January 26, 2023 • 57 mins
Drew and Noah recap the heartbreaking loss to LMU and his career-high 38 points vs. Pacific before being joined by College Basketball Analyst, Andy Katz.Drew, Noah & Andy dive into all things college basketball and sports media.The trio hits on:- Drew & Andy's relationship- Andy's takeaways so far this season- Breaking down Purdue, Kansas, Baylor- Andy's Final Four prediction- What happened with Andy at ESPN- Life after ESPN & what came next- Where he finds his most fulfillment as a journalist & analyst- The nature & dynamic of sideline reporting- Andy's most awkward sideline reporting moment- Hilarious Bob Knight story- What else Andy hopes to accomplish in his career
Hosts: Drew Timme & Noah Buono
Guest: Andy Katz
Producer: Noah Buono
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The following is a presentation of the College Athletes Network.
What's Up? Everybody? Welcome into episode twelve with it Give
(00:24):
Me Timmy podcast with Drew, Timmy and myself. Noa buono
here on iHeart Radio College Athletes Now Work Drew Baby
was good? All right, man, glad to be back on
what is this episode twelve? Man? We've done a lot
of episodes so far, and guys, you know Valentine Days
coming up. I'm wearing pink to support the holiday. Make
sure write a star, leave review anything you want to
(00:45):
do to interact with the podcast where you you get
that cupid arrow for you and your lover. You know,
ye gotta have a good holiday and you please guys,
we you know if you can leave those reviews like
Drew said, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter for
some video highlights. Grew's got a nice little shirt on
for this week's pod. What Now don't give us wrecks
arms um, But man, we got another special against appearance today,
(01:09):
switching it up slightly from our Gonzaga lineup that we
were riding high last couple of weeks. Longtime college basketball
analyst Andy Katz formerly worked for ESPN for two decades
now with Turner Sports, Bleacher Report, Mark Management's Basketball, the
Big Ten Network. The man does it all. He could
be joining us and just a little bit here, so
stay locked in for that. But first, as always drew
last week's game, I want to start with the l
(01:30):
m U unfortunate loss. Um. Obviously nothing that anybody was expecting,
and it ended like a lot of different streaks. But
the way I want to start it is, can you
take us listeners inside the locker room after the lm
you lost? Like what the energy was like with the
message from coach Few maybe was? I mean, it sucked,
(01:52):
especially for me. It was pretty tough. Obviously missed the
missed the last shot, split the free throw and everything,
so like, especially for me, it hurt um. But you
know he was like, look, it was gonna ind eventually,
Like the streak we went on been impressive and everything,
but it's gonna happen in um. You gotta give credit
(02:16):
to them for playing good. But look at the end
of the day, like we lost this game, they didn't.
They didn't necessarily beat us. We we let our We
we started on offense, which is fine, but we didn't
play We didn't play as good on defense. We gave
them easy points. We didn't. We weren't rebounding like we
were supposed to. Like, there was things that we did
that we lost the game. It doesn't come down to
(02:37):
one player one thing and he goes, guess what, Like
you got another game Saturday where the team beat l
m U and they played just as hard and physical.
So you guys better pick your ship up and we
better lock the funk in. Yeah. And I mean and
then you know, taking us to well, I guess before
we go to the Pacific gloss? Is there a Pacific win? Sorry,
I'm all over the place. Is there any specific thought
(03:00):
of yours on that last second shot when you know
you drove right? I guess helps I kind of came over,
got a piece of it, but like outside of that
looked like a clean look. I mean, yeah, no, I
mean it's a shot that I've made probably a thousand
times times in my career. Um, I'd shoot the exact
same shot again. Uh, it's a shot we wanted. It's
(03:21):
a shot that I'm more than comfortable taking. I take
it all the time. It just happened to not go in,
And uh, you know that's that's the one part abouttball.
It sucks, you know, but uh, you know, when that
shot goes in next time, it's gonna feel it's gonna
be like an emotional high, you know, so you kind
of gotta ride the roller coaster with it. Yeah, And
then speaking of the roller coaster, I mean, you go
(03:41):
from that tough finish, tough loss, but the man drops
thirty eight and listen, Drew, I'm gonna say it right
before I was about to say, before you even went
into that ship, already know what happened. I know, I
know you're gonna be a hater. It's fine. I had
to say it because I have. I just have to
fuck you for missing the two free throws. I don't
know if you were aware at the time. I was.
(04:03):
I did be they had that they had this ship
up in the corner, and I just looked at I
was like, ah, fun, I started cheesing. I was like, oh,
let's go. And I go to the line and I'm like,
I'm trying to you know, like when you're trying to
be serious and not a smile, like I was happy,
and I missed the first one, and I was like,
(04:25):
are you fucking kidding me? I was like this, this
free throw doesn't even matter now the second one. And
I was so sad after you missed the first one that,
I mean the second one. I was like, Oh, it
doesn't matter. It's thirty eight, It don't matter. I fuck
it up already. But guess what if it that's when
it takes. If I can't get if I have to
get thirty eight and missed two free throws to get forty,
(04:46):
but we win, I'll take that ship every fucking absolutely.
I mean, you guys won, and it was great, but
I just meant watching the second half, you could tell
right when you came out. I think you had five
or six straight buckets in a row, and it was like,
not only was it too easy, but it was just
like there was no answer for you the way you
were like getting positioning ceiling on low. I mean some
of the shots you were getting such easy looks because
(05:07):
they did something weird. I ain't gonna lie, like they
would have like five guys in the paint, but it
was one on one. You know, they wouldn't really like
dig at me and like trying to rake at the ball.
They would kind of just let my defender the defender
guard me one on one and they were kind of
just taking away the passing lanes. So I was like,
all right, like yeah, let me cook, then let me cook.
(05:29):
The last thing I will say about this before we
go to break and bring on Andy is like you
could tell you were in such a rhythm that like
when anything else would happen for you guys offensively, and
the ball didn't go in the hole. It was just
like like from my perspective on the couch, I'm like, God,
he's probably pissed, like give me the ball, motherfuckers? Like what?
(05:50):
And you can see sometimes you look like I don't
I'm not naming names. I don't know who it was,
but like you definitely had like words for someone because
it was a bad play. I don't remember what it was,
and you probably should have just touched the ball instead.
So I'm like thinking of my head. Man, if I'm
like one of Drew's teammate, I've just handed him the
ball and moving out of the way. Nae. Like I said,
I passed them all lot, But like when I'm in
(06:11):
like a heater like that, you just get the funk
out the way and let him let me cook. But
it was good. We won we needed that. I mean ship,
I mean they were They're a good team. They spread
this out and they ran five out and obviously we
didn't play the best defense, but like, just you know,
just see the ball going for everyone was so huge
(06:31):
for us, and um, it's been a big confidence booster
just because you know, you kind of got kicked pretty
hard by l m U and be able to respond
and stay confident. I think it's the most important part. Yeah, man,
that Cam Shelton was different for lm U. He really
he really played a hell of the game. I mean,
you gotta have a player like that on an opposing
team to you know, compete with you guys. They definitely
have a yeah, star studded player in him. So, um,
(06:54):
I'll give him a quick shout out. Not you, but
you don't have to. Um. All right, folks, we're gonna
take a quick break here. Remember to follow us on
Twitter and Instagram for video highlights of every episode at
Gimme Timmy Potts. Stay with us when we come back.
We will be joined by college basketball analyst Andy Katz.
Coming right up, what's some beautiful listeners. Welcome back to
the Gimme Timmy Podcast. This is episode twelve. I'm Noah Bono.
(07:18):
He's Drew, Timmy Drew. Tell him to subscribe real quick
before we bring in Andy. You know the vibe. Guys,
leave a star ride review. I don't know. Interact with
the podcast. Do something with the podcast, something good, something bad?
Who you know? Instagram, Twitter, just get active with it
if you want Cupid to shoot a love arrow for
you in your your lover, whoever that may be right
(07:38):
in your little behind. All right, let's welcome in the
man himself Showtime, Andy Kats, Andy, Welcome into the show Man.
How are you? Thanks for coming on. I'm doing great.
I've been waiting for this invitation for quite some time.
I love the fact that we're flipping the script. I
knew it was casual, um, so I thought I'd go
(08:00):
a little in. I l Rothman's of New York. A
good friend of mine I grew up with. And there
was a Gonzaga connection here. Okay, a good friend I
grew up with, Jimmy Getton. His brother Ken Getton was
actually my first basketball coach in Newton youth basketball in Massachusetts.
Their grandfather started this men's clothing store New York City.
It's right by all my suits, And who did I
(08:22):
send to this store but Mark Few and Mark Few
when he was wearing suits, but many a suit from
the Gintons at Rothman's and there was I don't know,
it's probably a couple of years before the pandemic. Um.
I remember Marcy called me, needed the number for Rothman's
(08:44):
so she could get a birthday, Christmas present something of
that nature from Mark. So I get a little bit
of a discount, you know, a family friend, longtime friend.
But I got hooked up Mark with the discount. So
Rothman's here, I am representing and couch Man what a
duod Hey, you might have to give us that little
discount code though for the invite, I don't know. Um,
(09:09):
all right, I want to when Drew's a pro, he's
gonna need some new threads. That's right. It's a good call. Um. So, Andy,
you and Drew have some history, obviously all You've interviewed
him a bunch of times. But kind of like you said,
flipping the script here a little bit, Drew and I
interviewing you, but I want to kind of start off
with just like you, reflecting on that obviously famous interview
(09:31):
last year in the tournament, with Drew that went viral
and he's his big gasses stumbling over these words. He
can't you know, he's trying to not curse and he
and he ends up with a great explanation. But just like,
take us through your thoughts memories from from that interview
with him. Well okay, so let me go big picture
here and that because we have this great relationship because
(09:52):
I'm which I will get to in a moment, uh
my sort of feeling of being an original zag back
to um. But because I have a comfort level Withdrew,
I feel like I can like it goes beyond the
traditional media player, Like I feel there's almost a friendship.
(10:14):
I feel like Withdrew he's someone that I could talk
to ten years from now, whether whether you know, hopefully
he's playing as long as he wants to play, but
I feel connection with him that I hope continues beyond basketball.
Uh So there's that comfort level that I really just
I connect with him and so I feel comfortable with him.
That's number one. Number two, Uh, for any young journalists
(10:36):
out there, UM, I think it's critical who always observe. Yeah,
you did a good job of that because you you
saw what happened. Yeah, and so sometimes you're in the
right place, right time. And because I was doing sideline
for you know, Turner CBS at that at that site
in Portland, I had to be in the back hallway
(10:58):
when I saw, you know, coming out at halftime Grew
firing up himself. Memphis had really detected, you know, sort
of popped them in the mouth in the first half.
They were long, aggressive, active upfront, and I saw the
way he rallied. Uh. I can't remember exactly the words,
but I mean I saw the energy. I heard what
(11:20):
he said. So I had that as a reference point
when I came to him after the game. And then
I think that I really do believe this that I'm
not saying Drew wouldn't have given the same thing to
someone else, and he may have, but I do think
the chemistry that we have allowed for him to feel
(11:41):
free to just you know, within FCC regulations, Hey what
he felt at that moment. Yeah, No, we definitely, we
definitely do have like a great relationship, Like you are
a guy I could see just like grabbing a beer
with you know, in a couple of years or something like.
I really appreciate it all you've done for me, but
even more than just covering, like you've just been a
(12:02):
guy that like I can even ask just stuff too,
even about like you know, just ship going on. So
I do appreciate you for that. And yeah, I was
quite the special interview we pulled off. And the FCC
is not what I'm worried about. I'm more worried about
Megan Timmy Well. And I would say, like, you know, um,
(12:22):
I don't have the same relationship with Adam Morrison, but
as he's gotten older and now he's working there, like
I have that comfort level with him, uh, you know uh,
and whether it's dick out Santangelo. Um. So I looked,
I want to say this, um, And I know we're
flipping the script, but I gotta just lay the groundwork here.
(12:42):
So this was really I again, right place, right time,
I actually believe it or not, was working in Fresno,
and I was and and I went to interview with
ESPN dot Com, which at that time was based in Seattle,
and I kind of tied it to where, um, I'm
(13:07):
going to cover the Seattle regional but my real legenda
was to go interview at ESPN, and I just happened
to be there for the beginning of what we now
know as the more modern Gonzaga, and I was with
them for those upsets. I went down to Phoenix after
that and just connected with Mark with months at the time,
(13:29):
all those guys that were part of that early Zag
you know that run, and I just connected. You know,
I've been out there countless times, went to when they
used to have the golf event um you know, uh,
just everything about Dan, Gonzaga, Jack and Dan's you name it,
uh um, the Davenport all that stuff, like it all
(13:53):
started for me in right when I was starting at ESPN,
and it's continued obviously for twenty plus years. Yeah, man
spelled Cans a great region and like, I just love
it up here. It's got kind of its own vibe.
It's it's kind of in between big cities, small town field,
which is really nice. And uh, I think it kind
of fits just what we do at Gonzaga, so well,
(14:14):
you know, we're kind of just like in our own
little market, in our own little place, and we just
somehow find a way to mingle with all types of everything.
So I think that's super cool, but kind of just changing,
changing the gears a little bit. Uh, what's kind of
been like some big takeaways from college basketball season so
far for you? So I would say this season, Um,
(14:36):
I mean, first of all, I feel like the big
man is back. Uh, you know because I was actually
asked to do this where I was looking at all
the bigs and I'm including you in this. But you know,
Zach Eatie, he's not like if Zach Eati was born
twenty years earlier and was in the Shack era, you know,
he would have been yell ming like all the you know,
(14:58):
but now I don't know what's gonna happen to him
when he goes you know, pro will someone take a
chance on him. It's not the way the NBA is
right now. But we've got those traditional bigs right now
in college basketball, which is great because you've got him,
You've got Sheepway. Uh. You know, obviously you can play
in and out, same with Trace Jackson, Davis, um Hunter,
Dickinson plays you know, more of a traditional post. Uh.
(15:22):
You know. So there's a Domason Nogo from Yukon. Uh,
there's a lot of these bigs this season. You could
have a whole All American team first and second of
just bigs uh. Uh a Julius, you know, your old teammate.
Uh Um. You know these guys are traditional, more traditional
(15:43):
bigs than we've seen. That's one takeaway too. I do
think it's wide open. Uh. And you know, I think
we're gonna have tons of upsets, but there really aren't
gonna be upsets. Are gonna be like seed upsets. I mean,
because what's crazy is you could have like a duke
in a Kentucky in an eight nine game. They're hellan
(16:04):
is better than that, but they haven't played to being
a higher seed. So we're gonna get I can get
some crazy early matchups between brand names that we normally
wouldn't have. Uh. And then I would also say there's
good parody this year. For example, you guys have already lost,
you know, in the w c C because the league's better.
(16:26):
You almost lost a couple of times. You know, Kansas
lost three games in a row in the Big Twelve.
That never in that home, which is crazy. They never
lose it hid But that's because the Big Ten is
I mean, Big twelve is really good, you know, and
like Ohio State is struggling in the Big Ten, they're
really good. It's so hard right now, meaning the big tent.
You know, for teams to run off and you know,
(16:49):
win a league only losing one game or running the table. Yeah, no,
it's crazy. So like speaking to that, like what is
like what team has impressed you the most? Because it
is wide open. I mean like College of Charleston. I
thinks all the way up to like fourteen, and like
who would have thought that coming into the season. I
think that just kind of speaks how crazy it is.
Like there's a lot of like just moving pieces all
(17:11):
the time in and out and everything. Well, you know,
like Alabama is playing great right now. Uh you guys
beat him in Birmingham. Uh they want at Houston they lost.
They beat Carolina in four overtimes. Uh you know, and
then they lost the Yukon. So when Alabama is at
their best, they could win the national championship. They don't
(17:33):
have a bad loss right now, but they are beatable.
Um so I don't know, I don't have one team
right now, you know. I mean as well as Purdue
is playing. They almost lost in Nebraska. It was an
overtime game. Uh you know, Maryland was a possession away
from time that game last Sunday, So everyone it seems
even the top seeds, I feel like they could get
(17:55):
beaten on a get beat on a given day. The
thing about Purdue and Matt Painter for me, like obviously
amazing coach, amazing program, But what can I look like
what they're doing this year losing all those guys to
the draft, and then there's still the number one seed
for a majority of this season and Zach ET's emerged
and all those things to me, like losing to St.
Peter's last year, it makes me not have the confidence
(18:17):
in them headed like deep into the tournament, just because
like you had the pieces last year and couldn't you know,
I couldn't get past St. Peter's. No knock on St. Peter's,
but we all know, like you know, they're fifteen seed
and no business win in any of those games. Here
here's and I'd love for Drew to to chime in here.
I mean, there's your podcast, um, but what's interesting about them?
(18:40):
And I don't know if you feel this way, uh, Drew,
on teams you've been on the last couple of years,
they were more talented last year, no question more talent.
But I think they're better team, you know, because their
guards are Radin Smith, Fletcher lawyer, freshman. But they know
that they're in their lean. They know who they are.
(19:03):
You know, they're not stealing the limelight. Zack's the main guy.
Here're the freshman. They'll make their shots in their have to.
And last year obviously with j and Ivy and Trevia Williams,
zach Yaty, get Sasha Stefanovich. Uh, you know, they had
all these different guys that wanted their own turn, if
you will. So sometimes you can have a better team
(19:24):
that may not be as talented. Yeah, Now when we
played them, I remember it was like all right, like
we're gonna leave like lawyer someone and then like he
just hits. They just hit the timely shots and they
don't let they don't force the game. They just kind
of let it happen to them and it's like they
just make the right play. And that's I think that
speaks to your point about just being a better team.
(19:44):
Like they just they're just a great team. They're just
all there for each other, all connected, they and they
all step up when they need to. So I mean
it's it's pretty hard to beat when you have a
team like that that's so connected and so like knowing
that looks Zak's gonna get the ball, but every now
and then it's gonna be my turn. And they always
they seem to always step up when their numbers called,
which is which is pretty unique to have a team
(20:04):
because it is hard to do that. Wait, I'm curious, though, Drew,
you gott to go against Chat not as thick as
I don't care, what's the difference. I mean chat Chat
loves the block shots, so like Chat always wanted to
block my shots, so I could always pump fake Chat
like he might not jump on the first two, but
(20:25):
maybe the third or fourth they'll jump. And Zach, I mean,
he's he's grounded and like he's good at really using
his body and stuff. So was Zach. I have to
kind of move him around more and like create an
angle where he just can't move laterly as quick as
I can. But with Chat I could kind of more
just get into him, get some separation, pump fake than
step around him or something. So I would just say
(20:45):
from that regard, they're a little different, but they're both
hard to score on. They're both just they're like two
tall mountains or something being being around um Zach Eady
and Taco Fall because I played at USF my sophomore year. Like,
those guys just feel like they're just they're just on
a different strat sphere than us, Like they're looking down
(21:06):
like I don't know what it's like up there, but
they don't feel like they're living in the same world
we're living in, Like they're really up there. I'll tell
you there's a great photo. I'm sure you've sought the
scene it, but that photo of Faco fall behind Zion
Williamson in that game when they played the tournament, Zion
looks so small. If you can make Zion looks small,
(21:28):
you're a massive human being. It's crazy. But Andy, though,
like what moving forward? Like, I know you don't have
like one team or anything, but I guess just like
what are your expectations, Like, you know, Kansas drops three
in a row, Yukon drops out of the top. I
think they dropped all the way out of the top ten. Zags.
You know, they lose the l m U, they go
(21:48):
from six to fourteen, Like, like you said, a ton
of parody, same thing in the NBA. I mean and
Drew have talked about that a little bit. Just basketball
overall has so much parody, so your expectations like, what
are they with all this parody? It's hard to make predictions.
You know, that's anything can happen. Yeah, I still think
though there's are there are a collection of teams. Uh.
(22:09):
You know, I'm a big tennis guy, and you say, okay,
in the Grand Slams, who can actually win seven matches?
You know? Can you win six games in the incitably Tournament?
I still think that pool is and I could rattle
them off, like to me, out of your league, it's
you guys out of the pack twelve, U C l
A and Arizona could do it. In the Big twelve.
(22:32):
I still believe Kansas could be that team. You know,
I gotta see more from k State because they've never
been in this position. Uh. And you know, do I
buy in the Baylor They're not as big as they
used to be. Maybe not sure? Um, I really don't
see maybe Carolina in the SEC, but I'm not buying that.
(22:53):
You know. In the Big ten, to me, it's Perdue
and a healthy Indiana. I could see them potentially doing it. Um,
you know, and in the SEC it's Alibay mL and
maybe Tennessee you you scrimmage Tennessee, you know, way back
in October November, So maybe Andy who obviously the other
night Kansas third straight loss to Baylor, did you mention Baylor?
(23:16):
How did the Big Twolver? Now? Yeah, I mean they're
different though. You know when when you guys played him
for the championship a couple of years ago, Um, they were.
I mean they got Kiote George as you know, Drew's
great talent, but they lacked like the big, physical strong
guards that they had with Mitchell. Um, they don't have
(23:38):
the same post. I think they're good, I don't think
they're great, and I think they've obviously proven to be
beatable this year. But Kansas in particular, like obviously you
probably were tuned into that game. Like Kansas offensively, there
was that little clip of Bill self. He it was
like early in the first half and he it looked
like his lips said, they're just so much better than us,
(23:58):
like and they really did, like their guards flaggler Um,
Kante George, like, they just looked like they're more completed offensively.
I know, Dawan Harris so turning the ball over with
Kansas like that's kind of uncharacteristic. For him, so better
play from him. But I don't know, it just kind
of looked like maybe Kansas didn't have all that juice
that they had last year. But I'm curious to hear
what you think. Yeah, well, I think there's something to
(24:21):
be said. Uh and help me out here, Drew. You
guys ended up having a was specific after l m
U and was that game tighter? Yeah? Yeah, I would
say the l m U game we were we were
down most for a lot of it, but the Pacific
(24:42):
game we were like close, but we were always ahead
because I would saying I think sometimes because they were
right there to win a Kansas State on Monday overtime loss,
Gen Wilson goes to eight. Then their next game, hungry
Tsue comes in and just pops them. I think sometimes
we've seen this that carry over, you know, that hangover
(25:04):
last a couple of days. I mean, I go back
to this season Rutgers team. I really like they lose
controversial game to Ohio State. The baskets should not have counted,
Tenner holding came from out of bounds, inbounds, and it's
the three that loss lingered and then they lost at
home with Seaton Hall in a crappy game in like
the fifties, and those guys told me. I talked to
(25:26):
Caleb McConnell after. He's like, yeah, we lost that game
because we lost Ohio State. We just weren't. It took
us too long. And sometimes that happens. Everyone's human. Shout
out to my Jersey guys from Rutgers. I'm hoping to
get another tournament bid, I am. It's awesome when Rutgers
is on the tournament. Go ahead, Drew. Yeah, so kind
of just speaking about your collection of groups. If you
(25:47):
had to pick the final four today, just based on
everything you've seen so far, who would be in it? Oh,
gott to crank the heat up a little bit on you. Well,
I mean today I would say Alabama. Uh, I would
say Perdue. I'll tell you I really like U c
(26:07):
l A. You know they did lose it. Arizona, Fine,
it's hard to win a Michale. The game was in
the fifties, like they still controlled you know, Arizona does
not play in the fifties, and you know, so they
controlled the temple in that game. And uh, you know
Jalen Clark, Kimie Hawks, Tiger Campbell, that's a big three
(26:30):
that really plays well together. So I like them. I'm
not sold on Houston offensively. You know, they just lost
at home to Temple, so and then I feel like, Okay,
who's that other team? Is it someone from the Big twelve?
I don't know. I mean, I don't know who I
have more faith than could it be you guys? Um,
(26:51):
I don't know. I have a hard time picking who
the fourth is. But I feel good about Perdue, Alabama
and U c l A. Actually he threw you guys
in there just so you guys could stay tight. You
don't think you're getting past the sweet six now, I'm kidding. Um, well, no, hey, no,
you know it's all about matchups. Oh absolutely absolutely? Well, Like, hey,
(27:13):
if Houston defended it was like the one game they
didn't defend against Baylor. If it's Gonzaga Houston in the
title game, Gonzaga wins that championship. Baylor was the wrong
team for you guys to play that night. It's a
great point. Fair, fair, I guess the National championship game
(27:36):
on this podcast is one of the touchiest subjects ever
for Drew. I've tortured him enough with all of our guests,
like Jalen Corey. I didn't ask coach few, but just
getting their like opinions on it, and like Drew just
you could just see him through the camera like, oh
my god. Well no, it just shut the So I've
(27:57):
learned my lesson. Um, all right, let's take a quick
break here and we come back. We're gonna dive a
little bit into Andy's career as a journalist in college
basketball analysts. So much more coming up right when we
come back. All right, and we're back on to give
Me Timmy Podcast. This is episode twelve. I'm Noah Bono.
He's Drew Timmy. We're joined by a college basketball analyst,
(28:17):
Andy Kat's. All right, Andy, I want to kind of
start off with just you work for a lot of
different networks as far as I know, Turner Sports, Bleacher Report,
Fox Sports, Big Ten Network. You do the n c
A March Madness stuff. You're an n c A consultant.
Am I missing anything? I do a little couple of
side gigs with the WCC pack twelve. Um, look, I
(28:38):
had to reinvent myself. Um, you know I was part
of thisally off at ESPN, and um, you know it
was came out of left field. It was all a
money deal. I did nothing wrong, and um, you know
they made all these cutbacks and I was part of
(29:01):
that group. Shocked I think about it. You know, I
did eight years with Obama of the bracket. Um did
nothing wrong for eighteen years. Uh, you know, most of
my professional life. And so I had to reinvent myself.
And uh what it meant was create this pie because
(29:23):
it was hard to get one entity to sort of
pay me the same. Uh. And I'll be honest with you,
I have never been happier professionally. I did great things
at ESPN. I had. I did everything I wanted to
do there. Uh, no, no regrets. You know, I didn't
like the way it ended. Was it on my terms?
But no regrets. And now here's the thing, Oh you
(29:46):
did forget one. I did sideline Westwood one Radio at
the Final four, which I'm gonna do again. And so
through the n C Double A through Westwood One, I'm
on the court at the Final four. If I were
still at ESPN, that net would never happen. You know,
with Drew last year, I'm doing sideline for Turner and CBS.
(30:07):
That would never have happened. So that was always that
missing piece, like you all this great college basketball of ESPN,
but I can't be a part of the actual tournament
because they don't have the rights. Um, and so now
I can't. And you know everyone's been great to me
and all these different entities, um and uh, you know,
(30:27):
keeping young and versatile, and you know you sort of
just got a piece of Oh I got another one
for you. I forgot this one. I do the draft
for NBA TV. Jesus, what can't you do better? Question?
I'm trying to be like you man, you are all
these different hats. But seriously, like you you mentioned the
ESPN thing, and you know, I know it was a
couple of years back and you've really established into where
(30:48):
you're at now. But like something like that happens, you said,
you know, blind sided you in that moment though, Like
what's your mindset on? Like what's next for you? Not
knowing you'd be doing all the things you're doing right now,
or maybe you had an inclination you would be. But like,
you know, where do you even look to anally to
turn to after spending so much time at one place
for so long? You know, well, first of all, um,
(31:09):
I am a huge proponent now obviously of contracts, because
I had a contract and I was protected. Uh you know,
there were some people in that group of hundred on
air people whose contract was up, so they were really
facing you know, whether they were single, married, kids, whatever,
they were much more in a very high stress situation.
(31:32):
What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna make money?
Where am I going? I had two years left and
so but I did not want to disappear because the
option was take your money and then two years from now,
go work somewhere else. But because of relationships, I was
able to get what I would call it's called like
(31:52):
sort of unofficially a carve out, and basically I worked
for lower money with the Instable A and Big ten
network initially that they carved out of my remaining ESPN years,
allowing me to still be me and go everywhere and
I never missed a beat. I basically took a couple
(32:13):
months off and then you know, I was back into
it in the summer early fall and ready to go.
But I will say that and this is my advice, um,
you know, to anyone that ever has to deal with
something like this, especially in our age of social media.
Because there were people that took to Twitter and Instagram
or wherever and blasted ESPN. They were angry. And I
(32:36):
know for a fact that the way I handled it,
which was professional, thanked everyone, kept it above board. That's
why they allowed me, because they didn't have to allow me.
I had a contract. They could say, you know, we're
paying you, but you can't work for anyone else, you
get no money. But I was like, I gotta keep working.
(32:56):
I gotta keep myself out there. As long as my
money doesn't drop, you know, and and we offset it,
I'm good to go. And my emotions at the time were,
you know, thankfully I've been married and been divorced, but
I felt like it felt like a breakup. Really, you know,
I wasn't angry. I was just hurt, like really hurt,
(33:21):
you know, I like, you know, I couldn't believe this
happened to me because I've been such a good employee
and did all these great things. Uh, And so that
that that was my emotion, that I was just really hurt. Yeah.
So speaking of just how hurt you were, did that
kind of motivate you to take lesser pay quote unquote
to go do the Big ten network and the other
things and kind of keep your face out there to
(33:43):
kind of maybe stick it to him a little bit.
Maybe it's a little unprofessional, but I assume that though
probably crossed your mind, was that big for you just
to like show them, like, look how big you missed up.
I mean, obviously you've taken taken what you do to
the limit. I don't know if you can do anything
more than what you already do, but well, I looked
through I'm not gonna lie to you, Uh, when I
(34:03):
during the pandemic, and this was obviously you know, if
the Obama bracket for eight years was one or one,
you know, whatever it is for me in my career
being on that main set with Barkley, you know, Charles,
Ernie and Kenny for three weeks like that, and and
(34:28):
and I'll never forget because it was awesome. I loved
every second. I've now got friendships with them. They're great people,
and uh, you know, I hope I can be back
on the set at some point. But I just absolutely
loved every second. I was in Atlanta for that whole
time because we were in our own little mini bubble
down there. All you guys were, you know, in Indianapolis. Um,
(34:50):
and I'll never forget I end up seeing because I
spent my time connect right Island. We haven't moved out
my sons in high school. And I saw one of
the executive producers for MSPN after the fact and he's like, man,
you were really good, you know, like surprise, And I'm like,
you know, I did something like that at ESPN. Why
(35:14):
are you surprised? You know? And there's no question, without
having to say anything to stick it to anyone, the
fact that I was on that main set that said
everything I needed to say. Yeah, that's special. I mean
you you know, you you fought through adversity at a
at a point where you probably thought your career was
(35:34):
fully established. But I could feel it while you were
saying it's sitting on the panel with Chuck, Ernie and
and those guys, like, I mean, you feel like you're
friends at him just when you watch them from home,
You're like, and then you get to do it. It
was probably you know, so you're touching all these different
layers later in your career that are you know, super
super cool and obviously are appreciated among the basketball world
because you know, super well known, and all the work
(35:56):
you do is just top notch. And that's what I
wanted to ask you next, is just like how do
you balance between all the different networks and then like
the work that you have to do for each of them,
whatever if it's contractual with each of them or some
of its independent contracting, Like, but how you overall balance
at all? Not easy? But I mean, but I but
the good news is, like I I so, as I said,
(36:17):
we have a house in Newport, Rhode Island. I love
my summers paddle boarding, just being out on the water
and uh, you know whereas Fewee does his fly fishing
and the stuff. Like I know what, I'm gonna be
crazy busy, and I feel very fortunate, like I got
my It's not necessarily six months on, six months off,
but I'm clearly I don't travel as much in the offseason.
(36:39):
Do do the draft, but it's not you know, it's
a few weeks in June. But uh, and I'll tell
you one thing I'm glad I don't have to do anymore.
I don't have to do recruiting. Early in my career,
I had to go to all that stuff in July
all the time, all that stuff a U circuit. I'm
glad I don't have to do that and um and
chase all that. So but I like, I know when
(36:59):
I'm super busy, and I'll be honest, I am album
more now, no question. But my kids are older, you know,
late teens. If they were little kids, yeah, this would
be difficult to travel as much as I'm traveling now.
So now life balance it's a little easier now just
(37:21):
because everyone's a little older. Yeah. Yeah. So so what
is like a normal like game day experience for you,
because you probably on a bunch of different shows, Like
what is like an average work day for you on
a busy day? Well, like I said, like, you know,
obviously in the regular season, I work a lot for
the Big ten network because Turner doesn't have regular season games. Um,
(37:44):
but I would just say that what I do every day,
whether I'm in studio at a game or just at
home a few days a week out is I just
have to constantly just keep a you know, of everything,
and you know, I've had different little notebooks whatever. But um,
(38:04):
I can't go to bed at night, and sometimes it
obviously depends if I'm watching West Coast games or tracking
them without knowing what happened that night, I'm I'm I
don't read every box score. And as I go, you know,
further into the season, I start eliminating teams that I
really care about, you know, because I start thinking toward March. So, um,
(38:28):
you know, earlier the year, you know, I might be
paying attention to you know, L s U and Missisippi State,
but now they've kind of fallen off. So now I
don't really worry with them as much anymore because I
already sort of know the teams that I need to
think about, because when it gets to March, you know,
for example, when I'm on that set, or if I'm
on that set, or if I'm talking about all that stuff,
(38:49):
I want to have reference points of games that happened,
of things that happened. You know. I'll be honest. I
wasn't paying as much attention to College Charleston a month ago.
Now I have to. They've won twenty one in a row.
They're gonna be in the tournament. They're gonna be a
team that people are gonna pay attention and too, Pat
Kells he's a coach, you know, he he's bounced around,
but um, you know, he's someone I know. So I'm
(39:11):
like you have to pay attention to this stuff. Um,
you know, my wife's from Albuquerque and so that is
easy for me with the Mountain West because I used
to work out there, so I always pay attention to that.
But my in laws are big New Mexico fans. I
know Richard Patino from his time in Minnesota and before,
so like, I'm really connected. You know. Obviously I know
Leon really well and Max Rice and that game the
(39:34):
other night was wild. You know that the New Mexico
played against boise Um. You know, so that's stuff that
I just you know, I just gotta pay attention. Uh,
and I sort of just sponge it all in at
this time of the year. How do you how do
you go about I'm curious as someone that has aspirations
to do a version of what you're doing, Like your
(39:54):
process for covering games creating content, like whether it's on
one day or if you have like a week ahead
planned due to schedule, Like, how do you go up that? Yeah,
and I will say this, don't know, things have changed, Like, um,
the first four years that I was doing n C
a march man of stuff, we would get uh, you
(40:18):
know anytime, and Drew's done this like any time there
would be a big game, big guy goes off for
forty as a game winner, I would do these posts,
uh post game zooms or skyped pre pandemic than it
begame zooms. And this season, you know, I wish it
would come back more. Um, you know, unfortunately, and I've
(40:42):
I've had to adapt, you know. Uh you know, it's
a lot of it's about hits and who's you know,
who's gone off and all that, and um, so I'm
not doing it as much. I used to do more
of a podcast. Now Bleacher Report wants me to do
these live stream interactions with the top twenty five and
(41:03):
player of the and all these kinds of things. So
I have to adapt, go with the flow. They pay me,
they want my content. Um. But I was even more connected,
I think when I was doing these constant interviews, you know,
during the course of the week. And that's actually one
reason why I am doing all these other leagues. Um.
(41:24):
I'm not gonna obviously do it for the money as well,
but at the same time, it connects me to to players, coaches,
stories that I might normally might not normally be connected with, uh,
you know, especially now because I'm not doing it as
much for the incident Black. Yeah, so is that was
(41:44):
What is your favorite part of the job is that
the connections is it may be doing a certain like
thing that you do, like whether it's sideline reporting after
a game or like what is what what makes you
the happiest when you're working that you get to do well.
To me, it's the relationships. It's the interviews. Um, that's
what I remember the most. You know, I did a
sit down with October with Keyante Johnson, you know. To me,
(42:09):
you know, we at the beginning of our combo, we
talked about this season, like he is arguably one of
the if not the best story this year. I mean
literally flat line on December twelve and was brought back
to life on the court, you know, the whole deal,
just like what happened with him, you know, amble with
(42:29):
the Buffalo Bills, um. And you know he had to
get cleared. He was, uh Florida liability whatever finds a
home a case state. And he's having a phenomenal season.
And like I loved doing that interview. UM. And we
you know we ran that piece, um, I think before
(42:51):
his first game back in November. UM. But you know,
I love those kinds of interactions, um, and getting to
know people and uh, that's you know, my favorite thing.
I do love doing the the postgame Withdrew and the
instant tournament. Um. You know, it's not the stress sometimes
(43:12):
being sidelined when you're trying to hear it's loud in
the arena, You've got a producer screaming in your ear.
That's not always fun. So I I enjoy, you know,
more than more than the reporting. I enjoy the post
game or the halftime interviews. You know, I've had some
intriguing ones with cal Perry cronin Izo, you know, just
(43:35):
when they're all hot and crazy, you know, at halftime,
I gotta I got a good one for you, or
one that I think is kind of interesting, Like when
you interview like a new person that you're not comfortable
with the way you you know you're comfortable Withdrew. Let's
say you've had minimal to no interaction with them at all, Like,
what's like a initial thought for you going into it,
like an icebreaker for you, because there's always like that
(43:57):
little awkwardness that needs to be broken kind of I guess, well,
I mean, look, with some of these leagues that I'm
doing some stuff are clearly like the America East. I
don't know these guys. And what I try to do,
like before I do a zoom interview is find a
little anecdote or something before I hit record and just
have a few minutes of back and forth, um, just
(44:19):
to get a little comfort uh, even when like setting
up the shot, you know, just like you know, just
just back and forth, just to get some comfort level
with them before we even get into the interview. I've
never been a believer. Uh. And maybe this is because
(44:40):
I rarely ever did like really crazy hard news. Um.
I mean I have, but not that much. And so
I've never been someone who felt like I wanted to
sit down with an interview and right after that bam,
you know you were right to it to me like
(45:03):
this is not who I am. I like to get
to know people. So I always think like there's you know,
a bit of an arc with the interview. So we'll talk,
we'll get to know. I'll build up to what we
gotta ask or get to that point. Um. Yeah, look
the postgame interview when we're off the air in two minutes,
you can't do it in that setting. I get that
(45:24):
but UM, I would rather do that to get to
know someone. Uh. And obviously we always have the beauty
of editing and all that. What has been your most
awkward experience? Uh, just as a sideline reporter. Um, there's
got to be at least a couple. Well, first of all,
(45:47):
I had one kind of comical thing happened to me.
I was doing a Colorado. I can't remeber who they're playing.
It was in Vegas. This is for the last couple
years of ESPN, and I actually dropped the mic the
handheld and it broke. So we had to be hard
you know, I had to be hardwired. They didn't have
(46:07):
another one, so, uh, you know, I'm connected. And I
remember that I had to run out for the halftime
interview and I told the guy I'm like, hey, you
gotta run with me, and you know, because and literally
it was like a skit guys like not paying attention,
and so I'm running out and all of a sudden,
(46:31):
literally like I get like like you know, like on
a string. How I didn't fall on my ass, I
don't know, but the legs went up, like one leg
went up, and you know, because I'm literally like, you know,
it's like, a that's crazy. Um so that was this
(46:54):
comical one. Did you end up nail on the interview though?
Or yes? But I mean I was a little rattling. Okay,
that's good adversity. Prior to uh yeah, you know, like, uh,
I'll tell you this, I had an experience where, um,
way back when Bob Knight was calling games with ESPN,
(47:16):
he was there was this weird story where Cali Perry
was at a practice and um, you know, he didn't
want Night there because he thought he might talk to
Coach k which of course was never gonna happen. I mean,
they weren't gonna talk about Kentucky. I mean, what's the
big deal? Was one of the Champions classics and I
(47:38):
had sort of off the cup mentioned this to someone
at ESPN. Oh you know, Callie want Night there or whatever.
This person actually said this to Bob Knight, so he
was probably going to make sure he's at half court.
In my ear, moments before tip off, the producer goes,
(47:59):
Coach Knight wants to see you at the desk, and
so so I'm like, oh boy. So I go over
there and he takes off his headphones and leans into
me and says, you tell John Kell appeared you know
that I don't give it, and uh, you know, and
I was just like shaken because I was like, hey,
(48:21):
oh my god, this person told Night what I said
kind of off the cuff, you know, the sense of
the principal's office, I know. And then I'm like, and
we're gonna go on the air two minutes and he's
just like gotten into my grill. Oh man talking about rattle.
That's a wake up call. Oh my god, that's what
he called the principal's office. Producer. Coach Knight would like
(48:44):
to see you. Yeah, that's hilarious. UM. I have an
interesting one of a question about sideline the dynamic of
sideline reporting. I feel like a lot of times when
like you're interviewing a coach or a player, especially in
the NBA, UM like the professionals, but it, you know,
(49:04):
depending on who you're getting, Like Coach Pop used to
always have those notorious like one or two liners really
uncomfortable for sideline reporters. Yeah. Yeah, literally, anybody watching you're like, whoa,
I'm yeah, it's just but my thing with sideline reporting
that I want to get your perspective on it is
like the nature of it, Like do you think it
does add value to a broadcast, like you know, take
(49:26):
pop out of it. He's obviously those one liners became popular,
but like when the answers the questions are maybe like
not so well thought, and then the answers are not
totally you know what you want, Like like that's a
whole different deal where they gotta no coach wants to
be interviewed, you know, after the first quarter or whatever.
(49:47):
I mean, obviously they're doing that contractually. I mean they're
being made to do it. They agreed to it. Fine.
My whole thing is I feel more comfortable when it's
a conversation and you know, uh, getting back to really
and ships. When I'm with Robbie Hummel, we're friends, so
(50:07):
like they can bring me in and we just like
whatever that point that I'm gonna add on to, Robbie
will have like an open air conversation, you know during
the play. Um. Yeah. A couple of times I ever
did a game with Bill Walton, I wondered why I
was even there because he takes over quick and oh
(50:28):
my god, so many times I'd be like, I can add,
I can add, I can add you know, and the
producer were like, Okay, we're going to you. We're going
to you, We're going to you. And they're like, oh sorry,
that window closed, you know, because Bill would be going
way off on a tangent and so it was frustrating
because you never get on. Um. So to me, I
(50:50):
want to add value to the broadcast and I want
to be a part of it. If I'm gonna, if
you're gonna spend the money to have me be a
sideline reporter, use me, you know, make me and take
advantage of my relations and ships and knowledge on a player,
a coach or um. And like, I've never been the person.
(51:11):
And I'm not trying to denigrate you know, sort of
the human interest story and all that kind of thing, uh,
because I've done it. But like, to me, I want
to be a part of the game. You know, that's
where I feel most comfortable. Yeah, well, wait when you
say you want to be a part of the game,
like you're you're you're really emphasizing on like the you know,
(51:32):
having the producer includes you, or having yea in nicer ways,
having Bill Walton shut up first so you can This
is the other thing too. And with basketball it's hard.
I think it's easier, certainly in baseball to some extent. Football,
you know, by the time they you know, play happens,
they gotta walk the ball back and chains up and
(51:54):
all that, you have time. I think it's very difficult
in basketball to tell a very deep story, like you
can really only do what I think during a time
out before place starts because sort of the unofficial rule
of thumb is you better shut up before a SHOT's taken,
because that's the play by plays persons. Let them make
(52:18):
that call, the great dunk, the game winning three, what
have you. Um, So that's why you gotta be in,
you gotta be out. It's hard to tell like this
really deep emotional story in twenty seconds. It's got so abbreviated.
Remember you remember when like Mike Breen told that story
about lou Will like getting that guy that tried to
(52:41):
rob him at his window McDonald's, like he robbed him
at gunpoint. He told it over like a Knicks broadcast
one time. Um, I think it was a Knicks broadcast
because he does that stuff for MSG. But like when
you said, like, you know, if it's not the play
by play guy doing it, like it's harder because you
you don't want to take the bang call away from
Mike Breen. Like if you're telling a story and you
know someone drills a puzzer beater and the second quarter,
(53:03):
Andy Kats, I'm mean, you probably sound good stealing his bank,
but you know what I mean, Like, Um, that's interesting.
I'm glad I asked you about that. But let I
want to wrap it up with just one more question.
You know, we've talked a lot in this segment about
your career and just like how you've been able to
expand and build you know since from this point on,
like career wise, goal wise, Like is there anything you
(53:24):
haven't touched, haven't done that you know you're still kind
of trying to reach, or like what from this point on,
Like what can people kind of expect from you? Like
what else do you want to accomplish? If, if anything
at all, we've done well. I mean, first of all,
I'd love to be back on that set. And I
mean I don't think I'm politicking here. I mean it's
common knowledge. I loved it. I'd love to be back
(53:46):
on that set. Um and I had a great time,
and so I'm hoping that will happen again. I don't
know what's gonna happen, um, but I'm hoping that happens again.
But I will say this, I have never felt more
comfortable professionally than I do now, which is a great
place to be. And I have as you can tell
(54:06):
if they're great energy. Uh, and I don't. I don't.
I don't feel my age, I don't feel you know,
I feel I'm connected. Um and uh, you know, at
some point I'm probably gonna dial back all the little
side gigs. Sure, but um, you know, March Madness and
(54:27):
all the stuff around that and being a big games
and big events like I don't need like for me personally,
I personally have never been to a super Bowl. I
don't feel like that box has to be checked. I'm
fine with that. I've never covered an Olympics. I'm okay
with that. Um you know, I've actually, you know, I've
been the NBA Finals. But I mean, like within the
(54:48):
basketball world, Uh, I've certainly covered everything I wanted to,
but I want to keep doing it. I don't feel
like I need to go out of my comfort zone
to check a box. It's interesting. You definitely do bring
the juice man you. You gave us another fantastic episode,
drew any last remarks for the man himself any cats? Yeah, man,
(55:10):
thanks so much for coming on. We appreciate it. You
dropped some great nuggets for our listeners. I know they'll
appreciate that. And what what do you think we're gonna
go viral for next? I mean it could be who knows,
can we go viorrow for something on the podcast? What's up? Man? Well? No,
I'm curious about this. You know, this will be the
first time, certainly in your career where you guys were
(55:33):
going to the tournament with not the expectation to win it.
And actually that might be a little liberating, you know
what I mean. I mean, obviously you want to be
one seed, you want to be and all that, but
I kind of feel like this year, you know, you
guys make a great run. It wasn't expected. Well I
expect it, but but yeah, yeah, no, it is nice
(55:57):
kind of taking having the target off our back. I mean,
obviously people love to see us lose, and you know,
good Zagas finally down the year for their standards. Let's
kick them, you know, while they're down. But it is
kind of nice just being able to breathe just a
little bit, you know, and not have that just immense
pressure if you don't make it to the final four,
like why would you even play this year? You know? So,
I mean it is really nice from that perspective. Andy,
(56:20):
you couldn't help yourself. You had to throw a question
in there as the as the natural interview. That shirt,
you know, like, look it says, because what happens if
you give a t rex arms? He'll become the most
deadly animal on the planet. Shout out to Matt Timmy
for the shirt. He he knew I would love this
and I had to wear it for him today. Where
(56:43):
is the young where's the younger Timmy gonna go? We
do not know yet. He is the way to drop
a cat's bomb kind of like a bomb. He is
currently in the portal and he's just gonna I think
he's just doing some classes at home and he's just
kind of kind of just looking the portal and see
(57:04):
what happens. But yeah, he's he's excited. He thinks he's
he's gonna have some big opportunities come his way. And
he's a he's a herble player. So definitely think people
should get on the Walker, Timmy hype train coming up soon.
There you go. Just put your brother on the pedestal.
He deserves all right, Phillas, that's a rapper episodes. We'll
give me Timmy Krube did it again. Hope you all
(57:24):
enjoy man, Andy, We appreciate you coming on giving us
another great episode. I hope you have a great rest
of the season. I do hope to see you on
that panel because obviously a good mix, good blend with
those guys, so I hope you you get that. But
thanks again, Man, I appreciate it. Thank you guys. This
has been a presentation of the College Athletes Network.
The following is a presentation of the College Athletes Network.
What's Up? Everybody? Welcome into episode twelve with it Give
(00:24):
Me Timmy podcast with Drew, Timmy and myself. Noa buono
here on iHeart Radio College Athletes Now Work Drew Baby
was good? All right, man, glad to be back on
what is this episode twelve? Man? We've done a lot
of episodes so far, and guys, you know Valentine Days
coming up. I'm wearing pink to support the holiday. Make
sure write a star, leave review anything you want to
(00:45):
do to interact with the podcast where you you get
that cupid arrow for you and your lover. You know,
ye gotta have a good holiday and you please guys,
we you know if you can leave those reviews like
Drew said, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter for
some video highlights. Grew's got a nice little shirt on
for this week's pod. What Now don't give us wrecks
arms um, But man, we got another special against appearance today,
(01:09):
switching it up slightly from our Gonzaga lineup that we
were riding high last couple of weeks. Longtime college basketball
analyst Andy Katz formerly worked for ESPN for two decades
now with Turner Sports, Bleacher Report, Mark Management's Basketball, the
Big Ten Network. The man does it all. He could
be joining us and just a little bit here, so
stay locked in for that. But first, as always drew
last week's game, I want to start with the l
(01:30):
m U unfortunate loss. Um. Obviously nothing that anybody was expecting,
and it ended like a lot of different streaks. But
the way I want to start it is, can you
take us listeners inside the locker room after the lm
you lost? Like what the energy was like with the
message from coach Few maybe was? I mean, it sucked,
(01:52):
especially for me. It was pretty tough. Obviously missed the
missed the last shot, split the free throw and everything,
so like, especially for me, it hurt um. But you
know he was like, look, it was gonna ind eventually,
Like the streak we went on been impressive and everything,
but it's gonna happen in um. You gotta give credit
(02:16):
to them for playing good. But look at the end
of the day, like we lost this game, they didn't.
They didn't necessarily beat us. We we let our We
we started on offense, which is fine, but we didn't
play We didn't play as good on defense. We gave
them easy points. We didn't. We weren't rebounding like we
were supposed to. Like, there was things that we did
that we lost the game. It doesn't come down to
(02:37):
one player one thing and he goes, guess what, Like
you got another game Saturday where the team beat l
m U and they played just as hard and physical.
So you guys better pick your ship up and we
better lock the funk in. Yeah. And I mean and
then you know, taking us to well, I guess before
we go to the Pacific gloss? Is there a Pacific win? Sorry,
I'm all over the place. Is there any specific thought
(03:00):
of yours on that last second shot when you know
you drove right? I guess helps I kind of came over,
got a piece of it, but like outside of that
looked like a clean look. I mean, yeah, no, I
mean it's a shot that I've made probably a thousand
times times in my career. Um, I'd shoot the exact
same shot again. Uh, it's a shot we wanted. It's
(03:21):
a shot that I'm more than comfortable taking. I take
it all the time. It just happened to not go in,
And uh, you know that's that's the one part abouttball.
It sucks, you know, but uh, you know, when that
shot goes in next time, it's gonna feel it's gonna
be like an emotional high, you know, so you kind
of gotta ride the roller coaster with it. Yeah, And
then speaking of the roller coaster, I mean, you go
(03:41):
from that tough finish, tough loss, but the man drops
thirty eight and listen, Drew, I'm gonna say it right
before I was about to say, before you even went
into that ship, already know what happened. I know, I
know you're gonna be a hater. It's fine. I had
to say it because I have. I just have to
fuck you for missing the two free throws. I don't
know if you were aware at the time. I was.
(04:03):
I did be they had that they had this ship
up in the corner, and I just looked at I
was like, ah, fun, I started cheesing. I was like, oh,
let's go. And I go to the line and I'm like,
I'm trying to you know, like when you're trying to
be serious and not a smile, like I was happy,
and I missed the first one, and I was like,
(04:25):
are you fucking kidding me? I was like this, this
free throw doesn't even matter now the second one. And
I was so sad after you missed the first one that,
I mean the second one. I was like, Oh, it
doesn't matter. It's thirty eight, It don't matter. I fuck
it up already. But guess what if it that's when
it takes. If I can't get if I have to
get thirty eight and missed two free throws to get forty,
(04:46):
but we win, I'll take that ship every fucking absolutely.
I mean, you guys won, and it was great, but
I just meant watching the second half, you could tell
right when you came out. I think you had five
or six straight buckets in a row, and it was like,
not only was it too easy, but it was just
like there was no answer for you the way you
were like getting positioning ceiling on low. I mean some
of the shots you were getting such easy looks because
(05:07):
they did something weird. I ain't gonna lie, like they
would have like five guys in the paint, but it
was one on one. You know, they wouldn't really like
dig at me and like trying to rake at the ball.
They would kind of just let my defender the defender
guard me one on one and they were kind of
just taking away the passing lanes. So I was like,
all right, like yeah, let me cook, then let me cook.
(05:29):
The last thing I will say about this before we
go to break and bring on Andy is like you
could tell you were in such a rhythm that like
when anything else would happen for you guys offensively, and
the ball didn't go in the hole. It was just
like like from my perspective on the couch, I'm like, God,
he's probably pissed, like give me the ball, motherfuckers? Like what?
(05:50):
And you can see sometimes you look like I don't
I'm not naming names. I don't know who it was,
but like you definitely had like words for someone because
it was a bad play. I don't remember what it was,
and you probably should have just touched the ball instead.
So I'm like thinking of my head. Man, if I'm
like one of Drew's teammate, I've just handed him the
ball and moving out of the way. Nae. Like I said,
I passed them all lot, But like when I'm in
(06:11):
like a heater like that, you just get the funk
out the way and let him let me cook. But
it was good. We won we needed that. I mean ship,
I mean they were They're a good team. They spread
this out and they ran five out and obviously we
didn't play the best defense, but like, just you know,
just see the ball going for everyone was so huge
(06:31):
for us, and um, it's been a big confidence booster
just because you know, you kind of got kicked pretty
hard by l m U and be able to respond
and stay confident. I think it's the most important part. Yeah, man,
that Cam Shelton was different for lm U. He really
he really played a hell of the game. I mean,
you gotta have a player like that on an opposing
team to you know, compete with you guys. They definitely
have a yeah, star studded player in him. So, um,
(06:54):
I'll give him a quick shout out. Not you, but
you don't have to. Um. All right, folks, we're gonna
take a quick break here. Remember to follow us on
Twitter and Instagram for video highlights of every episode at
Gimme Timmy Potts. Stay with us when we come back.
We will be joined by college basketball analyst Andy Katz.
Coming right up, what's some beautiful listeners. Welcome back to
the Gimme Timmy Podcast. This is episode twelve. I'm Noah Bono.
(07:18):
He's Drew, Timmy Drew. Tell him to subscribe real quick
before we bring in Andy. You know the vibe. Guys,
leave a star ride review. I don't know. Interact with
the podcast. Do something with the podcast, something good, something bad?
Who you know? Instagram, Twitter, just get active with it
if you want Cupid to shoot a love arrow for
you in your your lover, whoever that may be right
(07:38):
in your little behind. All right, let's welcome in the
man himself Showtime, Andy Kats, Andy, Welcome into the show Man.
How are you? Thanks for coming on. I'm doing great.
I've been waiting for this invitation for quite some time.
I love the fact that we're flipping the script. I
knew it was casual, um, so I thought I'd go
(08:00):
a little in. I l Rothman's of New York. A
good friend of mine I grew up with. And there
was a Gonzaga connection here. Okay, a good friend I
grew up with, Jimmy Getton. His brother Ken Getton was
actually my first basketball coach in Newton youth basketball in Massachusetts.
Their grandfather started this men's clothing store New York City.
It's right by all my suits, And who did I
(08:22):
send to this store but Mark Few and Mark Few
when he was wearing suits, but many a suit from
the Gintons at Rothman's and there was I don't know,
it's probably a couple of years before the pandemic. Um.
I remember Marcy called me, needed the number for Rothman's
(08:44):
so she could get a birthday, Christmas present something of
that nature from Mark. So I get a little bit
of a discount, you know, a family friend, longtime friend.
But I got hooked up Mark with the discount. So
Rothman's here, I am representing and couch Man what a
duod Hey, you might have to give us that little
discount code though for the invite, I don't know. Um,
(09:09):
all right, I want to when Drew's a pro, he's
gonna need some new threads. That's right. It's a good call. Um. So, Andy,
you and Drew have some history, obviously all You've interviewed
him a bunch of times. But kind of like you said,
flipping the script here a little bit, Drew and I
interviewing you, but I want to kind of start off
with just like you, reflecting on that obviously famous interview
(09:31):
last year in the tournament, with Drew that went viral
and he's his big gasses stumbling over these words. He
can't you know, he's trying to not curse and he
and he ends up with a great explanation. But just like,
take us through your thoughts memories from from that interview
with him. Well okay, so let me go big picture
here and that because we have this great relationship because
(09:52):
I'm which I will get to in a moment, uh
my sort of feeling of being an original zag back
to um. But because I have a comfort level Withdrew,
I feel like I can like it goes beyond the
traditional media player, Like I feel there's almost a friendship.
(10:14):
I feel like Withdrew he's someone that I could talk
to ten years from now, whether whether you know, hopefully
he's playing as long as he wants to play, but
I feel connection with him that I hope continues beyond basketball.
Uh So there's that comfort level that I really just
I connect with him and so I feel comfortable with him.
That's number one. Number two, Uh, for any young journalists
(10:36):
out there, UM, I think it's critical who always observe. Yeah,
you did a good job of that because you you
saw what happened. Yeah, and so sometimes you're in the
right place, right time. And because I was doing sideline
for you know, Turner CBS at that at that site
in Portland, I had to be in the back hallway
(10:58):
when I saw, you know, coming out at halftime Grew
firing up himself. Memphis had really detected, you know, sort
of popped them in the mouth in the first half.
They were long, aggressive, active upfront, and I saw the
way he rallied. Uh. I can't remember exactly the words,
but I mean I saw the energy. I heard what
(11:20):
he said. So I had that as a reference point
when I came to him after the game. And then
I think that I really do believe this that I'm
not saying Drew wouldn't have given the same thing to
someone else, and he may have, but I do think
the chemistry that we have allowed for him to feel
(11:41):
free to just you know, within FCC regulations, Hey what
he felt at that moment. Yeah, No, we definitely, we
definitely do have like a great relationship, Like you are
a guy I could see just like grabbing a beer
with you know, in a couple of years or something like.
I really appreciate it all you've done for me, but
even more than just covering, like you've just been a
(12:02):
guy that like I can even ask just stuff too,
even about like you know, just ship going on. So
I do appreciate you for that. And yeah, I was
quite the special interview we pulled off. And the FCC
is not what I'm worried about. I'm more worried about
Megan Timmy Well. And I would say, like, you know, um,
(12:22):
I don't have the same relationship with Adam Morrison, but
as he's gotten older and now he's working there, like
I have that comfort level with him, uh, you know uh,
and whether it's dick out Santangelo. Um. So I looked,
I want to say this, um, And I know we're
flipping the script, but I gotta just lay the groundwork here.
(12:42):
So this was really I again, right place, right time,
I actually believe it or not, was working in Fresno,
and I was and and I went to interview with
ESPN dot Com, which at that time was based in Seattle,
and I kind of tied it to where, um, I'm
(13:07):
going to cover the Seattle regional but my real legenda
was to go interview at ESPN, and I just happened
to be there for the beginning of what we now
know as the more modern Gonzaga, and I was with
them for those upsets. I went down to Phoenix after
that and just connected with Mark with months at the time,
(13:29):
all those guys that were part of that early Zag
you know that run, and I just connected. You know,
I've been out there countless times, went to when they
used to have the golf event um you know, uh,
just everything about Dan, Gonzaga, Jack and Dan's you name it,
uh um, the Davenport all that stuff, like it all
(13:53):
started for me in right when I was starting at ESPN,
and it's continued obviously for twenty plus years. Yeah, man
spelled Cans a great region and like, I just love
it up here. It's got kind of its own vibe.
It's it's kind of in between big cities, small town field,
which is really nice. And uh, I think it kind
of fits just what we do at Gonzaga, so well,
(14:14):
you know, we're kind of just like in our own
little market, in our own little place, and we just
somehow find a way to mingle with all types of everything.
So I think that's super cool, but kind of just changing,
changing the gears a little bit. Uh, what's kind of
been like some big takeaways from college basketball season so
far for you? So I would say this season, Um,
(14:36):
I mean, first of all, I feel like the big
man is back. Uh, you know because I was actually
asked to do this where I was looking at all
the bigs and I'm including you in this. But you know,
Zach Eatie, he's not like if Zach Eati was born
twenty years earlier and was in the Shack era, you know,
he would have been yell ming like all the you know,
(14:58):
but now I don't know what's gonna happen to him
when he goes you know, pro will someone take a
chance on him. It's not the way the NBA is
right now. But we've got those traditional bigs right now
in college basketball, which is great because you've got him,
You've got Sheepway. Uh. You know, obviously you can play
in and out, same with Trace Jackson, Davis, um Hunter,
Dickinson plays you know, more of a traditional post. Uh.
(15:22):
You know. So there's a Domason Nogo from Yukon. Uh,
there's a lot of these bigs this season. You could
have a whole All American team first and second of
just bigs uh. Uh a Julius, you know, your old teammate.
Uh Um. You know these guys are traditional, more traditional
(15:43):
bigs than we've seen. That's one takeaway too. I do
think it's wide open. Uh. And you know, I think
we're gonna have tons of upsets, but there really aren't
gonna be upsets. Are gonna be like seed upsets. I mean,
because what's crazy is you could have like a duke
in a Kentucky in an eight nine game. They're hellan
(16:04):
is better than that, but they haven't played to being
a higher seed. So we're gonna get I can get
some crazy early matchups between brand names that we normally
wouldn't have. Uh. And then I would also say there's
good parody this year. For example, you guys have already lost,
you know, in the w c C because the league's better.
(16:26):
You almost lost a couple of times. You know, Kansas
lost three games in a row in the Big Twelve.
That never in that home, which is crazy. They never
lose it hid But that's because the Big Ten is
I mean, Big twelve is really good, you know, and
like Ohio State is struggling in the Big Ten, they're
really good. It's so hard right now, meaning the big tent.
You know, for teams to run off and you know,
(16:49):
win a league only losing one game or running the table. Yeah, no,
it's crazy. So like speaking to that, like what is
like what team has impressed you the most? Because it
is wide open. I mean like College of Charleston. I
thinks all the way up to like fourteen, and like
who would have thought that coming into the season. I
think that just kind of speaks how crazy it is.
Like there's a lot of like just moving pieces all
(17:11):
the time in and out and everything. Well, you know,
like Alabama is playing great right now. Uh you guys
beat him in Birmingham. Uh they want at Houston they lost.
They beat Carolina in four overtimes. Uh you know, and
then they lost the Yukon. So when Alabama is at
their best, they could win the national championship. They don't
(17:33):
have a bad loss right now, but they are beatable.
Um so I don't know, I don't have one team
right now, you know. I mean as well as Purdue
is playing. They almost lost in Nebraska. It was an
overtime game. Uh you know, Maryland was a possession away
from time that game last Sunday, So everyone it seems
even the top seeds, I feel like they could get
(17:55):
beaten on a get beat on a given day. The
thing about Purdue and Matt Painter for me, like obviously
amazing coach, amazing program, But what can I look like
what they're doing this year losing all those guys to
the draft, and then there's still the number one seed
for a majority of this season and Zach ET's emerged
and all those things to me, like losing to St.
Peter's last year, it makes me not have the confidence
(18:17):
in them headed like deep into the tournament, just because
like you had the pieces last year and couldn't you know,
I couldn't get past St. Peter's. No knock on St. Peter's,
but we all know, like you know, they're fifteen seed
and no business win in any of those games. Here
here's and I'd love for Drew to to chime in here.
I mean, there's your podcast, um, but what's interesting about them?
(18:40):
And I don't know if you feel this way, uh, Drew,
on teams you've been on the last couple of years,
they were more talented last year, no question more talent.
But I think they're better team, you know, because their
guards are Radin Smith, Fletcher lawyer, freshman. But they know
that they're in their lean. They know who they are.
(19:03):
You know, they're not stealing the limelight. Zack's the main guy.
Here're the freshman. They'll make their shots in their have to.
And last year obviously with j and Ivy and Trevia Williams,
zach Yaty, get Sasha Stefanovich. Uh, you know, they had
all these different guys that wanted their own turn, if
you will. So sometimes you can have a better team
(19:24):
that may not be as talented. Yeah, Now when we
played them, I remember it was like all right, like
we're gonna leave like lawyer someone and then like he
just hits. They just hit the timely shots and they
don't let they don't force the game. They just kind
of let it happen to them and it's like they
just make the right play. And that's I think that
speaks to your point about just being a better team.
(19:44):
Like they just they're just a great team. They're just
all there for each other, all connected, they and they
all step up when they need to. So I mean
it's it's pretty hard to beat when you have a
team like that that's so connected and so like knowing
that looks Zak's gonna get the ball, but every now
and then it's gonna be my turn. And they always
they seem to always step up when their numbers called,
which is which is pretty unique to have a team
(20:04):
because it is hard to do that. Wait, I'm curious, though, Drew,
you gott to go against Chat not as thick as
I don't care, what's the difference. I mean chat Chat
loves the block shots, so like Chat always wanted to
block my shots, so I could always pump fake Chat
like he might not jump on the first two, but
(20:25):
maybe the third or fourth they'll jump. And Zach, I mean,
he's he's grounded and like he's good at really using
his body and stuff. So was Zach. I have to
kind of move him around more and like create an
angle where he just can't move laterly as quick as
I can. But with Chat I could kind of more
just get into him, get some separation, pump fake than
step around him or something. So I would just say
(20:45):
from that regard, they're a little different, but they're both
hard to score on. They're both just they're like two
tall mountains or something being being around um Zach Eady
and Taco Fall because I played at USF my sophomore year. Like,
those guys just feel like they're just they're just on
a different strat sphere than us, Like they're looking down
(21:06):
like I don't know what it's like up there, but
they don't feel like they're living in the same world
we're living in, Like they're really up there. I'll tell
you there's a great photo. I'm sure you've sought the
scene it, but that photo of Faco fall behind Zion
Williamson in that game when they played the tournament, Zion
looks so small. If you can make Zion looks small,
(21:28):
you're a massive human being. It's crazy. But Andy, though,
like what moving forward? Like, I know you don't have
like one team or anything, but I guess just like
what are your expectations, Like, you know, Kansas drops three
in a row, Yukon drops out of the top. I
think they dropped all the way out of the top ten. Zags.
You know, they lose the l m U, they go
(21:48):
from six to fourteen, Like, like you said, a ton
of parody, same thing in the NBA. I mean and
Drew have talked about that a little bit. Just basketball
overall has so much parody, so your expectations like, what
are they with all this parody? It's hard to make predictions.
You know, that's anything can happen. Yeah, I still think
though there's are there are a collection of teams. Uh.
(22:09):
You know, I'm a big tennis guy, and you say, okay,
in the Grand Slams, who can actually win seven matches?
You know? Can you win six games in the incitably Tournament?
I still think that pool is and I could rattle
them off, like to me, out of your league, it's
you guys out of the pack twelve, U C l
A and Arizona could do it. In the Big twelve.
(22:32):
I still believe Kansas could be that team. You know,
I gotta see more from k State because they've never
been in this position. Uh. And you know, do I
buy in the Baylor They're not as big as they
used to be. Maybe not sure? Um, I really don't
see maybe Carolina in the SEC, but I'm not buying that.
(22:53):
You know. In the Big ten, to me, it's Perdue
and a healthy Indiana. I could see them potentially doing it. Um,
you know, and in the SEC it's Alibay mL and
maybe Tennessee you you scrimmage Tennessee, you know, way back
in October November, So maybe Andy who obviously the other
night Kansas third straight loss to Baylor, did you mention Baylor?
(23:16):
How did the Big Twolver? Now? Yeah, I mean they're
different though. You know when when you guys played him
for the championship a couple of years ago, Um, they were.
I mean they got Kiote George as you know, Drew's
great talent, but they lacked like the big, physical strong
guards that they had with Mitchell. Um, they don't have
(23:38):
the same post. I think they're good, I don't think
they're great, and I think they've obviously proven to be
beatable this year. But Kansas in particular, like obviously you
probably were tuned into that game. Like Kansas offensively, there
was that little clip of Bill self. He it was
like early in the first half and he it looked
like his lips said, they're just so much better than us,
(23:58):
like and they really did, like their guards flaggler Um,
Kante George, like, they just looked like they're more completed offensively.
I know, Dawan Harris so turning the ball over with
Kansas like that's kind of uncharacteristic. For him, so better
play from him. But I don't know, it just kind
of looked like maybe Kansas didn't have all that juice
that they had last year. But I'm curious to hear
what you think. Yeah, well, I think there's something to
(24:21):
be said. Uh and help me out here, Drew. You
guys ended up having a was specific after l m
U and was that game tighter? Yeah? Yeah, I would
say the l m U game we were we were
down most for a lot of it, but the Pacific
(24:42):
game we were like close, but we were always ahead
because I would saying I think sometimes because they were
right there to win a Kansas State on Monday overtime loss,
Gen Wilson goes to eight. Then their next game, hungry
Tsue comes in and just pops them. I think sometimes
we've seen this that carry over, you know, that hangover
(25:04):
last a couple of days. I mean, I go back
to this season Rutgers team. I really like they lose
controversial game to Ohio State. The baskets should not have counted,
Tenner holding came from out of bounds, inbounds, and it's
the three that loss lingered and then they lost at
home with Seaton Hall in a crappy game in like
the fifties, and those guys told me. I talked to
(25:26):
Caleb McConnell after. He's like, yeah, we lost that game
because we lost Ohio State. We just weren't. It took
us too long. And sometimes that happens. Everyone's human. Shout
out to my Jersey guys from Rutgers. I'm hoping to
get another tournament bid, I am. It's awesome when Rutgers
is on the tournament. Go ahead, Drew. Yeah, so kind
of just speaking about your collection of groups. If you
(25:47):
had to pick the final four today, just based on
everything you've seen so far, who would be in it? Oh,
gott to crank the heat up a little bit on you. Well,
I mean today I would say Alabama. Uh, I would
say Perdue. I'll tell you I really like U c
(26:07):
l A. You know they did lose it. Arizona, Fine,
it's hard to win a Michale. The game was in
the fifties, like they still controlled you know, Arizona does
not play in the fifties, and you know, so they
controlled the temple in that game. And uh, you know
Jalen Clark, Kimie Hawks, Tiger Campbell, that's a big three
(26:30):
that really plays well together. So I like them. I'm
not sold on Houston offensively. You know, they just lost
at home to Temple, so and then I feel like, Okay,
who's that other team? Is it someone from the Big twelve?
I don't know. I mean, I don't know who I
have more faith than could it be you guys? Um,
(26:51):
I don't know. I have a hard time picking who
the fourth is. But I feel good about Perdue, Alabama
and U c l A. Actually he threw you guys
in there just so you guys could stay tight. You
don't think you're getting past the sweet six now, I'm kidding. Um, well, no, hey, no,
you know it's all about matchups. Oh absolutely absolutely? Well, Like, hey,
(27:13):
if Houston defended it was like the one game they
didn't defend against Baylor. If it's Gonzaga Houston in the
title game, Gonzaga wins that championship. Baylor was the wrong
team for you guys to play that night. It's a
great point. Fair, fair, I guess the National championship game
(27:36):
on this podcast is one of the touchiest subjects ever
for Drew. I've tortured him enough with all of our guests,
like Jalen Corey. I didn't ask coach few, but just
getting their like opinions on it, and like Drew just
you could just see him through the camera like, oh
my god. Well no, it just shut the So I've
(27:57):
learned my lesson. Um, all right, let's take a quick
break here and we come back. We're gonna dive a
little bit into Andy's career as a journalist in college
basketball analysts. So much more coming up right when we
come back. All right, and we're back on to give
Me Timmy Podcast. This is episode twelve. I'm Noah Bono.
He's Drew Timmy. We're joined by a college basketball analyst,
(28:17):
Andy Kat's. All right, Andy, I want to kind of
start off with just you work for a lot of
different networks as far as I know, Turner Sports, Bleacher Report,
Fox Sports, Big Ten Network. You do the n c
A March Madness stuff. You're an n c A consultant.
Am I missing anything? I do a little couple of
side gigs with the WCC pack twelve. Um, look, I
(28:38):
had to reinvent myself. Um, you know I was part
of thisally off at ESPN, and um, you know it
was came out of left field. It was all a
money deal. I did nothing wrong, and um, you know
they made all these cutbacks and I was part of
(29:01):
that group. Shocked I think about it. You know, I
did eight years with Obama of the bracket. Um did
nothing wrong for eighteen years. Uh, you know, most of
my professional life. And so I had to reinvent myself.
And uh what it meant was create this pie because
(29:23):
it was hard to get one entity to sort of
pay me the same. Uh. And I'll be honest with you,
I have never been happier professionally. I did great things
at ESPN. I had. I did everything I wanted to
do there. Uh, no, no regrets. You know, I didn't
like the way it ended. Was it on my terms?
But no regrets. And now here's the thing, Oh you
(29:46):
did forget one. I did sideline Westwood one Radio at
the Final four, which I'm gonna do again. And so
through the n C Double A through Westwood One, I'm
on the court at the Final four. If I were
still at ESPN, that net would never happen. You know,
with Drew last year, I'm doing sideline for Turner and CBS.
(30:07):
That would never have happened. So that was always that
missing piece, like you all this great college basketball of ESPN,
but I can't be a part of the actual tournament
because they don't have the rights. Um, and so now
I can't. And you know everyone's been great to me
and all these different entities, um and uh, you know,
(30:27):
keeping young and versatile, and you know you sort of
just got a piece of Oh I got another one
for you. I forgot this one. I do the draft
for NBA TV. Jesus, what can't you do better? Question?
I'm trying to be like you man, you are all
these different hats. But seriously, like you you mentioned the
ESPN thing, and you know, I know it was a
couple of years back and you've really established into where
(30:48):
you're at now. But like something like that happens, you said,
you know, blind sided you in that moment though, Like
what's your mindset on? Like what's next for you? Not
knowing you'd be doing all the things you're doing right now,
or maybe you had an inclination you would be. But like,
you know, where do you even look to anally to
turn to after spending so much time at one place
for so long? You know, well, first of all, um,
(31:09):
I am a huge proponent now obviously of contracts, because
I had a contract and I was protected. Uh you know,
there were some people in that group of hundred on
air people whose contract was up, so they were really
facing you know, whether they were single, married, kids, whatever,
they were much more in a very high stress situation.
(31:32):
What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna make money?
Where am I going? I had two years left and
so but I did not want to disappear because the
option was take your money and then two years from now,
go work somewhere else. But because of relationships, I was
able to get what I would call it's called like
(31:52):
sort of unofficially a carve out, and basically I worked
for lower money with the Instable A and Big ten
network initially that they carved out of my remaining ESPN years,
allowing me to still be me and go everywhere and
I never missed a beat. I basically took a couple
(32:13):
months off and then you know, I was back into
it in the summer early fall and ready to go.
But I will say that and this is my advice, um,
you know, to anyone that ever has to deal with
something like this, especially in our age of social media.
Because there were people that took to Twitter and Instagram
or wherever and blasted ESPN. They were angry. And I
(32:36):
know for a fact that the way I handled it,
which was professional, thanked everyone, kept it above board. That's
why they allowed me, because they didn't have to allow me.
I had a contract. They could say, you know, we're
paying you, but you can't work for anyone else, you
get no money. But I was like, I gotta keep working.
(32:56):
I gotta keep myself out there. As long as my
money doesn't drop, you know, and and we offset it,
I'm good to go. And my emotions at the time were,
you know, thankfully I've been married and been divorced, but
I felt like it felt like a breakup. Really, you know,
I wasn't angry. I was just hurt, like really hurt,
(33:21):
you know, I like, you know, I couldn't believe this
happened to me because I've been such a good employee
and did all these great things. Uh, And so that
that that was my emotion, that I was just really hurt. Yeah.
So speaking of just how hurt you were, did that
kind of motivate you to take lesser pay quote unquote
to go do the Big ten network and the other
things and kind of keep your face out there to
(33:43):
kind of maybe stick it to him a little bit.
Maybe it's a little unprofessional, but I assume that though
probably crossed your mind, was that big for you just
to like show them, like, look how big you missed up.
I mean, obviously you've taken taken what you do to
the limit. I don't know if you can do anything
more than what you already do, but well, I looked
through I'm not gonna lie to you, Uh, when I
(34:03):
during the pandemic, and this was obviously you know, if
the Obama bracket for eight years was one or one,
you know, whatever it is for me in my career
being on that main set with Barkley, you know, Charles,
Ernie and Kenny for three weeks like that, and and
(34:28):
and I'll never forget because it was awesome. I loved
every second. I've now got friendships with them. They're great people,
and uh, you know, I hope I can be back
on the set at some point. But I just absolutely
loved every second. I was in Atlanta for that whole
time because we were in our own little mini bubble
down there. All you guys were, you know, in Indianapolis. Um,
(34:50):
and I'll never forget I end up seeing because I
spent my time connect right Island. We haven't moved out
my sons in high school. And I saw one of
the executive producers for MSPN after the fact and he's like, man,
you were really good, you know, like surprise, And I'm like,
you know, I did something like that at ESPN. Why
(35:14):
are you surprised? You know? And there's no question, without
having to say anything to stick it to anyone, the
fact that I was on that main set that said
everything I needed to say. Yeah, that's special. I mean
you you know, you you fought through adversity at a
at a point where you probably thought your career was
(35:34):
fully established. But I could feel it while you were
saying it's sitting on the panel with Chuck, Ernie and
and those guys, like, I mean, you feel like you're
friends at him just when you watch them from home,
You're like, and then you get to do it. It
was probably you know, so you're touching all these different
layers later in your career that are you know, super
super cool and obviously are appreciated among the basketball world
because you know, super well known, and all the work
(35:56):
you do is just top notch. And that's what I
wanted to ask you next, is just like how do
you balance between all the different networks and then like
the work that you have to do for each of them,
whatever if it's contractual with each of them or some
of its independent contracting, Like, but how you overall balance
at all? Not easy? But I mean, but I but
the good news is, like I I so, as I said,
(36:17):
we have a house in Newport, Rhode Island. I love
my summers paddle boarding, just being out on the water
and uh, you know whereas Fewee does his fly fishing
and the stuff. Like I know what, I'm gonna be
crazy busy, and I feel very fortunate, like I got
my It's not necessarily six months on, six months off,
but I'm clearly I don't travel as much in the offseason.
(36:39):
Do do the draft, but it's not you know, it's
a few weeks in June. But uh, and I'll tell
you one thing I'm glad I don't have to do anymore.
I don't have to do recruiting. Early in my career,
I had to go to all that stuff in July
all the time, all that stuff a U circuit. I'm
glad I don't have to do that and um and
chase all that. So but I like, I know when
(36:59):
I'm super busy, and I'll be honest, I am album
more now, no question. But my kids are older, you know,
late teens. If they were little kids, yeah, this would
be difficult to travel as much as I'm traveling now.
So now life balance it's a little easier now just
(37:21):
because everyone's a little older. Yeah. Yeah. So so what
is like a normal like game day experience for you,
because you probably on a bunch of different shows, Like
what is like an average work day for you on
a busy day? Well, like I said, like, you know,
obviously in the regular season, I work a lot for
the Big ten network because Turner doesn't have regular season games. Um,
(37:44):
but I would just say that what I do every day,
whether I'm in studio at a game or just at
home a few days a week out is I just
have to constantly just keep a you know, of everything,
and you know, I've had different little notebooks whatever. But um,
(38:04):
I can't go to bed at night, and sometimes it
obviously depends if I'm watching West Coast games or tracking
them without knowing what happened that night, I'm I'm I
don't read every box score. And as I go, you know,
further into the season, I start eliminating teams that I
really care about, you know, because I start thinking toward March. So, um,
(38:28):
you know, earlier the year, you know, I might be
paying attention to you know, L s U and Missisippi State,
but now they've kind of fallen off. So now I
don't really worry with them as much anymore because I
already sort of know the teams that I need to
think about, because when it gets to March, you know,
for example, when I'm on that set, or if I'm
on that set, or if I'm talking about all that stuff,
(38:49):
I want to have reference points of games that happened,
of things that happened. You know. I'll be honest. I
wasn't paying as much attention to College Charleston a month ago.
Now I have to. They've won twenty one in a row.
They're gonna be in the tournament. They're gonna be a
team that people are gonna pay attention and too, Pat
Kells he's a coach, you know, he he's bounced around,
but um, you know, he's someone I know. So I'm
(39:11):
like you have to pay attention to this stuff. Um,
you know, my wife's from Albuquerque and so that is
easy for me with the Mountain West because I used
to work out there, so I always pay attention to that.
But my in laws are big New Mexico fans. I
know Richard Patino from his time in Minnesota and before,
so like, I'm really connected. You know. Obviously I know
Leon really well and Max Rice and that game the
(39:34):
other night was wild. You know that the New Mexico
played against boise Um. You know, so that's stuff that
I just you know, I just gotta pay attention. Uh,
and I sort of just sponge it all in at
this time of the year. How do you how do
you go about I'm curious as someone that has aspirations
to do a version of what you're doing, Like your
(39:54):
process for covering games creating content, like whether it's on
one day or if you have like a week ahead
planned due to schedule, Like, how do you go up that? Yeah,
and I will say this, don't know, things have changed, Like, um,
the first four years that I was doing n C
a march man of stuff, we would get uh, you
(40:18):
know anytime, and Drew's done this like any time there
would be a big game, big guy goes off for
forty as a game winner, I would do these posts,
uh post game zooms or skyped pre pandemic than it
begame zooms. And this season, you know, I wish it
would come back more. Um, you know, unfortunately, and I've
(40:42):
I've had to adapt, you know. Uh you know, it's
a lot of it's about hits and who's you know,
who's gone off and all that, and um, so I'm
not doing it as much. I used to do more
of a podcast. Now Bleacher Report wants me to do
these live stream interactions with the top twenty five and
(41:03):
player of the and all these kinds of things. So
I have to adapt, go with the flow. They pay me,
they want my content. Um. But I was even more connected,
I think when I was doing these constant interviews, you know,
during the course of the week. And that's actually one
reason why I am doing all these other leagues. Um.
(41:24):
I'm not gonna obviously do it for the money as well,
but at the same time, it connects me to to players, coaches,
stories that I might normally might not normally be connected with, uh,
you know, especially now because I'm not doing it as
much for the incident Black. Yeah, so is that was
(41:44):
What is your favorite part of the job is that
the connections is it may be doing a certain like
thing that you do, like whether it's sideline reporting after
a game or like what is what what makes you
the happiest when you're working that you get to do well.
To me, it's the relationships. It's the interviews. Um, that's
what I remember the most. You know, I did a
sit down with October with Keyante Johnson, you know. To me,
(42:09):
you know, we at the beginning of our combo, we
talked about this season, like he is arguably one of
the if not the best story this year. I mean
literally flat line on December twelve and was brought back
to life on the court, you know, the whole deal,
just like what happened with him, you know, amble with
(42:29):
the Buffalo Bills, um. And you know he had to
get cleared. He was, uh Florida liability whatever finds a
home a case state. And he's having a phenomenal season.
And like I loved doing that interview. UM. And we
you know we ran that piece, um, I think before
(42:51):
his first game back in November. UM. But you know,
I love those kinds of interactions, um, and getting to
know people and uh, that's you know, my favorite thing.
I do love doing the the postgame Withdrew and the
instant tournament. Um. You know, it's not the stress sometimes
(43:12):
being sidelined when you're trying to hear it's loud in
the arena, You've got a producer screaming in your ear.
That's not always fun. So I I enjoy, you know,
more than more than the reporting. I enjoy the post
game or the halftime interviews. You know, I've had some
intriguing ones with cal Perry cronin Izo, you know, just
(43:35):
when they're all hot and crazy, you know, at halftime,
I gotta I got a good one for you, or
one that I think is kind of interesting, Like when
you interview like a new person that you're not comfortable
with the way you you know you're comfortable Withdrew. Let's
say you've had minimal to no interaction with them at all, Like,
what's like a initial thought for you going into it,
like an icebreaker for you, because there's always like that
(43:57):
little awkwardness that needs to be broken kind of I guess, well,
I mean, look, with some of these leagues that I'm
doing some stuff are clearly like the America East. I
don't know these guys. And what I try to do,
like before I do a zoom interview is find a
little anecdote or something before I hit record and just
have a few minutes of back and forth, um, just
(44:19):
to get a little comfort uh, even when like setting
up the shot, you know, just like you know, just
just back and forth, just to get some comfort level
with them before we even get into the interview. I've
never been a believer. Uh. And maybe this is because
(44:40):
I rarely ever did like really crazy hard news. Um.
I mean I have, but not that much. And so
I've never been someone who felt like I wanted to
sit down with an interview and right after that bam,
you know you were right to it to me like
(45:03):
this is not who I am. I like to get
to know people. So I always think like there's you know,
a bit of an arc with the interview. So we'll talk,
we'll get to know. I'll build up to what we
gotta ask or get to that point. Um. Yeah, look
the postgame interview when we're off the air in two minutes,
you can't do it in that setting. I get that
(45:24):
but UM, I would rather do that to get to
know someone. Uh. And obviously we always have the beauty
of editing and all that. What has been your most
awkward experience? Uh, just as a sideline reporter. Um, there's
got to be at least a couple. Well, first of all,
(45:47):
I had one kind of comical thing happened to me.
I was doing a Colorado. I can't remeber who they're playing.
It was in Vegas. This is for the last couple
years of ESPN, and I actually dropped the mic the
handheld and it broke. So we had to be hard
you know, I had to be hardwired. They didn't have
(46:07):
another one, so, uh, you know, I'm connected. And I
remember that I had to run out for the halftime
interview and I told the guy I'm like, hey, you
gotta run with me, and you know, because and literally
it was like a skit guys like not paying attention,
and so I'm running out and all of a sudden,
(46:31):
literally like I get like like you know, like on
a string. How I didn't fall on my ass, I
don't know, but the legs went up, like one leg
went up, and you know, because I'm literally like, you know,
it's like, a that's crazy. Um so that was this
(46:54):
comical one. Did you end up nail on the interview though?
Or yes? But I mean I was a little rattling. Okay,
that's good adversity. Prior to uh yeah, you know, like, uh,
I'll tell you this, I had an experience where, um,
way back when Bob Knight was calling games with ESPN,
(47:16):
he was there was this weird story where Cali Perry
was at a practice and um, you know, he didn't
want Night there because he thought he might talk to
Coach k which of course was never gonna happen. I mean,
they weren't gonna talk about Kentucky. I mean, what's the
big deal? Was one of the Champions classics and I
(47:38):
had sort of off the cup mentioned this to someone
at ESPN. Oh you know, Callie want Night there or whatever.
This person actually said this to Bob Knight, so he
was probably going to make sure he's at half court.
In my ear, moments before tip off, the producer goes,
(47:59):
Coach Knight wants to see you at the desk, and
so so I'm like, oh boy. So I go over
there and he takes off his headphones and leans into
me and says, you tell John Kell appeared you know
that I don't give it, and uh, you know, and
I was just like shaken because I was like, hey,
(48:21):
oh my god, this person told Night what I said
kind of off the cuff, you know, the sense of
the principal's office, I know. And then I'm like, and
we're gonna go on the air two minutes and he's
just like gotten into my grill. Oh man talking about rattle.
That's a wake up call. Oh my god, that's what
he called the principal's office. Producer. Coach Knight would like
(48:44):
to see you. Yeah, that's hilarious. UM. I have an
interesting one of a question about sideline the dynamic of
sideline reporting. I feel like a lot of times when
like you're interviewing a coach or a player, especially in
the NBA, UM like the professionals, but it, you know,
(49:04):
depending on who you're getting, Like Coach Pop used to
always have those notorious like one or two liners really
uncomfortable for sideline reporters. Yeah. Yeah, literally, anybody watching you're like, whoa,
I'm yeah, it's just but my thing with sideline reporting
that I want to get your perspective on it is
like the nature of it, Like do you think it
does add value to a broadcast, like you know, take
(49:26):
pop out of it. He's obviously those one liners became popular,
but like when the answers the questions are maybe like
not so well thought, and then the answers are not
totally you know what you want, Like like that's a
whole different deal where they gotta no coach wants to
be interviewed, you know, after the first quarter or whatever.
(49:47):
I mean, obviously they're doing that contractually. I mean they're
being made to do it. They agreed to it. Fine.
My whole thing is I feel more comfortable when it's
a conversation and you know, uh, getting back to really
and ships. When I'm with Robbie Hummel, we're friends, so
(50:07):
like they can bring me in and we just like
whatever that point that I'm gonna add on to, Robbie
will have like an open air conversation, you know during
the play. Um. Yeah. A couple of times I ever
did a game with Bill Walton, I wondered why I
was even there because he takes over quick and oh
(50:28):
my god, so many times I'd be like, I can add,
I can add, I can add you know, and the
producer were like, Okay, we're going to you. We're going
to you, We're going to you. And they're like, oh sorry,
that window closed, you know, because Bill would be going
way off on a tangent and so it was frustrating
because you never get on. Um. So to me, I
(50:50):
want to add value to the broadcast and I want
to be a part of it. If I'm gonna, if
you're gonna spend the money to have me be a
sideline reporter, use me, you know, make me and take
advantage of my relations and ships and knowledge on a player,
a coach or um. And like, I've never been the person.
(51:11):
And I'm not trying to denigrate you know, sort of
the human interest story and all that kind of thing, uh,
because I've done it. But like, to me, I want
to be a part of the game. You know, that's
where I feel most comfortable. Yeah, well, wait when you
say you want to be a part of the game,
like you're you're you're really emphasizing on like the you know,
(51:32):
having the producer includes you, or having yea in nicer ways,
having Bill Walton shut up first so you can This
is the other thing too. And with basketball it's hard.
I think it's easier, certainly in baseball to some extent. Football,
you know, by the time they you know, play happens,
they gotta walk the ball back and chains up and
(51:54):
all that, you have time. I think it's very difficult
in basketball to tell a very deep story, like you
can really only do what I think during a time
out before place starts because sort of the unofficial rule
of thumb is you better shut up before a SHOT's taken,
because that's the play by plays persons. Let them make
(52:18):
that call, the great dunk, the game winning three, what
have you. Um, So that's why you gotta be in,
you gotta be out. It's hard to tell like this
really deep emotional story in twenty seconds. It's got so abbreviated.
Remember you remember when like Mike Breen told that story
about lou Will like getting that guy that tried to
(52:41):
rob him at his window McDonald's, like he robbed him
at gunpoint. He told it over like a Knicks broadcast
one time. Um, I think it was a Knicks broadcast
because he does that stuff for MSG. But like when
you said, like, you know, if it's not the play
by play guy doing it, like it's harder because you
you don't want to take the bang call away from
Mike Breen. Like if you're telling a story and you
know someone drills a puzzer beater and the second quarter,
(53:03):
Andy Kats, I'm mean, you probably sound good stealing his bank,
but you know what I mean, Like, Um, that's interesting.
I'm glad I asked you about that. But let I
want to wrap it up with just one more question.
You know, we've talked a lot in this segment about
your career and just like how you've been able to
expand and build you know since from this point on,
like career wise, goal wise, Like is there anything you
(53:24):
haven't touched, haven't done that you know you're still kind
of trying to reach, or like what from this point on,
Like what can people kind of expect from you? Like
what else do you want to accomplish? If, if anything
at all, we've done well. I mean, first of all,
I'd love to be back on that set. And I
mean I don't think I'm politicking here. I mean it's
common knowledge. I loved it. I'd love to be back
(53:46):
on that set. Um and I had a great time,
and so I'm hoping that will happen again. I don't
know what's gonna happen, um, but I'm hoping that happens again.
But I will say this, I have never felt more
comfortable professionally than I do now, which is a great
place to be. And I have as you can tell
(54:06):
if they're great energy. Uh, and I don't. I don't.
I don't feel my age, I don't feel you know,
I feel I'm connected. Um and uh, you know, at
some point I'm probably gonna dial back all the little
side gigs. Sure, but um, you know, March Madness and
(54:27):
all the stuff around that and being a big games
and big events like I don't need like for me personally,
I personally have never been to a super Bowl. I
don't feel like that box has to be checked. I'm
fine with that. I've never covered an Olympics. I'm okay
with that. Um you know, I've actually, you know, I've
been the NBA Finals. But I mean, like within the
(54:48):
basketball world, Uh, I've certainly covered everything I wanted to,
but I want to keep doing it. I don't feel
like I need to go out of my comfort zone
to check a box. It's interesting. You definitely do bring
the juice man you. You gave us another fantastic episode,
drew any last remarks for the man himself any cats? Yeah, man,
(55:10):
thanks so much for coming on. We appreciate it. You
dropped some great nuggets for our listeners. I know they'll
appreciate that. And what what do you think we're gonna
go viral for next? I mean it could be who knows,
can we go viorrow for something on the podcast? What's up? Man? Well? No,
I'm curious about this. You know, this will be the
first time, certainly in your career where you guys were
(55:33):
going to the tournament with not the expectation to win it.
And actually that might be a little liberating, you know
what I mean. I mean, obviously you want to be
one seed, you want to be and all that, but
I kind of feel like this year, you know, you
guys make a great run. It wasn't expected. Well I
expect it, but but yeah, yeah, no, it is nice
(55:57):
kind of taking having the target off our back. I mean,
obviously people love to see us lose, and you know,
good Zagas finally down the year for their standards. Let's
kick them, you know, while they're down. But it is
kind of nice just being able to breathe just a
little bit, you know, and not have that just immense
pressure if you don't make it to the final four,
like why would you even play this year? You know? So,
I mean it is really nice from that perspective. Andy,
(56:20):
you couldn't help yourself. You had to throw a question
in there as the as the natural interview. That shirt,
you know, like, look it says, because what happens if
you give a t rex arms? He'll become the most
deadly animal on the planet. Shout out to Matt Timmy
for the shirt. He he knew I would love this
and I had to wear it for him today. Where
(56:43):
is the young where's the younger Timmy gonna go? We
do not know yet. He is the way to drop
a cat's bomb kind of like a bomb. He is
currently in the portal and he's just gonna I think
he's just doing some classes at home and he's just
kind of kind of just looking the portal and see
(57:04):
what happens. But yeah, he's he's excited. He thinks he's
he's gonna have some big opportunities come his way. And
he's a he's a herble player. So definitely think people
should get on the Walker, Timmy hype train coming up soon.
There you go. Just put your brother on the pedestal.
He deserves all right, Phillas, that's a rapper episodes. We'll
give me Timmy Krube did it again. Hope you all
(57:24):
enjoy man, Andy, We appreciate you coming on giving us
another great episode. I hope you have a great rest
of the season. I do hope to see you on
that panel because obviously a good mix, good blend with
those guys, so I hope you you get that. But
thanks again, Man, I appreciate it. Thank you guys. This
has been a presentation of the College Athletes Network.
Host
Drew Timme
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