Speaker 1: This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 1: Want to take part in the show? Call up Steve
Speaker 1: now went five to two oh four, one, six seventy four.
Speaker 2: D Hey, welcome back to Eye on the Ball, you know,
Speaker 2: Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Vera. You're Dave Silberg.
Speaker 2: Now with US is one with breaking news.
Speaker 1: This is I on the Ball, breaking news on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 3: Happy Wednesday to everyone out there.
Speaker 4: You're truly mister goody two shoes, mihitolindo, whatever you want
Speaker 4: to call me nowadays the starting off some era breaking
Speaker 4: news with some Arizona athletics. Of course, the game last
Speaker 4: night for men's basketball against number twenty one West Virginia
Speaker 4: pretty soundly took care of them in a seventy five
Speaker 4: to fifty six win.
Speaker 2: It's funny because last night's game and I listened to
Speaker 2: the post game with Tommy to do my story.
Speaker 3: Uh, he did it right away.
Speaker 2: Typically they'd take at ten to fifty because they needed
Speaker 2: a catch to the bus to get to Pittsburgh to
Speaker 2: get the home on a flight because they couldn't fly
Speaker 2: out of Morgantown.
Speaker 5: And they said they got home at three am still
Speaker 5: like that. Yeah, that was the way it was gonna
Speaker 5: look kind of tough. Yeah, and you know they were
Speaker 5: also on charters, right.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, it wasn't as tough as back in the day.
Speaker 2: We'd go can when I travel with the team, you know,
Speaker 2: we'd go like Pullman, we'd go back to the hotel
Speaker 2: and Spokane, we wake up in the morning at six
Speaker 2: in the morning, cats apply and it was.
Speaker 3: Miserable it was. Now they have charters, it's luxury.
Speaker 5: So yeah, good successful weekend for him, that's for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah. They're now three and oh big twelve.
Speaker 4: Play next game this Saturday against the UCF Nights eight o'clock.
Speaker 3: Be there or be not there.
Speaker 4: Two women's basketball you got number or not number, but
Speaker 4: the Baylor Bears six o'clock right after the show at home.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll see how good they are.
Speaker 2: There's still kind of light on the bench, right Yeah,
Speaker 2: playing seven six whatever it is.
Speaker 3: But they got a couple of wins, right, didn't They
Speaker 3: pick up some victories so to one. Yeah, they're two
Speaker 3: and one.
Speaker 4: They got a road win at BYU, lost to Utah
Speaker 4: at home on New Year's Eve, and then beat UCF
Speaker 4: right before the men beats Cincinnati.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I kind of have her on the show just
Speaker 2: to get it updated. How she's doing, how she's feeling.
Speaker 3: Yeah, i'd be right. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Arizona basketball recruits coming in, not basketball football recruits coming in.
Speaker 4: Former Chattanooga wide receiver Javin Wattley Devin Whatley, I'm not
Speaker 4: sure is committed to the Wildcats now. This the fifth
Speaker 4: wide receiver taken and the twenty first overall transfer pickup
Speaker 4: for the Wildcats, along with ex Oregon State offensive lineman
Speaker 4: Flavio Gonzalez, Twoshon native.
Speaker 3: From Yueblo High School. Big dude graduated in a twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3: Twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: Yep, that's how old is he? That's a good twenty five. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so who five years twenty nineteen, twenty six years ago. Man,
Speaker 2: I guess if I were to and I said this,
Speaker 2: I said this. You know, if I could stay in
Speaker 2: college all the rest of my life, I would have
Speaker 2: be like Rodney danger Pill.
Speaker 3: What was that movie? Yeah, I forget the day a
Speaker 3: little bit. He's back to school or something like that.
Speaker 4: Six foot five, two ninety three started ten games for
Speaker 4: the Beavers last season and overall nineteen games.
Speaker 5: What would you think he's made his way around the country,
Speaker 5: though he's been at Peblo. He went to Southwestern Community
Speaker 5: College over in San Diego, Butler Community College I think
Speaker 5: is in Kansas, and then he showed up at Oregon State.
Speaker 3: So he's been playing since would you say twenty.
Speaker 4: Seventeen, Yeah, twenty twenty, I think twenty nineteen season he
Speaker 4: first started in college.
Speaker 3: Okay, did you see go ahead?
Speaker 4: This is due to the new NCAA rule where people
Speaker 4: the JC people are game than one extra year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes sense. Did you see that the quarterback
Speaker 2: from a issue what's his name?
Speaker 6: Levit?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is going back obviously the issue and has
Speaker 2: estimated nil is take a guess three million the good
Speaker 2: guess because you know the answer, probably three million dollars. Really,
Speaker 2: when I saw that, when he said three million dollar
Speaker 2: quarterback returns to the issue, I'm thinking they're paying him
Speaker 2: three million dollars.
Speaker 3: And that's his that's his projection, I think it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, come on, come on, really, and I'm sure what
Speaker 2: would you think that Noah Is and some of these guys.
Speaker 2: I don't even know anybody else on the damn team
Speaker 2: because it's all there.
Speaker 3: I have no idea.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Sporting News three million dollars.
Speaker 2: That's his that's his projection, right or whatever. They're not
Speaker 2: They couldn't be paying him three million dollars. Well, you
Speaker 2: have you heard about the men's basketball. Tell me they
Speaker 2: were supposed to have a Netflix docuseries. Oh yeah, issue, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was supposed to help pay some of the nil
Speaker 2: and help some of the players, but obviously fell through.
Speaker 2: So now that's they're kind of questioning like, all right,
Speaker 2: so where is it going to come from? Where are
Speaker 2: these bigger CRU's going to get their money from? Well,
Speaker 2: you saw that Florida State coach has been sued by
Speaker 2: three or four players because they didn't get paid two
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty thousand, and it came out they were
Speaker 2: ready to boycott some of the games last year when
Speaker 2: they weren't getting paid.
Speaker 3: Uh, that's the world where kind of where they are
Speaker 3: for sure?
Speaker 5: I mean I remember what was the utep not utep
Speaker 5: UNLV's quarterback who didn't get paid, you know, leaves or.
Speaker 2: Wherever he went, and he had a pretty good season
Speaker 2: after enf too. They don't let the door hit you
Speaker 2: in the h were supposed to make a million dollars
Speaker 2: and nope.
Speaker 3: No, Yeah, when we did the story.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: We I was with Moderno and that More and uh
Speaker 2: and Troy and they were talking about this and I'm thinking, no,
Speaker 2: that's not happening.
Speaker 3: They're not promising, And.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's happening because now we're seeing about it, and
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, God, you're promising these kids' money and then
Speaker 2: not coming through.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: And then you see the Leonard Hamilton story. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: don't blame some of the guys coming and.
Speaker 4: Going this is this is where you need contracts. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they need to start with it soon eventually.
Speaker 3: That's pretty funny.
Speaker 5: I mean even I'm looking at this the website sports Skita,
Speaker 5: which is kind of a fun one to look at
Speaker 5: for recruiting and things like that business. But the story
Speaker 5: from on three sports New Arizona State, excuse me, New
Speaker 5: Arizona State quarterback Sam Levitt has signed a new deal
Speaker 5: signed a new deal with the Sun Devils for the
Speaker 5: twenty twenty five season at three million dollars.
Speaker 2: So he signed this million signs like you know, he's
Speaker 2: an il, he's a he's a he'll be a junior
Speaker 2: on he he he's going to be a senior. I
Speaker 2: believe he'll be a sophomore. It was a Richard freshman
Speaker 2: year Michigan State. Right, yeah, holy crap. Three million for
Speaker 2: one season of decent quarterback play. College football is such
Speaker 2: a joke, that's according to certain fans.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that that's a thread.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they'll be going into a sophomore year. What's the
Speaker 2: world coming to? Where are they getting this money?
Speaker 4: I don't know if I want to find out people,
Speaker 4: they've got a lot of ritual they have money.
Speaker 3: They do so does Arizona.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think even in a better well maybe not a
Speaker 2: grander skill, but but uh, there's a lot of you know.
Speaker 3: That you know, because you know that you chase these people.
Speaker 5: Well you look at what a su did, even just
Speaker 5: getting that hockey team formed I don't know, five six
Speaker 5: years ago, is because of a donor who was willing
Speaker 5: to build an arena, he says, the father of some
Speaker 5: hockey player from I don't know, Wisconsin or something like that.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, let's build an arena. How much money do
Speaker 2: you have a lot of? Do you have a lot of? I? Okay,
Speaker 2: so there, Dave, given your your history of your work
Speaker 2: before you retired, you probably have the database of all
Speaker 2: the dudes with money. Sure, I didn't know and you
Speaker 2: may have said this to me or on the show
Speaker 2: that the New York Jets owner a Grant. I didn't
Speaker 2: even know that until you guys mentioned. I'm thinking what
Speaker 2: and I don't does he get money? I can't disclose that, Okay, okay, okay,
Speaker 2: So that doesn't answer my question.
Speaker 5: No, I don't you know if you if if he's
Speaker 5: going to give a lot of money, we would know
Speaker 5: about it.
Speaker 3: It would make the news. Okay, okay.
Speaker 2: Well, and then you have the X guys, the ex
Speaker 2: players who and historically don't give money back, you know,
Speaker 2: the the ex players, you know, the Steve kurrz do,
Speaker 2: the the golfer of Furick has given AA and there's
Speaker 2: been a few. Richard Jefferson obviously help with the gym,
Speaker 2: but probably not enough. Right, And that's just not here,
Speaker 2: that's historically everywhere. Yeah, you know, they come, they go
Speaker 2: to school, play, get out and make a lot of
Speaker 2: money in hell of the school.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Nowadays though, most donors want their money to go to something.
Speaker 5: They don't want to just give it to a quarterback
Speaker 5: for three million. I mean that's probably some company that
Speaker 5: they're working with and said, okay, right, you know three
Speaker 5: million dollars is nothing. If they can give three million dollars,
Speaker 5: I could probably give thirty million dollars.
Speaker 3: That's true.
Speaker 4: You're probably looking at a little smoothie shop. Hey, I'll
Speaker 4: give you three million if you go on TV and
Speaker 4: say this smoothie is the best.
Speaker 2: Come here, yea, yeah, okay, okay. Let's say who knows
Speaker 2: what's in his deal? Quote unquote right, well this this
Speaker 2: say that, Well, do you go by sprite because lebron
Speaker 2: sells you sprite?
Speaker 3: Well? Sometimes sometimes do you?
Speaker 5: Back when I was young, Shaquille O'Neal is like the
Speaker 5: Midas touch everything.
Speaker 3: Sure, he's got that icy hot, got everything. Icy hot,
Speaker 3: icy hots work. They're miracles.
Speaker 2: I need icy. But you know what I'm saying, I
Speaker 2: mean you don't do it because of that. No, not
Speaker 2: for a college quarterback you have for three million dollars,
Speaker 2: What exactly is are we talking about here?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Some smoothie place. Come on Mill Avenue, there's here's the smoothie.
Speaker 4: By continuing breaking news with some Arizona basketball recruiting now,
Speaker 4: co ap Pete took on Tucson High last night at
Speaker 4: Tucson High big crowd when he was introduced they are
Speaker 4: a bunch of u of eight chants kind of trying
Speaker 4: to sway him. He had twenty two points, sixteen rebounds,
Speaker 4: even with four fouls, with three twenty two and the
Speaker 4: third he finished the game.
Speaker 3: Uh, then they won sixty four forty eight.
Speaker 2: It was Did you see some of the footage. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he was like a monster among little boys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was big. He was huge, huge. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well you know his dad is right, Todd Pete, the
Speaker 2: former tight end. Oh okay, yeah, yeah, no, it makes sense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he was big and he's thick, built like a tight end. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he'll be ready to go wherever heat.
Speaker 2: He looks like a like a Townsend or a or
Speaker 2: a waka, you know that kind of built.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: He's the youngest of seven children of Todd Pete played
Speaker 5: for the Cardinals Raiders as uk.
Speaker 3: It makes sense. So he's coming from a family to
Speaker 3: some college basketball.
Speaker 4: You had Florida upsetting the number one and at the
Speaker 4: time undefeated Tennessee Volunteers seventy three to forty three.
Speaker 2: That may have been the easiest picture of the year
Speaker 2: for me to this point.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: He also had Kentucky losing to Georgia at Georgia on
Speaker 4: the road kind of kind of surprising there. Arizona b WESTERNI,
Speaker 4: of course, but Michigan went to Los Angeles and well routed.
Speaker 2: The one thing or I've learned a few in this job,
Speaker 2: Dave in the in the journalism job, that that that
Speaker 2: emotions play a lot in games. Emotions if you're not
Speaker 2: ready to play, you know, get beat. But coaching matters.
Speaker 2: And if if you can see and I wanted the
Speaker 2: next time I have friends on this, can you tell
Speaker 2: who the good coaches are or not? And I'm not
Speaker 2: going to ask for names, but you know, you you
Speaker 2: know who's who's good and who's not right. And that
Speaker 2: guy who's now coaching at at Michigan, he was at
Speaker 2: Florida International. I think it was like, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: played Arizona right, You could tell the dude can coach
Speaker 2: because what he did at Florida doesn't. Isn't it an accident?
Speaker 3: Uh? And he's got this team at Michigan playing very
Speaker 3: very well.
Speaker 5: I think that's what we thought about Tommy too when
Speaker 5: he got here. You know, he comes from Gonzaga where
Speaker 5: he's under Mark Few, one of the best coaches, and
Speaker 5: he showed up and he was ready to go.
Speaker 2: He was, you know, well, Dave, according to the internet
Speaker 2: that we watch, he had you know, he has.
Speaker 3: All Sean's playing. He's got asha. That's why he's a
Speaker 3: good coach. Shut up. Yeah, you see that, right, I
Speaker 3: see it, I see it. Yeah. I haven't heard anything
Speaker 3: since the last two weeks, since the guys won one
Speaker 3: hundred games and.
Speaker 2: Right, so yeah, and he was the perfect guy after Sean,
Speaker 2: you know, to kind of get this thing going again.
Speaker 4: It's the NBA Magic Star. Paolo Banchero is returning after
Speaker 4: he's torn oblique. He's been out since October thirtieth.
Speaker 2: Really him, and so he's going to get Williams since
Speaker 2: back too. I think he's coming.
Speaker 4: Basically played a couple of nights ago, but they're gonna
Speaker 4: rest him tonight.
Speaker 3: Real course, load management.
Speaker 4: He's making like fifty million dollars a year or something
Speaker 4: to sit on the bench is quite nice, man. And
Speaker 4: then you have a big time game through the Oklahoma
Speaker 4: City Thunder visiting the Cleveland Cavaliers, the two top teams
Speaker 4: in the NBA.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just looking for sponsors at a very cheap rate, guys,
Speaker 2: anybody wants to.
Speaker 3: And then you got an il deal you need to sign.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I can't spend it, and I can spell,
Speaker 2: and I can't say it either.
Speaker 4: And then we're into a subject that's kind of sports
Speaker 4: meets the real world. With the wildfires in lah best
Speaker 4: to everyone out there, but Kawhi Leonard, just who just
Speaker 4: came back from injury, is taking some time to take
Speaker 4: care of his family, get them evacuated safely. And you
Speaker 4: even had coaches like Steve Curry, J. J. Redick their
Speaker 4: family members have been evacuated from their homes.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 4: The even reaching into the NHL. The Kings in Calgary
Speaker 4: game has been postponed due to the fires. Yeah, and
Speaker 4: they're even looking at the possibility of either relocating or
Speaker 4: postponing the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings game
Speaker 4: on next Monday.
Speaker 2: Last night that the Lakers coach what's his name, Reddick
Speaker 2: talked about his his family, right, and then then we
Speaker 2: talked about this day Steve kurse family, he's from that area.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, well, my son lives in Marina del
Speaker 5: Rey and works in Burbank.
Speaker 3: And they said, don't come in today.
Speaker 5: You're not going to drive from Rena because it's a
Speaker 5: mess and it's gonna be mess.
Speaker 3: He said it looked like the apocalypse. Oh really, this
Speaker 3: guy is orange and brown or whatever. And did they
Speaker 3: know how it started? I don't know.
Speaker 5: Have we heard this yet? I mean it just the
Speaker 5: wind is what it has done most of the damage.
Speaker 5: I think how it started, I don't know. Okay, got
Speaker 5: a little bit of time left. I'm gonna try to
Speaker 5: run through this. The Cowboys denied the Bear's permission to
Speaker 5: interview Mike McCarthy. I'm sure that'll work out for them.
Speaker 5: No to go after Pete Carroll. They denied him. They
Speaker 5: denied that he can talk to them. Yeah, what did
Speaker 5: you say the night?
Speaker 3: Oh? The night?
Speaker 2: Okay, she's okay to college football? Uh?
Speaker 4: Marett Rodriguez, former Arizona quarterback, was named the quarterback coach
Speaker 4: for West Virginia.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he'll be under richrod. It's not who do we
Speaker 2: talk about yesterday or today? Didn't oh Dick fight tel?
Speaker 2: Haven't you already said that he was cats free? Now
Speaker 2: that's like, okay, when hadn't that already happened?
Speaker 3: Officially they have announced okay today, she's another young one.
Speaker 3: He can't be much older than six ish six?
Speaker 2: Is and Roquel, his daughter is kind of in the
Speaker 2: social she handles all the social media stuff.
Speaker 4: The the Raiders just fire their head coachter looking at candidates.
Speaker 3: Bill Belichick might be one of them.
Speaker 4: Might I would doubt it that Tom Brady said he's
Speaker 4: willing to do whatever it takes to get Bill out there.
Speaker 2: I thought this was maybe before all this happened, because
Speaker 2: now he's kind of settled in it. Didn't they just
Speaker 2: hire or trying to get some more obviously portal people too.
Speaker 4: They got some somewhere recently, and we talked about earlier.
Speaker 4: The college football playoffs starting tomorrow, Notre Dame Penn State.
Speaker 4: Penn State's expecting to have their top probably the top
Speaker 4: player on the team, Abdul Carter.
Speaker 3: What's the spread there? Penn State one? Okay?
Speaker 4: As well as Notre Dame running back Jeremiah Love. He's
Speaker 4: good to go, so we'll probably see some of the
Speaker 4: better players for both teams Tomorrow five thirty the Capitol
Speaker 4: One Orange Bowl, part of the semi final matchups for
Speaker 4: the college fotball playoffs. Of course, Friday you have Ohio
Speaker 4: State going against Texas and then get your Cotton Bowl,
Speaker 4: and I believe that's all I got.
Speaker 3: You guys talked him.
Speaker 5: I'm sure about how you know it all played out
Speaker 5: with these seeds and when we have five, six, seven,
Speaker 5: eight left seeded teams and all the top teams are out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you have so much for that because the
Speaker 2: champions of each conference. Yeah, okay, you gotta go come back.
Speaker 2: We got to brother Willis.
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Speaker 1: Down all the uses and os. This is I on
Speaker 1: the Ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to everybody to im the ball here
Speaker 2: on Fox Sports Fortune fifty. I'm Steve Rivera in today
Speaker 2: with me Dave Silver. Now on the phone we have
Speaker 2: Blair Willis, formerly of the U A Sad office player Hawaii.
Speaker 7: I'm doing good, Steve.
Speaker 6: Happy New Year and it's great to be on with you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, great to have you.
Speaker 2: You're kind of like the I want to say guru,
Speaker 2: but you're like an expert with all this internet stuff
Speaker 2: on X because you come up with these great stats
Speaker 2: that not too many people have. Last night you had
Speaker 2: one about the pace, which I love pace and you
Speaker 2: and you we know I've covered the team forever that
Speaker 2: the pace is always kind of the kryptonite for Arizona,
Speaker 2: but they've really done well in the last few games
Speaker 2: with it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, you're right, Steve.
Speaker 6: I mean it's kind of that bugaboo that you know,
Speaker 6: I think we as Arizona fans, whether you're back to
Speaker 6: the Loud Alton years or even through the Sean Millier years,
Speaker 6: Arizona has always been a really good transition team and
Speaker 6: likes to get up and down the court and score
Speaker 6: a lot of points and play a pretty freestyle of basketball,
Speaker 6: certainly under under.
Speaker 3: Coach Lloyd these last few years.
Speaker 6: But that bugaboo has been when you get into those
Speaker 6: tight games in conference tournament time or certainly NCAA tournament time,
Speaker 6: and and uh, possessions get more precious and teams value
Speaker 6: the basketball a little bit more and you see typically
Speaker 6: see fewer possessions. And those have been some of those
Speaker 6: games over the years, including recent years that have kind
Speaker 6: of come back to bite the Wildcats, And so you
Speaker 6: kind of keep an eye on that a little bit,
Speaker 6: and it'll be something I think I'll keep an eye
Speaker 6: on through the Big Twelve being a lot of different
Speaker 6: league than with the Pac ten and Pac twelve has
Speaker 6: been for so many years, is kind of what the
Speaker 6: style of play looks like and being in more tougher games,
Speaker 6: tougher environments, tougher situations kind of how the team handles it.
Speaker 6: And it's been nice to see because this group wasn't
Speaker 6: handling things very well early in the year when games
Speaker 6: got tight, and you know, hear these last few games,
Speaker 6: they've done a pretty good job and being able to
Speaker 6: pull some things out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one of the I'll give you the quote over
Speaker 2: at least a tweet. In the Tommy Lloyd era, there
Speaker 2: have been only one other There's been only one other
Speaker 2: instance where the Cats played three straight games with the
Speaker 2: Pace in the sixties. That was in the final three
Speaker 2: games of the twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: season that ended with the loss of princetonent. We kind
Speaker 2: of mentioned that, right, But they've survived. They've survived this,
Speaker 2: which which is a good thing because they're able to
Speaker 2: at least have shown they can get through the pace.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 6: I mean it's even go back a year earlier when
Speaker 6: or maybe two years earlier. I'm losing track of my
Speaker 6: years a little bit. But coach Lloyd's first team, you know,
Speaker 6: got to the Sweet sixteen against Houston, and obviously Houston
Speaker 6: with Calvin Sampson's one of the best defensive teams in
Speaker 6: the country year and year out, and I mean that
Speaker 6: just that was a really good Arizona team that hadn't
Speaker 6: been challenged much throughout the year, and all of a
Speaker 6: sudden it ran up against the you know, one of
Speaker 6: the best defensive teams in the country, like I said,
Speaker 6: and I think that was only around sixty sixty one
Speaker 6: possessions in that game, and it was just a meat grinder,
Speaker 6: and Arizona wasn't I don't want to say they weren't
Speaker 6: built for it, they just weren't ready for it because
Speaker 6: they hadn't faced it throughout the season. That that that year,
Speaker 6: that twenty twenty two season came so easy to the Wildcats.
Speaker 6: And that's just kind of something as we've been looking
Speaker 6: forward to this Big twelve transition, I've just been interested
Speaker 6: to see of having a little bit more difficult road,
Speaker 6: being challenged, more consistent, facing great coaches, great players, great environments.
Speaker 6: Kind of how this team would adapt and and you know, uniquely,
Speaker 6: this team actually faced the adversity in an on conference schedule,
Speaker 6: you know, ran into some of these speed bumps, and
Speaker 6: you know, we're only three games into a twenty game
Speaker 6: Big Twelve slate, but you know, so far, so good
Speaker 6: for the Wildcats. Turn in the corner and maybe finding
Speaker 6: some ways to win games a little bit differently. If
Speaker 6: these last few games are any indication, because they've been
Speaker 6: you know, a little bit lower, slower pace, fewer possessions,
Speaker 6: and there'll just be something to keep an eye on
Speaker 6: as we keep moving forward.
Speaker 5: How long you think it's going to take for the
Speaker 5: teams that switch conferences to get used to, uh, you know,
Speaker 5: a different pace, different style of play, like like an ASU,
Speaker 5: like Arizona like you know, the other's the Colorado and
Speaker 5: Utah's is is it gonna you think it's going to
Speaker 5: take a while for everyone to get used to it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Dave, Yeah, I'm not really sure.
Speaker 6: I think I think the sports are a little bit different.
Speaker 6: I expected, like the same football, you know, not not
Speaker 6: to change topics, but back in well I thought there
Speaker 6: would be a little bit of an adjustment period for
Speaker 6: teams facing a different style. But then you look at
Speaker 6: Arizona State, you know, comes in and wins the Big Twelve,
Speaker 6: and you know football for instance, basketball, I mean you
Speaker 6: played a thirty some game regular season anyways, and you
Speaker 6: face so many different types of teams over the year.
Speaker 6: I'm not sure about the style of play or necessarily
Speaker 6: the league. I just think for teams like Arizona when
Speaker 6: you're I think Morgantown was a great example yesterday. Tough weather, cold,
Speaker 6: snow on the ground, and there was still a really
Speaker 6: nice crowd there. They weren't sold out, It wasn't as
Speaker 6: rockus as it would have been if they didn't have
Speaker 6: all that snow on the ground. But Arizona's been used
Speaker 6: to those trips up in the Pacific Northwest, going to Pullman, Washington, Corvallis,
Speaker 6: maybe even the Salt Lake City here in the last
Speaker 6: ten years. If you get that inclement weather and there's
Speaker 6: snow on the ground and the fans can't come from
Speaker 6: across the state to get to the games, there might
Speaker 6: have been one or two thousand people in the arena
Speaker 6: in Pullman or the arena in Corvallis. You know, West
Speaker 6: Virginia still had a great crowd there. And that's what
Speaker 6: you're going to get in the Big twelve. You know,
Speaker 6: across the across the league is you're just gonna have
Speaker 6: these environments on the road that are a big game
Speaker 6: atmosphere night in and night out. The quality of the
Speaker 6: team is certainly going to be stepped up as well,
Speaker 6: so I don't know, you know what type of adjustment
Speaker 6: that takes. I think when like you're in Arizona that's
Speaker 6: played you know, played Wisconsin, Duke, Oklahoma, Ucla. I mean,
Speaker 6: you you played a lot of really good teams out
Speaker 6: of league. You're kind of ready for the different styles
Speaker 6: of of of play, the you know, good quality competition.
Speaker 6: But just getting used to that travel and getting used
Speaker 6: to these environments is what I'm kind of interested to
Speaker 6: see how teams adapt. And I'm excited from what I
Speaker 6: saw from the Wildcats over these last you know, three
Speaker 6: or four days going to Cincinnati and West Virginia, of
Speaker 6: handling the travel, handling those environments and also playing good
Speaker 6: basketball at the same time.
Speaker 3: No, it's good to see what they're doing.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 2: If you're a big fan, and I know Tucson has
Speaker 2: has them in their hearts, of course, let me give
Speaker 2: you another one, so let me temper that enthusiasm from you.
Speaker 2: Of course, on charted territory for Arizona basketball and Tommy Lloyd,
Speaker 2: the Cats are making only thirty percent of their three
Speaker 2: point field goals this season. That ranks two hundred and
Speaker 2: eighty eighth nationally and is on track for the lowest
Speaker 2: three point field percentage since nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that one, Steve.
Speaker 6: I think I came up with that one about all
Speaker 6: three or four weeks ago after that UCLA loss. And
Speaker 6: it's really been a poor three point shooting team, which
Speaker 6: I think is probably a little bit surprising. I think,
Speaker 6: you know, the coaching staff probably expected to see some
Speaker 6: some shooting improvement out of you know, kJ Lewis and
Speaker 6: and Trey Townsend, even maybe stepping up is more of
Speaker 6: a stretch forward than he had been in his previous
Speaker 6: role at his previous school. Caleb Love not shooting it
Speaker 6: quite as well as he did last year, you know.
Speaker 6: So we just it hasn't been a good shooting team,
Speaker 6: and that's one of those things that's usually you only
Speaker 6: need a few games usually to have that sample size
Speaker 6: that's going to kind of prove out over the course
Speaker 6: of the season. But you know, I think with with
Speaker 6: Mo crebus out, I think Arizona is are going to
Speaker 6: adapt its offensive style. Shots are coming from different places
Speaker 6: on the court, guards are getting into the paint more.
Speaker 6: You know. Last night was a great example watching him
Speaker 6: against West Virginia. I mean there was really good ball movement,
Speaker 6: a lot of back cuts, and then that's leaving players
Speaker 6: open on the perimeter for these wide open shots. And
Speaker 6: and ultimately, you give you know, Division one basketball players
Speaker 6: in this day and age enough wide open looks from
Speaker 6: the three point line, they're going to start to knock
Speaker 6: them down.
Speaker 3: So I say that.
Speaker 6: Because in the last few games, Arizona has started to
Speaker 6: shoot the three a little bit better as a team.
Speaker 6: I mean, Delorso is a really talented shooter, but you're
Speaker 6: starting to see at Carter Bryant find his stroke a
Speaker 6: little bit. He's got a really good looking stroke for
Speaker 6: a six foot eight kid that you know is a
Speaker 6: true freshman.
Speaker 7: And he's a player.
Speaker 6: If he or Trey Townsen can start to shoot the
Speaker 6: three a little bit better from that four spot, I mean,
Speaker 6: Arizona's going to be a really tough team to defend,
Speaker 6: you know, throughout the league. But you know, historically, you know,
Speaker 6: back to your point, Steve, I mean, it's not a
Speaker 6: good shooting team from behind the art. They don't necessarily
Speaker 6: have to to be an elite three point shooting team.
Speaker 6: They've got the talent, they've got the guards that can
Speaker 6: get into the things a little bit better. You know,
Speaker 6: this season then maybe the way last year's team was constructed,
Speaker 6: So they're finding different ways to score and create their easy,
Speaker 6: easy baskets, and hopefully along the way they start to
Speaker 6: shoot a little bit better, because right now in three
Speaker 6: Big Twelve games, they're right around thirty four percent, which
Speaker 6: is a respectable number. And if they can just improve
Speaker 6: upon them that a little bit, I mean, it's gonna
Speaker 6: be a fun team to watch as the season goes.
Speaker 3: I had wanted to get you on.
Speaker 2: I've tried all disclosure on for a few for a
Speaker 2: few weeks now, in part because you were the sad
Speaker 2: when Richwrott was here and you got close with him
Speaker 2: and see him in the family in Rett Rod. You
Speaker 2: saw the news today right with rtt Rod, I thought
Speaker 2: that had been a done deal a while back with
Speaker 2: him being the quarterback coach.
Speaker 6: Now, yeah, absolutely, no, that's I was really excited. You know,
Speaker 6: for a couple of years, I probably joked with some
Speaker 6: people that, you know, if things didn't work out it
Speaker 6: was Virginia with with Neil Brown, and I would know,
Speaker 6: obviously never wish anything ill upon anybody, but I thought, man,
Speaker 6: you know, if Neil Brown at you know, gets let
Speaker 6: go there at West Virginia. Would West Virginia actually, you know,
Speaker 6: have the gumption to go back and bring Rich back
Speaker 6: because he'd done a you know, Kent. Rich kind of
Speaker 6: reinvented his career a little bit after leave, you know,
Speaker 6: after he got dismissed here and and win him was
Speaker 6: an offensive coordinator for a year or two and then
Speaker 6: decided to you know, take a transition job there at
Speaker 6: Jacksonville State, a program that was moving up into FBS
Speaker 6: and and did a great job there, and and he
Speaker 6: just had to respect the work he was doing there.
Speaker 6: So was somebody couldn't give him a chance and would
Speaker 6: it be a place like West Virginia. And so it
Speaker 6: just tickled me kind of to to see that come
Speaker 6: together a couple of weeks ago. And and there's just
Speaker 6: a lot of really good people in Coach Rodriguez's coaching
Speaker 6: network that you know, we're a part of the staffs
Speaker 6: here and people I got to know. And you know,
Speaker 6: Rich has got a great family with his wife, his daughter, Raquel,
Speaker 6: who's the U of A grad. Retz obviously was a
Speaker 6: football player here at the u of A. And I'm
Speaker 6: just happy for them. And you know, shoot, one of
Speaker 6: these days you know, Rod Rodriguez might be one of
Speaker 6: those names you see out there for a coaching job
Speaker 6: when it becomes available. So maybe here in Tucson we
Speaker 6: should keep his name in mind.
Speaker 5: It seems like yesterday he was just a Catalina Foothills
Speaker 5: playing for Jeff Scurring.
Speaker 2: And and and Rich would always say that my son
Speaker 2: knows my offense better than I do because he's around
Speaker 2: it all the time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he was always on the side, and he was
Speaker 5: always right there next to him. Seems like when he
Speaker 5: wasn't even going to get in the game, he was
Speaker 5: the coach on the sideline with his dad there. So
Speaker 5: and he hears so many stories about, you know, young
Speaker 5: players whose fathers were the coach and you know, move
Speaker 5: on the next generation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I remember being out practice. I mean you'd see,
Speaker 6: you know, RHT would come over. He probably had his
Speaker 6: his high school day, his high school workouts, maybe a practice,
Speaker 6: and then he'd be out to practice deal with us,
Speaker 6: and he'd be right there next to his dad on
Speaker 6: the sideline or even put a headset on every once
Speaker 6: in a while, and you just kind.
Speaker 7: Of looked at him.
Speaker 6: You know, Rett's not a physically imposing kid. You know,
Speaker 6: he was never a five star type recruit, but man,
Speaker 6: he sure knew the game. And then once he was
Speaker 6: a wildcat, once he was in college here, I mean,
Speaker 6: he just had a I think the neat thing about
Speaker 6: him is his dad as a fiery head coach, to
Speaker 6: be a little bit polarizing. I think there were probably
Speaker 6: some players in the locker room that, uh, you know,
Speaker 6: felt real comfortable with Rich's coaching style. And then there
Speaker 6: was those other players that were a little bit on
Speaker 6: edge and kind of on on ice skates around coach Rodriguez.
Speaker 6: And so then you get the coach's son that comes
Speaker 6: in and and you know who's he going to be?
Speaker 6: Is you know, is he is he going to be
Speaker 6: on his dad's side all the time or is he
Speaker 6: going to be on our side? And I'll tell you,
Speaker 6: I don't know that. I don't know a teammate that
Speaker 6: didn't like Rhets And there wasn't a teammate rep didn't
Speaker 6: get along with. I mean, he was just really well
Speaker 6: received in that locker room. I think he gained the
Speaker 6: respect of his teammates and obviously a smart kid.
Speaker 3: I'll say he's a tough football player too.
Speaker 6: He wasn't afraid to get out there and take hits
Speaker 6: and put himself on the line for his teammates. He's
Speaker 6: just a real quality young man.
Speaker 3: Smart too. Yeah, yeah, no, no question.
Speaker 2: Well if you remember, and you know this better than me, Blair,
Speaker 2: that he played a few games or a few at
Speaker 2: least a couple of games, and he did really well
Speaker 2: because he was the cerebral quarterback and now you needed
Speaker 2: him to do his job.
Speaker 3: And I think he did really well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, no, absolutely he did.
Speaker 6: You know, he was a he was always going to
Speaker 6: know the playbook, you know, And and I think in
Speaker 6: some way it's kind of like a you know, to
Speaker 6: our current roster at Arizona football. I mean kind of
Speaker 6: like a no if a Fida, just one of those
Speaker 6: guys that you know, knows the playbook. He's going to
Speaker 6: put in all the time, he needs to to study it.
Speaker 6: He's gonna be there with his teammates, he'll take extra reps.
Speaker 6: I mean that's just two Rett was and much like
Speaker 6: much like his dad, coach Rodriguez, I mean, rehet is
Speaker 6: it was a competitor too. He wasn't just some nice,
Speaker 6: you know, smart kid, I mean, he was a he
Speaker 6: was a competitor. So when he got his game reps,
Speaker 6: he was ready to go, and and I think again
Speaker 6: that's where the you know, his teammates truly respected him.
Speaker 6: And I think that's what will make him a great
Speaker 6: coach too. I mean he's got that. You know, he's
Speaker 6: got that playing background. Didn't play a ton obviously here
Speaker 6: at Arizona. Got to play a little bit more after
Speaker 6: he moved on. But you know, I think I think
Speaker 6: he's just gonna be a great coach. I mean, if he,
Speaker 6: if he wants to be. You know, it's it's a
Speaker 6: different a different world now than it was even five
Speaker 6: years ago, you know, for these young coaches. But I mean,
Speaker 6: certainly Rerec can get along with players, and he can
Speaker 6: teach the game. And uh, you know, his dad's got
Speaker 6: a pretty good track record himself for having winning programs.
Speaker 3: Yep, does he know? Ni l does he is?
Speaker 16: He does?
Speaker 5: He know what he's getting himself involved with here. You
Speaker 5: think he's a business guy.
Speaker 6: Well he's gonna learn it real quick. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 6: you take that step up from a conference USA up
Speaker 6: to you know, Big twelve and everything you got to
Speaker 6: face at this power four level. I mean it's really
Speaker 6: power too, I guess we could probably call it, but
Speaker 6: we keep the acc in the in the big twelve
Speaker 6: in it for a power four right now. So uh no,
Speaker 6: you got to learn it quickly. And uh, I think
Speaker 6: everybody's kind of waiting to, you know, just see where
Speaker 6: this thing goes in another year or two. Maybe it's
Speaker 6: a little bit more into control than it is right now,
Speaker 6: and maybe there's some guardrails around it that make it
Speaker 6: a little bit easier for everybody to interpret. But we'll
Speaker 6: see where that goes.
Speaker 2: I think you described Rich pretty well in terms of
Speaker 2: being polarizing and stuff. You were with him for a
Speaker 2: long time him. Uh and and when he took the job,
Speaker 2: you were one of the first tw tweets that you know,
Speaker 2: you're excited for him, like you said earlier, Uh, just
Speaker 2: a bit. I think he's probably misunderstood too.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think I think he's he's very misunderstood, and
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, look, part of that's probably ant doing.
Speaker 6: I mean, he he's a fiery, you know individual you know,
Speaker 6: doesn't take losing very well, and so a lot of times,
Speaker 6: I mean, people you know are going to see a
Speaker 6: coach you know in their best moments and their worst moments,
Speaker 6: and So whether you hang on to the really good
Speaker 6: moments that you see on TV or or see on
Speaker 6: YouTube or wherever you see stuff on social media. Now
Speaker 6: you hang on to the good ones or the bad
Speaker 6: ones and and and those kind of live out there forever.
Speaker 6: But I'll tell you what, working for him, I mean,
Speaker 6: I really enjoyed it. He was so good to me.
Speaker 6: He's so fair. He valued what we did in our
Speaker 6: line of work, which I think is you know, and shoot,
Speaker 6: I haven't I haven't been in athletics communications for five
Speaker 6: years now. But back then, he really valued the work
Speaker 6: that we did, knew that we had a job to do,
Speaker 6: appreciated the input. He really took care of his staff,
Speaker 6: and he and his wife Rita were just it was
Speaker 6: like it was like a family, you know, honestly in
Speaker 6: that building with him and everybody was was helpful, supportive
Speaker 6: of each other. And that started with Rich That was
Speaker 6: the expectation that he said. And so you know, I
Speaker 6: remember it was a really hard, confusing time when when
Speaker 6: he got dismissed. You know, right after We've been to
Speaker 6: a bowl game and shoot, we were gonna have Khalil
Speaker 6: Tate coming back as a Heisman candidate. Perhaps and we
Speaker 6: had three freshman All American on defense. I mean, I
Speaker 6: think everybody that was a part of the program at
Speaker 6: that point was really excited about what the next year
Speaker 6: was going to bring, and then you know, all of
Speaker 6: a sudden, we're making a pretty quick change and didn't
Speaker 6: really know what that meant for a lot of people.
Speaker 6: But I, you know, I just I just say that
Speaker 6: because you know who it affects is the people, not
Speaker 6: necessarily the head coach himself, but the people around him,
Speaker 6: and the families of the assistant coaches, the support staff,
Speaker 6: and obviously coaches immediate family, his wife and the two
Speaker 6: kids that were both students here at the time. And
Speaker 6: so I really enjoyed my time with him, and I've
Speaker 6: followed his career ever since he's moved on from Arizona,
Speaker 6: and I really could not be happier for him to
Speaker 6: get one more chance back at West Virginia because it's
Speaker 6: the one thing. He never told me this directly, or
Speaker 6: I never heard it directly from him, but he always
Speaker 6: got a sense that he did regret a little bit
Speaker 6: leaving West Virginia the way he left West Virginia back
Speaker 6: there in two thousand and seven, and did he didn't
Speaker 6: get a fair shake at Michigan. You know, he got
Speaker 6: cut there before he was going to get that thing
Speaker 6: turned around the next year, and you know, maybe in
Speaker 6: some ways it kind of happened to Arizona too. He
Speaker 6: had a nice little run those first two to three years,
Speaker 6: and we got to the Fiesta Bowl with Scoopy and
Speaker 6: on New Solomon and then kind of had to rebuild it.
Speaker 6: And it felt like that thing was on the way
Speaker 6: back up there in twenty seventeen again, but it just
Speaker 6: wasn't meant to be. So I guess, long story short
Speaker 6: for coach, I hope it works out for him having
Speaker 6: his career come full circle back there in Morgantown.
Speaker 2: And I can't wait to that first game against West
Speaker 2: Virginia when it happens.
Speaker 3: I think it's up there, Arizona WESTGA. It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well you could expand a lot of points on
Speaker 2: both sides.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks Blair, appreciate you.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thanks Steve anytime.
Speaker 6: Good hearing from you, seven Dave as well, and talk
Speaker 6: to you soon.
Speaker 3: Great, Thanks Pater Willis. Yeah, thanks a much.
Speaker 2: Going back to memory lane stuff, we're a little over,
Speaker 2: so let's go and come back.
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Speaker 14: by Faulebaum Crowley Investment Group at OURBC Wealth Management.
Speaker 1: This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on
Speaker 1: Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app just search I on the Ball.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back Tooining the ball here on Fox Sports
Speaker 2: fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera in today with me. Dave
Speaker 2: Silver got one in the final ten minutes.
Speaker 3: Don't forget.
Speaker 2: We're going to meet at Del Soul tomorrow three to five.
Speaker 2: Jay and I hope to have a guest or two
Speaker 2: in house. We'll see what happens with that. Should be
Speaker 2: fun making our picks for the final time. I screwed
Speaker 2: up last week. I tell you, I told you ahead
Speaker 2: about a.
Speaker 3: Week you didn't tell me. He cut I'm ahead by
Speaker 3: half a point now, So what are you guys doing?
Speaker 3: NFL games too. Yeah, those were so unpredictable.
Speaker 2: Last week, just and that's what it got me because
Speaker 2: no one played, no one cared, and I kind of
Speaker 2: went with the normal and just got crushed. So he caught.
Speaker 2: He's caught me. But I have a half a lead.
Speaker 3: We can do it. We can do it.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: I hope he doesn't so that he By the way,
Speaker 2: let me let me know what was going on. So tomorrow,
Speaker 2: del soul, if you guys can make it or give
Speaker 2: us it. I don't think we can take calls tomorrow,
Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens. Anybody you want to call
Speaker 2: now five two, zero, four, one, six seventy, have any
Speaker 2: stories for us? This basketball team, women's basketball game? All
Speaker 2: that will take your call? Oh what is ready for you?
Speaker 3: Sir?
Speaker 2: Get those phones ringing this? Yeah, we've had a few
Speaker 2: good calls lately. Anything else, Dave.
Speaker 5: I mean again, we've kind of talked about kind of
Speaker 5: a fun weekend ahead. I think with you know, you
Speaker 5: have played some basketball mixed in with all the all
Speaker 5: the football, it's gonna be a good good time to
Speaker 5: be sitting around if the weather is going to be
Speaker 5: cold like this and Tucson would be a good time
Speaker 5: to just kind of hang out and watch some good
Speaker 5: postseason football NFL College.
Speaker 4: I had have a question for both of you. I've
Speaker 4: heard a lot and a lot of predictions and analysis
Speaker 4: that how State's gonna run the doors on Texas.
Speaker 2: Do you believe that I like them? What's the spread?
Speaker 2: Maybe three and a half? That one's like six. I
Speaker 2: want to say, I'm probably gonna go with Ohio State,
Speaker 2: not because of what they did last week against their opponents,
Speaker 2: obviously Oregon, but yeah, and they're probably the coach was
Speaker 2: just going to be fined right a month ago or
Speaker 2: everybody every time, and now he's on the verge of
Speaker 2: winning the national title and their favorites.
Speaker 3: Or even money. Yeah, they looked good. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't know to what degree one, but I would
Speaker 2: I would say yes, you know, I don't know if
Speaker 2: running meaning big didn't.
Speaker 3: Have to be play Penn State, I don't think so.
Speaker 3: I don't think so. Then in the league, right, I
Speaker 3: don't know. I don't know. I would. It's smart money
Speaker 3: to me.
Speaker 4: Is a lot of people saying they're gonna blow blow
Speaker 4: Texas out. I don't think so.
Speaker 2: Okay, I like Texas six and a half. That should
Speaker 2: have won that game.
Speaker 3: They should have. It wasn't targeting. It was a target,
Speaker 3: It wasn't targeting.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was probably one of the first times in
Speaker 4: my life I was actually rooting for the Sun Devils.
Speaker 4: But I just I'd like to see those underdog teams. Oh,
Speaker 4: they shouldn't be number four, Like why are they in
Speaker 4: the playoffs? They're not that good and they go out
Speaker 4: and have a game like that and they just prove
Speaker 4: themselves open. It opens doors up for other teams in
Speaker 4: the future. But I do like Texas. I do like
Speaker 4: them to be Ohio State overall. I do like their defense,
Speaker 4: and you the wild card is you just don't know
Speaker 4: what you're gonna get from Texas's offense if you're right,
Speaker 4: if they're firing on on silver on all cylinders, or
Speaker 4: if they're a no show.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the Notre Dame Penn State game is
Speaker 5: gonna be fun too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it should be. Notre Dame is on a major role.
Speaker 2: And you don't know how good they are. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know, talk about weird scheduling too. You know,
Speaker 2: they're in the ACC, they're playing like sixty.
Speaker 5: Seven games there and they're all, you know, their usual
Speaker 5: non conference games. They just rolled though through this season
Speaker 5: after an early loss.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you know, can you look up something real
Speaker 2: quick ESPN if the top twenty, the sixty four, the
Speaker 2: bracketology things up or not. I'm not sure because as
Speaker 2: of three or four five days ago, Arizona was not
Speaker 2: in the tournament. I'm sure that's changed because they're now
Speaker 2: number fourteen in the in the NET. It was updated
Speaker 2: yesterday before the game, probably, Yeah, before the.
Speaker 4: Game, Arizona was one of the last four in and
Speaker 4: there would be the eleven seed going up against Texas.
Speaker 2: Let me try to find them. That'd be tough. That'd
Speaker 2: be a tough game. It'd be a tough one. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I still think that there'll be a four or five.
Speaker 2: So in the circumstance, they'd be an eleven.
Speaker 4: If they won, they would go and face Pittsburgh in
Speaker 4: the West.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're number fourteen now in the and then NET.
Speaker 2: Even though they didn't beat the teams they the bigger teams,
Speaker 2: they got some respect from them. So in Kentucky's fifteen,
Speaker 2: Texas A and m is seventeen, and those teams are
Speaker 2: ranked pretty high. So there still a lot of respect
Speaker 2: in the computers, not so much by the people.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it works out better for them when
Speaker 4: they when they're doubted, they play their best.
Speaker 5: So they've got games. The Western region has got Denver.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And what's the other.
Speaker 2: One is yeah, okay, I'm hoping Denver. Yeah, Denver be
Speaker 2: good Denver because I can get to Denver. Uh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: no questions to your point one. And I don't know
Speaker 2: where you get that information, but you're spot on in
Speaker 2: terms of uh, if Arizona's the underdog in any situation,
Speaker 2: I'd go with the Arizona all the time. When their
Speaker 2: favorite they absolutely stink.
Speaker 3: I mean, look at Tommy's first year. Historically that's so
Speaker 3: that's been Tommy's first year.
Speaker 4: They weren't supposed to be that as good as they were,
Speaker 4: and they go and win the little Invitational in Vegas
Speaker 4: and now Arizona's a top ten team.
Speaker 3: They just played better when they're doubted.
Speaker 2: And it's been the case since I started covering them
Speaker 2: in the nineties or late eighties.
Speaker 3: It was just crazy and you saw it. They were good.
Speaker 5: They were pretty good front runners though. I mean they
Speaker 5: had some pretty great seasons overall, right, I mean the
Speaker 5: seventeen ones.
Speaker 3: In the back and stuff. Yeah, but then they would
Speaker 3: get be losing. You know, they lose Tennes How do you.
Speaker 2: Explain ninety seven they were pretty much underdogs the whole
Speaker 2: way except for maybe the second round. Well, the first
Speaker 2: round and the second round underdogs Kansas Providence they were
Speaker 2: probably a three point favorite. Yeah, and then the rest
Speaker 2: of the way they were underdogs right against against North
Speaker 2: Carolina and Kentucky. Remember they almost lost the first game, yeah, yeah, yea, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's when the tweed That's when they won the title.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because they had to get through that.
Speaker 2: First game the Torres the first game, right, and then
Speaker 2: then ninety eight they were they were a jerguonid as
Speaker 2: a favorite, and then they get crushed by Utah in
Speaker 2: the lea day. I mean maybe in two thousand and
Speaker 2: one was maybe the exception because they played Duke in
Speaker 2: the finals, but they lost the title. Did you were
Speaker 2: in Minnesota, weren't you? I was there so and we
Speaker 2: saw them play Michigan. They lost, They lost the game
Speaker 2: in the semi They lost the National championship in the
Speaker 2: semi finals.
Speaker 3: Did they when Gilbert got hurt?
Speaker 7: Good?
Speaker 2: Good point, yes, But when I think it was who
Speaker 2: did Maryland play Duke or Michigan State played Duke. It's Maryland,
Speaker 2: I think, and they had Duke double digits because if
Speaker 2: Maryland beats Duke, Duke is out and Arizona plays. So
Speaker 2: it had that game gone a different way, Arizona wins
Speaker 2: the national title. You know, even though Gilbert got hurt,
Speaker 2: Luke was hurt too. Nemember here to snuffbout today. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so two dudes out. Gilbert specifically couldn't really play that hard.
Speaker 2: And then a couple of calls in the game with
Speaker 2: Joe with Jason Williams and Jason Gardner Jason Gardner. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: So it's just kind of like serendipity. Yeah. I think
Speaker 2: that's a thing across all athletics. Though for Arizona, you know,
Speaker 2: when they're underdogs, they're going to perform better.
Speaker 3: Yeah, hey, look at football.
Speaker 2: That's that's my next book called me An Underdog an Undercat.
Speaker 5: And sometimes, I mean those are the more memorable games
Speaker 5: too when they are you know, when they probably one
Speaker 5: of the biggest wins ever in school history is when
Speaker 5: they would played Washington in the ninety two season football. Yeah,
Speaker 5: they were number one in the nations that come in
Speaker 5: and Arizona killed them. Well, you know those are those
Speaker 5: are the games you remember.
Speaker 2: And Anthony would know this because he covered the team.
Speaker 2: But then a week later they pay Oregon State and
Speaker 2: gebet and lose. Yeah as a favorite, right, yeah, because
Speaker 2: it's always like pound your chest, pound your chest. Oh
Speaker 2: these guys are kicking my ass. Yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 2: because it happens.
Speaker 3: It happens all the time.
Speaker 5: You wonder we in the media talk more about it
Speaker 5: than the players themselves, if they're like, oh no, okay,
Speaker 5: we just beat had the greatest win in you know,
Speaker 5: our lives. Now we got to go play on the
Speaker 5: road or Oregon State or whatever.
Speaker 2: Well when we had like let down, the heath praise
Speaker 2: and the tamershments and all those guys that come insus.
Speaker 2: It happens all the time. I don't know why, but
Speaker 2: it happens. And like I said earlier in the show
Speaker 2: with you Dave, two things have learned. Coaching matters and
Speaker 2: emotion matters. If you're not up for a game, after
Speaker 2: a big game or thinking ahead behind blah blah blah,
Speaker 2: you're gonna get your ass kicked. And it happens here
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 5: Looking ahead is a problem that you've a fans have
Speaker 5: always had. Yeah, I mean always. You're sitting there as
Speaker 5: smart as you know.
Speaker 3: Late February. Oh, let's see where are we going to
Speaker 3: be around? Where are we going to? What seat are
Speaker 3: we going to be in?
Speaker 2: You know? And then we mess up somewhere in the uh,
Speaker 2: well it's in some tournament. Here's the ultimate ultimate of that.
Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty eight, what kind of shirts were they
Speaker 2: promoting at U A ghost boatos you remember those shits?
Speaker 2: I wish I had the one because dose, because they
Speaker 2: were already celebrating number two, the number one team in
Speaker 2: the country coming back, blah blah blah, and they looked
Speaker 2: okay until they didn't. God, I wish I had one
Speaker 2: of those two I remember seeing and I think we
Speaker 2: did a story about him. Whoever was printing them up
Speaker 2: with Campbell AND's peedle. Yeah, yeah in the corner. Great shirts,
Speaker 2: except that it didn't work. Yep, Okay, we gotta go.
Speaker 2: Thanks everybody for Wednesday Day. Thanks you as usual. Maybe
Speaker 2: you see you guys tomorrow at Del Soul.
Speaker 3: Thanks