This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez sound Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat z
R two sad at iHeart Radio Station. So welcome everybody to I on the
Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jay. We
have analyst and today welcome back analyst. We didn't scare you, No,
you did not. I'm happy to do that. Great. Well, we'll
see if we scare her now that she's got to run the board. Oh
yeah, yeah, don't forget the Yeah, look for hand signals. Okay,
Hey, wecome everybody. Hey, the schedule came out today. The
schedule is out. I hope you didn't have that on breaking news because we
did go but I you guys would talk about it. Yeah, it's a
I didn't. I didn't really go through it. But our but our resident
father texted me or tweeted me this morning or this afternoon. Doug from Seattle.
Oh yeah, and uh said, I think to win more than six
games. I think that's easy. Sex is not the goal. I think
it's neither. Tag away, Doug. Six is not the goal this season.
Big twelve championship is the goal. I think so because it's doable.
It is doable. I think, you know, Jay, given given,
how can I say this? Historical minds like us, we think about the
past and we throw Oklahoma wed and they're no longer in the in the mix.
But you go with other schools Oklahoma State and say, oh wow,
they're going to be good. Well we it's today, it's not nineteen seventy
five, right exactly. It's funny because you know, my wife, who
as a season ticket holder for women's basketball, she got the email right with
the schedule and I'm looking at I'm walking by her her home office there and
I see that she's got the schedule of and I'm like, what do you
think? She goes, who are these teams? That was her first year?
She goes, No, she knows. She goes, I don't want
to see any of these teams. I don't want to see West Virginia.
I don't want to see I don't want to see Texas Tech. This.
You're like, well, that's who we're playing, man, that's who we're
going to. And you know what, you are going to go to Texas
Tech we are going to go see West Virginia. We are going to go
see Colorado and Houston. She loved this schedule in November or in December,
January. He's not going to recognize the uniforms, right, you know,
I mean, it's it's all different. But you know, you look at
the schedule and you go through and you say, win, win, win,
win win, right right right. It's funny because when it when it
came out early this morning, I was thinking, oh, here we go.
I was gonna see know how many wins blah blah on paper before the
paper last year? Yeah, you had five six wins. Yeah that's all.
I mean, I've told you you know, I had a truly,
I mean I kept saying six or seven wins, but I really, really,
honestly didn't have six wins. Sure I didn't, and and uh you
did. I I know you didn't lost. You still have me a lot
your dinner or something. But you know, I look at it now and
it's like it's not scary. No. No, Now do I think for
sure? No? I mean, do I think Do I think Arizona can
win the league? I do? Do I think they will win the league?
I'm not willing to say that, but there isn't one game, not
one game on there that I go Holy hell, that Arizona can't win that
game. And we knew this before Jed left. We didn't know this after
Jed left. But I think we know a little bit more now that he's
going to do and the players will return, you know, I mean the
conference opener is probably the biggest biggest game for Arizona in the conference. Uh,
you know, they they go off and they go beat Utah. Look
hard to do at Utah. But let's say they go off and do something
stupid and beat Utah. They're the favorites to win the league. Now,
you know. I was listening to John Wilner's podcast with John Canzano and and
he picked Utah to win the league. I think that's that's pretty well.
I mean that's I mean, who else? I mean, you know,
Oklahoma State is the only maybe maybe TCU, but they weren't any good life
after being in the National Championship game year before last. It's gonna be a
lot of fun. You're gonna be gone, at least, you're gonna miss
all this screach no I know, but I'll be tuning in obviously right,
but you know, I mean tell you look, Texas Tech is an old
rival, Utah is an old rival. B WHYU is an old rival.
They've been playing Colorado for a while now, uh you know, and then
you got a US. So really there's only four new faces. And they
played Houston not that long ago. But West Virginia, Central Florida, Houston
and TCU are teams that Arizona doesn't really have a long history with. I
definitely see more than six. Doug. Sorry, I know you're probably not
listening because he hasn't listen hent d us anymore. What that no reason to
listen to you. He's got he's got to go find a big ten,
a big ten conference radio show. So it should be fun, a lot
of fun. Maybe we get some calls today anytime we have our show,
our guests are. Our guests are today, Bruce Pasco. We're gonna ask
him what the hell is going on with Arizona basketball and what do you think?
What do you think it is? Right now? One get his take
on the weekend, and then you know the things that they've got coming up.
We talked to you know, Brett Brian Peterson about they say we'll get
Bruce Pasco's wealth of knowledge in here and then at we're gonna start running through
some of the spring sport coaches at Arizona. So the first off he's gonna
be Clancy Shields, the man's tennis coach. He's built quite a program over
there. They're already four and oh on the spring season right now. They're
going to play Pepperdine and San Diego on the road this week. That's a
tough, a tough trip, right to go to Malibu and San Diego for
the weekend. But we'll talk to Clancy about what he's got going on with
his program. So Clancy Shields will be on here at. Yeah, but
I think they're well. I don't know how good those programs are, but
I think that Arizona now is is not a big dog, but it's a
pretty good dog compared to what it used to be because of Clancy. Yes,
yes, he's come here and done it incredible jobs. I'm not sure
the other teams are saying, hey, Arizona's coming in, but I'm sure
they kind of are now. Well there the ranked success the rank number thirteen,
and the I think it's the intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. I looked that
up and they're at their thirteenth, so you know they're they're top program.
Does he recruit a lot of international players? They're a bunch of international national
players, right, and that good got a whole bunch of and they and
they can play. What did you view from LA? Why did you come
to Arizona? I mean, I just wanted to go to a big school
that had everything like football, team, athletics. Yeah, and I wanted
to go to a large school, you know, yeah, big school,
and and you wanted to get out of town. I didn't want to go
too far though. I didn't want to go all the way across the country.
So I feel like it's the perfect distance. So what I think my
point was, I think you were I kind of knew you were going to
say that. But see how athletics continues to be a driver, a driver
of kids. It's not about well, I thought their program was a good
but no, it's about kind of I want to be where there's good athletics
and then I'll get a take a full college experience the social aspect of it.
So so given the money situation, uh, I think once they get
this ship righted. I don't know what the reputation is now, but but
it's going to be fine. Yeah. Well, you know, one of
the things that people want to know on stuff like that is that there's a
plan, you know, that it's fixable, that within an x amount of
time. You know, you get to work yourself right out of that.
You know, again, people hate uncertainty more than anything about you know,
about about whether it's you know, school, I mean, it's like we
want to know what our baby is going to be or it's more you know,
if people just want to know and that that's that's the comfort level.
So yeah, I think if there's if there is a sense that there's a
plan to get Arizona out of this financial situation, then you move on and
you say, okay, we're dealing with it. Let's go, let's let's
do the other stuff. I mean, it's still gonna be hard, you
know, Robin said, there's gonna be a bunch of layoffs and stuff like
that. But in the end, people just want to know what the hell
is going on? Yeah, yeah, okay, uh, we'll talk to
Bruce, like you said, what's going on? And we've got about six
six seven minutes. Uh, anything else going on, you know, just
a lot of just a lot of stuff. You know, here's the thing
and with I know, the schedules, the football schedules up. But you
know what, we've been talking mostly about basketball the last couple of days,
and that's it's kind of things that sort of the dust has settled a little
bit, right Uh. You know, Brent Brannan's got his staff in,
they're out doing whatever they're doing. Uh. You know, I know,
you got to hire an athletic director and there's all that stuff going on.
But I feel like the dust is starting to settle after like a frenzy,
you know, from you know, mid December or late December until a couple
of days ago, right right with the Heikey kind of nice and there's still
some kids leaving and going and then probably we'll be coming here pretty soon.
That's gonna happen. You know. You know, we haven't talked about is
is is not that we did talk about Jim Harbout leaving Michigan, but the
fact that they hired his assistant and they just like, you know, kind
they're just going to kind of keep the ball rolling over there and see what
they can do with that. I mean, the guy's young, he's still
actually this on the show a number of times. You probably tired of me
saying this. I don't know how well historically hiring the hiring the substitute teacher
doesn't work. Yeah, because he's not the head coach. He's he's you
don't recognize him as the head coach. He moves up a pi, slaughter
a seat over, and it's hard to continue to gain that respect or keep
that respect. So good luck with that. Well part of it too,
You got to figure, is this happened so late? Right, Harbrot went,
You know, it took this job so late they almost had no choice.
You know, they couldn't take a whole bunch of time. Now,
look, we know Alabama took two days to get a coach. You know,
then Washington took two days to get a coach. In Arizona took two
days to get a coach. But you got a sense that if they'd have
gone and gotten somebody else, a bunch of players probably could have left,
just like they did Alabama. And now you got to wait until the portal
opens up in April to get your team back. If they all leave yeah,
so you know, I think their hands were kind of tied, and
you know, there was a lot of support for the guy. So,
you know, Sharon Moore's his name, a lot of support for the guy.
So he's the new coach in Michigan. Just I mean, you know,
Jim Harbaugh once made the comment about Ryan Day where Ryan Day was bitching
about something and he said, you know, here's a guy who woke up
on third base and he thought he got there. He thought he got a
triple to get there, you know, and then the people are saying,
well, Sharon Moore, you know he's he's woke up on third base.
The question is, you know, does he feel like he's lucky to be
there or does he feel like he had it coming. Well, we'll see
what he does with that triple or not triple. I'll go with Pinchron at
third base. That's im. I'm taking whoever Michigan's playing in the opener.
Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be tougher because they still lost a lot
of players. They were very very veteran, veteran team, didn't Rich trud
first gave me the stopolation state was it was up the game No, Richard
wasn't the one. It was the car. Rich Trod didn't. Rich Trod
wasn't the coach when they lost who who he replaced? Yeah, okay,
okay, sorry Richard. I appreciate it. I apologize now just in case
you're in town the weather listening to the show. Right, he's parked next
to his your next to his phone listening to us the same thing. Yeah,
ok so anyway, but you know it's man, I tell you what,
It's gonna be really interesting year in college football. Next year with all
the realignment with you know, coaches like Harbaugh and and uh and say we're
gone. It's I mean, next the the the anticipation of the college football
season is going to begin. The mint at the final four is over.
So so another grading of another thing with coaches being hired. And what grade
do you think they gave Brennan. This is a different thing. Plus it
was about a B. It was a B or C plus. I think
was a C plus. I talked about his record overall. You can't count
that. It's like we talked to a local guy here who said, well,
the record's not good. Well, if you go into a bad situation
like Jed. They didn't you know what, they give Jed a A A
A under the same conditions. It doesn't make any sense if you're going to
apply the litmus test this way, shouldn't Jed His record sucks well. First
of all, he's only got three years as the head coach right. Second
of all, even after going ten and three, he's still under five hundred
and now he's the coach of Washington. And if you go Rennan and you're
kind of in your first years at a bad you know, a bad place,
it's going to take you a while. So if you scrub those first
three and see that there's progress, he's done very well done. He's done
well at a tough place to I just didn't add a hard time. So
if you're gonna apply those things there up there, why not down here?
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense, But I think that he's won over
people here. He certainly has, media wise, national wise, all that.
No, and you know, and and and the and the and The
great thing about Brandon too now is because I think one of the issues the
last go around when Jed got hired was you know, when you're thinking about
Brent, bring your thinking. God can he actually come and rebuild this.
Now I don't know that he could have. I think it took somebody like
Jed to do this. Well, now he's it's built and he's here,
and now all he's got to do is make it better. He doesn't have
to build it. And and I think that, uh, he's in a
he's in a way better place. And I'm not gonna say it's gonna be
easier. I'm just gonna say, you know, he's he's coming into a
place where if he's if he's a good coach, then he's going to be
able to do this, you know. And and I think all signs are
that he's a good coach. I think let's let's say this, we've got
a bit here in this problem. Okay, Let's say he does turn into
Dick Tomy and and for whatever that means. But it's a seven and four,
it's an eight and three, maybe a six and five, and the
usual Dick tellmey kind of thing, maybe a nine and two run in that,
are you okay? I think there's gonna be a little higher expectations in
the big twelve. I think there's a there's a belief that that he should
do better in the Big twelve than Arizona was able to do in the Pac
twelve or Pac ten. So I think the expectation is going to be that
maybe they should be a seven eight nine win team every year as opposed to
a six seventy. And that's and that's that's crazy to hear that from you
from to hear that. Good luck, Yeah, good luck. We'll see,
we'll see, we'll start to see what it looks like this year.
All right, let's uh, let's go and take our break. We got
we're gonna come back. We're gonna have Bruce Pasco from the Arizona Daily Star
covering basketball and we'll talk about what he thinks of the Cats after a weekend
in Orgon. So, uh, we'll be right back. Welcome Plans.
Make the right choice for your home when it comes to windows and doors.
For more than twenty years, the Window Depot has provided the best price and
biggest inventory on in stock windows and doors. The window Depots open to the
public, so whether you're a homeowner or a contractor, you can shop the
enormous warehouse rowse the shelves with over one thousand vinyl windows, interior and patio
doors and skylights and several varieties and sizes available to go home today shop the
window Deepot dot com or find a location near you the window Depot best Price,
biggest inventory. Steve Rivera here to talk about Dorato Rock Materials. I
needed a lot of gravel for my driveway, so I called Eric at Dorato
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 Materials
provides a wide range of landscape 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 leading edge and exercise equipment on twenty second just west of Wilmot.
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 Beauty full 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. 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 one eight five six two six. Today in MLS
three oh eight seven Arizona BKO nine two nine four two Equal housing Opportunity,
How to commitment to Lyndrix CYN Credit rates and available loan programs or subjcts to
change with un notice. 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 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.
The Secret Savings Account from Pyramid Federal Credit Union is an account you pay
yourself and save oh right. It's set up as an automatic transfer for any
amount and the transfers add up over time. You can save for a down
payment on a dream vacation or an emergency fund and the best part for withdrawals.
Your Secret Savings Account can only be accessed in branch or over the phone.
Visit Pyramid FCU dot com slash Secret Saving to learn more. Federally insured
by NCUA. It's that time of year, Summer in Tucson. Time to
take control with temperature control for all your air conditioning needs. Will 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 got bugs,
termites, bees, or rodents, Arizona Pest Control will hunt them down.
Arizona Pest Control is your complete desert pest management specialist. That's can't run or
hide from Arizona Pests Control. They use only the latest and most technol logically
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
azypest dot com to schedule your free evaluation today. Steve Ravia and Jacob Salis
they have their Eye on the Ball on Tucson's sports stay Chef Fox Sports fourteen
fifteen. Hey, welcome back to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. I'm Steve. He'sja. Now we're on the phone. We
have Bruce Pescal from the dew Star. Bruce, how are you pretty good?
How are you go doing fine? Did you have a better trip to
Oregon than the basketball team did? Oh? Yeah, I always love going
up there. Yeah, I mean it's a lot of driving and a lot
of rain. But you know, it's it's beautiful and two really fun venues
to visit in my opinion. I mean, it's totally different and just yeah,
it's just it's fun, and this time through it's you know, I
mean it's kind of a bittersweet thing too, because it's the last time most
likely Arizona's going to make a trip like that ever again, although I maybe
could see him playing in Oregon, you know, and maybe going to Portland
to meet one of those teams in a in a in some kind of tournament,
but not not making true trips to Guild Callisseum or anything like that.
You know, it's been a lot of years since I you know, I
went there. But did you have some favorite spots over there? Restaurant that
you hit that well maybe has been around a while before you say that that's
my favorite college town. I love that trip. Anywhere Eugene was was awesome.
So what were your spots over there? Yeah? Well, you know,
I mean, actually Corvallis has a there's like a Hawaiian place near the
right cross the streets in the campus, and there's a there's a taco shop
that's kind of like a Nico style taco shop that's open all night, so
it's like the only place you can go besides McDonald's after the game, So
that's kind of cool. And then there's a there's a there's a little kind
of like a brew pub type of place in the main drag there in Corballis
is pretty good. I think it's called Block Routine or something. And and
then down on Eugene, you got, uh, there's a I mean there's
a place called Fishermen's Market. I really like just you know, to get
fresh press, sea food, sandwiches, fish and chips, whatever, all
all kinds of good stuff like that, you know. But man, it's
all over the board in fact that you know. Actually one of the places
I went to, Corvellas is out of business now. It's been a while,
so you know, some things went down with COVID or whatever like everywhere.
But still there was in w at the fork in the road. Remember
in W there in the forks in the road, the one road to get
in and get out what in w Yeah, Now, dude, a Eugene
was always about the electric stations, which is also since yeah, were you
was it around when you were going up there? Yeah? I remember,
I remember even I probably remember years ago there a s U and you have
able at the same hotel or they met there and there was like a fight
or matched that they were both both teams are there and it was the Friday
night between games and that at that time, that was like the I guess
the Davis place for teams to go because they had tons of room and it
was kind of like that bacant seafood potta, whatever kind of place so everyone
could be happy, and but it got out of control that night. I
never I think I maybe ate there once, but it's pretty hard to get
in on the expensive court, so I didn't usually go there. No,
it was a J. Brownlett and and I think it was house any house,
and I don't because it was the book. It was in one of
my books and he says, you want a piece of this national championship.
Wow, those are the days. So so, Bruce, what did we
see over the weekend? Who the hell are these guys? Which one?
Which one are they? Well? You know, I mean you guys know,
I mean it's you know, it really is a cliche. It's hard
to win on the road, and it is, and particularly I think the
PAC twelve and this will all go away sadly, but it's really unique in
the Pac twelve where you have this these two game road trips and when you
lose the first one, you know that you're supposed to win more often than
not. And Steve, I think you could probably agree with me on this.
You seem to two Saturday you play great, you just do or the
other way around. I mean, it's one of the other ends, you
know. And also the challenge about the playing at Oregon State is not usually
what your typical road challenge is, where you have that hostile environment all that
there's like thirty five hundred fansit and their guilt cost team with their hands on
their laps not doing anything for the first twenty five minutes of that game.
So what you have to deal with and it's a nineteen forty nine building that
still looks a lot like in nineteen forty nine building, and so you have
to create your own energy and get up for that. And then if you
don't and you don't take a commanding lead, then then you get the fans
get excited and you know, and it becomes kind of a tense environment.
And that's exactly what happened, and you know. I mean, you know,
I think what I think it's happened four or five times where Oregon State's
beating them up there, you know, in years when they're not supposed to
just just kind of in that in that situation. I don't know, So
an answer questions Jay in a long way, I guess you know, they're
they're you know, I think they're kind of the same team to me that
they've been all the season, which is kind of a top fifteen team,
and they are subject to having trouble on the road, and they've had maybe
arguably a little more road I mean, I think the game that really stands
out as a Stanford game, but they just got whipped and the other ones
were kind of you know, not really issuge surprised. I didn't think.
I mean Oregon State also too, is you know, they had lost five
in a row, but four of them are on the road. The other
one was at home against overtime overtime against Stanford. I mean, they weren't
really as bad as their record looks, so, you know, so there's
a way to look at that as well. I see Oregon State, and
I see coach Hinko Hinkle and I'm thinking, how many lives does he have.
I mean that that run two three years ago to the tournament deepened the
germot and saved him because it's been bad every other year. Yeah, Well,
he got a he got a long contract extension after that, Covid Elite
eight, and so he was kind of locked in there, and then you
know, I think he's done. I think he's done a pretty good job
there. There's a lot of it's a very difficult place to recruit to.
It's going to be even more difficult now that they're leaving the PAC twelve,
you know. And and he's a good guy. Everybody loves him, you
know, you know, he appears to be clean, does all the right
things, and you know, has good guys. So I think they just
are kind of rolling with it. And then every now and then he's he's
uh, you know, making that Elite eight, and he's had a couple
of big wins against Arizona, so that that's probably helped him stay in good
savor there too. Dana Alltman, you know, always questions about, you
know, how far he can take his team. You know, he did
get him to a final four, but you know, they if he's you
kind of feel like he's in that same mode as as Sean Miller, with
the accept that he did get to a Final four, that he's just not
always quite as good as you think he should be. You know what,
what's the you know, what's what did Oregon look like to you? Uh?
I? I saw that Mike Michael of course he had them even though
they were in first place in the pack twelve on Saturday during that game,
he had them as you know, as the first team, uh, you
know out of the tournament. What are they? Yeah? Yeah, well,
you know, I mean there he's you know, I think to me,
it's almost kind of like the he was like the transfer portal guy before
there was a transfer portal. He's always mixed in guys from all different levels,
freshmen, juco transfers, four year transfers, grad transfers, and then
and then pretty high profile five star freshmen sometimes, so everybody comes in with
their own agenda and it takes some time. Then. He's also had a
lot of in the last few years and so many injuries. In fact,
they lost Keyshawn Barthelmy, their their backup point guard. The other day when
they played Arizona. It just keeps happening. So, you know, I
don't know, He's got talented teams there, but sometimes they do come together.
Uh, and at least in the conference play and are pretty tough,
and we've seen them take care of Arizona a lot over the years. But
you're you're right, Jay, I think maybe you could you could say why
why does this team go further in the tournament? And you know, it's
hard to It's hard to say on that one because every time I've seen at
least play Arizona, I mean, they looked really good. They didn't look
at so good Saturday, and I think probably the biggest surprise was defensively.
Usually defensively they really caused Arizona some trouble and it didn't that didn't seem to
be the case at all. I think, you know, Arizona shot really
well, didn't seem fluster, you know, nothing like that that we've seen
there over the years. So I don't know, they're they're always probably one
of the more the M and A sure probably the two most enigmatic teams in
the PAC twelve is to figure out what the heck heck is going on.
So Bruce, I asked Jay this yesterday from the Gorgon game. What was
he most impressed with or impressed may not have been the word, but seeing
Love do what he did at thirty six or Kaitlyn coming back to doing some
of the things he had been doing. Yeah, it was a little of
both. I think probably he was I think I mean, if I'm listening
and understanding what Lloyd is saying, I think he felt that what Boswell did
was going to happen. So I don't think that was a huge surprise to
him. He just he was kind of like this part of the process,
that kind of stuff. But I think the love think surprised him, not
so much the Love scored thirty six, but because of the way he didn't
seem to force the issues. Granted, Oregon gave him some pretty good looks
at times, but he didn't go forcing it, and particularly in the second
half, you know, because he came in with twenty its first half,
and that's a situation where you know, you're sitting around a half time thinking
he got twenty. You're thinking maybe I got forty. I'll get on ESPN
whatever, blah blah blah, you know, And so Lloyd said he talked
to him coming out a halftime, he said, hey, I don't care,
you know, if you if you just have twenty for the whole game,
just just just make good decisions. And so he seemed Lloyd said he
was he was impressed that that's that's what happened. And Lloyd, you know,
and Love didn't didn't press the issue too much, you know, and
had a pretty smooth effort. I think because because I think, you know,
I mean, we saw two years ago and to have mathmom Matham was
kind of that that powerful, aggressive, go to score. Last year they
don't have to have that guy at least on the perimeter, and then this
year they have it in Love. But it seems like he needs a little
management where, you know, you just want don't want him to get too
overheated and really start forcing it. So Love's or Lloyd's been talking a lot
about that. I think a couple of weeks ago into Clay Utah, he
I think he actually told him after he had twenty three, so hey,
that's enough. Let the rest of these guys finish up, you know.
So it's it's it's interesting, but it's I think Love is listening to him
too, because I think he knows that being more efficient is going to get
him to do the NBA. There's no way he was going to get there
last year shooting, you know, as poorly as he was. He is
being that kind of player. You Know. One of the things that we
keep hearing is Umar Ballo. He doesn't look good. He's not having a
you know, do you think he's having a bad year or do you think
he's just kind of leveled off a little bit from the big leap he took
last year or is he kind of are people not having an appreciation for what
he's doing? Wow? Yeah, I mean it's probably a lot of all
of what you said. I mean, I think probably the most is I
think he's leveled off a little bit. People probably figured out a little more
about how to play him. He's a little you know, he's a little
limited defensively sometimes, but that's not unusual for a guy of his size,
you know. I think, you know, I think maybe he caught people
a little surprised early last year when he really came out of the gate just
demon he was so good there and then won that Maui MVP title, and
you know, and then I think it's just you know, he ran into
some injuries last year. He's had some minor injuries this year, and that's
kind of the expect I don't really know if that's playing a role or not,
because you know, they don't he doesn't like to talk about nobody doesn't
like to talk about. So I don't know if if there's any thing to
that. But I do know in the preseason he had some things going on,
so it just didn't seem like you get off to a great start and
then you wonder if you know, if there's confidence issues or anything going on
too, because you know, judging by his free throw shooting that you know
that that appeared to be kind of a mental block. Is you know,
not like he you know, he's his free throw shooting got got you know,
has gone down and although it's been a little better lately, but so
you just I don't know, it's a little bit of a puzzle, I
think. But but you know, but I think it's a classic case of
an Arizona player and the team often has this problem where you get expectations get
ratcheted up because of something you do early and it's just hard to keep living
up to that. I think that's that's a lot of it. So we
all know that Tommy has some some talent on that team. Some days some
good, some days not so good. We see the rotation now eight probably
Philip probably is going to be nine or ten, and the other kid number
twenty four, twenty twenty three, that Gyroscos. Yeah. So so you
think that we'll ever see these other two, the other two that we just
mentioned deep into a game, probably not right? Well, that's you know,
Lloyd's still been talking about doing that. He's been playing them a little
bit more and he's you know, he experimented a little bit the other day
with going with smaller lineups, which allows more opportunity for those guys to get
in or and or play Kshaw Johnson or Pela Larson at the five, and
you know, if he continues to do that, it creates more opportunities.
But it kind of seems to me like a you know, here we are
almost February, and you know, find now your rotation is pretty sad,
and it's hard to imagine it would change a whole lot, but it does
seem like kind of an eight plus two situation as far as the rotation,
and maybe maybe depending on you know, we'll turn to those other two guys
to kind of make a different look in his lineup, but it's hard to
imagine either one of them being a regular guy barring some kind of you know,
injury issue or anything like that. Right, Okay, Bruce, thank
you, Hey, Thanks Chris. We will see you this week at Micheale.
Thanks a whole bunch. All right, thank you, All right,
let's take our next break. We're going to come back. You're an Arizona
man's basketball fan. You know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now,
take a look back at the Ludolsen era In my new book, Lessons
from lut It was a labor of love Tobi with 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 Loot 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 formal.
While get Leman Huntley with Arizona help imagine how home GM can change your health,
your conference, 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, multi gms and freeway 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 share 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 Someday 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 right scond. With
the new year, we usually make resolutions to be healthy here. Water quality
in your home can help you achieve healthy living goals. I'm Rondorinas with Picture
Rocks, Cooling, heating and plumbing. We offer solutions to filter the water
in your house that you drink, shower, and cook with every day.
For clean and healthy water, call five two, zero, four four zero
or zero six nine takes yours going, cheating and clumbing. 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 Team security dot Net. Steve Bravera and Jagin
Salez they have their eye on the ball on sports stage yet Fox Sports fourteen
fifty streaming live. I mean iHeart Radio WIMS. Hey, welcome back to
ID and Ball here on Fox Marks fourteen fifty. I'm Steve. When did
Jay out of breath, Plice running from the other studio, Steve doing all
those important promos that we get paid for. Good afternoon, everybody, if
you want to call, calls five to two oh four, one, six,
seventy four forty an Aleasa's handy with the phone, ready to go.
Yeah, now, I'm ready. Yeah, we were. We continue to
tutor her through the day. So he's got it, she's got He'll be
good the first time. Yeah. I want to know what people think of
the schedule, the football schedule, you know, the home games, you
know, New Mexico and NAU, Right, those are you know, kind
of standard non conference games. I already got a text saying, don't poo
poo the schedule, don't know, Mike Parade. No, I like the
schedule. I like the we I mean, you know, I know me.
Oh because I'm mister down, Do I mis Do I miss the PAC
twelve? Yes? Am I gonna miss you know, having you know,
USC and U C, l A and all these teams coming here. Of
course I am. But I'm also kind of looking forward to the newness of
this. Right, teams that we've never teams that we never have don't see
often uniforms that we don't see often. And then to see how all of
this is going to play, you know in the national media. Uh,
you know, you know, you're you're starting to see a lot of stuff
about Arizona being a favorite for the Big twelve, right, and and so
what kind of where in the conversation with Arizona be from a football standpoint next
year, right in a different area of the country, Right, this is
going to be the West. We are the West now as far west as
you're going to go, because of the other schools are out somewhere else.
Yeah, no, all the schools are in our time zone or well,
we had a situation today because of all tour. So those games you know
obviously, but games are not going to be played, could not be played
at one o'clock in the early September windows. I mean, that's going to
be brus home games. Home games. No, you're still gonna have Lake
games. But I you know, but I like those games to be it
five o'clock. Yeah, six o'clock, right, you know, the eight
to thirty game is gone, you know that's gone. Right, Seven o'clock
might be the late seven o'clock might be be the latest eight o'clock Central time
right. Yeah, So let's say we're playing we say, let's Arizona's playing
a Central time zone team. I could see a game being at seven o'clock
or seven, even seven thirty, you know, eight, you know,
eight, eight o'clock or eight thirty in the central time zone. I don't
see Arizona playing in Central Florida or West Virginia at seven thirty at night for
a conference game. They're not going to do that. In conference games,
you can do that. You can do that when you know, if you
know an Iowa comes to town and you want you want them to, you
know, have a tough time with you play them at seven thirty two some
on time and and say, I, you know, I don't see that
we're going to have all the late games that we've we've had for sure,
for sure, not the eight thirty games that we've had a couple of those
in the past. You know, same thing with basketball, right, you
know, we're not gonna have those nine o'clock games anymore. There's a nine
o'clock game coming up, isn't there? Or did we just have one o
those nin oclock they had Oregon State basketball? Yeah, basketball, they had
Oregon State at nine o'clock. Those aren't fun. Those are fun. They're
not was eight o'clock. I was still kind of right because you're not getting
out of there to ten third well eleven, yeah, yeah, because the
press conference all that stuff, and you're carrying your stuff right right, So
I I I'm I'm you know, don't want b y U fan coming over
here? No, I don't, but don't don't go there. Don't go
there. But you know, Texas Tech, you know again an old time
an old time rival. It'll be interesting to see, you know, West
Virginia Central Florida teams we've never seen before. I know, I was gonna
play back played a home and home with TCU back in the early two thousands.
We saw La Daniel Tomlinson, we saw uh and the TCU came here
Houston. We've seen them a couple of times. But it's gonna be new,
so I'm kind of I'm kind of intrigued by it. Yeah, yeah,
No, and then with a new coach and you look, we'll see.
I think it's been a lot of fun. You know, too bad,
Too bad, Dave. He can't see this through for whatever reason,
I guess eventually we'll get an explanation from from the boss, from his boss
or not, or he'll find this, he'll find a spot, He'll find
a spot. Yeah. Yeah, I think most people, most people in
his industry, given his situation, With all due respect to Robins, know
he was kind of escape good not kind of he was. Yeah, and
so that's not going to ture him to anybody else from hiring him. Yeah,
I mean, you'll be able to see this is what happened, right,
I mean again, you know, the athletic department got beat up by
COVID, just like everybody else. My dad, Jay gave me the approval
to spend ten bucks on a candy bar, but mom didn't like it.
So now mom has put me in the room and I'm in trouble. But
Jay's okay. You know, how does that work? I'm not really sure.
I want to go ask Bob. Okay, you get to approve and
you're still screwed. Yeah, I god. I did see on the schedule
that the Houston game, which is the last home game before the ASU game,
could be on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. So that's that's
kind of up in the air. I don't know when the day that November
fourteen, fifteen or sixteen, OK, and then they go to TCU,
and then Thanksgiving weekend that Saturday, Arizona State is here. But and then
the Kansas State game, which would normally be a conference game, but because
it was already on the schedule as a non conference game, they're going to
play it as a non conference game. In Arizona goes to Kansas State for
that and that that's either a Friday or Saturday game September thirteen or fourteen of
the third week of the season. So it surely is going to be different,
but it'll be different in a good way. I can't wait to I
can't wait to bust busson. You have a bunch of teams at least five
I think this week or in the top twenty five, and just just the
craziness that Big twelve basketball. And then you know their fans are going to
show up here too, and yeah, they're gonna come here and they're gonna
be loud. And you know, I mean we remember Kansas coming here and
it's gonna be great. Kansas State has come here in the past. Yeah,
you know some of these other teams, it's gonna be fantastic. So,
uh, you know Houston and basketball Texas Tech and basketball Kansas, Baylor,
you know Baylor, all these teams that's gonna be. I think if
you don't have tickets to the basketball season, better you better try to find
a way. Games will be coming. Good point, good point comes here
next time. What a schedule that will be next year? Right, right,
let's see what happens. So let's just get through this next two months.
Right, February March is already around the corner. Short month in February
March comes. Yet already I already got asked for my for my shirt size,
for the for my gear at the back of tournament. I'm still got
to bring you some guys. Keep looking up in my closet. I got
to get I got to get Steve some stuff. But everywhere I go,
and if I'm wearing a Pac twelve things, that's going to be some some
say that's gonna be worthless. Another is going to say, you know,
that's gonna be worth a lot of money. I'm like not, they neither.
It's it's gonna be like some of our colleagues from the past. We're
in the comparable the comparable talking exactly what you're talking. You know, he's
just old. He's just doesn't nothing else to wear. It's not that anymore.
In a very inside joke, that's over here. Okay, but yeah,
so you know, are you going to the Pac twelve Tournament, the
Pack twelve Tournament. Well, I don't. It's going to be here,
right, no Vegas, in Vegas. You don't. You don't travel.
I don't travel. But you're the boss the well, here's money. It's
not during spring break this year, it's not. Fin four is in Phoenix,
right. I could see if they get when they get, but but
not the I think spring break is the week before. Okay, okay,
so because it is running a little late this yeah, yeah, so iky
so they well, kids to still go. I don't have any kids in
school anymore, so they're all going. Yeah, kids are Yeah, of
course the kids will see it Thursday fighting class cares. Yeah, the whole
clan will be up there for this one. If you're never gone, you
gotta go. Yeah. It's the last rodeo. Man, it's a blast,
the last rodeo. I'm sure I saw Duke in the Sweet sixteen two
years ago and they played Texas Tech in San Francisco. Yeah, oh,
you were at that I got there, yeah, and I was at the
other one was playing the same day. Yeah, yep. Yeah. And
when the smack coach came the head as he walked by me, Well that's
when you said, what's his name? There are number one guy Pollo?
Yeah, Carol, there was you know that he was. He was the
real deal. Like they won that game by like one point or something right
at the end. Yeah. Yeah, he was like eighteen years old and
he looked like thirty five out there, just a big du haven't heard his
name much in the NBA. He's like, he's doing well, Yeah,
he's doing well. You know the guy you don't hear much of. This
guy from Gonzaga who went to Orlando's sas one of those guards, the guards,
the guard who went to I think you went to Orlando. Oh okay,
he's the one that hit the last second shot. Oh yeah, way
back yeah court shot. Yeah, the half court shot against the c l
A. Yeah, okay, yeah, no, no, it's uh all
that Steve. I think it's gonna be fun. And it's around around the
corner. I mean, you're sucking five six weeks. Yeah, talking about
yeah, yeah, yeah, I I I don't and I don't know what
to think of what that's going to be like, you know, is there's
something just gonna go in there and get it stuff together and blitz everybody.
Is somebody gonna step up and you know, you know, make a fight
out of it because the rest of the team's just you don't know what you
got. You know. Stanford goes off and beats Arizona, then they lose
a couple of bad games. You know, same thing with Washington State.
You know, is a su any good We don't know. It's it's to
me when you've seen it the packed what has been Arizona's they'll lose pretty much.
The ones that always scare me, having covered the team for twenty three
years before traveled was the first and second rounds. Why because they're expected to
win the game, right, Yeah, to show up? Yeah, yeah,
yeah. And it's always we talked about confidence over confidence killed the Cats.
It's killed them a number of times. I remember they struggled with Stanford
last year in there for in the first game, in their first game.
They're not going They're not really going to lose this, are they so you
know sometimes they yeah, well you wonder, like we say, Tommy's on
the clock. Tom's on the clock. He knows how important that first round
game is because he said it's on me if there's two going to be and
went back to back first rounds. It was on him and the city let
him know. Yeah, it was on him. Yeah, no, absolutely,
there's still some people who don't think he was that great. We talked
about that. We talked about that, right, and I'm like, guys,
he won a national championship. Let me write down get ahold of them
call it? One of them used to sit next to me on the stat
crew, so you know, yeah, yeah, like you know what I
would say, you should have won more championships and coach k and Calipari,
all these guys should have done the same thing. Yeah, right, absolutely,
But now it's uh, it's just been it looks for as you as
you're saying in you know, in the ad, you know, advertising your
book. For forty years. Man, it's been a ride. It's been
a ride with this basketball program. A lot of wins who have been there
and a lot of great wins. You know, we're into the get heading
heading into the third generation of that right, Well, there's a lot of
great wins of the kids. Of the kids are Joe Well Arenas Gilbert,
Gilbert's son might be recruited here or whatever. But I said, a lot
of great wins and a lot of crazy losses, a lot of unbelievable,
a lot of that heart breaks, heartbreaking losses. Those those back to back
Elite eights for Sean Miller, you know, the the Elite eight, the
ninety eight one was sticks out, the eighty eight loss in the final fource
I want to make you cry. I want to make you cry. Yeah,
uh, Chicago, Illinois. You know that one that made me mad
more than made me sad. That one pissed me off. We were we
were already registered to get to the final four. Yeah, that one,
that one, that one made me mad because I'm like, how the hell
do you guys do that? You know, not my kid and and his
friends cried, But that that one made me mad more than anything. But
then against Steve, I'm gonna you know, look, I was more sad.
I was sad when I was a writer. I was sad for the
eighty eight teams loss, and I was sad for the eighty nine teams loss.
Then my last game, the last basketball game that I covered was the
ninety team against Alabama, and I'm like, you guys are idiots. How
how did you do that for the same reasons they lose? Now, yeah,
over what what did say? Yeah, we weren't ready. We came
out flat. There's your example starts right now, it starts yeah, and
so you know, those those ones. So those of the two that I
will say, the I think was two thousand and three, the Kansas last
Jason Garden. You know, now, when I was set because my kids
were sad. I sat there and watching it cry because we were going to
the Final four. We had tickets and everything. We were going right,
and then it all came apart at the end of that game another one and
that was that was on. That was on Salm Selaine didn't show up.
Yeah, So anyways, okay, I don't know. All right, we're
gonna end of the end of the break here. Yeah, we're coming to
it. And at least all right, her rookie breaking news today. So
no pressure, Yeah, no pressure at all, and at least none none
whatsoever. We're gonna break into that and then we're gonna have Clancy Shields.
We'll be coming up. We'll talk about some Arizona men's tennis when uh when
when we get back, so uh stick around for all of that. We'll
be right back. This is the last