KJ Live - Roberto Bergersen

On this week's episode KJ speaks to Boise State University Men's Basketball Assistant Coach Roberto Bergersen about his basketball journey, the genesis of contemporary hoop culture in Tacoma/Seattle area of the state Washington, and competing against each other in high-school, college and professional ranks. Roberto talked to KJ about his passion for the game, how he got into coaching on the college level, and relived some special memories from a special era of college basketball. #allball

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is kJ Live with Chris john Salli and Chris
is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
entertainment in the strain. Now here's Chris Johnson. You are
now killed in kJ Live. Today's guest doing the show

(00:24):
was a former college basketball start in pro that his
return to his alma mater, Boys States, and assistant coach
where he was also a Hall of Famer. Please join
me in welcome coach Referto burgoson the kJ Live. Berto,
what's good? What's happening? Man? I appreciate you having me
on man, anything and everything. Life is good. Brother. Hey,

(00:45):
congratulations man Boise State. You return to your alma mater
where you laid some of that found laid the foundation
for that program, in my opinion, turning it out in
nine that was my I think my senior year. Remember
you and speing all day long, talk about what it's
like to go back man, the boys you stay, You're
all made and get with coach Leon Rice uh Man,

(01:08):
it was. You know, it's kind of one of those
things where it's like a dream come true that you
never you know, I thought about it, you know, being
a dream for so many years. I just Um, I
was doing the au stuff and I loved it, like
I loved it. I loved everything about UM. You know,
just kind of trying to help to, you know, build
a culture of basketball here in this community that that
really wasn't one when we you know, when I was here,

(01:29):
you know, going to college, you know, the high school
scene and all that, it was great. I enjoyed all
of that. UM and I really every time anybody would
ask me getting in college, coach and it was like,
not just you know, that's just not me, not for me.
Coach Rice and I you know, we we his kids
played in my program, so I knew him. Um. You
know from day one he stepped on into the town

(01:50):
of boys, like he hit me like day one. It
was like, look, we want you to be a part
of program. You know, culture is big for me. You
know the Gonzagaway, right, you know the way you know,
we always embraced you know, our alumnis, and they always
embraced us. So I want to make sure you guys
coming around. And I think after I left there was
a little bit of separation where that wasn't UM. That

(02:10):
wasn't a big deal like a alumni. We just wasn't
a lot of guys around or it just wasn't embraced
like we thought. And you know he did that um
so um. Like I said, for me, I wasn't even
thinking about it. And then, uh, you know, last year
I had an opportunity to go to Eastern Washington. I
had sent a couple of players to Eastern Washington. Um.
They had a new coaching um coaching change, and that

(02:30):
in the associate that took over as the head job.
He asked me if I wanted to come and kind
of looked at my wife. My wife looked at me
like when you know, we wasn't going nowhere. Man, I'm
in the house. I wanted to retire in kids are
almost gone, about to be empty, necess what are you
talking about? And I was just like, man, this is
this It just kind of seemed it felt right. It
was a deal where it was like, man, this is

(02:52):
a great opportunity to go there. Like I said, I
got to coach my kids. I got to coach my
oldest son and his senior year. Was that was that
the big reason why? I mean, because you had you
had sounding like you were straight. Bro, you sound like
berto you were straight. You were chilling the a you
think was locked. Now you're going right into the pressure
of college basketball and your son's gonna be a senior. Man.
I coached my son three years at Palisades. Just tell

(03:14):
me about that process. What you wanted to be there
for him? You just I mean, talk to me. Nah.
It didn't even it wasn't like he wasn't even in
a picture. When I first was getting an opportunity to
go to Eastern Washington. Now there was one of my
soul kid by the name of Ellis Magnison. He had

(03:35):
started at Eastern at the point for two years. He's
like one of my sons. Like him and my my
middle souner, like best friends. I've been coaching him since
he was like six, So he was there, so there
was an appeal for that. I was like, damn, I
get to go coach Ellis again. Um. And then it
almost was like the au stuff. We were already starting
to like reimage what we were doing, and I felt

(03:58):
like that we ran our course. But I felt like
we did what we wanted to accomplish. I felt like
we actually came in and we helped to um, you know,
really just propel the culture of basketball and we got
a lot of kids to get opportunities. And at that
point the basketball culture here now in Boise has grown
like it's grown a lot, and it was almost just
like at that time when it came up, I kind

(04:19):
of told my wife, like, this opportunity is coming up
for a reason. We've done, you know, a lot of
things already. Um, I just think this is just a
different challenge and it's something that that is the right time.
And at the time, I was thinking to myself, man,
four or six years old, like getting into college basketball. Now,
if I'm ever gonna try it and give it a shot,

(04:40):
I gotta do it now. It's not it's it's not
gonna come around again. It's probably not gonna happen. And
I'm definitely not going to you know, not looking to
start at the bottom or anything like that. Now, this
opportunity was really good because I was the first assistant
that he hired, so I got to get I didn't
have to you know, I got to be in an assistance.
So it was just one of those situations like, man,
this is just something we can't turn down. We gotta

(05:01):
at least give it a shot. Have no regrets if
it works out, great, If it don't work out, we
can go back to what we was doing and say, hey, man,
we did it. And so after I, after I got
on and and and took um took the job. That's
when um my son's situation as a grad transfers, like, well, shoot,
can I come there to him? Like, man, I think

(05:22):
he would because they lost a bunch of players. He
didn't know what the proscer was gonna be needed. You
needed you needed some guys, right, some players? Yes, yes,
So I ended up able to you know, he came
out there. And then there was another kid I coached
preschool that came and so then that ended up just
being an incredible, incredible year for me. Man I got
I was coaching like three of my kids, like them
three is like my old kids. It's a whole different situation,

(05:44):
you know, even though you know, you know, I love
all the kids are saying, but but it's just a
little bit different when you're you know, when you're in
it with guys that you that you you know that
you came up with, where you primarily on development side
of things, where you were you are out recruiting, Like
what was your role in Eastern like, what skilled college
basketball coaching skills did you pick up out there? Um, well,

(06:05):
you know at Eastern I mean, you know, especially being there,
you know, just not it's not you know, I don't
got the resources of a U c. L A or
UTUB or even a Boisi state. So you gotta do everything. Man,
we do everything. We were sharing the load. We were
sharing a load, player development, recruiting, offense, defense, um, you know,
admin and stuff, you know stuff. It's one of It's
a place where it's like, if you want to get

(06:25):
something done, you might have to just do it yourself,
you know. And so man, out there I did. UM.
I learned a lot. I picked up a lot, a
lot of different stuff, and I think the most the
biggest thing I picked up was just even more so,
the the interaction and the protocol between um the program,

(06:46):
the basketball team and that and the administration, but then
also the basketball team administration and other side of campus,
the you know, the teachers and the academic side of stuff,
and how that intertwines and how you have to make
sure that you are intertwined that to make sure that
you can give your your your student athletes, your your
players the best experience possible, and so for me, I

(07:07):
think that's that's what I picked up the most, was
just learning you know, how that interaction works. And now
when you joined the Boys Stay staff, did you come
back with like a mindset of like I want to
be you know, I want to be out out in
the field trying to get players, or did you want
to be like I want to be in the gym,
you know, really working on guys and I got some

(07:28):
stuff really to tell you to teach and which side
of things or did you want to encompass everything? Like
I'm just curious to how you know, how your approach
to your new gig was. Yeah, I think where you
say like the encompass everything is one thing I think
for me, I think the way I processed up and
look at stuff with anything I do is I'm just
trying to just I try to figure out where I
fit and how I can make things better. Like you know,

(07:49):
everybody got their own way and they do things and
people have success or not success, and but I'll never
you know, look at a situation like you know, what
can I do or change this or do something different?
It's like, okay, this is how you do something. That's
the way you do it, that's what you're successful. How
can I you know, falling in line with that, But
how can I make it better? How can I make
it more efficient? How can I improve what improve those things?
And so for me, it is a full and you know,

(08:10):
like I said, a full encompassing thing, like I want
to be able to do everything. But my passion does
lie in the development. My passion, it does, it lies
in in in total development. I just love spending time,
not just with young people, but it's specifically young people
because I know, I think I have a lot to
give them, because I think I was in their shoes
and experience a lot, especially as at a young age,

(08:32):
I experience a lot. But just I think I've learned,
you know, throughout my life to how to find peace
and you know, how to how to live healthy. So
I want to be able to get that to him.
But that's weird for me. It's like, let me just
get a guy, get a couple of guys, and let's
just spend some time on the floor, you know, let's
spend some time in the film room, Let's spend some
time at lunch, Let's spend some time, you know, hanging
out that that's where you know, I thrive it just

(08:53):
with people. So obviously then that ties into the recruiting zoo.
You you you enjoy getting to meet people and talk
to people and figure that out. Um. Mainly, UM, my
main dealers. I'm in the player development. I coordinated player development,
which again I embrace. I love doing it, and that's
what I'm doing mainly. But yeah, we're still doing the
same thing here man. A lot of recruiting, a lot

(09:14):
of offense and defense. Um, you know, a little bit
of everything. Yeah, y'all, y'all A high level program now
it used to be. I mean, the expectations now I
think are a lot greater, especially with the tournament appearances
and all the success that UM and pros. There's been
a couple of guys that came out of there. I know,
I don't know. My guy, Clint Parks was training one
of the kids that came out of Boys before a

(09:35):
little bit. My son, my son Will had a teammate
that played at Oregon. I boo, uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so he was he was over there. Um, but um,
it reminded me what you the way here and you
talk berto about your approach to the gig to the job.
It reminded me of my experience us with Lorenzo Romar.

(09:57):
Romar was about forty seven forty eight because still give
you buckets and ones, still still young enough to relate,
but still old enough to where you had to respect
him as the big the big o g big brother
type of guy. That and then his roll man at
U c l A. Was so valuable for us because,
as you just talked about, it's not just about on

(10:19):
the court and this's and that, it's about a full
three sixty mentoring as much time as you can spend
with these young folks, these these student athletes and your
program showing them the right way, keeping their head on straight.
You have no idea how much that means to them
to keep him them on the straight and narrow. You
feel me because I know Rod was like that. Romar
was like that with us. So he's eating lunch with
he's eat lunch with us, he's breaking down our film.

(10:40):
Our film sessions are ridiculous because we're just laughing. Like
you know, because when you watch yourself on Phil Berno,
you know it's jokes coming. You can't hide from. You
sta't hide from the film and you're like you said,
you know when you're in there and you it was
people that you can relate to, that relates to you.
It's enjoyable, like you said, and you know you're gonna

(11:01):
crack on each other and you're gonna talk about each
other and get so. I know, man, uh, Coach Romar
is one of my favorites ever, man, ever since I
was young, just just you know, getting to know him
and be around. And he got a great staff of
Peppertine too that like I always tell people, Man, if
it wasn't here, that's like the best staff I think.
I mean, I'd love to be around him, dude. They're good,
is good, and and he's a He's the type of

(11:22):
do that for me. I know, you know, um was
the kind of guy that I looked to him like, man,
that's that's a coach I want to be around. And
I know I had guys like that in my life
of my high school coach and you know, one of
my sisters in college and even you know, even when
I was in the in the prose, a couple of
NBA guys that just affected me, like you said, in
that way, help me along the line, because because I
was on. I mean, I was on the road to destruction.

(11:42):
And if it wasn't for some of the people pulling
me up, I wouldn't have been there and I wouldn't
have been able to understand how to you know, find
that piece or live healthy. So yeah, all facts, all facts, man,
share it share yeah, No, chair it to that somebody.
You never know what somebody go get from, you know
what I mean. So that's that's the whole thing. Man.
When you look back though, in your beginnings, Um, you

(12:04):
were born in the Federal Way, Washington area or Decatur
or what what? What part of Washington were you born
and where you from? Talked to me? Yeah, so I
mean I was actually born in Seattle. I was born
at University of Washington Hospital. But then I was born
I was raised in Tacoma, Tacoma. Yeah. Yeah, so I
was raising Tacoma, live with my my grandparents raised me. Um,

(12:27):
and then I ended up moving from Tacoma my freshman year,
I moved out to Federal Way and went to Decatur,
which is I mean, it's basically connected to Tacoma, man.
I mean like from my grandparents house to where we
move was like fifteen minutes, Um, but at that time,
Federal Way was it was it was it was more
of a suburb. I mean it was a suburb of Tacoma.

(12:48):
You know, Tacoma was a little bit more like you know, um,
you know it was. It was a little wild. It
was a little more you know, I don't know, a
little a little look like I said, a little bit
more city like city is a Federal Way was a
little bit more suburb. Um. So then I went out
there and yeah, that's where you know, I met I
met Mike d We met our sophomore year. We were
both going to Decatur together. And then um my second

(13:11):
then yeah it was crazy man, we had you and
Mike Dickerson. Oh the same squad. But what was that?
What was your squad like that that that one year?
Who was who else was on that squad that I
might know? So we had another kid that played with
us named Javan Hollans University of Air Force. Um, we
were all sophomores. We were all the same class, um.

(13:32):
And then the the guys ahead of us. We had
a couple of seniors that didn't really they really didn't
who wanted to play baseball. I mean they were hoopers
there Um, so we did well, Um we did we
did we? I mean we Yeah, we were gonna be loaded.
But then my sophomore year, Mike D ended up transferring
it and he went to the crosstown rival school. Dad
didn't really like our coaches. Yeah, he went to the

(13:53):
crosstown rival and it was games of rivalry. But like
me and Mike D, like we had created such a
van we was. You know, we used to have to
hide like we you know, I get done with practice,
he get done in practice. He come picking me up.
We go to pack Weston player. We go to the
Bellevue Pro Club to play with this. Honest my coach
didn't know, but you know he wouldn't if he knew that.
But so so yeah, so I'm I went there. So

(14:16):
I was indicator idicator for my sophomore through senior year
and then um from there ended up going to to
walk you what a you program did you play for?
Because I think we played did we play you in
Long Beach? Yeah? So you're so. This is what Craig
was crazy is we didn't have no AU programs. Then
it was just straight Washington b c I. And that's

(14:38):
part of the reason why our team was, like you said,
when he was back pretty good. It was just like
they literally would pick the team best kids from the
whole state now mostly just from Western Washington, Eastern Washington
had kind of like their own little team that they
would have. So like I remember once my boy name
that moved out there, he moved from California that played
for He played in the NBA a couple of years,

(15:00):
played that Kansas big fellas seven footer or kind of
kind of awkward big dude. What was his name, Poular Polar,
Paul Scott Polar, Scott Pollard played on the East Saw.
He was out there a little bit. But me, Mike
d oh mcgivons, J T. Donald, Um, you know, I

(15:20):
mean we had you know, we had some other dudes,
you know that was that was getting it in, Davon Green,
all of them. Do we we played together? So I'm
trying to think about. I know we played you guys
one time. I think you Gilani Um, Tony Gonzalez. Yeah, yeah,
there was a yeah, that's remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

(15:42):
we played who else is on there? I'm pretty sure
Miles played on there. JR. Henderson, Doug Yeah. See here's
what's crazy. Though when we played, y'all, Doug wasn't on
that team. Now here's what's crazy. So I played, we
played together. We've all played together the summer, but one
one spring it was either the fall of the spring

(16:06):
um after we had played against you guys with something.
I don't know if it was Doug or if it
was or if it was Miles, but somebody connected. No
I know what happened. We were playing on our Washington
b c I team. We went out there and stayed
when we played in the tournament. The Modern Day Team
hosted us. They let our teams stay with one of

(16:28):
their players. I ended up staying with this with the
kid named Darren Hight. Yeah, I know Darren. He played
so Darren with the prison. So I stayed with Darren
and we hit it off. It was good, the parents good.
So then the fall came. Darren called me, was like, hey,
we need somebody for our team. Doug's dad was coaching

(16:48):
the Orange Crush. Was I played, but you didn't play
that I wasn't there, and that's probably what happened. You
got a bunch of guys didn't play, so they needed
some guys. I went down there. It was me Trajan
langdon Uh chauncey oho Uh. Doug didn't play for some reason.

(17:11):
He was gone. Darren Hight the the six seven athletic
white kid that went to St. Louis abyss ball. I
don't remember his name. Um him who else played with us,
Miles damn Um. I think a lout he was. He
was young. I don't think he played, but I think

(17:32):
he practiced with us that modern day and he was nice.
I don't care how young he was. He was so good, sir.
And then we had um I think I'm gonna played
with us. Imna played with us and we so we
played that and I played that fall and actually had
and that was kind of one of the ones that
put me on the MAPPE was good. But that was like, yeah,
that that was and I remember going down there's like, man,

(17:53):
it's the same dudes that but they obviously played against
you guys in Pump and Run and all that stuff.
That is so dope, man. But planning for just to
talk about Bob dot Lee for a second win, Bob,
so I've been I had played for Bob Gottli, who
coached the team that you had played on. Doug's dad
for since since about the seventh grade. But he was
like he was like the first, but he was like
the first. You know. Bob was an experienced college coach

(18:14):
and had been assistance everywhere. So he had sets and
you was running off yo the sideline after out of bound,
after timehout. We were coming out with plays, bro. So
that was that was a great, great memory. But the
thing I remember about I think we played you guys
Washington b C. I Man, I remember y'all had this
like buck this this like monster light skinned dude. Not

(18:36):
he had a curly time. Who was that? What did
it do? Tony Norman? Yes, dude, And and he almost
got into a fight with one of y'all assistant coach.
That's what I'm talking about, bro. So look, this is
what's crazy, Like, that's that's my brother. Like. So he
and I met in Tacoma downtown while I playing that

(18:57):
late night. We used to have late night at the
downtown wine to Homa. You know, um during the summers
that you could do you you go would be during
the week, but during the school year was just probably
on Saturdays. I met him. His mom was in the military,
met him. We kicked it off. He was going to
a school in Tacoma. So then my um my, uh
I met him my sophomore year, into my sophomore year,

(19:18):
so my jewel going into my junior year. I was like, man,
he wasn't playing. He went to the same school member
Casey Calvary. Yeah, because he went to the same school
is Casey Calvary. And they had some other dudes down there,
but they but Tony wasn't getting a run. I'm like,
come to school with us. So look, if Mike D
wouldn't have transferred, it would have been me Mike D

(19:40):
and him being my boy Jovian Hollins. And do you
remember Quincy Wilder? Yeah, I do so, Quincy Wilder. That's
my that's my cousin. So he's two years younger than us,
my young cousin. Man, look, we was already if we'd
had that, it would have been a rep. So yeah,
so ten Norman, that's my hey, man, I do it
so crazy, it's called crazy Norman. He was he wasn't playing,

(20:02):
man like I called myself, you know, trying to be tough.
Back then, you know, I had just gotten into it,
I think with mad dog masks and I just punk
mask and so we played y'all next. So we played
y'all next. You know, I'm I'm going out here. But
he had that look in his eyes when he wasn't
backing down, like like you know, you know when somebody, hey, Berto,
you know, when somebody's like, oh oh this dude, Now
I can't test you know. So no, no, But I

(20:25):
remember lud Olsen being at the game, and it was
a hell of a game. Man. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R
to listen live. But but bro, tell me this, when
you look at, you know, the state of Washington and

(20:46):
the hoop culture out there, you were part of a wave, man,
and for generation that really put it down and laid
the foundation for some stuff that's been going on since then.
I mean, there's been tons of guys that have come
out that area. What is it about that state, man?
The basketball culture that produces so many skilled athletic high

(21:08):
i Q having basketball players. Man, I think, Um, I
mean to start off, I know, like when I was
coming up living in Tacoma, I didn't there wasn't nobody
from Tacoma that really actually made it, made it to
like you know, high d one level. Like there were
some guys like back in the day that got you know,
lucky and was there or whatever. But nobody, you know,

(21:29):
everybody that was nice like they was caught up. Man.
They was either they just they just they didn't happen.
But they was at the park. I mean it was
at the park. You can go down there and see
all these dudes and Jason Swans in the world and
Dona Morgan's and these dudes was like killers on reason
or another. You know, it just didn't happen. Um, but
Seattle did, like Seattle have some guys. Christie was a

(21:52):
guy that that I watched growing up. Was like, oh
my goodness, Um, Tony Harris was a killer watching Yes, yes, yeah,
so there there was some dudes like that, you know.
I mean, shoot Mark Pope, you know he played you know,
he was from Seattle, he played there. I mean but
even before then, there was some dudes that was hoopers

(22:14):
that you know. But I think it just you never
really see, I don't never really got they they do
they just do they didn't. Um, but I think you know, um,
there was like a little bit of a gap, and
especially down south where I'm from, you know, Tacoma, south
of Seattle, there just wasn't a lot of dudes. And
so I think our year, like you said, our year
was really um before us, you know, like kJ Roberts,

(22:38):
Donnie Marshall, them dudes that made it at a high level,
but there was a gap where most of the dudes
coming from the state of Washington there they wasn't getting there.
So our year, like you said, with Olma being a
top five player in the nation, you know, coming out
of high school, and Mike the killing it and I
did well, and Javon Green and then obviously Donald and
j T was a year younger than us, but they
was on the map already because they was young dudes.

(23:00):
It was a little bit of like okay, now they
got something like this stuff up there. And I think
what happened was a couple of things. One guys like Jamal,
j T. D watts Um, they just came back and
embraced the city and they just would come back and

(23:22):
like Isaiah I T Isaiah Thomas, he does it too,
Like it wasn't when I was coming up with that stuff.
It was a little bit more um, you know, I
don't want to say it leads, but a little bit
more secluded. In fact, if you want too with the best,
you had to go to this, right, even a little
pro club where the pros is that new guy that's
where you and and they wasn't letting you know, a
whole lot of other things the crafts in. You know. Again,

(23:45):
like I said, you gotta play your way up. I
understand that, like Jamal and j T and I T.
And then they started a whole new renaissance. Doug help
with this too. Um. I remember, you know, Jamal being
a young dude and Doug having this community center and
have less let's go hoop and he anybody that you
know you want to come whop, young, old or whatever.
They started this just this little coast to where it's

(24:07):
like everybody was accepted no matter if he was young,
old or whatever. Dude would be like, hey, we're the
hoop at were comeing to hoop. And you know, like Jamal,
that dude is just a hooper man. You don't care
not about working out. He just want to whoop anyway.
So I think one it was just this culture where
you know, the young kids and anybody would just see them,
do they would see them. If you can see people

(24:29):
and you can see who they are and you can
touch him and feel him, it does something in inspiring
you bro so so them little dude. So you know
whoever it was the McDaniel twins or de Gente or
you remember Loderic and and Roger Stewart in facts, the
guys they were seeing and feeling and touching Doug and
Jamal and and all of these dudes. And then I

(24:51):
think they just started whoping. But I think the other
thing was that helped was before we really started getting
off in hoop and before was basketball in Washington was
really known for guys like you know, the old school dudes.
You know, you gotta be um, you know, run this
and run that, and be sharp and be disciplined. Indeed, drill.
And I think those two worlds met up. Those two

(25:14):
worlds met up. Now you've got these kids that can
just hoop because they out there, but they also started
learning from some of these coaches how to play. It
wasn't just one or the other. And I think the
world's met now you started building up and building some guys,
and now the culture there is just hot man. Like
it's just it's kids whooping everywhere. And again it's a
it's just a healthy culture. If you go back and

(25:36):
like I know, like this summer, there was some stuff
going on where people was mad, like you know, they
was you know, baby boy and and and and Paula
was getting into it. Man. That was just that was
just hoop stuff. Man. It wasn't like it's a really
healthy culture there, especially because them dudes I give, I
give Jamal and Doug and I t I get them do.
It's like a lot a lot of credit. Man. They
embraced the culture and they and they're keeping it there

(25:58):
and they're helping it out. Man, they're helping out for sure. No,
it's been amazing man, just to watch it and just
and I remember even with Romar and you dub hype
where he had going over there when they were poppy okay,
and it was just a brand. It was it was
like a unique brand of guy that came out of there,
Like I say, skilled, high i Q you know, just

(26:20):
like coming through like dang is great, feel shares it,
you know, well you just plays the game the right way.
So I always had a ton of respect for guys
like that. So for you, though, why when you finish
your high school career, you you obviously probably had a
bunch of people beating down your door. Who were some

(26:40):
of these schools that were recruiting you? And why did
you ultimately start off at you dub so? I mean
I was I was a little bit late on the scene, honestly,
Like it was, you know, um, I wasn't being recruited
as high as as as Mike d and Omen those guys.
I mean, there was people sending me letters, but we
know how it is. Then it wasn't like crazy, UM

(27:03):
but I'm I'm but um, I know, you know. The
summer before my senior year, we played against um, we
played against uh your boy ant Swan Walker and I
had a good game and played against Randy Lemmings. The
team had a good game. I know that's what put
me on the map. But even my senior year was

(27:24):
kind of like hit and missed. But that fall, after
the summer, that fall, I came out and played with
the Orange Crush with Darren and him and I played
with like I said, you know them guys on the team.
I had a really good event down there at Dominus Hills,
UM people like really started to take notice. So you know,
it was like my last like the schools that I

(27:46):
was really really into. UM. I took a visit to
Boston College, took a visit to Santa Clara. UM Utah
was recruiting me. You Doug was recruiting me, but they
really wanted Mike D And we was the same position.
They really wanted Mike D. So the crazy thing is
Arizona and Washington both was recruiting both of us. But
but Mike was high on the list. I was probably

(28:06):
down here right. So as soon as so here's I
went to Santa Clara. Steve Nash was my host. I
had a phenomenal time. Marlon Steve Nash was after it
was Dick David the coach. I was rolling with Dictavi two.
And if I was smart, I said, that's where I
seen when I had a great time. It was a

(28:27):
great experience. It would have been set off, but I
was I was young. I was young, I was eighteen.
I was caught up in it. Went to Boston College.
It was a whole different universe, different world. Didn't even
it was weird, man like, but just because it was
the Big East and it was Boston College. I was like,
here's what I'm here's where I'm going, and this is
what's crazy about this deal. I committed to Boston College,

(28:51):
signed my letter of intent. I'm I melt my letter
of intent back. The same day I melted back, I
get a call from the assistant coach telling me Roberto,
I'm sorry he wanted you. We're gonna have to renig
because we just got a commitment from a kid that
we didn't think we were gonna get. Who was it?
Who wasn't about to tell you? Says the number one

(29:12):
player in the state, top ten player in the country
we thought he was. He thought he was gonna go
to Duke or something. I can't remember Chris hearing Chris hearing,
so so it's crazy. Fast forward, fast forward, you know,
uh five years or whatever. It was. Me and Chris

(29:32):
played on was on the same team at the NBA
Draft combine. We connected, hooked up. He was like, look,
I gotta be a point guard. I'm gonna get you
the rock. Make sure you make sure. Yeah, that's great.
I gonna get you the ball. And I told him
that story, and I said, Chris, you know you stole
my scholarship, right story. Yeah, so anyways, long story short,

(29:52):
Mike de signs in Arizona. As soon as he signs
in Arizona, Washington puts the full court press in all
they didn't get Mike. So now I didn't want to
press me. I was again, I was caught up. It
was hometown back COLLETTI who was recruiting you? Well, coach
Jack did, but it was it was it was mainly, well,
here's who did it? So um Turget was turging up there. No, no,

(30:16):
no coch McKay, Richie McKay Ritchie. Yeah yeah, so Richie.
But here's who did the most recruiting. I'm gonna tell
you did the most recruiting, and I'm gonna let you.
I'm gonna let you guess wins. They wasn't coaches Darren,
Darren Heightened, I mean Darren uh Taylors. No, they're eight.

(30:36):
They were agents. Oh the pup baby, Now, I wonder fund.
It wasn't good with the good Ones. Yeah, so Eric
Hughes was boys with the good Ones. They was doing
a lot of Gary Payton stuff, or Eric was doing
Gary Payton stuff back then. The Good Ones man them

(30:57):
dudes k picked me up, took me today's spot looking
over it. They did all the recruit I said. The
house was out there in though. I'm like, but you know, um,
the crazy thing is like Lawyer Malloyd was there. I
grew up with him. He's the same mazing my sister.
I knew him from my little so on my visit,
he snatched me up. I got you a little bro

(31:19):
showing up. So I was, I mean, my head was
spending and it actually was the worst SIDS never made
because I just wasn't ready for that. I wasn't ready
for the distractions. Man, I was immature. Man, I just
were you Bert or were you Was it a partying thing?
Were you going out too much? Were you not focused
on basketball? Is exactly what it was. It wasn't and
it wasn't just always partying. It was just like yeah, man,

(31:40):
like all of my fans like, that's you know, I
grew up there, That's when my family he was at.
So sometimes it was just on the weekends I would
go back and I was just sitting on the block,
like doing nothing because because everybody wanted to celebrate me, right,
they want to say, man, you know this guy taking
around do that, and I was kind of used to that.
But yeah, it was some partying in ball, but I
didn't I didn't do I wasn't doing the things that
got me there. I wasn't doing my work extra work.

(32:03):
I was messing up in school. Um, I wasn't going
to class. You know, obviously being a freshman it's to transition,
but I was even going overboard just because, like I said,
just being at home at that time, I was not ready.
It was all me. I was not ready to handle
those distractions to be able to say no. And um,
so again, you know, it could have worked out anyway.
It ended up working out great because you know, obviously

(32:24):
my career went that way. But but yeah, man, it
was that's how I went down. What made you made
to make the move to Boise State or first it
was Southern College of Southern Idahole for a year, right,
and and we'll talk about that because I've always been
enamored with that that that program over there. I was
just always curious, like what what go what's called of
Southern Idahole? Like, man, I'm gonna try to give you
to get this version because we don't got Okay, Yeah,

(32:47):
this so so again I was at ut up, was
messing up, you know, um doing everything. And so I
had a conversation, um, you know, with myself and with
some of my family, like, look, I gotta get out
of here, like you know, and some of my family members,
my coach and myself like, man, you you got to
either figure this out or not. So I just kind

(33:08):
of was like, you know what, the best thing for
me right now is to get as far as away
as I can. I gotta get away from home and
grow up. Um Utah was recruiting me at that time.
They wanted me Santa Claras. They wanted me, but I
didn't have a graze. I screwed up so bad my
freshman year. I didn't have the grade. I had to
go juko. So I went to Midland, Texas first. That's
a big time too. Though I went to Midland, Texas.

(33:29):
I was in Middland. I was in Midlent for about
two months during the summer, and you know, had some
crazy stuff down there. It was a little bit, but
it was some crazy stuff down there. Again, I wasn't
maturing up to handle it, but it was some crazy
stuff going on down there. Man. We asked you run
in with the police and stuff that I I wasn't
used to like, you know, I mean, Texas, it's still

(33:51):
some racist stuff, but in the Northwest it's kind of hidden.
Here it's right up in your face, like your face.
But you know, I still, like I said, I wasn't
maturing up to handle it. So I ended up, you know,
me and the coach kind of had a little falling out. Okay,
yeah there. So then I left and I went to
c s I. One of my teammates who was a
year younger Mean's name is Andre Pleasant, who was another killer.

(34:12):
He was a can't miss Division one dude. He just
again just never really got the grades together. He was
at c s I. Told his coach I was doing nothing.
The coaches like, man, get him out there. So I
went to c s I. I was at cs I
for a semester. Life circumstances, man, My mom relapsed, she
you know, on drugs. He had some stuff. I had

(34:33):
a girl I was with, she was pregnant. Um through
high school. I'm going through this stuff. I can't handle it.
Talking to my coaches, they gave me ultimatum, either stay
or go. I ended up leaving that semester. Um. So
when I left that semester, I man, I went home,
man like I was like I was lost. Man, I
was about to be done. Like I had, I had nothing.

(34:53):
I ain't had nothing. Um, good thing. I had some
good coaches. My high school coach at that time, he
had got the got assistant job at Boise State at
that time. He hits me and was like, look, man,
I don't know what's gonna happen with you. I don't
know what's gonna go on. You know. Um all the
schools that was recruiting U S CSR, and it was

(35:14):
some big schools, which is probably was a good thing
I didn't go. They got off of you. I was crazy.
I don't blame mom. I wouldn't. I wouldn't assigned me either. Man,
I was out there. He would. He gave me some bodies.
He said, no matter what you do, I don't care
what you do. Can you just go make sure you
finish your AM, go to school, finish your A. And
if you do that, maybe something happens, maybe it doesn't,
but at least you didn't lose all the time. So

(35:35):
good thing. My grandmother and my girlfriend at the time,
they helped me pay for school. I finished my A
A and once I finished my A I think my
coach was testing me to see if I really was
gonna do it, called me and he was like, I
didn't have no other I had one other school, Illinois
Chicago was the only other school calling me. They tracked
me down from my grandma's house or something like that.
But my coach was like, hey, I can vince my

(35:56):
head coach to give you a shot. This is your
last chance, can come or you you cannot, you know,
do it. And that's see how I ended up, that's all.
And I'm thinking in my mind, I ain't man, i
ain't going to Boise, Idaho. I'm not going out there. Man.
It ain't nothing out there on. But that's the only
thing I had and it was the best thing that
ever happened to me. Monster senior year at both at
Boise State, where your average over twenty game, uh, you

(36:20):
run a regular season Big West championship. Uh. I remember
seeing your ESPN a bunch um and just being enamored, like, dang,
this dude is six six out here, just just rack
he was dunking on dudes. Bertough, I mean, you turned
it out. I'll just be honest. And you were but
the handle, the push, I mean, just everything that you had. Man,
you were just so live like trust me, we were

(36:41):
out in l A. You see, like, hey Burdough, we'll
be in the building. We'd be watching your hard lights
and your days like we'd be going crazy, dude, we'd
be going crazy on you have that series your man.
You go to the draft, you're picked, but the fifty
seven pick in the second round. Tell me, I asked
every all my guys that got drafted on here, I

(37:01):
asked this question. Were you satisfied? Were you happy about
being drafted? Were you disappointed it wasn't higher? And how
did it feel to just be drafted? Because some of us,
like myself, did not hear his name called on that
special night, bro, So I always want to hear from you.
How how did that? How did that feel? Before I

(37:22):
answer that one, get back a little bit too. At
Boydy State and y'all being at U C. L A.
And it was always because again we played against you
guys when we were young, and it was something for us.
We looked at you guys from l A like, man,
this is like you guys was like our our barometer.
Like it was like we had to catch Gilani, we
had to catch Ricky Price, we had to catch you.

(37:43):
We had to catch Tony. And so when y'all was
at U c l A, it was the same thing.
We always watched you out to be like, man, they're
go Toby got a nasty duncan did. Chris is five
six ft three, So we was the same way. So
my junior year when we played you guys, Polly, he
was in their gas. We was. We was ready, especially

(38:05):
because like Kiwan was with us and that was Baron
Boy and they went to put together. Yeah, so Kiwan
had us geeked and amp and we went in there
and we was at man. We was going and then
I but here's the thing that's crazy thing you talk about. Man,
it was one play and I wish I could forget it,
but I can't because they got it on the internet.

(38:25):
In the blast Man, I was trying to go dunk
on JR. I think it was either JR. Glani I
came here. I think it was JR. I was trying
to go dunk on his do baseline and Baron comes
from behind me and just just snatches it right. So listen.
I try to live. I don't never want nobody to

(38:47):
see that. Ever, my kids found on Twitter or something
like real a Baron and then was in it. It's
that one and put recorse re recorded they always and
then all the kids that I coached, Berto, why did
Baron knew you like this? Bla blah blah blah blah blah. Hey,
they killed me. They killed me the internet. You can't

(39:10):
hide from the Internet, Bernough. And I've been telling them.
I'm like, man, y'all, see what Baron did that andre Kierlincoln.
You see he didn't do it to a lot of people. Man,
it happened. I said, you play at that level, you
donna get You're gonna get something. You're gonna get guys
something so um so yeah. So man, respect to all y'all. Man,
we we had the same we used to just like
every time y'all playing. Man, it was it was it

(39:30):
was love, man, it was respect. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app search f s R
to listen live. Man. The draft deal, yeah, the draft
deal was was incredible, man, UM. Leading up to the draft. Uh,

(39:50):
you know, I was you know, I was on the boards.
I was mid to late first round, second round whatever.
You know. UM did the did all the stuff did
the Smith did the Chicago did well and all of
them was getting interviews with a couple of teams were
saying they really wanted me. When I was in Chicago.
After the second day, I had two really good days.

(40:11):
My asians getting calls like yes, yes, yes, she' lining
this up. After the second day when we did our physicals,
UM I did my physical and my e k G
came up weird. I had a heart deal. They discovered
out how to enlarge heart. So it was it was
a scary thing. I had to go get tested. And
when that happened, it was like it was one of
the most Uh, it was one of the most heart

(40:32):
wrenching the days that level like because they're basically telling
me at that time, people was like they was afraid
of that. They were like, You're never gonna be able
to because hand gathers, because gatherings. Everybody was like scared
for real. Yeah yeah, So they shut me down. And
then at that point my asient was like, look, man,
all this stuff out the window. You just gotta go.
So I had to go to a bunch of different places. Man.

(40:53):
I had to go to Mayo. I had to go
to Swedish Hearts instud in Seattle. I had to have
people clear me. Finally after you know, weeks and weeks
and we to do in this test and they cleared
me like they cleared me, said you're good, jump back
on boards. And then at that time I didn't I
wasn't able to do. Um. There was a couple of
I wasn't able to do, like a couple of workouts
that was that had lined up. So my agent had

(41:15):
to like squish the stuff in. I ended up doing uh,
twenty two workouts. I ended up doing twenty two individual
workouts at that time. Um. They said that was the
most individual workouts anybody had done after Mike D. Wow,
Mike D did like twenty four twenty five. He Mike

(41:35):
D always for our whole life detention, just one up
in me every time. I'm like, man, bro, just chill out, Man,
can you just not have energy? One time? Bro, like
twenty four workouts? Bro, Man, I had one. One time
I went from I went to I went Houston, Phoenix,
Vancouver three back to back days, and did it work

(41:56):
out who and did you have like who who would
you work out against? Would it be like a group
with like other? Two? Guy talked to me, Hey, the
best work the best one ever was in Seattle with
Ron Artest with menta mea, Hey, this man was so wild,
crazy man. We had dinner with the owner of the gym.
He throwing he throwing out questions in the owner about
his private life and stuff. Right, that's the first time

(42:17):
I met this dude and said, oh he's different. Um no, man,
it was man. The workouts was great. Man like you, man,
I can't even remember all the will Avery and the
one in the couple level. What's our boy? That with
the d two do uh? George that was in with
the Lakers for Nevin worked out against each other in Houston.

(42:40):
Um too, man. Gordon Gearchek worked out against him in Phoenix.
It was it was a lot of them dudes. Man,
there was a lot of them dudes and it was
it was some crazy stuff. The craziest thing happened when
he was in Phoenix working out at the end of
the workout, so first we had to play one on
one against Frank Johnson and his old but out there
just still shifty. Give of people buckets, right, we gotta

(43:01):
play one on one against him. After we get through
chasing him around one on one, after we had argued
our workout, Danny A says, Okay, y'all get on the
line about the run. Okay, maybe doing a couple down
the backs. No, you gotta run for three straight minutes. Yeah,
so it's down, back, down back, just down the back,
three straight minutes. We're getting ready to run. He said,
all one more thing, here's somebody joining you. He put

(43:22):
his thirteen year old son in there on the line
with us. He put them on the line. We're looking
at him like we're going this man sprinting, hey, and
he making y'all look bad. He makes y'all look bad,
and you know we are in here like we ain't
eventually public. I can't remember exactly who was in there.

(43:44):
A couple of the dudes, it was like three or
four of us. Days just was like, forget it, man,
we can't keep up with just due And I was like,
I'm not letting this kid beat me. Man. I'm dying running. Hey.
He could run forever. He could have ran forever, I
promise you. I he was so one. It was like
white you is just basically just trying to embarrass us,
just putting us in there and trying to embarrass us.

(44:06):
So so anyways, all this stuff was good, man, it
was all great. When it came down to it, after
I did my workouts, you know, I had it was
two teams. My agent basically was like, um, it was
Vancouver and Salt Lake was the two teams that said
they were gonna take me in the first round. Vancouver

(44:27):
had a number two pick. They knew Franchise didn't want
them to draft him. They were trying to trade to pick.
They said they were gonna trade to pick for a
lower uh a pick in the middle of the end,
get a veteran, and then they were gonna take me.
It didn't happen, obviously, they weren't able to trade it,
and then they ended up taking the ad to take
step they had to take Franchise and then, um, I'll

(44:50):
never forget the jazz they had like twenty twenty or
twenty one, and they basically the whole draft that they
on the phone with me and my Asian like hey,
we we we don't know what we're doing. We designed
between two guys, Roberto or another guy, Roberto or another guy,
and we like, you know, we we we, you know,
we kind of a stalemate. And they ended up taking uh,

(45:11):
your boy from Minnesota, the shooter dark skinning kid, Uh Quincy, Yes,
Quincy Lewis, and Quincy Lewis is the guy they called.
And it was like, man and that when that happened,
I was like, shoot, I'm I was almost thinking like
at that time, I was like, man, I might not
like it might not happen. I might not get drafted.

(45:32):
Like I'm at my grandparents house where I grew up
at forty Pacific and Tacoma house. Flew all the family there,
all my friends, everybody there, and we're like, man, it's
gonna happen. And then um time starts to go on
and my agent hits me and he's just like, um, Detroit,
Detroit wants to take you. It was like maybe like

(45:52):
the third or the fourth pick in the second round,
they want to take you. He said, However, um, Portland
is calling and they don't have any pick, but they're
trying to they're trying to trade for a pick right now.
They really want you. They want you bad. They're seeing
you bla blah blah blah blah. Um, they're already basically
saying they're gonna you know, they're gonna guarantee you a
two year deal. Um, they got veterans, so you're gonna

(46:13):
get to come in and learn. You ain't got you know,
ain't no pressure. You know, it's older guys, this and that,
Steve Smith and and Dead Left and all these dudes.
But they really want you to think you can play.
What do you want me to do? You want me
to tell the Detroit No, Detroit is a little bit different.
You know, they're not guaranteeing you anything. It's gonna be
a lot of young dudes. You know, it's gonna be uh,
you know, a battle making a team. Um. Uh, your

(46:36):
boy was there. Then Larry Brown was there, coach there,
and you're like, man, this is this this this is
all you know, this is this could be a tough deal.
You know, they're trying to figure it out. And so
I said, man, Portland's it's right down the road. Blahlah blah.
You know I get to play with you know, I
mean I grew up watching Steve Smith, Like that's the
that's the man, so I and guarantee him, like, you know,

(46:58):
do it. So they ended up trading Atlanta where Atlanta
picked me, but they had already done the trade. And
uh yeah, man, when my name got called, I ain't
gonna lie man, I broke out in tears. Man. That
was like, I just I was not a good basketball
player when I was young. I didn't really start getting
good at basketball until like my sophomore year in high

(47:19):
school when I transferred schools and the coach that was
there took a kid that was maybe a little bit athletic,
kind of had some lent, but just was a street
ball hooper that just loved to play and started teaching
me like how to play, how to work out, how
to do stuff. And I started getting better than But
even then, nobody was like, oh, yeah, he's gonna be

(47:41):
the guy. It was you know, it was Mike d
it was Homer, it was those guys. And then you know,
you know, they didn't go work out at Boise State.
It's Boise State. People started singing my name because I
was like, but it wasn't. The NBA was was always
like way off, like yeah, it was a dream, but
it was way off and so for all of that
have to happen and have my name called. I'll never

(48:01):
forget that moment. It was one of the best, you know,
basketball deals ever happened in my life. It was it
was special, man like, it was special. It was special,
no question, no question. You spent eleven years as a
pro c b A France and Italy, Belgium, Spain, Turkey.
What did you learn about yourself along that professional basketball

(48:23):
journey that you may can teach the next generation of
ball players. What did you find out about yourself as
a man as a ball player. Um, I think the
first thing I learned, and and and the most important
thing I think for me as a person I learned
was that I was way too close minded, a little
bit arrogant, and a lot ignorant of what was out

(48:47):
there right like you know how it is man we
come from. You know, we're prideful people, number one, you
know being you know, being our bloodline. But to being
an American. You always think America is the best thing
and the only thing, and this is the only and
I think going being playing in all those different countries,
being around all the different people, going and playing all
these different places. I just started to you know, figure

(49:08):
out learned that you know, we we were all different
but were all the same. And it's just understanding, man.
It's like it's understanding and being open to stuff and
not just being like this is the only way you
do stuff or this is the right way or whatever
it is. It's a whole lot of rights out there.
You know, we're trying to find the best way, but
it's a whole lot of rights. So I think that

(49:29):
was like my biggest thing I just got. I learned
so much about myself, like I said, of of of
just you know, I think I was a little bit
closed minded, right, Like closed minded and just not open
to you know, what was out there. And I think
that helped me to uh, you know, be able to
just kind of just do whatever, man, and live whatever
and be be grateful for for you know, what I
have and who I am and be open And I

(49:50):
think that helped me to learn so much more about
not just myself but everything. That was one um And
I think the second thing that was really big from
a basketball standpoint, it was just it's all about being
that being available and taking opportunities. Like it's just you know,
be at everything man, like, don't turn down an opportunity.

(50:13):
You never know when something is gonna happen come your
way or when something's gonna come and if you ain't there,
it ain't ain't gonna and it ain't gonna happen if
you ain't there. So just just being available and being
being their opportunities and enjoying it, enjoy enjoying the opportunity.
You're not just there because you're trying to get something
out of it. You're there because you want to enjoy
the party. You know, you want to enjoy the And like,

(50:36):
I don't think I would be here on this podcast
talking to you if it wasn't because I think, you know,
whatever it was you and I whenever we saw each
other competed or talk, you know, we hit it off.
It was always cool, it was always love, was always understanding.
It wouldn't be that way now, and I think I
have you know, there's a lot of people like that
that I've run into, and his basketball culture obviously as small,
but man, I got love for for everybody, and I

(50:56):
feel like I hope that people do too, because I
think I enjoyed people and people enjoy me when I
around him. Man, That's some sound advice, bro, because if,
like you say, if you're not there, then you definitely
ain't getting an opportunity. I took opportunities, man. People when
they told me to go to Qatar, and they told
me go here, I win a championship. I'm in Qatar, right,
they tell me it's right next to Dubai. This is

(51:18):
two thousand and one. So I leave December September eleven.
Just happened, bro, And so they everybody looking at me
like I was completely out of my mind. They're like,
you going to the Middle East. I'm like, yeah, but
they but they was offering some solid bread. Uh. And
so I go over there, man. First year, we get
to the championship, I end up losing the Johnny Rhodes
remember Johnny Roads. Yeah, yeah, he played for Sauta Arabia.

(51:40):
Just dude hit the game winner on us man. Uh,
So I missed out on my bonus. The second year
we win to win the Championship of Asia, end up
playing against j R. Henderson and Sham got in the final.
Saudi Arabia brought them and the next year, so we
ended up spating. I was playing. Was he playing in
Japan in or he was still in an here so
so he um see that was oh one, so I

(52:01):
think he might have been sniffing with Vancouver a little bit. Yeah,
I mean he was still back and forth a little bit. Yeah.
And then it was like yo, you know, Saudi Arabia
was of from the bag back then. I think they
was getting like fifty sixty for like two months or
some crazy. So it was a bag. So they just
had the bad game. But all that to be said, Bro,
like so much so many people. I brought Stavee Bozeman
out there with me to Katar, to Malaysia, but we

(52:24):
had such a amazing experience, man, just lifelong relationships, amazing experiences,
and nothing would have happened if I would have told
Katar no, if I would have said, I ain't going
to the Middle East. But no, that's some sound advice
for this next generation. Man. My last question for you, Bro,
I want to talk about just quickly, your current squad boys. Instead,
you guys are in the Mountain West Conference pick fourth.

(52:45):
I believe to finish in the conference this year. Just
get coach, give me the outlook on this year's squads
and players to watch four and just you know, talk
about your squad. Man, It's uh, it's some talent in
the building. I'll tell you that much. It's some really
really good talent. We got a good mixture of some
some veteran talent and some young talent. Um. It is, uh,

(53:09):
the first thing I say. It's an incredible culture around here.
These these guys, Coach Rice and the staff and the
kids here have done a good job of, you know,
just nursing an incredible culture. Like I love coming to
work every day. Man, I get here earlier on here
and then these guys just start coming in and Coach,
let's get some work. I mean, it's it's a different
deal when you get to when you ain't gotta like

(53:30):
you know, beg and plead and proke and prod. Hey, man,
go work. They love it. They want to um and
so I'm really excited about that. Um obviously coming off
the heels of the momentum that they created last year. Um,
you know, guys is coming in with some high expectations
and and really really like really coming in, like, man,
we need to be better than we were last year.
We gotta win at least one more game. We don't

(53:51):
need these one more game that's gonna lead to another one,
so we gotta do it. Um. We got some new guys, right, Like,
we got some new guys. We've got a couple of transfers.
We've got some freshman guys that we're gonna expect from
big things. And so that's gonna be the key to
our season is how well can we get these guys,
those guys acclimated to the Broncho way, and how well
we can get them acclimated into understand and learning stuff

(54:13):
and get that chemistry. The sooner and the quicker that
we can get that chemistry and get them do jelling. Um,
I expect big things from this team, man, And I'm,
like I said, I'm grateful to be a part of it,
being worked with these guys. And you know, we had
a good, good, good little reps this morning. We'll have
another little um we'll have we'll do a little bit
of a rep tonight this afternoon. So it's good, man.
It's like I said, it's a really good culture. Um,

(54:35):
not just even the basketball program, but even the other side,
the admin. They behind us, the fans here like the
best man. I mean, I'll never did. I mean, that's
the reason why I went to boys You State playing
for the Stampede so many times I kept coming back
because you know, the fan base, the community here, they
get behind you and they just I mean, you know,
you feel, you feel it push. So it's a great spot. Man,
it's gonna be some big time Is it gonna be

(54:57):
a big time, big time year? No, definitely, definitely, definitely
what the state is on the map in college basketball.
The conference, you guys playing its high level. It's gonna
be extremely competitive with Wyoming, San Diego State, and then
you know, you look at the other these other teams
they got that. You know, Colorado is kind of they're
not in the Mountain West. Colorado State, Colorado State. Yeah,

(55:19):
everybody got Everybody got better, so next got better. Nevada,
Utah State. It's gonna be Aye. It's like you said,
the conference. I just think people don't understand, Like you know,
people that know, people that know who they do, they
give they like man the Mountain West as a killer.
People that don't know, I don't think they realize how

(55:39):
high level of a conference this is. Man is shoot, man,
we had four teams. She probably should have been by
it got to the tournament last year so I mean
facts fact. Well, Berto, Man, we appreciate you coming on
the show. My brother was so glad to see you
in college basketball, impacting the next generation of young student
athletes for the greater good and for the betterment of

(56:02):
their both basketball game and their and their character and
who they are off the floor. Man, Thank you again, brother.
We appreciate you. I appreciate you. Man. Thanks you. All right,
I'm gonna send you. I'm gonna send you a Bronco
shirt so you can take that duck one off. I'll
keep you posted after this week. Hey, if it's free,
it's for me. I will gotta do it. I will
have it on the next show. Berto, all right, man,

(56:25):
I appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen. Roberto Berguson appreciate you.