one's going to
get upset, like you said, or speak a bad word about this contract
extension until stuff does hit the fan, which hopefully it doesn't anytime soon.
Right, Well, I'm getting if they go lose in the first round,
people start losing that. That was a question I was gonna ask you,
like what cause I think Arizona fans are very loyal to their team, but
they're no Ohio State fan where in football? If they're not in the the
colleg football playoff every year, coach day is going to be gone. So
what, like, what does it what would it take for people to be
like, is Lloyd on the hot seat? Well, well, to be
on the hot seat is one thing that takes a few years. But let's
remember that. You know, after they lost to Princeton, you know,
there aren't a lot of people saying he can't coach, he can't coach under
pressure. He you know, he what he did, what he did in
the first years with with the Shawn Miller's players. You know, we don't
you know, we don't think he can recruit. People are really on him
about that. And you know he owned it. I mean he came out
and said, look that that was on me. I own it. But
they'll they'll turn, they will turn. Now, you know, you keep
winning games and keep you know, giving yourself a chance. Look, Lout
went through a stretch of you know, a bunch of first round losses.
I mean, he was only the second NCAA tournament team ever to lose as
a fifteen seed. When they got beat by Santa Clara. The year before,
they had lost as a I mean, they were a two seed lost
to a fifteen seed. The year before they were a three seed and lost
to a fourteen seed. And you know, nobody said get rid of him,
but it gave him. I don't want to say it tarnished to him,
but for a period of time because then they go to the final four,
and then the next year they lose in the first round again, so
people kind of like it was like they were uncomfortable with, you know,
the first round games because he had lost a few. But there was never
a time they said we're going to get rid of him. Yeah. It
almost feels like because of that there was added pressure. There was never.
There was never like Loot is on his way out right more. We just
we need to win the game. He can't be losing those games, right,
And I think for a while, at least with Tommy again, they're
twenty and five and twenty and five, twenty five, Yeah, because if
yeah they lost three conference games and then Purdue in Florida Atlanta, they're twenty
and five. You know, he's probably going to get to thirty wins again
or close to it, close to you know. I do think Arizona fans
are so unreasonable that they would say get him the hell out of here if
he can't get to the final four. Yeah, And I mean he's already
broken wins records right whatever it may be, and he's going to continue to
do that because he is he is a fantastic. He's a really good coach.
And if you like you and I do, we watch our fair share
of Arizona games. You're you're around him at least a decent mountain. You
kind of understand his persona, and he's a guy that lives, breathes dies
Arizona basketball. And if you don't want that guy coaching your team, even
if it takes a couple of first round, second round exits, then are
you really? Are you really? Yeah? Exactly? Like that's the thing
he paid his dues at Gonzaga. He was there for twenty plus years.
And if he can continue any any success like he's had in this to two
and a half year span for the next twenty years, Arizona's gonna be just
not be happy to have him. Don't be happy to have him? All
right? He did had I wanted to play some comments he had on a
couple of guys, because yesterday Steve and I have talked about the fact that,
you know, for some reason, there's some thinking that the player of
the year packed up player of the year is at Colorado, which is unbelievable.
They're middle of the pack team. You know, whether whether you're talking
about uh uh, Cody Williams Williams or the other guys, kJ Simpson,
whichever one you how do you put them above Caleb Love? You can't,
right, you know, Cody Simpson had I mean, Cody Williams had eight
points against Arizona in the game up there. Eight points. Now, he
didn't play in the first game when Arizona blasted Colorado, and that was probably
one of the reasons they blasted Colorado. But if you looked on the if
you watch that game, Cody Williams is maybe the fifth or sixth best player
on the court. You think, where would he start at Arizona. I
mean, he would start at Arizona. He's he's going to be a lottery
pick. I know he's going to be a lottery pick. But he's very
good. Like the whole starting Arizona thing's tough because this team's really found a
groove, found a rhythm. But I mean it is hard. I don't
know, it's it's hard to it's hard to play that hard. But he
would he would be in the lineup, I would say. But well,
here, here's here's what Tommy had to say about about Caleb Love, and
he was that there basically, don't you think he should be you know,
player of the year. I mean, I'm gonna let his performance speak for
itself. I Mean, all I can say is he's He's been great to
coach. You know, He's been very consistent in his approach to things.
And you know, I'm proud of him. I'm proud of him. You
know, we have a lot of work to do, you know, so
so we'll share all the you know, all the over the top comments for
compliments for later. But I'm proud of him, and you know, I
think it's a great story and that this is a young man who you know,
obviously has been a talented basketball player for a while, and you know
he had to kind of endure and overcome some tough times. And for him
to see see him come out the other side of that, hopefully better than
he was before, it's really cool and it's fun to be part of that.
Yeah. I mean, look, I like everybody else, you know,
when they said they were getting Caleb Love and I thought, well,
how does that fit with Kylin Boswell and you know everybody else for getting you
know, he had he had the reputation of being, you know, somebody
who didn't share the ball at North Carolina, those kinds of things. He
had been to a final four, and you know, we hear things,
and whether they're legit or not, we hear things and you develop an opinion
of somebody with that stuff, and it's completely unfair. Yeah, but it
happens. Yeah. I mean when he went on that run with UNC,
I'd been for I wanted to go to North Carolina. That was my dream
school. So I grew up watching a lot of North Carolina basketball and still
like obviously being here at the UVA or they're my team, but I'd always
root for you and see. So when they went to the final four in
national championship, was like, dang, that team's good. Caleb Love was
kind of the rock behind him and Armando Baycott, and so hearing the rumors
that oh he's back in the portal and he came to Tucson, I got
it really excited. And I know people talk and there's his reputation, but
the fact of the matter is the play that he's put on this year deserves
and I think kind of not by a mile but a decent margin. He's
the best player in the Pac twelve. Yes, and again you know,
the best player on the best team. And he's not just kind of the
best player, he's the best player by a lot. I mean, yeah,
you could, you could argue a little bit. In the last like
month, pell has been right there. I think if Pele is not a
first or second All Pack twelve team, there's something's wrong too. I think
one things with him is he's a little understated. Yeah right, sure,
you know, his game is kind of he does it's it's unflashy. You
don't realize how how much of an impact he's making on the team. And
we've talked about that a lot this this this season. The other person,
the other player you talked about is Jaden Bradley again, you know, we
we we talk a lot about this. Evan Mikawa's ratings and Jaydon Bradley is
the highest rated player for Arizona. Isn't that crazy country? And so Tommy
was asked about just the contribution that Jaydon Bradley has been making. I know
it's in him, you know, I think it's just for him kind of
being able to figure out what it looks like it feels like in game situations,
you know, I mean, you know, he did a much better
job, you know, tacking you know, downhill for for simple finishes and
getting on two feet. You know, those are things we know, we've
been trying to encourage him to do. And his shootings really come along.
I mean, you can really see that and feel that. I don't know
if he's ever going to be a high volume, you know shooter, but
but you know, I think, you know, the good shots he takes,
he's gonna have ability to make, and he's shown that over the course
of the season. So I'm I'm really proud of JB and his contributions,
and you know, and and and I know he's a winner, you know,
and I'm glad other people are starting to see that now. And when
you think about it, these two guys came from somewhere else and just you
know, have jumped right in, fit right in. And Tommy's had a
way of doing in the In a couple of years that he's been here,
You've seen him bring guys from nowhere or you know, just out of the
out of the blue and make them really good players. I mean, the
two guards that they had last year, uhh uh. Come on, Sammy
the guy from Texas Courtney Ramy Courtney Rami and uh and Henderson. Uh what
was his name? Oh yeah, Henderson from Yeah, he ended up starting
you know when they went you know when they when they put pelout back on
the bench, come off the bench. He just you know, and look,
the good coach is going to need to do that in this era,
and Tommy's doing that as well as anybody. Yeah, Bradley there, the
advanced stats love him. And he's in Arizona's quote best five man lineup,
right, it's him. It was. It was an interesting lineup, but
he was a part of it. And he he does a lot of things
that come when it's backs against the wall in March and you're down to with
five minutes left, he's a guy that's gonna be on the floor. And
we haven't even gotten to kJ Lewis, who has just been spectacular the last
stretch of games. Oh, he's exciting. He's fun to watch. It
did be interesting to see, you know, when he's not coming off the
bench. Sure, he's all right, let's take a break. At the
top of the hour. We're gonna come back. Sam, he's going to
have breaking news. We've got some stuff going on, and then we're gonna
we're gonna talk to high school basketball in the in the second hour, so
stick around for all that