Speaker 1: What todays It's Tucson Sports Station yet.
Speaker 2: Tea see Fox Sports fourteen fifty app and iHeartRadio station.
Speaker 3: Yet.
Speaker 4: This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
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Speaker 1: Thank you up toon everybody. Welcome to I on the
Speaker 1: Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Come Steve Rivera
Speaker 1: in today with me is Frank Eager from.
Speaker 5: Southern Arizona sports tourism and film authority.
Speaker 1: Yes, you have a big deal gloming up pretty soon,
Speaker 1: huge deal. Pretty I'm glad you got away from your desk. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. This is the highlight of your week.
Speaker 1: Oh listen, I'll be honest with you this it's Yeah.
Speaker 1: The stress of the of the whole task and taking
Speaker 1: on is incredible. I'm so thankful for all our partners.
Speaker 1: But this is definitely the highlight. I'm thinking being with me,
Speaker 1: not no the BS.
Speaker 5: Let's really no, let's really see dizzel behind and behind
Speaker 5: the back.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So we have our guy here, mister what's your
Speaker 1: name again, Kobe?
Speaker 5: I always want to call him Cody, though I know,
Speaker 5: I know, I did that for the first couple of days. Yeah,
Speaker 5: it's it's Kobe as as the guy from the Lakers.
Speaker 1: No, no, cool, lot of stuff going on. Did you
Speaker 1: watch game on Saturday? You of course?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you were there, right, I was there. Yeah, I've
Speaker 5: been thirty four straight. I think you've been thirty four
Speaker 5: straight up there up North? How's the how you know
Speaker 5: we were talking about this my uh my wife went
Speaker 5: to issue you can say that on there.
Speaker 1: But she's a U. A basketball fan of course she
Speaker 1: wants to win.
Speaker 5: Yeah, of course, what's the what's experience up there up north?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 6: Is there?
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it a lot of Is it a
Speaker 1: lot of you have a fans? Yeah? This time not
Speaker 1: as much as in the past, but it was still
Speaker 1: like fifty to fifty maybe fifty five forty five Arizona. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know it was it was. It was good. It
Speaker 1: was a good mix. Before when the Arizona was rocking
Speaker 1: and rolling, it was seventy thirty.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: A lot of these people who like.
Speaker 5: U up there, They've had a ton of alumni up there,
Speaker 5: right oh yeah, right right, you know that's go where
Speaker 5: the jobs are, man, how are yeah?
Speaker 1: Uh? And that's it was. It was a good showing
Speaker 1: from from both sides. Actually, the Asue game a pretty
Speaker 1: good game until the final minutes.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean they you know, you look at that
Speaker 5: roster for ASU, there's some good players on there.
Speaker 1: Who's their center? The young kid that's seventeen, twenty one, yeah,
Speaker 1: twenty years I forget his name. Yeah, he had been hurt.
Speaker 1: He played really well, a big strong guy, yeah, like Sandy,
Speaker 1: and hit a couple of good shots on the stretch too. Yeah.
Speaker 5: And Freeman did pretty well until the end. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean it was good to see us kind of
Speaker 5: get punched in the face a little bit and react
Speaker 5: the way we did there.
Speaker 1: Right, right, So I wanted to kind of start the
Speaker 1: show with that. That's why I brought it up, is
Speaker 1: that I guess. Hurley was on the Bicley Show Them
Speaker 1: Bicley Show in the morning in Phoenix, and he said
Speaker 1: that he and Tommy talked, they're good and the only
Speaker 1: regret he has, and we talked about this a lot yesterday,
Speaker 1: was not shaking Tommy's hand. He was finally taking the
Speaker 1: kids away and you know, put them away. I don't
Speaker 1: fault that either. I don't even care if he shick
Speaker 1: shook his hand. I get it, but and we've talked
Speaker 1: about it yesterday that maybe that was the lone thing
Speaker 1: that should have happened.
Speaker 5: I think this was one of the points that I
Speaker 5: was going to bring up on the show today that
Speaker 5: even from a coaching perspective, I understand him getting his
Speaker 5: kids out of there because you don't want an altercation
Speaker 5: out of the game, right, And there's a postil. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 5: we've seen it before. These young men or young women
Speaker 5: at that point.
Speaker 1: You need to take that. No, it might be my pharmacist.
Speaker 5: No, but I do think that from a coaching standpoint,
Speaker 5: you stay there and at least go and shake Tommy's hands.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Well, let me ask you, because in your lifetime,
Speaker 1: how many games have you played and been part of
Speaker 1: two thousand, fifteen hundred. Yeah, somewhere in that neighborhood.
Speaker 5: Okcase this ever happened, not to that degree, No, I
Speaker 5: mean we've had we've had altercations. I've been in altercations
Speaker 5: on the field, and you know it's once you get
Speaker 5: to that level, you know, professional level, you're not shaking
Speaker 5: hands with other team afterwards, right, But even afterwards we've
Speaker 5: been pulled in. I don't remember if you remember Niger Morgan,
Speaker 5: he was a center fielder for the Brewers for a while.
Speaker 1: It was a big leader for a while.
Speaker 5: Him and I got in altercation and winter ball, and
Speaker 5: then after the games we you know, had a coke
Speaker 5: afterwards and worked it out. It's it's just that it's
Speaker 5: that young ptosterone t stosterone that kicks in, and you
Speaker 5: know you have this suscrestion. But yeah, but never to
Speaker 5: the degree that I saw at that level on Saturday,
Speaker 5: where you're taking a group, taking them away because I
Speaker 5: didn't think the altercation. Maybe I missed the talking back
Speaker 5: and forth. The head butt was aggressive, but not to
Speaker 5: the point where I thought there was going to be
Speaker 5: fisticuffs or anything. I thought it was a controlled enough
Speaker 5: environment that there could have still been handshakes. But at
Speaker 5: least from a coaching standpoint, you're walking through that line
Speaker 5: probably in the side of caution, right, Yeah, I guess so. Yeah,
Speaker 5: But there's a few things people saying, well, there was
Speaker 5: a lot of tripping or Bobby did at least. Isn't
Speaker 5: that what athletes do? I mean, come on, yeah, I
Speaker 5: mean that's what you do out of almost all sports.
Speaker 5: When I think about trash talking, I think about I
Speaker 5: mean you think about Bird Larry Bird Jordan. You see
Speaker 5: that's basketball is trash talking.
Speaker 1: You played a little league ball, yes, whatever, I can
Speaker 1: remember saying any bad, a better well kind of where
Speaker 1: it starts. Yeah, there's from that's where it starts. That's
Speaker 1: where they learn. You know, you stink whatever. You know,
Speaker 1: we've been called names all that. Either that fuels you
Speaker 1: or it doesn't.
Speaker 5: And you're seeing grown men do it at the highest level.
Speaker 5: So I mean we're faulting eighteen to twenty two year olds. Yeah,
Speaker 5: Michael Jordan's said bad things about me. Yeah, I can't play. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's that can happen. Yeah, so he he I said
Speaker 5: on the air that he did this. Say, if there
Speaker 5: was one bad thing he would have done over he
Speaker 5: would have spoken, he would have shook Tommy Lloyd's hand.
Speaker 5: But other than that, no, he wasn't didn't want to
Speaker 5: apologize for the moving the kids. He had to me, Okay,
Speaker 5: that's a smart move.
Speaker 1: I thought. And and so there's that.
Speaker 5: So do you do you remember this when when we
Speaker 5: played Michigan. Michigan came and played in McHale with I
Speaker 5: think it was a Fiesta classic. Yeah, yeah, and uh
Speaker 5: the coaches and the whole team didn't come out for Michigan,
Speaker 5: and the only player that came out was Juwan Howard.
Speaker 1: Four What what moment after after the game? I don't
Speaker 1: remember that.
Speaker 5: I don't remember that. No, So that was like a
Speaker 5: core memory. And maybe I'm speaking out of turn here,
Speaker 5: but I'm pretty sure that happened because I loved you.
Speaker 5: Remember this, it was a core memory. When I want
Speaker 5: to get a I'm going to make a call here. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I want to make a text here. And I don't
Speaker 5: remember that at all.
Speaker 1: Confirm it because because because Corston for forty three, I
Speaker 1: think it was, Yeah, we beat him at Michale was
Speaker 1: the Fab four.
Speaker 5: It was a Fab four, and I think Juwan Howard
Speaker 5: the only person that came out.
Speaker 1: Okay, I don't remember that well. And then Joey is
Speaker 1: funny because Juwan Howard is the guy who kind of
Speaker 1: gets into fights on the line.
Speaker 5: Yeah he is, you know, shaking hands and punching coaches. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: I do you remember that when he was back coaching.
Speaker 1: So I don't remember that. It would have been part
Speaker 1: of the book of a book or something.
Speaker 5: Maybe it was this wild fantasy that I created as
Speaker 5: a young kid that I was like, this is why
Speaker 5: I like Juwan Howard.
Speaker 1: I had to. I had to grasp on the straws
Speaker 1: at that point. Yeah, so okay I didn't. I don't
Speaker 1: remember that. But you know it's competition, man.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you're leaving out on the court, right, you're
Speaker 5: playing for something, sure.
Speaker 1: So you know he's talking a bad about who really yea,
Speaker 1: and we said this yesterday. I'm sorry for everybody who
Speaker 1: heard me yesterday say the same thing. Bobby Earley and
Speaker 1: his group of dookies. They were pretty pretty tough smack talkers.
Speaker 1: I want to be careful on that saying, yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: you've got the bleep in this working. It's lit up
Speaker 1: and you knew I was coming in, so you got
Speaker 1: it right here. Yeah.
Speaker 5: But well, not only that, his antics on the side, right,
Speaker 5: I mean, he gets teed up early in the game,
Speaker 5: he's losing his mind, takes his tie off. What precedent
Speaker 5: are we setting for your team? And then to come
Speaker 5: out after the game and say, you know, well they
Speaker 5: were chirping the whole game. Okay, like did you add
Speaker 5: fuel to the fire or did you try to take
Speaker 5: that fire and put it down like that? You know,
Speaker 5: it's it's a confusing it's a confusing situation that happened
Speaker 5: earlier on For the verbiage that he used after the game, Yeah,
Speaker 5: it was what it was.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think people are asking for Tommy's explanation,
Speaker 1: explanation thoughts on Herdy talking about the no class situation
Speaker 1: with with his players one and and with co with Caleb.
Speaker 1: You know that he's not going to vote for him,
Speaker 1: big deal. Yeah, you know, let's let's move on from it.
Speaker 1: It's pretty aggressive in that in that moment too. I
Speaker 1: think as a coach, he's done it long enough. As
Speaker 1: a player, he's done it long enough.
Speaker 5: You I mean, we have that sleep on it method, right,
Speaker 5: Like there's times I want to send an email and no, right,
Speaker 5: I probably need to sleep on it. Or this text,
Speaker 5: I probably should sleep on it right now. My younger days,
Speaker 5: I just sent him and then regretted it afterwards. He's
Speaker 5: he's at a point in his career where that's one
Speaker 5: of those moments you probably don't need to say that.
Speaker 5: And I know you're trying to protect your players in
Speaker 5: that moment, but you're causing more harm than you are
Speaker 5: anything else.
Speaker 1: Well, today we're gonna talk a lot about tonight's game. Uh,
Speaker 1: the first hour or at least, we're going to have
Speaker 1: the provo beat writer from a Herald, Darnell Dixon in
Speaker 1: today for like fifteen minutes talking about tonight's game. And
Speaker 1: as you said, Kobe, what were you surprised about it
Speaker 1: from Saturday?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: No, no, from tonight's game.
Speaker 5: On tonight's game, oh, that we are the underdog at
Speaker 5: plus three.
Speaker 1: Right, so it was one of an underdog minus three
Speaker 1: or plus you know, plus three.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean that's surprising, especially with the way we've
Speaker 5: been playing well.
Speaker 1: Home court is I know, home court is very difficult
Speaker 1: in this league and in anywhere. Actually, people don't understand
Speaker 1: me because they really don't go to the games. They
Speaker 1: see them and they think paper beats paper has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with anything.
Speaker 5: That's a pretty tough environment to play in. I mean,
Speaker 5: they packed that house.
Speaker 1: There was one I took a pretty good team the
Speaker 1: geene Edgarson year two twenty two thousand and two, I
Speaker 1: think it was, and came out losers that game. It's
Speaker 1: tough road games, and especially in this.
Speaker 5: League on the Big twelve, you're hoping to split, right, Yeah,
Speaker 5: it's the best we can do right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, so I call I detected somebody on that team
Speaker 1: to see if they remember that game. Was it Juwan Howard? Yeah, no, no,
Speaker 1: it was uh it was Pus his name from the
Speaker 1: sports question. He's you know, what's his name?
Speaker 5: I don't know. I think I was ten so in
Speaker 5: the ninety three and eighty four right right around ten three? Okay,
Speaker 5: give him away too much? Why can't shake our heads?
Speaker 5: That was a pretty fiery kid from the West Side
Speaker 5: with one Well. I was like, oh, I understood, And
Speaker 5: those are the times you kind of remember stuff, yeah, ten, eight, nine, ten.
Speaker 5: It creates core memories, right right, talk about all the time?
Speaker 1: Yeah, dad, why didn't you shaked? Yeah? Okay, oh so
Speaker 1: that's so. That's at three seventeen. And then at four seventeen,
Speaker 1: who do you got?
Speaker 5: We got Jim Small, the president of the World Baseball
Speaker 5: class that come on board. Really excited to have him
Speaker 5: talk about a little bit of history.
Speaker 1: Do you have to mine of your piece?
Speaker 5: And Ques, I mean, he's not my direct boss, but yeah,
Speaker 5: I would prefer to do that.
Speaker 1: I don't want to upset them in mister Small, how
Speaker 1: are you?
Speaker 5: We're a little bit more casual that now, that's probably
Speaker 5: how it first started. But when you're going through the
Speaker 5: negotiation process, uh, there's a lot of the bleep by
Speaker 5: and then you need in. And I've learned a lot
Speaker 5: from him and I'm appreciated everything that he's done.
Speaker 1: Thanks forgetting him. We've had him on the show before
Speaker 1: when we were at the casino. He was very good.
Speaker 1: I joked with him a time or two because baseball
Speaker 1: has been betty bitty good to you guys. Yeah, very
Speaker 1: And you're in a group, so he'll he'll be with
Speaker 1: us for a while at the four seventeen hours to
Speaker 1: see what the progress is. Although you know exactly what
Speaker 1: the progress is here. I do. What's a ticket situation.
Speaker 1: It's slow, but we're expecting you to pick up because people, well,
Speaker 1: welcome to Tucson.
Speaker 5: I listen, everybody tells me the same thing. So when
Speaker 5: we talk about the stress level, from my side, I've
Speaker 5: always been on the other side, right, I've always been
Speaker 5: on the playing side or going to games. I've never
Speaker 5: been on the program management or the developed side. So
Speaker 5: everybody that were surrounded by tells me the same thing.
Speaker 5: And it's Tucson is it's a late seller's walk up
Speaker 5: market and we're doing the best we cand to get everything.
Speaker 1: Okay, my source who was at the game, Yeah, in
Speaker 1: the game, Yeah, I don't remember them not shaking hands.
Speaker 1: It was a crazy intense game that gut Chippy, But
Speaker 1: I don't remember that.
Speaker 5: Well, we've got to get somebody to say yes or no. Right,
Speaker 5: we're relying on nine year old Blake here. That's not
Speaker 5: a good reference.
Speaker 1: You asked ten dudes and they say the same thing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, sorry, mister Blake. You dreamt this moment. Oh man, Well,
Speaker 5: you know what, I'm gonna hold on to it. I'm
Speaker 5: just gonna I'm gonna continue to build on that.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to one more sources, okay, because all right,
Speaker 1: one more so. But we'll talk about that later. That's
Speaker 1: funny because I don't remember that. That's something that I
Speaker 1: don't really look for until unless unless something like that happens. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was at Chippy game. Was gonna kick a
Speaker 1: grap out of them. It was like one side of
Speaker 1: the pair. Cold had his moment of forty some points
Speaker 1: and it was what it was. I mean, come on,
Speaker 1: we still talk about it thirty some years later.
Speaker 5: I mean, but you think about that performance it's one
Speaker 5: of the greatest of A performances of all time. Michael, Yeah,
Speaker 5: I mean, I guess whatever, Fab four that just went
Speaker 5: to national championship.
Speaker 1: Right right? Okay, uh, well we got got two minutes, Okay, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: so here we go we can have some breaking news.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to get that Bobby early stuff. So
Speaker 1: good for him that he came out and he said that. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, I mean, how do you feel about Bobby
Speaker 5: Hurley overall? Because I watch interviews compared to what he's
Speaker 5: on the court, and I think there, I think his
Speaker 5: court antics are a little bit of an act compared
Speaker 5: to what he is as a person.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what the synopsis is or the the overwhelming
Speaker 1: thoughts are on him. He's different when he gets in
Speaker 1: the court, he's a competitory, he's animated blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: He's always his brother, yeah right, and his brother's getting results.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: And he's an apparently a very good guy off the
Speaker 1: off the court. We had a former U of A player,
Speaker 1: a issue player, talk about that yesterday. You know, he
Speaker 1: helps people, sees people in need, blah blah blah. But
Speaker 1: when he gets on the court, but everybody has their
Speaker 1: own yah persona. Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 5: I mean we were going to see his brother hopefully
Speaker 5: here in the next what two years?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, right, so that should be a lot of fun. Yeah, okay, Hey,
Speaker 1: let's just go. We'll go and get a hold of
Speaker 1: Darnell Dixon here from approval.
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Speaker 2: Steve Rivera, PA's got his eye on the ball on
Speaker 2: Tucson's sports stationed Fox Sports Sports fIF eight.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to why in the Ball hero on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. You're Blake Eager from
Speaker 1: the Southern Arizona Sports Tourism in film forty.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 1: On the foal, we have our visiting guests from the
Speaker 1: Provo Herald and it's Darneld Dixon, Darniel. How are you.
Speaker 13: I'm doing well, fellows. I'm experiencing something kind.
Speaker 3: Of odd here.
Speaker 13: Maybe you guys can judge verify it because you're in Phoenix.
Speaker 3: I believe to call it the sun.
Speaker 13: Oh the sun here here here in Utah. It's winter
Speaker 13: still in February, but.
Speaker 3: I believe is it?
Speaker 13: Is it yellow and kind of warm? Is that what
Speaker 13: that is?
Speaker 1: It's eighty six degrees today.
Speaker 13: We're in a we're in a little low fifties.
Speaker 3: But it feels like eighty six.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sure. I mean, that's that's bothering for you guys.
Speaker 1: That's notice. I'm curious. I'm curious tonight we'll talk a
Speaker 1: lot about tonight's king. But how long have you been
Speaker 1: covering the team?
Speaker 13: Well, I've been with the Herald and and some of
Speaker 13: its outlets since about nineteen ninety eight, so I've been
Speaker 13: you could tell from this picture I sent you got
Speaker 13: I got a white beard, so I've been.
Speaker 3: Around a while.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, no, I have the same white beard. And that's
Speaker 1: interesting because you must have been at the game when
Speaker 1: when UA played last with Loot in maybe early two thousands.
Speaker 13: Well, the last game I remember with Arizona, there were
Speaker 13: two with Jimmer's junior year Jimember for that junior year
Speaker 13: in Tucson. He scored school record forty nine in that one,
Speaker 13: and then the following year this was a Sean.
Speaker 1: Miller I believe, yes and ye had The.
Speaker 13: Next year was at the Delta Center where the Jazz
Speaker 13: play and Jimmer had thirty three in another pretty big
Speaker 13: b YU win. Those those a last two I remember
Speaker 13: with Arizona.
Speaker 1: And basketball, okay, because Arizona took a pretty good team
Speaker 1: to Provo a while back and got beat with a party,
Speaker 1: a very good team, and Jean had gotten thrown out
Speaker 1: hitting some guy. Can't remember the player in the back
Speaker 1: of the head, you know.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. So now this should be a little different.
Speaker 1: Arizona goes in as a three point what's up with that?
Speaker 14: Well, here's the thing about this game.
Speaker 13: And you know, there's been so many big games played
Speaker 13: that Michale Center that that Arizona has been involved with,
Speaker 13: But in the Marriott Center, there just hasn't been a
Speaker 13: lot of really big power conference games until b why
Speaker 13: You joined the Big Twelve because previously in their other
Speaker 13: conferences they couldn't get teams to come and play them
Speaker 13: here in the non conference. And then they were playing
Speaker 13: in the West Coast Conference in the Whack and the
Speaker 13: Mountain West Conference. So I can remember Jim Or's sophomore
Speaker 13: year at BYU, Wake Forest came and that was a
Speaker 13: huge deal that they came to Provo. And then in
Speaker 13: twenty twenty, h b why You played Gonzaga when the
Speaker 13: Zaggs were ranked number two and beat them those right
Speaker 13: before everything shut down.
Speaker 3: With the pandemic.
Speaker 13: But I was trying to think of games that are
Speaker 13: bigger than this one, And you guys might think it's hyperbole,
Speaker 13: but I'm telling you this is one of the biggest
Speaker 13: games ever played at the Marriott Center because of the
Speaker 13: situation where it's Arizona WILL teams are in a big
Speaker 13: conference YU and there was on a book on four
Speaker 13: game win streets that has NCAAA implications for both programs.
Speaker 13: So it's it's a really big game. And I'm a
Speaker 13: little surprised that Arizona would be an underdog considering what
Speaker 13: they've done in the Big twelve play so far, but
Speaker 13: the Cougars have played pretty well in the last couple
Speaker 13: of weeks, so I expect it to be a really
Speaker 13: really competitive game.
Speaker 1: What do you think the what do you think the
Speaker 1: ten it's going to be for the game tonight or
Speaker 1: do you know already?
Speaker 13: Oh, it'll be a sellout, close to eighteen thousand. It's
Speaker 13: going to be crazy. It's a nine o'clock start here
Speaker 13: in Utah, so you know, college students don't ever pass
Speaker 13: up an opportunity to stay up late and get crazy,
Speaker 13: So I expect that. I think the atmosphere to.
Speaker 3: Be really good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, even the b YU, right I mean this is
Speaker 1: just like.
Speaker 13: Well, they're usually not allowed to see, so now that
Speaker 13: they get their approval.
Speaker 3: They're going to all be there.
Speaker 1: But you know what, BYU has kind of made its
Speaker 1: mark in recent weeks obviously, and I've heard somebody from
Speaker 1: Provo talk about this. It's kind of non provincial. It's
Speaker 1: the nil they have a lot of money in the
Speaker 1: in the conference. Uh, this could change a few things
Speaker 1: up there, basketball boys, It really could.
Speaker 13: And you know, when when b YU hired Kevin Young,
Speaker 13: you're familiar with him as being an assistant coach, the
Speaker 13: topic assistant in the NBA there with the Suns for
Speaker 13: a while. When when he was hired, I thought, Okay,
Speaker 13: his strength is going to be acts as and O's,
Speaker 13: but he might struggle a little bit with some of
Speaker 13: the nuances of college basketball, including ni L and recruiting.
Speaker 13: And it turned out to be kind of the opposite
Speaker 13: that he's been a fantastic recruiter, and some of that
Speaker 13: is that there is nil money available. He's also sold
Speaker 13: the program is being run like an NBA franchise, So
Speaker 13: they've got you know, NBA strength and conditioning guy to
Speaker 13: get NBIA nutrition and got NBA you know workout situation,
Speaker 13: so so they sold it that way too. And where
Speaker 13: I think this this uh he and his coaching staff
Speaker 13: has struggled just a little bit, is kind of making
Speaker 13: that switcher over from professional to college basketball a little
Speaker 13: bit different pace. Not necessarily on the floor, although there
Speaker 13: is a little bit that way, but just the pace
Speaker 13: of the season. You know, he's used to getting two
Speaker 13: or three practices and playing exhibition games and then playing
Speaker 13: three games a.
Speaker 3: Week for you know, three or four months in the NBA.
Speaker 13: And they had six months from the time he took
Speaker 13: a job until they had their first.
Speaker 3: Game, and they played one or two a week, And so.
Speaker 13: I think all that was something that took his coaches
Speaker 13: to have a little bit of time to get used to.
Speaker 13: But I think in the last couple of weeks what
Speaker 13: they've discovered is a way to get the right guys
Speaker 13: in at the right time, the right starters, with the
Speaker 13: right rotations. Guys understand their roles better than they did earlier,
Speaker 13: and that's what's led to this four game when Eastreet, God,
Speaker 13: they've played really well. They're the number one field goal
Speaker 13: percentage team in the Big twelve play and the number
Speaker 13: one three point percentage team in Big twelve plays, so
Speaker 13: they really put themselves in a good.
Speaker 1: Position right there. Explains why they're the three point favorite,
Speaker 1: because there was a lot of has been better at
Speaker 1: the three point line defending it, but not always. No,
Speaker 1: I would still argue it's probably close to our Achilles
Speaker 1: Hill is still, especially if a team like BYU comes
Speaker 1: into town or we're going there with with how good
Speaker 1: you guys shoot the three ball, it's gonna be it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a dogfight. To clarify, Darnell, I'm the journalist
Speaker 1: in the room, and my boy Blake here is not.
Speaker 1: He's the fan of the room. So that's why he's saying, Yeah.
Speaker 13: I get it. Yeah, we're sensitive of that kind of thing,
Speaker 13: aren't we.
Speaker 1: The Yeah, not an hour, But to your point, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you see it because you know the games.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean you're you know, we've been going to
Speaker 5: games forever and you've seen this team kind of evolve,
Speaker 5: but there's still weaknesses and you watch by you and
Speaker 5: you're right, Darnell that they're I mean, they've shoot lights
Speaker 5: out from the three point line, and these last four
Speaker 5: games they've been pretty much unstoppable when it comes to that.
Speaker 13: Yeah, and they've improved defensively. I think they're still working
Speaker 13: some things out. And when they face and you know
Speaker 13: the big twelve, everybody has at least one or two
Speaker 13: or even three guards they can just take into the
Speaker 13: hole every every time they get it. And Caleb Love
Speaker 13: is that kind of guy for Arizona. And it looks
Speaker 13: like he's shooting percentages are kind of up and down,
Speaker 13: but he puts points on the board and he puts
Speaker 13: a lot of strain on your defense to have to
Speaker 13: account for him. And so I know that's that's a
Speaker 13: challenge that the DYU defense has to face tonight, is
Speaker 13: is slowing him down and then making sure other guys
Speaker 13: don't don't get off because of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: One of the concerns I think down here is Arizona's
Speaker 1: coming off a couple of very emotional wins. Iowa State
Speaker 1: we thought was fantastic right in the top five when
Speaker 1: they came down here. Now they've kind of lost a
Speaker 1: little momentum or mojo. And then Arizona beats Arizona State
Speaker 1: and in an emotional game that how maybe the fall
Speaker 1: could happen sometime soon.
Speaker 13: Well, it's this league, and you guys know this. You know,
Speaker 13: obviously the first year for Arizona in the Big twelve,
Speaker 13: but playing in the Pac twelve, you know, you go
Speaker 13: on the road and things are a little bit different.
Speaker 13: It's been a long time since Arizona's been in the
Speaker 13: Marriage Center, so it's an unfamiliar place for them. It's
Speaker 13: it's it's a big arena too. It used to see
Speaker 13: around twenty two thousand, and they restructured a little bit
Speaker 13: with some of the seats to make them a little
Speaker 13: bit wider, so it's about eighteen thousand capacity now. But
Speaker 13: it's a big arena and the student section is huge
Speaker 13: and they get really loud, and it'll be a good
Speaker 13: test for Arizona to go on the road and play
Speaker 13: in this environment. For BYU, you know, they they have
Speaker 13: spent one year in the Big twelve and they got
Speaker 13: some big road wins. Last year they beat Canvas at
Speaker 13: Allen's Field House, which was might have been the BYU's
Speaker 13: biggest win in the regular seas than ever.
Speaker 3: I mean, who knows. That's that's for up for debate.
Speaker 13: But this league makes it difficult for you to go
Speaker 13: on the road with all these different environments and different venues.
Speaker 3: And so it'll.
Speaker 13: Be a big test for Arizona to come in here
Speaker 13: and base a team that's been playing well the last
Speaker 13: couple of weeks and putting things together at the right time.
Speaker 1: I was curious, having been the beat writer for a while.
Speaker 1: I was I was covering the team many years ago
Speaker 1: as a journalist of the paper for twenty three years,
Speaker 1: and I've gone to venues know flog Allen and a
Speaker 1: lot of those good places. B whyus as well. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you've traveled to a few of those spots in
Speaker 1: the Big Twelve, and can you talk about some of
Speaker 1: the better venues for fans?
Speaker 13: Well, I feel like any place you go in this league,
Speaker 13: it's pretty specific when you when you're a Power Conference team,
Speaker 13: you have that kind of support, and there's a few
Speaker 13: places like when B why you played in the West
Speaker 13: Coast Conference, you know, going to Gonzaga and going to
Speaker 13: Saint Mary those were crazy places to play. But B why,
Speaker 13: you would go to Portland and they'd have more fans
Speaker 13: than Portland would have. Yeah, or they'd go to Santa
Speaker 13: Clara and they'd have more fans, And that doesn't happen
Speaker 13: in this league very often. But B why you does
Speaker 13: represent itself really well in some of these places. I know,
Speaker 13: b why you're going down and uh, you know, playing
Speaker 13: Baylor and TCU and some of those schools though those
Speaker 13: are some pretty tough environments when those teams are playing
Speaker 13: well and and but they always seem to have a
Speaker 13: pretty good contingent of BYU fans, and the announcers always say, well,
Speaker 13: BYU travels well, and that's partially true. But because of
Speaker 13: the bau's association with the Church of Jesus Christ the
Speaker 13: Lattery Saints, there are congregations in every city, so they
Speaker 13: do get quite a few home fans that end up
Speaker 13: driving a couple of hours if they need to to
Speaker 13: go to the game and help support the team. So
Speaker 13: d YU spared pretty pretty well. They struggled this year
Speaker 13: on the road early, but they picked up a couple
Speaker 13: of wins now and they feel like they've got that
Speaker 13: all worked out.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think it was similar for the uv A coming
Speaker 5: from the B twelve. I mean with a PAC twelve.
Speaker 5: Wherever they traveled, I would say for the most part
Speaker 5: it was a majority of U of A fans a
Speaker 5: similar circumstance, so that that changed the Big Twelve, like
Speaker 5: Steve was saying, is that. I mean, every house is
Speaker 5: rocking and their fan base is huge, and I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, for the U of A to travel to
Speaker 5: BYU into a stadium that has eighteen thousand fans, it's
Speaker 5: it's not a cookie cutter game like you would get
Speaker 5: going to maybe COL in the past. Very similar situation,
Speaker 5: so same kind of similar road maps as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say, I don't think Arizona's
Speaker 1: going to travel well here because they just don't. But
Speaker 1: you talked about BYU fans all over in Phoenix have
Speaker 1: a nice contingent. Arizona played the football against BYU and
Speaker 1: Phoenix and that mutual game whatever it was with rit
Speaker 1: Rod I think it was Vegas for the Bowl Bowl
Speaker 1: game back in whatever it was to So there's a
Speaker 1: history of the schools and playing one another.
Speaker 13: Yeah, I was just recalling I went down to Tucson
Speaker 13: for a game I believe it was two thousand and six.
Speaker 13: Nick Foulk kicked the field goal in the final seconds.
Speaker 13: I think it was sixteen thirteen with the final there
Speaker 13: in that year, BYU finished eleven and two, if I
Speaker 13: recall correctly.
Speaker 1: So I like it.
Speaker 13: I like the fact that there are some more regional
Speaker 13: matchups in this league now with Arizona and Arizona State
Speaker 13: BYU Utah Colorado. I just like that that it's close
Speaker 13: enough where fans can travel and you can develop some
Speaker 13: good rivalries. That's one of the things that's kind of
Speaker 13: getting lost in this shuffling of conferences is you end
Speaker 13: up with teams that don't play each other that used
Speaker 13: to play each other every year. I think I was
Speaker 13: seeing something about UH Texas Tech and Baylor aren't playing
Speaker 13: this year for the first time. It's like the longest
Speaker 13: running UH rivalry in the state of Texas. I mean,
Speaker 13: you know, things like that happen. So I'm glad to
Speaker 13: see some some closer matchups and to renew some rivalries
Speaker 13: with Arizona, a Zona State, who were in the whack
Speaker 13: with YU way back when.
Speaker 1: What was the coach talking about when he talked about Arizona,
Speaker 1: you know, facing you know, facing Arizona tonight the biggest concerns.
Speaker 13: Right, Well, he says he knows Tommy Lloyd pretty well,
Speaker 13: and so that that's something that you know as a
Speaker 13: as a coach. He's been everywhere Kevin Young has been overseas,
Speaker 13: He's coached in the what was then the D League
Speaker 13: now the G League in the NBA. So he respects
Speaker 13: Tommy Lloyd. He knows what a challenge it is defensively
Speaker 13: to play against someone like Caleb Love, who's got so
Speaker 13: much talent and kind of material. You know, some some
Speaker 13: games are even within the game.
Speaker 3: He may start off three for twelve and.
Speaker 13: End up making his next six shots. So he's a
Speaker 13: tough guy to defend.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 13: There's a lot of respect though. They understand what Arizona
Speaker 13: went through in the non conference play with a very
Speaker 13: difficult schedule, and you know, going nine to one in
Speaker 13: the first ten games in this league is not an
Speaker 13: easy task for anybody, and Arizona's pulled it off. So
Speaker 13: they're expecting Arizona's best tonight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, Uh with with Caleb, but of course
Speaker 1: he's played you know, hot and cold. Uh, it's you
Speaker 1: you expect to be a physical game. Arizona kind of
Speaker 1: showed something that's not and to be physical against Iowa
Speaker 1: State a little against a issue, but it's it's this
Speaker 1: league is all about that.
Speaker 13: Yeah, that that's that's interesting. I know when b Y
Speaker 13: you played on.
Speaker 1: All of it Saturday.
Speaker 3: Uh, their their.
Speaker 13: Last game, they kind of had some issues with the physicality,
Speaker 13: especially early on that UCF put on them. And you know,
Speaker 13: you see F, They're they're very physically talented team. They
Speaker 13: were double teaming on the on the pick and roll.
Speaker 13: They were putting a lot of pressure on Diego dem N,
Speaker 13: BYU's freshman point guard, and caused quite a few turnovers
Speaker 13: to start. BYU ended up adjusting. But this is this
Speaker 13: is not generally a team that's been super physical in
Speaker 13: Big Twelve play. They kind of had to adjust to that,
Speaker 13: mainly because their non conference schedule was really not very good.
Speaker 13: And even Kevin Young's admitted he wished he would have
Speaker 13: played another, you know, two or three maybe Power conference
Speaker 13: teams rather than the schedule theyhead. But you play here
Speaker 13: out in front of you. But they've had to kind
Speaker 13: of adjust to the level of physicality and and I
Speaker 13: don't believe you see F. It's shown that double team early,
Speaker 13: but BYU managed to find ways to beat it and
Speaker 13: ended up with some some pretty good open threes. So
Speaker 13: those in game adjustments are going to be important depending
Speaker 13: on how physical.
Speaker 3: That game gets.
Speaker 1: Uh, you know, we tend to dabble and stuff like this,
Speaker 1: but so there, Arizona's a three point underdog. But do
Speaker 1: you know what the over under is because I know
Speaker 1: that both teams score like crazy, Yeah, I would.
Speaker 13: I would imagine the over run Wry'd be somewhere in
Speaker 13: the maybe one sixty sixties sixties maybe, yeah.
Speaker 1: Because if they scored near each should be around that area.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think.
Speaker 13: I think both teams are capable of putting eighty or
Speaker 13: ninety points on the board. And I think that Byu
Speaker 13: likes that pace.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 13: They play a little bit of what they call point
Speaker 13: five basketball, where you know, you get the ball in
Speaker 13: your hands and you want to in half a second,
Speaker 13: you want to make a decision about what you were
Speaker 13: trying to do. And they're trying to increase that pace
Speaker 13: to move the ball and to find their shooters because
Speaker 13: they do have quite a few guys. Richie Saunders is
Speaker 13: having an MVP Tyme season for the Cougars. Trevin Nell's
Speaker 13: a really good shooter. Cannon Catchings went eight for eight
Speaker 13: last week in a game against Baylor in overtime. So
Speaker 13: they've got some shooters and they'd like to play that
Speaker 13: fast pace, and if Arizona does too, I do expect
Speaker 13: there to be a lot of points tonight.
Speaker 1: Well, it's kind of funny because, like I said, I've
Speaker 1: covered this team forever. I guess I've been told that
Speaker 1: the over unders one fifty and a half. But Arizona
Speaker 1: thrives in these situations. You give them a put teams
Speaker 1: put them in a half court situation. And it's been
Speaker 1: since my time, since your time, Blake, where if you
Speaker 1: put them in a half court situation, they kind of
Speaker 1: get muddled. You get muddled and they get you know,
Speaker 1: you're playing in the fifties, Arizona struggles. But if you're
Speaker 1: in the seventies, I mean, Arizona's like twenty six and one,
Speaker 1: they love it.
Speaker 13: Yeah. And defensively, that's, like I said, a challenge for
Speaker 13: BYU to figure out what they want to do to
Speaker 13: slow them down. During the non conference play, BYU's rebounding
Speaker 13: was really good. It hasn't been quite as good in
Speaker 13: conference play because they're obviously playing better teams, you know,
Speaker 13: so they're going to have to work the defensive boards
Speaker 13: really well and they may try to, you know, get
Speaker 13: a little bit more half court because they've been better
Speaker 13: at executing in tough situations. They lost in games early
Speaker 13: in conference play where they just couldn't execute down the stretch,
Speaker 13: and against UCF in a very close game, the y
Speaker 13: end up scoring on its final seven, well seven straight
Speaker 13: possessions after the four minute mark. So I think they
Speaker 13: worked out some things execution wise where they feel like when.
Speaker 3: They need to they can execute in a half court.
Speaker 3: But they do.
Speaker 13: They do want to move the ball, they want to
Speaker 13: be fast.
Speaker 1: Yeah, not afraid to do that real quick. We got
Speaker 1: to go, But give me a prediction real quick from
Speaker 1: end Blake too, what's your prediction?
Speaker 13: You got to get your prediction from the fan. You
Speaker 13: can't get a prediction from.
Speaker 5: The media now, ye, So yeah, I was going to
Speaker 5: ask you Darnell actually before we get to go, who's
Speaker 5: the X factor for BYU tonight? Who on that team
Speaker 5: makes a difference for them?
Speaker 13: Well, about six games ago, Kevin Young made an adjustment
Speaker 13: and the starting lineup Ken and Catchings is a really
Speaker 13: highly rated freshman who's been kind of struggling a little bit.
Speaker 13: So he put in what mag He's a grad transfer
Speaker 13: from Rutgers, six foot seven, really really good defender, and
Speaker 13: I think that's made a big difference because of his
Speaker 13: intensity on the defensive end. And then on Saturday at
Speaker 13: UCP he scored to see some high nineteen points, so
Speaker 13: he's capable of scoring. I think he's kind of the
Speaker 13: X factor because he's going to have to defend Kayleb
Speaker 13: a little, but he's gonna do it on his own.
Speaker 13: But he's gonna have to spend I think, most of
Speaker 13: the reps on him, and and then he has to
Speaker 13: take advantage when other teams focus on Richie Saunders and
Speaker 13: the Sandy Trari either the Yu's main scorer inside. So
Speaker 13: that's the guy I would say would be someone to
Speaker 13: watch tonight, is what mag He's a long, athletic defender,
Speaker 13: kind of somebody that BYU really hasn't had in the
Speaker 13: bag for quite a while, and so they take advantage
Speaker 13: of his his abilities.
Speaker 1: Okay, so real quick, your prediction seventy eight seventy five
Speaker 1: you have a okay you Homer, what you okay?
Speaker 13: Okay, seventy five b YU had that.
Speaker 1: On the bus. I will I'll go like a eighty
Speaker 1: eighty two seventy seven b YU. Yeah, all right, Okay,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. We'll talk to you the next
Speaker 1: time around. Darnell. Thanks, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 13: Yeah, sure, good talking again.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Hey, we've got to take a break. You
Speaker 1: can come back and then we'll talk more about this game.
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Speaker 10: Investment Group at RBC Wealth Management.
Speaker 2: Streaming live on the Ihearts Radio WAB. This is I
Speaker 2: on the Ball with Steve Rovera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 1: Hey, welcome back to in the Ball here on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports fourteen fifty on Steve Rivera.
Speaker 5: You're Blake Eager. Yeah, from the Southern Aer's on the
Speaker 5: sports chowism in film Authority.
Speaker 1: At some point I'm going to remember all that. No,
Speaker 1: It's okay.
Speaker 5: That's why I'm here, right, because I'm just a fan
Speaker 5: that needs to remember those things, right, Yeah, we will you.
Speaker 1: War fansers, No, no, no, no, kids. The kids are
Speaker 1: fans too, because they're school until they graduate. They're not fans.
Speaker 5: Okay, Now can alumni say us yes? Okay, And I'm
Speaker 5: not alumni, but I'm a two son in I'm not
Speaker 5: able to say. You can say what you're just no, no, no,
Speaker 5: I like to have this debate. You're a guest on
Speaker 5: the show.
Speaker 1: You can say whatever you please except cursords. Dang it, right,
Speaker 1: one of these days, it is what it is.
Speaker 5: So we were we were asking Cody f off Air,
Speaker 5: like what the most stressful part of his day is,
Speaker 5: and Cody, you said.
Speaker 1: It's class. I love it. Yeah, it's the greatest thing
Speaker 1: to be twenty and going to college, right, best time? Yeah,
Speaker 1: best time of your life? Honestly. I mean you you
Speaker 1: you're from New York, right, yeah, I'm sure your parents
Speaker 1: are doing okay, you're sending you here, right, what do
Speaker 1: you have bills? Don't worry about No? I hate you?
Speaker 1: Yeah seriously, right? Yeah, No, sleepless nights.
Speaker 5: You don't wake up at like three and with just
Speaker 5: anxiety ridden, with anxiety, sweating, going what am I doing
Speaker 5: with my life? Just wait a couple of years when
Speaker 5: you graduate, it's going to kick in. So enjoy these
Speaker 5: huh yeah, no, yeah, we're not going to go down that.
Speaker 1: Well that's eventually. Well, yeah, that's my son is going
Speaker 1: through that.
Speaker 5: Now, how many And let me ask you this, as
Speaker 5: a you have a student, current you have a student,
Speaker 5: how many sporting events do you attend as a student?
Speaker 1: The Marquee basketball and.
Speaker 5: Football games mostly so like the ranked teams I go
Speaker 5: to your friends go to, but not like baseball, softball
Speaker 5: or volleyball.
Speaker 10: No, not yet.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I always think it's it's kind of intriguing me.
Speaker 5: And I know I'm a baseball homer too when I
Speaker 5: say this, But because they have High Corbett and the
Speaker 5: history at High Corbett and it's like kind of a
Speaker 5: standalone arena, not on campus, and it was kind of
Speaker 5: the first one that allowed students to drink at Like
Speaker 5: I always thought as a student that would be especially
Speaker 5: on a Friday or Saturday, you would go to like
Speaker 5: start your night and you guys could all meet it
Speaker 5: because it's it's more it's a more affordable ticket, right,
Speaker 5: There's there's a capability of just starting off and then
Speaker 5: going downtown from that. But that's is that not a
Speaker 5: thing for you? Ving Some of my friends do do that. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I think I'll start doing that this year. So yeah, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 5: what a life you guys have. I wish I had
Speaker 5: that life. Again, you're tying to Cody, Yeah, you have
Speaker 5: a good life too. I'm not complaining about my life.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: This is not a complaint driven show. Sure if it was,
Speaker 5: I would be on every day.
Speaker 1: And you probably want to come on every day. Anybody
Speaker 1: want to call talk about tonight's game? Do you think
Speaker 1: they're gonna win? Do you think they're gonna lose? Why
Speaker 1: do you think they're gonna lose? Why do you think
Speaker 1: you think they're gonna win?
Speaker 5: I didn't know that the Marriott Center was eighteen thousand strong.
Speaker 1: That's big, and I knew that Utah was. It's going
Speaker 1: to be packed, and it's going to be you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of people that are going crazy.
Speaker 5: Our chair for Tourism, Vance Bryce, is from Graham County,
Speaker 5: but he went to buy U and he was talking
Speaker 5: about that. I actually saw him at lunch today. He
Speaker 5: was talking about the atmosphere on campus for when teams
Speaker 5: like you have a come to town that the fan
Speaker 5: base goes.
Speaker 1: It's just a rabbit fan base. They go crazy for
Speaker 1: these things, you know. So yeah, no, of course, thanks
Speaker 1: for coming in today. Oh me yees sa saving me today. Listen,
Speaker 1: I have a lot of stuff to do. Apparently, I
Speaker 1: know you're fine. It's it's not from it all. So
Speaker 1: let's go back to to the WBC. Are you nervous
Speaker 1: from a sales standpoint, from sales and whatever you're doing.
Speaker 5: I mean, you're asking somebody that's just nervous about life.
Speaker 5: That's unfair. I was talked to my mom today and like,
Speaker 5: I got that, you know, irish worrying gene from her.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I'm nervous, but I'm nervous with everything. You know,
Speaker 5: I've got to remember at the end of the day,
Speaker 5: it's still a group effort from our community in southern
Speaker 5: Arizona to bring Major League Baseball back in some capacity
Speaker 5: with World Baseball Classic that we haven't had.
Speaker 1: So is it driven by sales?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is for us from a financial standpoint where
Speaker 5: we don't want to lose too much money. But is
Speaker 5: it important for the community to have a footback in
Speaker 5: the door. And I think that's that's important, right, I mean,
Speaker 5: that's something that allows us to have I think I
Speaker 5: was telling you offline, or maybe I said don't.
Speaker 1: I can't remember now. My memory is so short.
Speaker 5: Our Kids in the Park days on Monday and Tuesday,
Speaker 5: March third and March fourth at eleven am. We've already
Speaker 5: got three thousand kids lined up for that and they're
Speaker 5: coming to the day they're coming to the day games
Speaker 5: as field trips. We've got all the school districts and
Speaker 5: in Kima County and Santa Cruz involved, And I mean
Speaker 5: it's things like that that you're able to maybe do
Speaker 5: something that we haven't done in a long time. So yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm nervous about sales, but that's again we're we're late market.
Speaker 1: Well that's brilliant too. You're gonna have a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of fans that way. Yeah, kind of like
Speaker 1: built in right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And we came up with that idea is that,
Speaker 5: you know, as a group of Eric Rhodes with the
Speaker 5: STOEP dug arison A Bowl. So yeah, I used to
Speaker 5: work with the Diamondbacks when they were still at TP
Speaker 5: then and now Keno Sports Complex, Keeno Veterans.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, that's a great because it's a great idea,
Speaker 1: great idea. Uh and and the kids, many of which
Speaker 1: will be interested obviously, yeah, some won't be, but you'll
Speaker 1: have them in the seats and having a great time
Speaker 1: and who yells louder than kids.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and we've got you know, the great thing about
Speaker 5: that is that we got the Tucson Children's Museum and
Speaker 5: Pema County Library on on site. The two Sun Children's
Speaker 5: Museum is going to be running a STEM program. Uh So,
Speaker 5: like you said, even if you have kids that don't
Speaker 5: care about the game of baseball, they have they have
Speaker 5: added attention when it comes to the STEM program. And
Speaker 5: I will tell you from a playing experience, we used
Speaker 5: to have kids days on getaway games.
Speaker 1: So getaway games.
Speaker 5: We usually played the day after a night game at
Speaker 5: like ten am, And so I would if I pitched
Speaker 5: that night game and we enjoyed ourselves after the game
Speaker 5: that ten a in game. To have thousands of screaming
Speaker 5: kids singing SpongeBob SquarePants was a little bit of a nightmare.
Speaker 5: But at the same time, it's pretty cool to see
Speaker 5: all those kids on site and watching baseball, watching sports
Speaker 5: in general is great.
Speaker 14: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You go through Monday through Thursday, right, Sunday through Thursday,
Speaker 1: Sunday through Thursdays. Sunday should be opening.
Speaker 5: Day, right, Yeah, we've got opening ceremonies, We've got we've
Speaker 5: got two games on Sunday in March second, eleven am
Speaker 5: and six pm. We're really excited about that. The six
Speaker 5: pm game, we're gonna have fireworks. We're gonna have opening
Speaker 5: ceremonies for both games. We're gonna get the cultural the
Speaker 5: Chinese Cultural Center involved. Hopefully they're going to come out
Speaker 5: and do a little show. We're really excited about it.
Speaker 5: And then Monday night you have a youth sports Night.
Speaker 5: We're going to honor Bill Leith from Keno Baseball. Bill
Speaker 5: started Keno Baseball and that's if you've ever had a
Speaker 5: sunplay youth baseball, and two SUNY's probably gone through Keno
Speaker 5: in the last fifteen to sixteen years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've got a call. Great, Yeah, Hello, you're on
Speaker 1: the ERA and nine on the ball.
Speaker 13: Who's this good afternoon, Steve?
Speaker 1: What's going on?
Speaker 3: They? Yeah?
Speaker 13: I could have swore I looked on the spread this
Speaker 13: morning and the U of A was favored.
Speaker 14: By one and a half.
Speaker 1: No, it was the other way around.
Speaker 14: Well, I mean I looked this morning, and I guess
Speaker 14: my eyes were playing tricks on me. But I guess anyway,
Speaker 14: I think if they're getting two, they said two where
Speaker 14: you could play to three tonight in two to three points,
Speaker 14: depending on what.
Speaker 13: You want to do. And I think the U of
Speaker 13: A is gonna win. I think they're gonna I think
Speaker 13: they're gonna be cover the spread. And how you think
Speaker 13: they're gonna win? Outright? Are you by three?
Speaker 1: Who's Who's who's saying this? Howard the fan or Howard
Speaker 1: the person?
Speaker 14: No, Howard the person. I just they're good. I just
Speaker 14: look through their lineup. They are good. And that freshman
Speaker 14: is really good. And I didn't know they're eighteen thousand.
Speaker 14: So I'm gonna be up. I'm gonna listen to it
Speaker 14: on the radio, I guess, because it should be good.
Speaker 14: It starts at nine o'clock. But you can bet the
Speaker 14: fans and attend the games of mckill. They're gonna be
Speaker 14: in bed.
Speaker 1: They'll they'll stand up once just one. Obviously. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: a good chance they could lose this game. Obviously. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, Howard you the you don't think
Speaker 5: let me ask you this question. Do you does the
Speaker 5: b YU three point percentage scare you against you as
Speaker 5: perimeter defense?
Speaker 13: Yeah? Yeah, possibly.
Speaker 14: And they have a lot of guys six foot eight
Speaker 14: are over. They got a lot they literally have about
Speaker 14: eight p eight.
Speaker 13: Or nine people six foot eight are over on the roster,
Speaker 13: and that's what a lot of teams are lacking. The
Speaker 13: Sons and the Wildcats are lacking six foot eight enough
Speaker 13: six eight players.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you think it quick, real quick, Howard.
Speaker 1: Maybe within a minute. Yeah, so what do you make
Speaker 1: the whole thing within a minute? What do you like
Speaker 1: about Arizona? What don't you like yet?
Speaker 14: Okay, Well, I think what we like is the guard
Speaker 14: play is going good and we know as tournament time's
Speaker 14: coming that's going.
Speaker 3: To be important.
Speaker 14: And in the Wildcats, I look at it just like
Speaker 14: at the Suns. Too bad we don't have but you
Speaker 14: are going to need taller players. And I just like
Speaker 14: to compare both the Sons and the Wildcats. They don't
Speaker 14: at least the stupid Son's coach is not coaching.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 14: I think in college it's a different animal and you
Speaker 14: coach a little different. And I think Tommy has control
Speaker 14: of how you know to bed. He doesn't have the
Speaker 14: other big guy, but you play with what you got.
Speaker 14: So I think that's the thing I don't like is
Speaker 14: the players that God Tommy is such a great coach.
Speaker 14: I mean I'm Trucson should just.
Speaker 3: Really be happy what they have. They have no clue.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, well, thank you. Something we talked about Tommy
Speaker 1: earlier on. I think that we are very fortunate to
Speaker 1: have him here. And yeah he's so good. Yeah, okay, well, hey,
Speaker 1: we got a minute, no minute, it's to me. It's
Speaker 1: pretty close right about a minute. Oh, you can wrap
Speaker 1: it up, we got okay, uh, so good for st hour.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk to you. Okay, it's okay. Small here on
Speaker 1: the other side, so, uh, talk more baseball. We're gonna
Speaker 1: breaking news. Okay, we'll probably get some calls. You probably
Speaker 1: don't have a whole lot of breaking news, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: so then we'll take some more calls during that breaking
Speaker 1: news and talk to Jim Small from the WBC, and
Speaker 1: then take some more calls after that. Okay, yeah, sounds
Speaker 1: good to be cool. Thanks. I'm here for the right