Speaker 1: It is thirty two on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross.
I'm here in New York City call the Rockets and
the Knicks tomorrow nights. If you are a basketball junkie,
you're going to want to watch the Rockets at night time.
But during the daytime, you're gonna want to be on
ABC watching Arizona versus Houston or better. You had inside
the Fortiita Center for the afternoon tilt and a coach
Sampson with us here on the show. Coach, it only
feels like a decade plus ago. You and I are
sitting in Hawfyn's pavilion. We're getting ready for a game
with Tulane, about two thousand of our closest friends maybe,
and now you've got people trying to sell your ticket
for five to six hundred dollars in the open market. Congratulations,
I'm making this the hottest ticket in town tomorrow afternoon.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Matt, I thanks. One of the great
things for our university than the getting into the Big twelve.
You got a good team into Big twelve. You're probably
one of the best teams, but you're also playing the
best teams in the nation. Arizona's certainly goes fist the
bills for that, that is for sure.
Speaker 1: Did you look. You knew how good the conference was
when you first jumped into it, But this year it
just I mean, Kevin, I'll be really honest, I'm watching
a lot of basketball in my life. Sometimes I needed
some time away. But if there's a b YU game on,
or an Arizona game on, or a Kansas or in
Iowa State, my goodness, I mean, this competition is going
to get you ready for March Madness for sure.
Speaker 2: No, it's gonna it's gonna test you. Great coaches, great
fan bases, great home court advantages. But that's what you
sign up for. That's why I'm so proud of what
we've been able to create at the for two, the
center and our fan base has been awesome, not just
this year but for a long So it's gonna be
a this a great test Arizona. Arizona has a great size,
They've got an elite senior point guard and Bradley. They've
got a one of the best freshmen in America, uh
that nobody talks enough about in Brandon Berry's and then
the two big guys inside Creebus seven to two fifty
and then Owaka who's uh sixty nine sixty, their their size,
their girl, extremely well coached, they runder stuff, They've got
a clear identity on who they are. So but you know,
just it's like playing Iowa was paid or Texas Tech BYU.
We haven't played Arizona yet, we haven't played Kansas yet,
but it's gonna be It's gonna be a bauntlet you.
If you're fortunate enough to win a game, you take
it and move on. But even if you lose the game,
you've got to find a way to learn something from
it so he can get better next time out.
Speaker 1: Kevin, you've obviously had two of the most amazing freshmen
that the campus has had in a long period of time,
and they certainly get a lot of run. Take me
through what the Uzan and Sharp season has been like
in your mind, because those are the quote unquote salty veterans,
been there and done that. Are they enjoying this right
as much as all of us are as well?
Speaker 2: Probably more so? I think they take pride in their leadership.
You know, our team is very inclusive and how we
do anything, whether it's off the court, on the court,
over to my house, and not before every home game
for film UNO games sit around watching Jamal or Jarris,
or Marcus or Quinton one of the many Cougars we
have in the NBA, watching watching them play together. But
Emanuel's had an awesome year, and and so and so
has my Loss. I think it took my Los a
little bit too adjust to a new role. Instead of
being b point guard, he's we're playing two point guard system,
and I think he struggled early trying to figure out
how to make it fit for him and ultimately for us.
But since we got the conference play, he's been awesome.
His defense has improved. He had five defensive rebounds the
other night and names so uh he's having a great year.
And Manuel is and more importantly Matt, they they take
responsibility for the way our team plays, and they they're
they're a great help to the freshman. They're always coaching
them and giving them little uh pointers on what to
do here, what to do there on the court. So
we have a good team. I don't know that we
have a great team, but we have a really good
basketball team.
Speaker 1: Calvin Samson with us here on the Matt Thomas Show,
Ross getting ready for tomorrow's game with the Arizona Wildcats.
I think I've asked you this a few times over
the years. How many games does it take for freshmen
who do play, especially as much as Senacats played and
as much as Filmmings to get that freshman tag off.
I know they're still learning on the job, but they're
about to hit an incredible stretch with again this game tomorrow,
Big Monday in Kansas. The tournament's coming up soon. Do
they what do they need to experience yet? Or do
you think they've got a pretty good feel of what
it was like going to Vegas early in the year,
the non conference games, the playing on the Big Monday
at Iowa State, playing in Textick. Is there anything yet
that they are yet to experience that you want them
to see before it really gets down to that announcement time.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the first Roade game was the biggest test,
and that was we played Auburn in Birmingham and they
were a top twenty five team at the time, because
it was very much like a road game even though
it's Birmingham, because they had sixteen thousand Auburn fans uh
there playing Arkansas in New Jersey National TV. I think
all those were good building blocks for them. But you know,
there's there's very little they haven't seen, and they and
they both and they've both played well. Chris has had
the toughest adjustment because he had to change positions. He's
always been a five. High school five, he guarded fives.
He had an advantage of over fives outside playing at
the four. He's been in an adjustment for him. Kingston
had had any adjustments. He's a point guard. He's used
to having the ball in his hands. He's used to
excel it at a high level against the other best
players in the country. You know, he his AEU experience.
He's He's played Darren Peterson or Debansa or Braiden Berry's
many times. May It was two summers ago. I was
in Orlando at the NBA Top one hundred camp and
you go to one court. There's Kingston playing against Chris's team,
or Christmas team against Braden Berry's team, or or Kingston
against Darren Peterson or a Ja Debansa. So these kids,
from the time they're fourteen or fifteen, they're on the
national circuit, so they play everybody. It's not regional, it's national.
So I think the way the AAU system is set
up with the shoe companies sponsoring these major tournaments, in
showcasing these kids against each other, I think that's really
accelerated their growth and give them the confidence to come
in in year one and play at a high level.
Speaker 1: And we could spend a long time Kevin talking about
the AAU scene for the pluses and minuses. Help me
out are weeks if I'm going on AAU tournament, am
I seeing just incredible athleticism that you're saying, I'm gonna
take this kid, bring him into my program. We're going
to learn some better fundamentals about defense and jump shots.
Or has the AAU game been refined a little bit
where you're not having to do as much of that
now that maybe you were ten or fifteen years ago.
Speaker 2: Well, I will say this, there is some outstanding AU coaches.
There's some outstanding AAU programs. When I first got here,
Texas Pro and Jared Allen and Dayalen Robinson Houston Hoops,
they had so many outstanding players as to Joe Doe
Tugler played for and they play everywhere. They play in
La Las Vegas, loisvill Atlanta, Dallas, New York, you name it.
I mean they're flying all over the country, and that's
another thing to help these kids, and just to college basketball.
But you know, when you're you're out in the summer,
you're really evaluating your your your centiment. Uh some games
are ragtag, some games they went by fifty. But you're
you're watching how they react to just about everything, for
instance Kingston. But in hy Tim the thing that jumped
out was his maturity, how I handled everything, his leadership,
how ted he how tight in he was to his coach.
Cansel went to the same high school for four years.
He played on the same AU team for four years.
He had the same coach for both teams, and I
think that speaks to his loyalty, his commitment. They also
tell you a little bit about his mother and father,
how committed they were to their son and their whole family.
I mean, his daughter just signed a national I'm sorry,
his sister just signed a national lever and tip with Duke.
So he comes from an awesome, awesome family. His character
is beyond reproach. He cares more about winning than he
does statistics, and it shows when we're out there playing
for I let.
Speaker 1: You run, you brought up Jojo I was in I
was down in Florida with the Astros spring training watching
the game. The handball, which was the kickball, still infuriates me.
But I know that plays don't come down to this.
But tell me about Jojo keeping him out of foul trouble.
I know that's an easier singing things said than done.
How much does that still weigh on you in terms
of not getting that quick second foul. And I'm not
trying to put the two plays in other but just
thinking about Jojo and his athletic ability is so crazy.
But man, sometimes in that second whistle comes, it really
changes who he is as a ballplayer.
Speaker 2: Well, the thing that's really helped us there's been the
development of Khalifa Socco. He's really improved, said Lot, who's
been with us now in his third season of playing
four years. He's improved. You can't work on a kid's
foul trouble. You can't teach him how not to foul.
A lot of times, the same same thing he does
one game that's not a foul, is a foul the
next game. So a lot of it news the inconsistency
of the whistle. JoJo's extremely aggressives. He's a lot better
at playing smarter with his activity than he was. You know,
you're not going to take away You're not going to
take away his aggressiveness. You know, it's like one of
those old quarterbacks like Kenny Stabler or Jim Plunkett. Those
guys always to throw five, six, seven toushdowns certain sundays,
but they also throw three point interceptions. So sometimes if
you take away their aggressiveness, you're not going to get
his block shots. And he's not perfect. It's a human being.
He makes mistakes. Sometimes people don't understand that, but it
actually happens. He makes mistakes, and he does it do
it on purpose. That JoJo's a special kid. We would
not be where we are without him. Do I wish
he would never foul and could play thirty minutes and
never miss a shot. We could never lose the game. Yeah,
I wish that. It's not reality.