Speaker 1: Salisbury, old By Salisbury Houston.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's do this.
Speaker 3: Sewn Salisbury to USC trouphs longtime friend Shawn Salisbury, Dan MATTHEWSUS,
Speaker 3: this is the Sewan Salisbury Show.
Speaker 4: But Uh and Duke taking on each other in the
Speaker 4: Final four on Saturday. And a man who knows a
Speaker 4: lot about playing and winning in these games, his former
Speaker 4: Blue Devil guard at Thomas Hill, he joins us.
Speaker 2: Now, yeah, he sure does, and we're grateful.
Speaker 1: Now, if I go through his resume, it's going to
Speaker 1: take a while, right, he's saying, just twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: director of basketball operations and head coach at Saint Andrews
Speaker 1: Episcopal in Austin, and they proceed to go win, you know,
Speaker 1: two league championships. He's been a three final fours at Duke,
Speaker 1: two national championships. He was drafted in the second round,
Speaker 1: played what eight years in the league. Everything he do
Speaker 1: does just the trophies keep piling up. And we got
Speaker 1: him today, and I'm sure he's hoping here in Houston,
Speaker 1: and sand I told you that that Duke team puts
Speaker 1: another one on the board. But we'll try to we'll
Speaker 1: try to combat that with this Houston Cougars. Thoma's great
Speaker 1: to have you on, my friend, and we sure appreciate
Speaker 1: your time today.
Speaker 3: How you doing, Oh great, man, appreciate having me. Man,
Speaker 3: good to be at the show.
Speaker 1: Okay, let me go back to those times before we
Speaker 1: hit this current Duke team. Do you remember the feeling
Speaker 1: of going into the final four, how you felt about
Speaker 1: your club, going in your school, and your team's preparation
Speaker 1: going into the final For the nerves of.
Speaker 3: It, absolutely, absolutely, you know. I was fortunate to do
Speaker 3: it three times, so there were three different kind of
Speaker 3: vibes each year. But the year going into our second run,
Speaker 3: when it is a second time, we were super confident,
Speaker 3: like we were number one in the country and knew
Speaker 3: we were the best team in college backasketball, and it
Speaker 3: was just a matter of you know, just staying focused,
Speaker 3: not letting the distractions get you. You know, we're a
Speaker 3: veteran team, and just handling your business, you know, just
Speaker 3: taking care of what you know you need to take
Speaker 3: care of, play the right place, play together, and finish.
Speaker 3: You know, finish. That was a big thing for us that.
Speaker 1: Year, aside from great talent, which is you know, you
Speaker 1: got to have to go win these things and you
Speaker 1: got to be hot. Was there one common thread, like
Speaker 1: one trait that made your team. You mentioned confidence on
Speaker 1: one of the teams, But of the three years you
Speaker 1: went and the two years you wanted, what was the
Speaker 1: one trait that all three teams had?
Speaker 3: Unselfishness? I think, you know, we had, you know, twelve
Speaker 3: thirteen guys that were the best players coming from their state.
Speaker 3: So you know, everyone had an ego. Everyone knew they
Speaker 3: were really good, and it was just a matter of
Speaker 3: understanding that individually we're not going to accomplish anything great
Speaker 3: or what you know, what we're trying to do as
Speaker 3: far as winning championships, and you know, we you know,
Speaker 3: the theme was just be unselfish and play together and
Speaker 3: let your talent show. You know. I think one of
Speaker 3: the things about at least my time at Duke, which
Speaker 3: was great, was you know, no one on our team
Speaker 3: was jealous or you know, envious of other guys. We
Speaker 3: were happy for guys. So, you know, it's just a
Speaker 3: unique time for our group for sure.
Speaker 1: Thomas Hill He's been two national championship teams, three Final
Speaker 1: four teams at Duke, also as director of basketball and
Speaker 1: head coach of Saint Andrews Episcopal in Austin.
Speaker 2: He knows what winning's all about.
Speaker 1: Was the second round pick in the NBA as well
Speaker 1: as being an All Conference player. Looking back to those teams,
Speaker 1: and it seems like it's every year at Thomas. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I'm not telling you that you don't know, but
Speaker 1: you guys were a villain a lot, right, the guys
Speaker 1: who were in Heckey you got you villain a lot?
Speaker 1: Do you have to embrace a villain role in order
Speaker 1: for it to work for you?
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You don't want to discount it was it kind of
Speaker 1: you guys against the world world. Even though Duke is
Speaker 1: a blue blood program, it felt like even then when
Speaker 1: we're watching it back then, that it was it's and
Speaker 1: it always seems to even now that man Duke was
Speaker 1: easy to dislike because they were good, but they knew
Speaker 1: how to get under your skin. Did you guys embrace
Speaker 1: the role?
Speaker 3: We loved it. I think that that's one of the
Speaker 3: traits that made us really good, is that we loved
Speaker 3: going on the road, getting booed, people not liking us,
Speaker 3: and the whole nine. You know, we loved it. You know,
Speaker 3: my my little personal takes was. I think my sophomore year,
Speaker 3: we took a team picture and it was a cowboy thing,
Speaker 3: and I distinctly remember wanting to go get the black hat.
Speaker 3: I wanted black hat and be that guy. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I think our team embraced it, you know. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know the story of Christian Ladner and you know
Speaker 3: his take on things and it it was all of us,
Speaker 3: you know, even though we kind of looked like the
Speaker 3: clean cut, preppy guys or whatever that is. There were dogs.
Speaker 3: There were dogs in that locker room. So you know,
Speaker 3: we loved it.
Speaker 2: Pretty hard.
Speaker 1: Pretty hard to win titles without having dogs on your team,
Speaker 1: isn't it, Thomas? And you know, from high school to
Speaker 1: college the pro you got to have him or you
Speaker 1: end up getting left behind. So so let's go to
Speaker 1: this year now. First off, will you be in the
Speaker 1: building in San Antonio or your TV guy watching on TV?
Speaker 3: I will be there, you know, and Duke make the
Speaker 3: final four? Life is great. I'll be there.
Speaker 1: Okay, So they're coming down in to talk. Oh, Duke's
Speaker 1: coming to town University of Houston. You know, obviously we
Speaker 1: know who they are. Let me start with Cooper Flag.
Speaker 1: You've played with some great ones, young ones and veterans.
Speaker 1: You guys at that point in time, guys were staying
Speaker 1: in school most of the time, until you know, there
Speaker 1: are four years or so we're up. We're just from
Speaker 1: your visual and watching him and maybe talking to people
Speaker 1: at the program break him down for us and where
Speaker 1: he ranks in just your visual of free freshmen that
Speaker 1: have played there, let alone veterans.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I think as a freshman. I was telling
Speaker 3: someone this the other day. He is by far the
Speaker 3: best freshman to ever play a dude.
Speaker 2: And that's Carol included, right, any of them.
Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely, So there was a situation. You know, I
Speaker 3: didn't catch a lot of games this year, but I
Speaker 3: caught the first Carolina game and just watching it, it
Speaker 3: was like a ten minute stretch where the kid makes
Speaker 3: the right basketball play every time like that. You don't
Speaker 3: see that, you don't and you know he's seventeen, eighteen
Speaker 3: years old, and you know you can see that he
Speaker 3: is different. You know, if you have a basketball, you
Speaker 3: can just the way he moves, how he thinks the game.
Speaker 3: You know, in my opinion, he's the best freshman to
Speaker 3: ever play a dude. So you know that that's uh,
Speaker 3: you know, and I've been around a lot of great ones.
Speaker 3: I've seen a lot of great We've all seen them.
Speaker 3: So you know that's my take on You know, he's
Speaker 3: special for sure.
Speaker 1: You've played on special teams and got rings to show
Speaker 1: for it. You've coached, obviously and still do special teams
Speaker 1: high school kids. So let me ask you. You're I'm
Speaker 1: come to you, and I say, draw me up a
Speaker 1: game plan how to attack the University of Houston. Because
Speaker 1: we know without saying that this team thrives on contesting
Speaker 1: every shot, physically getting on the floor, all the dirty work.
Speaker 1: And they got some guys that can knock down shots.
Speaker 1: So how do we if you're I'm your assistant, you're
Speaker 1: my coach, design me a game plan to attack this
Speaker 1: unbelievable and relentless defense of the Cougars.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the attack is on both ends. So offensively,
Speaker 3: I think sharing the ball, you know, although they don't
Speaker 3: move without the ball the way I would like, you know,
Speaker 3: moving without the ball, making the defense move, not take
Speaker 3: bad shots, you know, always take bad shot and try
Speaker 3: to get in the paint and use your side. You know,
Speaker 3: I think I think we're a little bigger than them
Speaker 3: in most of the positions, so you know, using our
Speaker 3: size to our advantage. But I think you know, taking
Speaker 3: good shot, sharing the ball and absolutely crashing the glass,
Speaker 3: like make them foul us, you.
Speaker 1: Know, yeahoul trouble. Foul trouble could be a problem for Houston.
Speaker 1: And this if that happens right with their bigs.
Speaker 3: Right right, you know, put pressure on their bigs and
Speaker 3: on the defensive end, keep them in front, you know,
Speaker 3: be ready to help. And you got to rebound, you know,
Speaker 3: you got to rebound play without fulling, you know, you know.
Speaker 3: And that's my take without knowing that the real specifics
Speaker 3: of each group, Like I really don't watch them that
Speaker 3: that closely, but you know, just fundamentally, those are the
Speaker 3: things that I think once you get to that level,
Speaker 3: that stage, you know, if you're doing those things, you
Speaker 3: have a great chance.
Speaker 1: Thomas Hill, former Duke guards, been on two national championship
Speaker 1: three Final four teams at Duke. Former NBA player second
Speaker 1: round pick, also coaches and as director of basketball at St.
Speaker 1: Andrews Episcopal School in Austin, and we'll be in San
Speaker 1: Antonio watching his Duke team play. Obviously, the calling card
Speaker 1: for Houston is that they you know, They've got some
Speaker 1: really good shooters, but they play defense and they get
Speaker 1: on both ends of the glasses you were talking about.
Speaker 2: So so my thing is, if I said.
Speaker 1: To you, knowing that they can test every shot, this
Speaker 1: game's in the sixties, who's it favor.
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: Do you do you think duke can play in a mutter?
Speaker 1: You know, in one of those games it's ugly if
Speaker 1: you're missing shots getting on one of those ugly games.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they can. But that's where Houston lives. So
Speaker 1: I said, if it's in the upper seventies, give me
Speaker 1: the Duke's going to be They're tough. But if this
Speaker 1: game's in where Houston usually lives, in the upper fifties,
Speaker 1: sixties defensively, does it favor the Houston Cougars in that one?
Speaker 2: A low scoring game more in Houston's favor?
Speaker 3: Sure? Sure, now they you know Houston is a great
Speaker 3: defensive team. You know, I definitely watched watch over the year.
Speaker 3: They get after defensively, I think to the eight their
Speaker 3: pressure is to attack them right, don't settle jump you know,
Speaker 3: if you if you get in a situation and then
Speaker 3: it's a low scoring game, if you're a duke, you know,
Speaker 3: you got to really think about attacking them, putting pressure
Speaker 3: on them, making them value to kind of you know,
Speaker 3: you're getting easy shots, you're getting to the line. How
Speaker 3: you're scoring, uh, you know, you know, kind of stay
Speaker 3: in that in that you know, low scoring, you know
Speaker 3: range as far as you know, just just being in
Speaker 3: the game, you know, and not not necessarily sell them
Speaker 3: for Jena Dotts.
Speaker 1: So yeah, passive aggressive wouldn't worry. So you want to
Speaker 1: attack aggressive with aggressive and not let them set the
Speaker 1: temple of the game. I know on offense they like
Speaker 1: to play in the half court meaning Houston, but the defensive,
Speaker 1: you know you're going to get pressure, but you want
Speaker 1: to take it to them right now instead of play
Speaker 1: into their hands and slow it down.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to. I would want to get into
Speaker 3: the event, get like they get big than foul trow
Speaker 3: you just get them in thout trou because they are
Speaker 3: aggressive defensively. You know, I think an issue we could
Speaker 3: have is if we hit a few shots, we get
Speaker 3: comfortable with that, we want to continue to do that. So,
Speaker 3: you know, I think adjustments are going to be huge.
Speaker 3: You know who makes the upper adjustments when things aren't
Speaker 3: going the way you plan. We'll definitely have a say
Speaker 3: in the game.
Speaker 1: Thomas, When did when did we become guard centric that
Speaker 1: good guard play wins national titles? I mean, I know
Speaker 1: it's nice to have a guy six nine guy like
Speaker 1: Flag or back in the day when Al Sendor was
Speaker 1: playing or Bill Walt the UCLA. But when did we
Speaker 1: transfer to where it's perimeter? I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: just a three point shot, but why now when we
Speaker 1: look at college basketball and you're a guard, why do
Speaker 1: we Why is it so guard centric now where the
Speaker 1: big man's kind of secondary.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the influence of the European philosophy. But then
Speaker 3: you know, there was probably a stretch in the early
Speaker 3: two thousands that you know, you may not have had
Speaker 3: a lot of quality big so you know you've got to,
Speaker 3: you know, play with the best players. And it turns
Speaker 3: into you know, all of a sudden, if the Steph
Speaker 3: Curry Clay Thompson are having kind of success they're having
Speaker 3: at the highest level, everyone's trying to you know, so
Speaker 3: you know, I don't necessarily buy into it. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, you could have all the guards to threes
Speaker 3: all you want, they still got a guard and you
Speaker 3: can get them in foul trouble if that's all they
Speaker 3: want to do is shoot three. So you know, I
Speaker 3: you know it's part of every I think it's good
Speaker 3: for some people. I don't think it's for all people
Speaker 3: but all teams. But it is what it is.
Speaker 2: Thomas.
Speaker 1: I'll let you go on this before I get a
Speaker 1: prediction from me, and who you think. I know Duke's
Speaker 1: going to be played on Monday night as opposed to Saturday.
Speaker 1: In unique perspective, you played at a time when the
Speaker 1: transfer you only transferred when you were hurt and got
Speaker 1: beat out, or you know, back in the nineties when
Speaker 1: people just didn't do it, you stayed around. Now you're
Speaker 1: coaching in part of basketball for the high school kid,
Speaker 1: So find me common ground. If you were in charge
Speaker 1: of the NIL transfer portal, does it need fixed and
Speaker 1: how would you fix it?
Speaker 3: Well, I think the the system or the ability to
Speaker 3: leave situations for the pair is good. To be honest
Speaker 3: with you, and I'm a coach. I think the coaches
Speaker 3: have to do a better job of evaluating who they're
Speaker 3: bringing into their programs. So you have a lot of
Speaker 3: coaches that want the quick things because the jobs on
Speaker 3: the line or whatever that is, and they're not really
Speaker 3: doing the due diligence on these kids they're bringing in.
Speaker 3: So when they get there and the kid, you know,
Speaker 3: he already has this track record of leaving places. You know,
Speaker 3: now he gets to a situation where he thinks it
Speaker 3: be better but it's not, then he decides to leave. Well,
Speaker 3: the coach, you've got to understand that. That's part of it. Like,
Speaker 3: can't cry about that. You know, that's what you're branding.
Speaker 3: So I think it's a two way street with it
Speaker 3: that the coaches have to do a better job of
Speaker 3: evaluate and just understand that. I'm telling the kids that
Speaker 3: don't stay anywhere. So whatever the characteristic come with that,
Speaker 3: you got to understand that's what it is. Then on
Speaker 3: the pot side, I think it's great because you know,
Speaker 3: you can get in a situation. You know, I'm a
Speaker 3: coach now and was a coaches don't tell the truth
Speaker 3: there's all the time, right, So they get somewhere and
Speaker 3: you know the coach didn't. It was like so you know,
Speaker 3: but you know, I'm not a you know, as a
Speaker 3: high school coach, and it's happened on my level where
Speaker 3: you know, kids just they're not mentally toughenough to handle adversity,
Speaker 3: and that that's a bigger issue.
Speaker 1: That's a Now, we don't let them fail anymore, right, Thomas,
Speaker 1: we we we don't let these kids fail and fight
Speaker 1: their way through it. We want to save them from everything.
Speaker 3: Right, right, And that's that's a whole nother queue. But
Speaker 3: you know, in the terms of college back, I think
Speaker 3: it's great. You know, it's evolving system, so you know,
Speaker 3: we're just in the early stages of it. Eventually it
Speaker 3: will clean up, you know, eventually, But I think it
Speaker 3: starts with the of coaches and the adults in the
Speaker 3: situation of making better decisions with certain kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great point.
Speaker 1: Transfers three times, there may be a good chance you're
Speaker 1: going to get a fourth transfer, So be alert for
Speaker 1: the guy you go after and recruit and then bitch
Speaker 1: about if you see him leave your program. All right,
Speaker 1: give me give me a prediction on Saturday, and then
Speaker 1: who you I'm assuming you're taking your Duke Blue Devils.
Speaker 2: Who you playing Monday? Who you playing on Monday?
Speaker 1: If you win this game, so give me a score
Speaker 1: for this one, and who you like to play on Monday.
Speaker 3: I'm saying Duke, we'd beat Houston by ten on Saturday
Speaker 3: and on Monday, it really doesn't matter. We win by ten.
Speaker 1: So you're double double digit wins on both and it
Speaker 1: won't matter who you play on Monday because basically you're
Speaker 1: saying this, you get through this one. Monday's a stone
Speaker 1: cold lock. That's how you feel.
Speaker 3: Well, it's not a lot to earn it, but actually
Speaker 3: think where you know, once we get to the championship
Speaker 3: game with this group, you know we're for talented and
Speaker 3: other and I think John does a great job of
Speaker 3: keeping them focused that you know, you know we'll finish
Speaker 3: and and and people really understand coach my coach. It's
Speaker 3: still behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: Oh you know, yeah he is.
Speaker 1: His imprint is still there and and really valid, isn't it?
Speaker 2: Coach k exactly.
Speaker 3: This is his time and I know he's going to
Speaker 3: share things that others don't have, so it will motivate
Speaker 3: our guy.
Speaker 2: That's awesome, Thomas.
Speaker 1: I can't thank you enough for spending time with us
Speaker 1: and good luck, enjoy the visit to San Antonio. I
Speaker 1: think we're in for one hell of a Final four
Speaker 1: and I can't wait to see it. And thanks for
Speaker 1: sharing some of the experiences in your good insight man.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, Appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Thanks Sean, thank you.
Speaker 1: That's great. Thomas Hill, what a career he's had. Everywhere
Speaker 1: he's been. He wins