The Jay Bilas Interview | Ep #4 | - The Gimme Timme Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The following is a presentation of the College Athletes Network. Drew,
you've never had good pizza. Sorry, as long as they
have ranch, not cucumber ranch, not some weird ranch. Like,
as long as they got ranch, I'm gonna like the pizza.
So that's all I care about. Like like ranch dressing. Yeah,
I like ranch with my pizza. That doesn't enter that

(00:24):
doesn't enter up pizza converence. That what you get kicked
out of this conversation right here, because that's that's so
you're just like you like pizza without behavioral disorders. What
that is? What's up? Everybody? Welcome into episode four of

(00:52):
the Give Me to Me Podcast with Drew, Timmy, and
Nolah Buano on the College Athletes Network, featured on I
Heart Radio. I hope everyone had a nice thingsgiving man.
Today's episode is such a special one. But before we
get started, Drew, what do you have for the Hey man,
I hope you'll have a great Thanksgiving man. Love the
season of giving and uh, speaking of giving, please remember
to subscribe. It helps helps me get some good sleep,
which hopefully translates to more dubs. And also on whatever

(01:15):
format you're listening to, please leave a review good or bad,
and we'll appreciate it no matter what. As always, like
do you say, we do appreciate everybody tune into the
show supporting us. But like I said, today is a
special one for Drew and I. We have our first
ever guest on the podcast and it's none other than
the legend himself. Who better than Mr J Billis. I'm
super excited for this man. I've been a fan of J.

(01:37):
Billis for like probably since I was in like the
fourth or fifth grade. I know he's a very respected
basketball guy. Drew, how are you feeling about this? You're
gonna jump on this call any minute, so you've got
to be pretty excited. Yeah, man, growing up watching basketball,
he's just always been on TV, always been a figure,
always been a guy that's respectable, and uh, he knows
what he's talking about and he's not afraid to say
what's on his mind. So just being able to kind
of go back and forth to him pick his brain

(01:58):
a little bit, I think it's gonna be a great episode, dude.
And he's funny, he's cool. He's like, I don't know,
in his late fifties, and he just feels like he's
hip to this generation. Like he just he's still a
bro right like he comes off as a bro to me.
He's the ultimate DABRONI to quote the rock Man Joe Browny,
is he the real Himothy? He he has to classify
in that realm. There's no other way to classify. Is

(02:19):
absolutely in the realm of Himothy. All right, j billis
welcome into the show. It's an honor still some of
your time here. We are both super grateful to have
you on the shows. Appreciate you coming on. Welcome well,
grateful to be with you. No, and Drew, thanks for
having me absolutely. Um, all right, So you covered two
of Drew's games, uh this past weekend in Portland. Normally
how we start the show off is recapping some of

(02:40):
his games. So obviously in the last three and a
half years, you've covered more than just two games of
Drew of Gonzaga, So I kind of want you to
to dive into just what you both saw. Tough loss
to Purdue perdue kind of surprised a lot of people
than a good bounce back win against Xavier. Jay, why
don't you take the floor tell us what you saw
out there against Purdue against Xavier and then Drew chime

(03:01):
in after, Well, just from my seat, I thought Kenzaga
played well. Um this, as you guys know better than
I do, as a new team, and the expectations of
this team are our last year's team. You know that
Gonzaga should be last year's team, and they don't. It's
not the same pieces, it's the same program, and there's
some of the same players, but it's a totally different team.

(03:23):
And so you know, from my seat, it's going to
take some time for this team to establish what its
own identity is. Uh So, asking you know, asking uh,
you know Nolan to be uh Andrew nemhard, you know,
is unfair. You know he's gonna be really good and
and he's going to do a great job for this team,
but he's a different type of point guard, and asking

(03:46):
Anton to be Homegren he's not that, but he's a
terrific player. And I thought what happened against Purdue is
you're facing a unique talent and a behemoth in Zach Dye.
And you know, I've played against the seven four guy
before Ralph's amson a Virginia, and I did a great

(04:06):
job on him. I held him with thirty six and
neutralized him at just thirty six, but he was a
three time national player the year, and you can't simulate
seven four and talented and skilled and with that kind
of size. Uh. And what I felt Perdue did, which
is what not many teams can do, is they took
Gonzag out of transition and they kept him off the
free throw line, and they really made him into one

(04:29):
on one team instead of a passing, cutting team. And
so I never felt like Perdue was chasing Gonzaga. And
most teams usually do that. They usually have to chase
them around and they lose guys and and uh and
so look, they're they're really good. And I think if
if they played seven times um Gonzaga, it wouldn't be four. Oh,
I know that. But um, I thought it was a

(04:51):
great bounce like you used the term bounce back now.
I thought it was a great bounce back against Savior.
And you know, when you play the third game in
three days, and usually in the three you know, three
days tournament. You know, when you're playing the West Coast
Conference tournament, whatever, produced playing in the Big ten tournament,
you know you're not playing unless you win. And and

(05:12):
it's really hard to play a third game after you
lost a second and you can't win the championship anymore.
That's a mental hurdle and mental challenge that most people
don't really understand. And I thought Gonzaga got back to
being Gonzaga. Julian Strawler was great, Hickman was really good. Um,
it was just it was just more what you expect
from Gonzaga. So I thought, I thought that was a

(05:34):
great next step to being the type of team that
Gizaga can be. And they're good enough to be just
about anybody. UM. But but I really do believe like
this team has to be allowed and it's not like
we're not allowing it. But but there's a lot of
talk out there and the comparison game from last year's
team the year before, UM doesn't I mean, it doesn't

(05:56):
do any good because this is a different group and
if they're allowed to evolve and mature. UM. You know
that this time last year we didn't think very highly
at Kansas, and you know, I put out something that's saying,
here are the eight teams that can win it. In
the middle of the season Kansas, Kansas wasn't in it,
and at the end of the year they had matured
into a team that was capable of winning the thing,

(06:17):
and uh, and I don't I don't discount the probability
that can Zago be among those teams at the end
of the year. Yeah. Kind of to your point about
just us being young and everything, I was. I was
so proud of our team in the Xavier game because
we were up ten twice, I think once early in
the first first half and late in the first half,
and then out of nowhere, Xavier just took just took

(06:40):
a ten point lead and we got down and whether
it's a Tennessee game, which is even even though it's
an exhibition game, it's still a game than the UT game.
We kind of just folded and we kind of just
let this just snowball keep rolling down the hill and
just gain more and more momentum. And we finally just
said that's enough and punched back and really gathered through adversity.
I mean, we didn't really hit shots that we usually did,

(07:01):
like against Kentucky. Like it wasn't a pretty game for us,
and we we answered back to it's kind of just
like finding our character, finding what makes us tick and
knowing that we can do something. Is that's what I
was most proud of this week and from this team,
because it's something that we haven't shown the past, and
it's something that, like you said, we're we got a
bunch of young guys coming into new roles that have

(07:21):
to be there in the spotlight. They don't have the
choice or the luxury of having the patients anymore. So
I think us finding that and also responding again, is
this more ability to our character and maturity and something
that while it does suck to play in the third
place game, I think it was more valuable to go
through that than uh than not to go through it
at this point in the season. Yeah, and Drew like,

(07:41):
so your point about roles, like you've been a lead
dog for for quite a while now, and and so
you know how hard that is. And look, I was.
I was like the fourth leading scorer on a great
team when I played, and if I didn't play well,
we probably were still gonna win. If our best players
didn't play well, we weren't winning. And so there's more responsibility.

(08:02):
So you've had guys that have stepped up, like Julian
last year was an outstanding player, but he wasn't your
lead guy, and he was probably your fourth guy. And uh,
and you know, same thing for for Nolan Hickman. You know,
he wasn't relied upon last year. He's he's an important
piece and a good player. But those guys are stepping
into different, different roles where they've got to carry more responsibility.

(08:25):
And you don't just flip a switch and and Mark
few in search somebody to line up and say, okay,
now you're a lead dog. That takes a little bit
of time. And I think people have been around it
understand it. Um, you don't win these things in November.
You don't win a championship in November, and you build
toward it, and so I I agree. I thought it
was a great experience for your guys. And you know,

(08:49):
your program has always been uh competitive spirit has always
been kind of the chief thing that I've admired more
than anything. I mean, I think I said years ago, like,
you know, you guys come across as choir boys. You know,
you're you're polite, and you go to class and everything,
the game starts and you want to you want to
slash somebody across the throat and and I've always admired

(09:11):
that just how competitive. But but that's not something that
just happens. It has to. It has to. It's a
learned behavior. And uh, and I think I think all
your you know, your teammates stepping into these new roles, Um,
I think they'll get that, and they're getting it now,
but I mean I think they'll get it in a
big way as you go forward. Yeah. I was super
excited too, because I mean obviously you've covered me and

(09:33):
you've seen us play a lot. I mean I think
I scored like eight quick points in the second half,
and I just my body wasn't in it. It was
a third game. It was hard, and I just didn't
have that fire, you know, passion, Like I wasn't cheering
and talking as much as I usually do, which is
a lot. And uh, I think it was huge that
we saw guys like Julian and Nolan really take that
huge leap. And I think that just has to like

(09:54):
people don't see the value in that because like just
the Michigan State game, it was like get drew the
ball and get out of his wall, you know, and
we saw guys take these huge leaps and that's really
when I was so excited about. It's like, yes, everyone
is like where we're here, like, we're getting there, we're learning,
we're getting that competitive spirit. I think that's huge too
for the growth of the team. Was it was good
that I wasn't having one of my best nights because

(10:16):
it forced other people to step up and kind of
put them in the fire, and we saw them really
grow and take off, which is which is what we're
gonna need more of in the future because obviously teams
are gonna be so keyed on the act that you know,
the flat actions to me and the post ups that
I get and everything. And then Ben Ben Greg emerged,
you know, in the in the Purdue game and and
Xavier and look, I mean, I can't tell you how

(10:37):
many times we've come to one of your games to
do one of your games and we've asked your your
staff at practice, you know, is Ben going to start playing?
And uh, and you know, they talked about how good
he is and he's coming. And but if if not
for the issues of having to deal with Zach Eadie,
maybe he doesn't get in the game. And he comes
in that game, he played great, and then he came

(10:59):
he came into the Xavier game, knock the three down.
He's all over the place, keeping the ball alive. Uh.
And now you've got another confident, big guy that you
can bring into the game, and he can really you know,
he gives you a different look. He's different than I thought.
He can step away and knock down a three and
play pick and pop and stretch the floor a little bit.
You know. He's active and big and strong and athletic.
So that that was a somewhat It's not a revelation

(11:21):
to you, but it was a revelation to to a
lot of other people. And it was certainly nice for
his confidence level that he goes into those kind of
big games and producers. True, you had that moment in
the game. The TV picked it up where I think
you were looking right at Ben Gregg and you were
just like, shoot that bitch, and he was like, Okay.
It was an important moment because he started knocking down

(11:42):
some shots and was like at the end of the
like the last six minutes of that game, he was scoring,
he was doing all of everything offensively, defensively. Unfortunately, felled out.
But I'm pretty sure I read your lips correctly. I'm
an elite TV lip reader. I'm pretty sure that's what
you said. You hit that one on the money, and
look his shots fall in the first half and we're like,
it's a wide open shot. We moved the ball and

(12:02):
went back to you and you missed it. But he's
a great shooter. He he he annoys the crap out
of me in practice because he's money and practice, and
I'm like, I'm tired of seeing you do this to
me and not doing it to other people. So it's
about time you do it to someone else. And I
was like, to shoot the ball. No one cares if
you miss it. It's a good shot, and he and
he hit it. He's in his hometown, you know, the

(12:22):
place erupted. It gave us a fire. I mean, obviously,
like Perdue played a hell of a game and we
weren't probably weren't gonna make it back in that game.
But for him to have that moment there, I think
he doesn't look back from this, and it was so
vital for our team for him to get that confidence
under his belt and that sense if he can do
this and he does belong here because we need him.
He gives us our team a different look, at different

(12:43):
dynamic and he just plays with so much hard and
just plays so hard. It's it's refreshing to get especially
like it helps other people get confidence too. No, are
you are you sure you got Are you sure you
got the comma? Right? That that Drew didn't say shoot
that bitch. He said shoot that bitch. It's a little

(13:03):
different and new think. I hope he didn't degrade him
like that. Um, I do have a question for both
of you, because you guys gave up eighty four points,
uh in both those last two games, and you over
the three games your defense averaged giving up eighty two
points a game? Like, how much do both of you
think the defense was an impact? Giving up eighty two

(13:23):
points in a college game is not very much likely
for a good defensive team, and you guys obviously are,
But like what needs to be fixed what you both
see Drew from on the court, j from in the booth,
Like that needs to be addressed kind of to correct
that because eighty two points over three games a lot. Yeah,
I mean, I think first of all, if you go
back and watch the film, Um, it depends on where

(13:44):
the opponent is scoring. So Gonzaga early on in the year,
it has had some turnover issues that have been uncharacteristic
of the program. So I think against Texas they coughed
it up twenty times, Kentucky coughed it up nineteen, it
was at least eighteen against UH against Perdue. And when
you coughed the all up like that, Um, you can't

(14:06):
guard that like you can't guard a run out and
and the same thing when you know, fouling is part
of defense. So so if you foul and put them
on the free throw line, those are those are free
points are given away. So do I think Gonzaga can
be better defensively with help side with rotations, Yes, But
do I think it's a long term problem? No? Um,

(14:28):
But but I do think that that how you run offense, Uh,
this is a connected game like offenses connected to defense.
So if you have a poor offensive possession, you're going
to be putting your defense in a bad spot. So
most of the time, over the last several years longer,
Gonzaga's offense has significantly helped his defense. One being really efficient. Um,

(14:51):
they're making the other team take the ball out of
the net, which obviously slows down their advance and uh,
and you're not playing in disadvantaged situations. But um, I
think I think as the offense continues to evolve, the
defense will automatically kept. There are certain things that that
I think it's agg you could do with again with rotations,
ball pressure, certain things communication to get their defense better.

(15:12):
But but I don't think it's, uh, it's this massive
problem that that you know is crying out for help. Yeah,
what you said is exactly what we saw. You said
it way nicer than coached it today. But a film
was not too fun today because the stuff we're doing
is we're not tagging, or we're tagging too low and
giving a guy a wide open three, or we're helping

(15:33):
in too much or not helping it at all. It's
right now, we're so on the extreme. Myself included in
that Perdue game. I tagged too low and got caught
twice on the three. Then I helped in too much
and gave First a wide open three in the corner.
Like it's just stupid things that like that that I'm doing,
we're doing as a team that are just like easy
mistakes that we can fix. And it's just kind of
like you watched and you're like, did I really just

(15:55):
do that? And obviously like you're embarrassed because coach you
know he's gonna pose it and talk to you for
five minutes in front of everyone and rip into you.
But uh yeah, I think, like Jay said it, we'll
figure it out. I mean, the stuff that we're doing,
we're giving teams easy points and charity, and it's it's
self inflicted. So I think we just got to buckle
down and focus more. But I don't think it's a

(16:17):
lasting issue. That goddamn pause button the coaches have is
the worst invention in mankind. I mean, we used to
have so when I played, we had real the real film,
so we had to watch film on you know, as
a projector. And I played for coach k at Duke,
and he had a button where he could he could
run it back, so it went backwards and forwards and
backwards and forwards. It wasn't just that you could pause

(16:38):
it and uh and have an assistant reset it if
you're watching clips and all the stuff they do now.
So back then he would run it back, and like
there was one time that that I had a loose
ball and if I dove on it, I'd get it.
And he was running it back and forth, running it
back and forth, and there I was reaching for it
back and reaching for it back, and he kept going,

(16:59):
all right, here's the moment of truth. Is he gonna
good could be a good player? Is he gonna suck?
Is he a man? Is he a whim? And he
kept going back and forth and back and forth them like,
and one of my teammates leaned over and whispered, he
can run it back as much as he wants. You're
not getting that ball. That sounds like one of the
many like no offense j but like terrible things about

(17:21):
I don't know, not having technology when you played basketball
like that, it probably so hard to watch film for
you guys, like well, film took longer because you had
to watch the whole thing and there was no you know,
you couldn't clip things together like you can now. I
mean we had, we had a videotape, but we what
he liked to watch regular film. And so when I
was an assistant there, I used to have to drop

(17:43):
the film off to get it developed so we could
watch it the next day. All that stuff. But it
was just, you know, it was a different time, so
things took longer. Now it's much more efficient. So if
you're going in to watch film, a lot of time,
or you know, an assistant has he had to watch
film during the day they've clipped things off, or they
send your clips on your iPad that you can watch
that have teaching points in them. So it's much more

(18:03):
EFFICI and it's let it doesn't require as much therapy
afterwards with your psychiatrist for getting your ass chewed out
beat up as much as we got beat up. I
do have a quick question for both of you again
about that. On the broadcast, Jay, you kept mentioning you
and Dan Shulman about uh Drew's conversations with Zach Eady,

(18:23):
and you kept saying that he looked like a first
baseman chatting up the base runner. And I know that
we were all curious, like what do these two keep
having to talk about? Like are they like they're coming
back to the same conversation or something like that. They
had to pause for fifteen minutes. The next free throw
comes and it's like, all right, we can get back
to this convo, like Drew, what what was going on?
What was going on? Well, at first I was like,

(18:44):
I can't believe I actually blocked a shot. I told him,
I said, I saw that ball go everywhere, and I
was like, oh Ship, here we go. And I was like,
I can't not go for it, and I said, thank
you for not dunking on me. I appreciated it because
I did not want to be on Sports Center top ten.
I mean, what else were you talking about? You're asking
about biggest feet were or something. You guys were jabber

(19:06):
in the whole game. But it was really funny watch it. Yeah.
Then later on he was like, you want to trade shoes?
And I'm like, I mean I have a big foot
and my foot looks pretty small next to yours, so
probably not. And then um, just talking how he liked
for doing stuff how I like in Zaga, Like that's
how I love to play the game because like just
you're talking having regular conversations. Now, don't get me wrong,

(19:28):
I'm more than willing to talk talk ship to people
because that's fun too. But uh, he was a really
nice guy and we we were just having fun playing
the game and just talking about regular stuff and we're like, man,
this game really feels like a March level game right now,
like just how intense it was, and it was just
it was just fun to be in that moment and
enjoy it and not be so serious about it, Jay,
How do you feel about that though, with like newer

(19:50):
generation guys, like this generation of guys saying stuff like that,
if you go on TV and you listen to all
the old cats, like they'll say like, we're soft for
liking that like that, back and forth with opponents, like
how do you feel about that type of dynamic? Yeah,
I'm not. I'm not very big on guys my age
talking about how much tougher it was back in the day,

(20:11):
because I don't think it's true. Um one, I think
that the game is much more difficult now than it's
ever been, so the players are better than they've ever been.
That doesn't mean that if Michael Jordan or Oscar Robertson
or Will Chamberlain played now, they wouldn't be the best player.
I'm not saying that. But the average player today is
is so much better than the average player was thirty
or four years ago or longer. It's not even funny.

(20:33):
And you know, guys my age, if the stop Watch
had never been been invented, they would have said that that,
um that Mark Spitz swam faster than than Michael Phelps.
You know he didn't. He got laughed by the guy,
and you know, things get better over time. And I'm
sure my parents generation thought, you know, my generation was

(20:53):
a bunch of whimps. You know, they were running up
Omaha Beach and fighting World War two and we didn't
have to do any of that. Um So that's just
a function of old people pitching and moaning about being
old people. I don't you know, when I played, there
was some trash talk, but guys weren't as vocal on
the floor as they are now. And we didn't have
the Little League handshake line after the game. If you

(21:15):
shook somebody's hand after the game, you sought him out
to do it. And and there's there's a part of
me that thought that was more meaningful. And but but
I'm fine with the Little League handshake line. I think
it's kind of silly that you shake fifty hands in
a row and think it's a meaningful interaction. But it's
a nice thing, and I don't I'm not one of
those guys that wants it to go away. But we

(21:37):
also didn't know each other as well as you guys
do now, because you know, we played. I played some
au basketball, but it was only a couple of national tournaments,
and the rest of what I did was regional. So
when I went to college, you know, all the top
players around the country, Um, you know, we knew of
each other, but I didn't know what some of the
guys even looked like. I've never met him before. Uh.

(22:00):
You know, if a guy you know played in Washington,
d C. And I grew up in Los Ange, the
lists the chance to be playing against him, we're zero. Now,
all the top players play against each other from the
time there in seventh grade all the way through high school.
So there are relationships there that that that didn't exist
as much when I was playing. So so I I
get and I don't doubt the competitive competitiveness of today's

(22:21):
player or the toughness. Um, I just I'm not like that.
I've never I've never understood questioning that because you know,
you guys like even Drew as a big guy, like
you know, when when I played, a big guy's job
was you met your assignment at the free throw line.
You've got a wrestling match for the low block. And
people say, well, how did you guys guard ball screens

(22:41):
when you were school we didn't have ball screens. Nobody
set ball screens when I played, everybody ran motion offense
or flex or something like that. I didn't have to
guard a single ball screen in college. I didn't guard
a ball screen till the game a pro. And now
a big guy not only has to guard in the
low post, but they got to run out and guard
a ball screen, then get back to the low post.
They got to hedge out and recover and do all

(23:02):
these things. And then we go, how do you got
a foul there? Because he had to guard twelve things
in one possession. Maybe that's why, um, you know, people
don't people don't understand how much more difficult it is
now than it was thirty years ago. Yeah, And I
would say to your point, like even if even like
I'm talking, having conversations doesn't mean I don't want to
kick his ass and beat him and wipe the floor
with them. Like I think for me, like talking to

(23:25):
people usually gets them out of their intensity and out
of their mental focus. And what I try to do
is try to break that, because I can have those
conversations yet still be locked in. And I think that's
a weapon I used to try to get people off
their game. Obviously it didn't work as well. I would
as I would have liked the other hell of a
game as well, But uh, it's fun when you're able
to like enjoy the moment with people like me and

(23:46):
him both wanted to beat each other to a pulp
that game, but we were both able to enjoy the
competition to grind in the game and get the best
out of each other. And I think that's what the
game's all about. Doesn't need to be I hate you
like I hate you, I hate your family like. We
can enjoy the game together and still play game, want
to beat each other, but still be friends the thing
of the game too. I don't think it has to

(24:06):
be all like a quin Tarantino type of game where
everyone has to die at the end. We can all
enjoy the game. The first Quentin Tarantino reference. All right,
slightly off topic before we go to break, Jay, I
have very curious on your thoughts. There's a lot of
conversation about Gonzaga West Coast Conference not being competitive enough.

(24:28):
Does it hurt them, you know, going into postseason play?
Do you think it does? Do you think come tournament
time that playing in the WCC has an impact on
their postseason success? Well? No, I think if it does
hurt Gonzaga, then I think all of the teams in
the Power conferences should petition to for membership to the
West Coast Conference because Gonzaga has been to seventh straight

(24:50):
Sweet sixteen's. They've been to two championship games, uh in
the last five years, six years, and they've been number
one for I don't know how long during that period.
And with all the elite dates and all that, all
the success they've had in the NT double A tournament.
You know, name me all the Power five teams that
have done that with their brutal conference schedules that they

(25:10):
talk about. Um it that that sort of argument that
some people put forth as well. Talk to me, when
Gonzaga wins the championship, well then okay, then we can't
talk about Tennessee or Texas Tech or Perdue or all
these other teams that haven't haven't done it either. It's
hard to do that. I mean, the Big Ten hasn't
won the title since two thousand and and so in

(25:32):
the Pack twelve hasn't done it since since what I mean,
it's nine. What was it when Arizona won it or
if they won one since then, I've I mean, but
that's that's sort of My point is like, like it's
a nonsensical argument. Gonzaga has been knocking on the door
for twenty years now, and they've done it consistently, year
after year after year. And the one thing about the

(25:54):
West Coast Conference that you and Drew know that most
people don't think about is every road game that Gonzaga
plays is a storm of the court game. It's always
loaded people are you know, they wait in line to
get in. It's a fever pitch game. And that's not
true of of a lot of the teams in these
power conferences when they play, they don't they don't face that.

(26:15):
And uh, some of them do, but not that many
and uh, and so it's a it's a different animal.
I would challenge anyone, uh to to switch places with
Gonzaga and play their schedule and see how they do.
I don't think they. I don't think very many of
them would do as well. I got a great story
for you about talking about the lines lined up out
the door and stuff. We uh it was actually the

(26:36):
COVID years. There's no fans, but we go down to
Pacific to play them in they're one in eight in
conference and I mean they just were awful that year
and we roll in there and I mean they're having
the game of their life. It's a super Bowl and
we're going too halftime down like sixteen, and we're looking
around like are we playing Pacific right now? Like what's

(26:57):
going on? And I mean, Coach, it might have been
it sounded probably sounded like b W in our in
our locker room, the way chairs were getting hit, stuff
was getting thrown around. But it's just like people don't
realize that we get everybody's best shot every game. And
not saying that that's not the case in these other
conferences because it is, but like it is hard to

(27:17):
to do that, especially to get up for games like that.
Sometimes I hate to admit that, but it's human nature too.
And uh, our conference does get a lot of like
grad transfers were an older conference. We have a lot
of guys who come from like Power five conferences and stuff.
So I think a lot of people like sleep on
the w c C. I'm not saying it's the top
five conference or anything, but I think it gets overly

(27:39):
hated because we happen to be in it, and like Jason,
we've had a consistent success for so long, it must
be tough. It must be tough for you guys. Every
once in a while, when when fews going off, that
you're getting screamed out by by a person the size
of a garden, nome to go out and get rebounds
or play tougher. I mean, he's been a friend for
a long time, but I think every once in a
while I might just burst out laughing. What do you

(28:01):
hand it? You just look down at him and you're like,
I'm gonna listen to this guy, like I will say,
he has mastered the art of belittling people. He makes
sure we're sitting down, and he gets a chair and
he hits a little mam pose and puts his leg
up on the chair and he's just man spreading it
out while we're sitting down. He's looking down on us
and he makes his peasant spell. He's mastered the art

(28:24):
of that. Bigger than he appears. All right, all right,
this is fantastic, I gotta say, But we do gotta
take a quick break. When we come back. We're gonna
have Jay give a full breakdown on Drew's game. What
he thinks Drew can approve upon the rest of this year,
and so much more you won't want to miss all
coming up when we come back. All right, welcome back
into episode four of the Gimme Timmy Podcast with Drew
Timmy and Noel Bono and our special guest Jay Billis. Men,

(28:46):
it's good to be here with you guys. Before were
diving into this next part. Drew, you know the deal,
he man, Please subscribe. It helps us sleep better, which
you know could equate to some more wins. So if
you want to see Gonzaga keep winning, hit that subscribe button.
All right, let's start us off for this next segment.
J put yourself six months from now on the s
end panel Draft night, Drew Timmy gets drafted. The camera

(29:07):
crew comes over to you guys, and you have to
give your spiel on your evaluation of Drew take us away.
You know, the first thing I would say no is winner.
I mean, Drew knows how to play and does things
that really you can't teach. And he's got a great
feel um for how to use angles, use his body

(29:29):
to get into you know, get into a defender and
then spin off and and to set up a move individually.
Highly skilled and just a magnificent touch with with either hand,
And like, I think the thing that most people are,
most scouts, most observers would say is, you know, not

(29:51):
an above the rim athlete. But so what like Luca
Doncheon's isn't above the rim athlete? Um that that you know?
I I see Drew as an NBA player that's going
to play for a long time. UM game has changed,
has become more of a stretch game in the NBA
and even in college to a to a degree where

(30:11):
things are more spread out and you have to operate
in space a little bit more, both offensively and defensively.
But if there's any player that I've watched over the
years it said I don't care what style you play,
You'll figure it out, I would say it's true. True.
How do you feel about that? I mean, I couldn't
agree more. I'm a little biased, but I mean some
of the things that people knock you for I think

(30:32):
are very addressed, Like can be easily addressed, especially if
you're putt into the correct system. But I mean, you
can always get better at the things that people say
you quote unquote lack. Yeah, I totally agree with that.
I think people said I would struggle coming out of
high school to play college, and I just figured it out.
And I think, obviously I have to work on continuing
to shoot, which I showed at the combine. I can
shoot the ball a little bit with some practice and

(30:52):
some some warm uths. But also you know, I gotta
get better defending. And those are both things I agree with.
Those are both things that I think the more I
just get put in that situation, I'll learn in the depth.
I feel like what I what one thing I am
good at is adapting and figuring things out, like Jay
alluded too, So I think kind of just stone me
in the fire, I'll kind of find my way somehow,
some way, and uh, I'll just yeah, I'll just figure

(31:14):
it out. Jay, can I give you a you can
disagree with me or maybe further this. But sometimes I
think of Drew as like a maybe like a different
version of what Draymond Green does, like just the way
that he could because he could. Drew can move like
the more I've watched him this year, like he'll get
a rebound and push it, nt make a play, getting
to the paint, playoff to kick it. Like he's great

(31:35):
at setting screens on the short roll and then operating
out of that. Like, I think that there's a lot
of potential, especially for a role like that like dray
Draymond Green doesn't get enough credit because he plays with Curry,
plays with Clay, but like his impact on that team
has been proven year after year to be so impactful.
And I don't know, I kind of see Drew could
easily step not I don't know about easily, but eventually

(31:55):
work his way into a role like that. I don't
have any doubt about that there. There's there's zero doubt
that I have about Drew Timmy's game on the offensive
en um. I think defense is always going to be
a challenge, uh in in an NBA setting because of
just how supremely athletic so many matchups are, how often
they have to switch and and guard. So that's an

(32:17):
area just I think people can improve their players can
improve their athleticism. Now, it doesn't mean that that you're
going to take a guy like me and and you
know when I played, and work on your athleticism and
all of a sudden, I'll be I'll be you know
Michael Jordan's That's not the way it works. But I
think you can improve your quickness and agility and uh

(32:37):
speed and strength to a greater degree and put yourself
in a position. And part of part of guarding is
knowing you know when to give space and how much.
That's why, that's why I always tell young players, Um,
you know, I have a basketball camp, and you tell
the young guys, look, man, play as much one on
one as you can play one on one that where

(32:58):
you have to guard somebody that's quicker, and you're gonna
have to figure out, you know, how how do I
how do I stunt? How do I keep in front?
You know, how do I do it at my level
of athleticism? How do I figure it out that way? Um?
And you're not going to do that unless you unless
you get reps where you're put in those uncomfortable positions.
And I just don't know any other any other way
than playing one on one. And guys don't seem to

(33:20):
want to play it anymore. Um, at least they don't
play it as much when they're younger. Everything's geared towards
five on five, a U ball or whatever. Guys don't
even play pick up as much as they used to.
If you don't have a uniform and a scoreboard guys
aren't playing like they used to play a little bit. Yeah,
and but they do more individual work. But the individual
work is all um, is all offensive by yourself with

(33:42):
a ball in your hands, and most of basketball is
played without the ball in your hands. Um there there,
you know, you you might go a forty minute game,
even even somebody who scores as much as Drew and
Drew may only have the ball in his hands for five,
you know, less than five minutes of a forty minute
game if he plays every minute, And that's a lot
of time that you've got to do other things than

(34:04):
than score or dribble or pass. Yeah, Jay, I saw
a picture of you, though, don't sleep you were you
were yoked up back in your day, yoked that. I
was like, wait, that's not the same guy. I knew
where the weight room was. I was a six seven
center and we didn't have anybody else that could do
it at that time, so I had to play center.

(34:24):
And it wasn't my natural spot, and it certainly wasn't
the way I was recruited by anybody but Duke. But um,
but I had to get a lot stronger and uh,
and it might not have been the best you know,
the best thing for my knees. But I did it.
But as soon as I got out of college, man,
I went back to you know, uh, skinnier, skinnier Joe.
You know, I was not I was not like I was.

(34:45):
You were the big homie. I mean I was just
stumped like that. And then I saw you were in
that show. Well, you were in a show when you
were like sixteen, and like, this guy's been doing it all.
I was quite an actor, so I was in the
I was on a show called The White Shadow when
I was in high school and that was like the
hottest show on television in the late seventies early eighties.
And then after I got out of college, I gotta

(35:06):
I gotta part in a science fiction movie where I
played an alien cop and you got to got to
fire a gun with you know, it's like this gun
that fire shot out of. I never had anything I
shot at, but Dolph Londren was the star of the movie,
so that that was kind of cool to be in that. Yeah.
So there's been this kind of like quote quotable thing
going on in the media, like the return of the

(35:27):
Big Men this year. Um, you know, you got Drew,
you got Oscar, You got Hunter Dickinson. I was going
through the list. The other two fell out of my brain,
but they're all back, and I think it's a lot.
It's solely correlated to n I l the you know,
the law being passed. I look at it as a positive,
but I know that Jay, you've had strong opinions about

(35:48):
these players being compensated fairly at their market value. Like,
how do you think now seeing it happen? You know,
it's been a good thing or it's been a bad thing.
Like what's your overall take now that it's actually in motion,
it's been a great thing. Uh, it's just in its
baby steps. I mean it's a it's a step above zero,
but it's nowhere near what the players deserve. Like I

(36:09):
think athletes, college athletes deserve their full economic rights. So
if the if the school wants to sign him to
a contract, they should be able to sign a contract
with the school. They should be able to accept, earn
or accept any amount of money that's available to them
in the marketplace without restriction. And we're not there yet,
but um, you know, listen to all the you know, Pollyanna,

(36:31):
you know complaining the n C double a did, And
by that I mean not just the office in Indianapolis,
but all the member schools and the e d s
and like saying, well, this is going to ruin everything
and people are gonna stop watching and amateurism is the
only thing that makes college sports unique. And that was
a lie. Uh you know, you watched Ohio State in
Michigan play football and Saturday was the most watch game
in football history. Yeah, fans don't care how much money

(36:55):
the players make. No one was thinking about that. They
were not. They don't. You know, they get it. And
you know, to me, it boggles the mind that schools
can make the incidentble. They can make literally billions of
dollars a year and then claim that they don't have
enough money for the players. It's it's it's never been true.
And and now you're hearing these stories. I just read
something today in some publication that talked about, well, now

(37:19):
this is opening up players to exploitation, and like exploitation.
No a player here there can get hoodwinked by a
bad deal. That's possible. Just like if you allow one
year olds to consume alcohol, you know, somebody may get
a d U I or or or get arrested for
public intoxication. But it's not happening to everybody, and so
are we supposed to? Um? Is it better just don't

(37:42):
let them have any money. That way, nobody gets hoodwinked.
That makes no sense. Um, players now Drew included are
not only benefiting economically from the enterprise, but they're they're
setting themselves up for the future. They are learning a
great deal about handling money, about doing business deals, about
managing this kind of thing and doing their other stuff, um,

(38:05):
which they wouldn't have that opportunity until they went pro
And and I just never felt like it was the
right thing to, like, you know, have an economic blindfold
on the players and pretend that the free market didn't
exist for them. It does exist, and they should be
able to take advantage of it. And I'm glad to
some extent they're able to do that now. UM. And
I don't. I don't see any downside to it. I

(38:27):
just don't. And I know some of the coaches don't
like it because it's harder for them to keep their
rosters together, and you know, they're they're they they're having
to listen to things they never had to worry about before.
But I mean, I'm sorry, they're just gonna have to
get used to it because it's not that big of
a deal. Yeah. Let me let me tell you how
much I learned about the real world real quick. On
my first paycheck. I got it, and I was so excited.

(38:48):
I was like, this is all my money, Like, let's go, Like,
let's go. I didn't know what to do. And then
all of a sudden, like no, my mom is like, no,
you gotta pay your taxes. You've got to pay your agent.
How was like and that check went from this to you?
And I was like what, Like I knew it was
a thing, but to actually like it happened to you,

(39:09):
and like happen to your own money that like you
feel like you earned every penny of it was crazy
And it was a great experience to learn. And now
the way I do my deals and go about my
business is way different than I initially thought it would be.
And even just the time commitments that it takes, balancing
school at athletics and and like just commercials or whatever
deal I'm doing at the time. Like, I've learned so

(39:31):
much about life and how to communicate with other people,
make hard decisions, turn good things down for better things
and also miss out on opportunities that I thought were bad.
So it's forcing me to learn and grow up a
lot more, I feel like in college, and I would
with just a regular education. Don't get me wrong, Like
you need to degree. It's a great thing to have,
but like you can't teach this real world experience until

(39:51):
you actually like are put in it. And I'm it's
just awesome to be able to learn this while still
at school and to have people that still like take
care of you and are also like you're under your
under their wings. So like this experience for me has
been awesome just to learn for like what I need
to know down the road because I didn't know what
taxes where. I mean, I knew what they were, but
how to do them and file them and how much
it costs. I still really don't, but like I know

(40:13):
enough about I'm not really making what they say I'm making.
So uh, it's it's it's pretty cool to know that.
Well when I was playing, if you know, I was
on an Instia double a committee when I was in
college when I was a college player, and uh, and
I would raise the issue from time to time and
meetings about how unfair I thought it was, and some
of the responses I got where this is the way

(40:34):
it is. If you don't like it, you don't have
to play. Or you know, if you want to make money,
go out and get a real job. Well, if I
went and got a real job, I'd have to pay taxes.
If I flipped burgers somewhere, bad groceries, or you know,
worked on a construction crew, I still got to pay
tax And it takes time away from school and all
these other things. So I just don't understand the difference
in it. You know, if you can go out and
get a job, then you can go out and do

(40:55):
this and uh and I think all the experiences that
you're having and your colleagues are having are net positives,
nothing but positive. Um. And plus you know, for you
and Oscar Sheboy and all these other guys that KNOWA
mentioned that are coming back to school, you know, for
for people like me. Because I do believe it's true.
I think the best place for a young person to

(41:15):
bees in college. But but um, you know, it shouldn't
be exclusive to those who want to forego making money.
And uh, so you're not only making money and playing
in your school is getting great service out of you,
out of your services. They're getting great benefit out of
your services. But you're getting what everybody says this is about,

(41:37):
and you're getting education and a degree. So how is
that not a good thing? I just don't understand where
the negative is here. And uh and frankly, I don't
think I'll ever understand the arguments against it. Yeah I know.
And uh, let's say, let's say and I O was
a thing back then. How how financially responsible to young
J billis be? Oh? I would have been well financially responsible.

(42:00):
First of all, I would have been a money making machine.
Uh um. I would have like the you would have
been stacking the paper, the the well one, the amount
of flowing hair that I had, plus uh, you know,
the super athletic body. It would have been underwear, ads,
shampoo products, you name it. Uh. So I mean I

(42:21):
would have been making money hand over fist. Now what
I did with it would have been would have been
an issue because I certainly would have bought the fanciest
car and uh and driven it all around town with
the top down, Blair in the stereo. So don't get
mad at me when I ask you this question. But
you just mentioned you had that long, nice hair. Drew's

(42:42):
guy just got good hair. I pried myself off my
hair like the day you started losing it? Was it
were you upset? It was like damn it? Or did
you know it was coming? You could prepare for it,
like I'm nervous, like I don't want it to happen
to me. I don't I knew it was coming. I
mean you you obviously see it, you know, kind of retreating, uh,
like a you know, like a French soldier in the or. Um.

(43:05):
So when it when it happened, I mean, yeah, I was,
I was aware of it. Um. The major thing was
when when I realized, all right, this is a total
losing battle here. Let's just totally surrender and get rid
of it all um, because you know, you see some
of these you know, guys my age that will have
nothing up top and they keep some sides like that

(43:28):
that doesn't work. Yeah, that's yeah. So I took it
all down. And then and then I you know, actually
it happened with mccarnowski when when he had that beard work,
and somehow I got involved in this challenge of if
Gonzaga makes the final four. So their first Final four
was probably seventeen. I said, uh, I said, all right,

(43:50):
you guys make the final four, I'll grow a beard.
And then they make the damn final four. And so
I started growing a beard. I couldn't get at the
Karnowski level because my wife. My wife wouldn't let me
stay in the house if I did. But but I
actually enjoyed having hair on my head, even though it
was the bottom of my head. I enjoyed having hair
on my head again. So I've kept kept the stubble
going just to prove that I can grow hair other

(44:12):
than out my ears and my nose. You had something
back there to shampoo and condition every once in a while.
It's good. I just like it's a great read by you.
I feel bad for the guys that just hold on
to the doughnut. It's like like, look like, I mean,
you probably would never do this, but like Lebron does,
like you can tell he does the transplant thing or whatever.
It's like he just refuses to be at peace. He's

(44:33):
gonna be bald one day. Like at least the transplant
is a legit effort um. If you go comb over
or you decide to you know, have the sides with
nothing up top. Um, you know the total that you know,
it looks like an egg wearing a coat. Um. I
was not. I was not into that. It just it

(44:54):
just sort of sort of screamed out like I just
wanted to totally embrace it. Um. The only problem I
have now, like it's baldmin issues. Um. When I play
golf during the summer, sometimes I'll get the golfer tan
where you know, like below the hat, I've got this
great tan. Then you take the hat off and yeah,

(45:14):
yeah it's like all white. But I have to choose
between skin cancer and that, So I gotta, I gotta.
You know, my wife gets on me a little bit
about that. Um, Okay, back to the the n I
L things. I have like two little small ones for
your I feel like there's a huge hurdle, like mental
hurdle people refuse to do like that they're going to
have to do about it being a good thing that

(45:36):
college athletes getting paid, Like how do how do those
people that have that resistance towards it just get the
funk over it like it's a good thing. Well, I
don't think. I don't think I care anymore. What they think.
You know, they're not asking what coach k or Mark
Few or Jay Wright or you name any coach out there,
what they're making outside of their contract. You know what,

(45:58):
what car do they drive? Where do they get that watch?
You know, they're not asking any of that stuff. And
it doesn't matter. And and the truth is, it really
doesn't matter in the in the NFL, the NBA or
Major League Baseball. Like people might be interested in what
somebody signs for whether they can get the player they
want in the marketplace, But how few people, really after
a game, are going that guy makes not much money

(46:20):
and he couldn't complete that pass, Like it's just not
that big of a deal. And you know, you hear
some of the old time guys say, well, now there's
gonna be a lot more pressure on these young players
that that you know, they come in there and they're
getting paid. If they don't produce, they're gonna have to
listen to all this stuff. I think they'll be okay, yeah,
because they were listening to it anyway. I mean, I
read social media when they were amateurs, so it's not

(46:41):
like anybody gave him a break. On social media. They
were criticizing him just as much. So, if you're gonna
get criticized and you're gonna get scrutinized and watched this much,
you might as well get paid your value while you're
doing it. I was about to say, it feels a
lot the Twitter. Here's a lot less now that I'm
making a little bit of money with it than it
used to. That's fantastic. How could it pierce your armoring?

(47:05):
It doesn't even make at this point, it really doesn't matter.
I mean, I mean, yeah, it never matters what people
say because you know, even even what what some schlept
like me says on television, Uh, it might seem like
it matters, but you know, all that stuff goes away
and all you're left with are whatever accomplishments the player has.
And then you know, people watch the highlights of it.

(47:26):
There's there's there's nothing on the highlight. They just watch
the highlight. And so it's not that all this stuff
isn't that big of a deal. And the thing is,
if you're not good and you can't play, you're not
going to get paid. Jay My last question before we
go to break um, just like the direction you see
college basketball going, like there's this transfer portal stuff, how

(47:46):
players are utilizing it on a year to year basis.
You know how much of it is good, how much
of it is bad? Like player mobility is now a thing.
You can say it started with Lebron back in the
day and now it's translated into college. Like, where's your
take on it that that number in the transfer portal
gets bigger and bigger every single year. I don't know
whether it's good or bad. I think it comes down

(48:06):
to a lot of individual decisions. And some individual decisions
are great for those particular individuals. Some you make question
like if if the next place is going to be
the best fit, or if they should stay where they are. UM.
You know, some coaches have taken the tack that you know,

(48:26):
no player wants to go through it. At the first
sign of adversity, they're out the door, as if you
know everybody now recruits saying, come to our place where
you'll go through adversity. UM. I've never understood that. UM.
I think I think it's based on each person, because
people transfer for different reasons. Somebody's not playing enough, or
they're just not happy in this environment. It's not the

(48:48):
best place for their mental health or their girlfriend is
at another school and they want to leave, or they
want to get closer to home. There's no one thing. Um,
some of them lead because they're in an I L.
Opportunities are better somewhere else. That's fine too. Um. One
of the things that that people miss is, you know,
there's there's only been a transfer restriction in five sports

(49:11):
in n C Double A history. Football, men's and women's basketball, hockey,
and baseball are the only sports where you have to
sit out a year. Every other sport you could transfer
be eligible right away. So how could the n C
Double A justify that? I mean, it was based upon money. Frankly,
these were money sports, and in the transfer restriction, sitting
out a year was nothing more than than a non

(49:32):
compete provision in an employment contract. So if you want
the players to stay, if you want a player to stay,
then sign him or herd of a contract and then
you'll have some authority over that player. But if they're
going to remain unpaid by the school, they should have
the right to leave just like any other student. And
I've never seen any other student transfer, and they transfer

(49:53):
at a higher rate than players do when regular students transfer.
Non athletes students just a day when they transfer, Nobody
tells them, all right, well, you can't play in the
band end this year because you have to acclimate yourself
to the new school. I'm sorry, you can't participate in
the drama department because you have to take a year
and acclimate yourself to your new school. That that makes
no sense. And the n C double A gave up

(50:16):
on it because it was making them look bad in
court when they were fighting over money. They were fighting
over keeping money out of the player's hands. So we
can put some reasonable regulation on it that you have
to declare by a certain point. You can't just transfer
the day before school starts or things like that, to
bring some sort of sanity into it. But other than that,
I don't have any problem with it at all. And
if if if the grass is not always greener, or

(50:39):
if the best thing to do for a player is
to stay or to transfer and sit out, then reason
with that player and and sell it and get the
player to agree to it. Otherwise they should be able
to allow they should be allowed to do what they want,
just like any other students. I totally agree with that.
Like my freshman year coming into GAZAG I knew Killy

(51:02):
and Tilly and Philip intrusive, we're ahead of me. I
knew that the odds of me coming in and starting
as a freshman right away, we're probably for slumder none.
And like, I think it just it forces coaches and
programs to show more transparency as long, along with the
players as well. I think this will like get rid
of all the shadiness in college basketball because now you
can't really like it is now you can leave right away.

(51:24):
I mean, what you get one free one. But like
I think it allows people to be more transparent and
more honest, and you take away people paying people under
the table, like it's it's making the game cleaner. On
the whole, I think all this stuff, well, obviously it
does have its negatives, Like on the whole, it's way
more good than it is bad. And I think it's
going to change the landscape of recruiting with more honesty
and transparency, which is what everyone with, which is what

(51:46):
both parties deserve, because this is life changing decisions that
kids and coaches are making. Facts all right, I hope
everyone listeners and enjoying. These guys are dropping some great
now good time having a blast, I could go all day,
but we do got to take our last break. Coming up,
we have a variety of different quick hitters for j
that will goes home about some of his predictions on
this college basketball season, some of his favorite things, maybe

(52:08):
a coach k story, and we got a lot coming
up right when we come back. Welcome back into episode
four of the Gimme Timmy Podcast with Drew Timmy and
Noah Buno. We have j Billis with us here in
the home stretch before we get back into it. Drew, guys,
I'm gonna say it again, if you want to mind,
please get that subscribe button. Helps me some better sleep,
which could possibly get us some more wins. And Uh,

(52:28):
it's always a good day when the Zag's win for
most people in therea actually for the people that liken Zag.
I should say so, all right, JA, this season thus far,
what team or what player who have you seen that
you've liked the most or maybe been surprised by the most?
Uh surprised I was. I don't know that I was surprised,
but I was really impressed by Creighton when I saw

(52:50):
them uh in MAUI. I had watched them a lot
last year and thought they were really good. Uh. They
had two guys hurt in the n C Double A tournament,
still almost beak Kansas in the second round. UM, and
Brian Nemhard was out than Ryan Kulkrner all there. They
led the nation in Ryan's and they were both out. UM.
But they're they're legit. They can really score, really talented

(53:12):
uh and deep and older. Um, they're really good. I've
been surprised at just how good Virginia is. UM. They
were coming on at the end of last year, but
they've added some new pieces. They've got all five starters
back and sometimes that's good news and sometimes it's bad news.
You know, you don't have a great year and all
five starters come back, it might not be great. But
they're they're legit um and UH. And I've been really

(53:35):
impressed with the with the way they've played. And then
Texas would be another one that surprised me with just
how good they are, that that they're the real deal.
Their guards are excellent. We probably put too much on
him last year with all the quality transfers they had.
It took them a while to figure it out, but
they figured it out. God Drew's having nightmares about Texas. Hey, man,

(53:57):
I got nothing, I got I can say nothing but
just tip my hat to him. Man, they're at there
a hell of a team and they got a hell
of a coach, so they were really they they were
crazy like what that game specifically against Gonzaga was like
they could there. I might have given them a little
extra juice after the year before his performance so that
they were ready for that game. Yeah, you think you'd

(54:18):
give us an early season prediction, like a final one
team you really think is gonna hit the final four?
Maybe even if you think there's you know, one team
far and beyond that could really win the national championship?
Are we too early? I got to say us too.
By the way, I wouldn't want to put that much
pressure on you. Um, I don't. This year is different

(54:39):
than the last couple of years. I don't know that
there's a team or teams that are heading shoulders about
everybody else. I think it's really even. And you know
this year, um just like last year. You know, teams
play really well in November and December and you start
thinking they could be unbeatable, that kind of thing, and
they can't sustain it. And other teams that don't look
as good. Continue to go in the lab every day

(55:01):
and get better. Like we met in Kansas last year,
I didn't think in December or early January that Kansas
and any shot to win the thing, and uh, and
they come out and win it. So uh, you know,
I think Arizona Yukon. Um. You know, we talked about
Purdue and and all that. Arkansas is really good. They're

(55:21):
just super young, but they're super athletic. And if they
get Nick Smith Jr. Back. He played a couple of
minutes in their last game against Troy. Uh. And then
San Diego stays pretty good. I don't know if their
final four good, but they're a lead eight good. Uh.
They played an overtime game with Arkansas that that proved
that in Maui. So um, I think I think there

(55:41):
are a bunch of teams that are going to contend
and a lot of it's going to come down to how,
you know, do you use January February to really get
better and then can you stay healthy, you know, be
healthy when you get to March. Yeah. I think this
year's really wide open, at least playing a couple of
teams and then even just kind of watching games. I
feel like that COVID year, everyone kind of knew was

(56:03):
going to be us in Baylor at the end, just
because I felt like we were pretty head and shoulders
above like kind of the rest of the field. And
this year it's more of like any team could get hot,
like like Texas got hot. Like if they play like that,
I don't think anybody could beat them the way they
played against us. But then vice versa, like Perdue played
really well against us, and like they I feel like
they could have beat most teams. And then the way

(56:24):
we played Kentucky, we could probably beat any team the
way we played against them. So it's kind of like
this thing where I think it makes marks really interesting
because there is no clear cut favorite where a team
can have a bad game and still win. It's like
it really is one game and you're done, and that
could really change the landscape of March because it is
so wide open this year. I feel like, yeah, I
like the parody throughout college basketball. There's also a lot

(56:46):
of parody in the NBA currently. J I've heard you
say before you watch NBA college high school, you like
to see it all, like you think there's the most
parody and or slash talent that like just basketball on
every level has heading into yes, yes, this is Uh,

(57:07):
the game has never been in better shape. Um as
far as talent is concerned. Because the talent is international.
You're seeing great players come from everywhere around the world.
And uh, and you're seeing guys that were it looks
like they were built to play. UM. You know, when
I was playing in college, I don't remember anybody saying,

(57:27):
you know, talking about length. You know, you you heard
about how tall a guy was, or how good, how
many points, but you didn't talk about length. And uh,
and now you've got these guys. It seems like everybody
every time you turn around, you're dealing with some six
five guys got a seven ft wingspan and that that's
incredibly difficult to deal with when you're dealing with length, um,

(57:50):
scoring over it, getting passes past it. Uh. And and
now on the college level, the pro level, these guys
are all long, superior athletes that are super skilled. And uh,
it's just I think it's been it's been the best
time I can remember to watch the game. Like people say, oh,
the eighties was the best time for basketball, and I

(58:12):
got I go back and watch those games, they were
not they're not as exciting as they are now they're great.
Like Jordan was playing all that. You know, I played
against him in college. But but it's way better now.
It's so good to have you on our side for that.
Those arguments would be you do you know you could
be arguing with well, j Billis agrees with us that
this generation is better, better than It's so hard to

(58:32):
talk to older people about that. I don't know, it's
just from my experience, but well, like I don't know
what it is about basketball. I talked with Rex Chapman
about this on his show. Um, you never hear this
in other sports, Like nobody says, you know, do you
think Tom Brady could have put these numbers up if
he had to play against the nineteen sixty Green Bay
Packers and Rain Nichky, Like do you think that that uh,

(58:54):
Simone Biles would have wanted gold medal if Olga Corbett
were in the field. You know, nobody says that crap,
but they say it in basketball, and I've never understood it.
Like everything in America gets better over time except basketball players.
It doesn't make any sense, Like the the offenses are
more sophisticated. The defenses are more sophisticated, the coaches are better,

(59:15):
the players are more athletic. Um, they're they're the only
The only thing I would say for my era that
we would have a chance now is that so many
of these teams are younger and we weren't. We were older. Um,
obviously we were younger. We're freshman. Like my my team
started all freshman when we when I got there. Um,

(59:35):
But when we were seniors, we were a bunch of
twenty two year olds that had a ton of experience together.
Now you're dealing with teams that aren't as experienced together,
that aren't as old. So maybe we could be competitive,
But that's the only reason every other area, Um, we wouldn't.
We wouldn't have a chance. Jay, I have a million
questions for you, and I'll try to keep them short.

(59:57):
But your scale of the amount that you watch the
NBA verse you watch college, what is the scale equal
one more than the other. It's ten to one college
because because I have to cover it, so um, you know,
I'll watch if I've got a Gonzaga game coming up,
I'll watch their last three games or so um on

(01:00:19):
on Synergy, I use the same scouting service that college
and NBA teams use. So I'll watch it that and
you know, I got I got the TV on now
watching games and and all that stuff. So I watch
NBA when I can, uh, and when I don't have
work to do, um, just for the pleasure of it,
because I enjoy watching it. I I and I watched

(01:00:39):
FEBA basketball because their offenses are so sophisticated and they're
more innovative than offenses you see here frankly, and a
lot of NBA teams are taking from it, a lot
of college teams. I mean, the stuff Gonzaga is running
now is more European than than American. And I remember
when I first started covering Gonzaga, probably in the late

(01:01:02):
nineties early two thousand's, UM, they ran flex and then
they started running motion, uh, some motion concepts, and then
they combined it. I think, I think few and uh
Leon Rice and Billy Greer used to call it floation.
You know, it's kind of a flex motion type thing.
And it's totally different now with all the vertical cuts
and second cutter action and uh, you know, random ball

(01:01:24):
screens and drags and all that stuff. It's totally different
than it used to be and more more, I would say,
more along along the lines of what you would see
a European ProTeam run. Yeah, it's a complex offense. It's
amazing they could run it with so many small mines
out there. Ship um, no column, see, I had I

(01:01:48):
had a question for you, man. I'm very curious. You're
talking about how you luck in for broadcasts and stuff,
and you're big music and lyrics guy, so I was
kind of curious, what's what's your pregame juice before a broadcast?
Where do you bump in before you get on the
get on the set, and you've got to deliver some
energy to people watching at home. I have a I
have a I listened to Spotify now, so I have

(01:02:10):
a Spotify playlist that I've downloaded, and it is about
as eclectic as you can imagine. I've got rap and
hip hop, I've got old school Rolling Stones and led Zeppelin,
got some country on there. Um, And it goes in
a lot of different directions. So it basically is whatever
comes up on the playlist, and every once in a

(01:02:30):
while have something that pops up and I go not
the mood next, um. But but I don't. I don't
like have an anthem that I listened to fire me up.
I don't need to get fired up to watch a game.
I'm fired up anyway, And I don't got to play
like you have to play. I just I just have
to sit there and watch. Is that playlist shareable? I
think so. I don't know. I don't really know how

(01:02:52):
to do it, but I'm sure I could. What do
you got in there? Like a couple of hundred songs?
Or you keep it short like it's more than a thousand?
I think let me see, let me see if I
can pull it up here and read off of it.
Hope can't start playing? What what would you say like
new gen? While you're looking for new gen rappers or
hip hop or just somebody in this new generation that
you've you've been turned onto, Like, what do you there is?

(01:03:15):
I got a lot of jeezy on here. We know
about the jezy thing, we know about we know we
see your Twitter with the quotes. Man, we're gonna ask
if there's someone else you got on your radar, a
new up and coming guy that you really like. We
might get I'm probably gonna get exposed as not listening
to what I should listen to. No, seriously, you think
you ever take the Jez thing and you just replace

(01:03:38):
his rap lyrics with like a new guy that you're like,
all right, like I'm gonna do what I did with Jez,
but I'm gonna do it with so and so. Like
does that that transformation ever happened? I have. I have
slipped a couple in from from Jay Z and Rick
Ross and some others. Um, and then every once in
a while, I haven't done this in a while, but
every once in a while I would put like a

(01:03:58):
very man alone lyric in there, and I got to
go to work. See if anybody noticed. Um. But yeah,
I mean, I you know, I don't listen only to
to hip hop. It made it, you know, the Jez
thing made it sound like I do, but I don't.
It's just one thing I like because when I was
in high school, I don't know if it was the first,
but it was the first mainstream rap song I ever heard.

(01:04:18):
Was called Rappers Delight by the sugar Hill Gang, and
it's probably nine seventy nine when I just got to
high school. So my teammates and I listened to that
all the time, and we would sing it when we
were working out and stuff like that. Um. So I
started looking at my teammates in college. We're we're big
into it. Um So some of it kind of rubbed
off on me. Um. But my son probably has more

(01:04:40):
up to date stuff than I do by far. Yeah,
he's probably keeping you, keeping you hip to this generation.
He he doesn't share it with me. He just listens
to it him. So it was too cool. He's too
cool to hang out with me. Yeah. Um, in the seventies, O,
your your your playlist was like, I don't know what Boston,

(01:05:01):
Tom Petty like, who who you vibe into? Back in Yeah,
I mean so back in the seventies. Um, the late seventies,
I probably didn't, you know, when I was younger in
the early seventies, it was still the Beatles, So I
was a huge Beatles fan. They broke up, you know,
probably about the time I was in second grade or
third grade whatever. Um, So I listened to a lot

(01:05:21):
of Beatles. My brother really liked it. He's older, so
I had had some of that. Elton John was really
big in the seventies. But you're right, Boston was you know,
had a had a little hey day for a while,
and uh, and then I became I got really into uh,
you know, Rush led Zeppelin, and then I became a
kind of rolling Stones obsessed for quite some time. And

(01:05:43):
that's carried through to now. And then you know, I
listened to Pearl Jam and the cars were big in
the seventies early eighties. Um, so I listened to listen
to all that stuff. But I don't think the eighties
was a good period for music. Frankly, what's your period?
Much better now? Oh? Now, sixties and seventies were far
better than the eighties. The eighties a lot of techno

(01:06:04):
crap and uh, and there was a lot of stuff
that you listen to it now. An, I can't believe
we listened to that. Um, but it's way better. It's
way better now. You big concert guy, you go to
a concert, you turn up. No, I mean I went
to concerts when I was younger, and uh, the last
last concert I went to was probably I saw the

(01:06:26):
Stones and then I had Stones tickets and and COVID
knocked it out. Um. I like, uh, I like kind
of smaller venued concerts. I saw Grant Hill's wife Tamia, um,
and a smaller venue recently about a year ago, a
year to ago, and she was awesome. Um, but I don't.
I don't go to big venue concerts anymore. I probably should,

(01:06:47):
but I don't. Your Hollywood man, I don't think you
could show up there without a v I p pass
some security guards around you. I wouldn't want to. Uh.
That's actually where you know, kind of being a basketball
commentator screwed me over, because I you know, you sit
in the front row of every game. So now if
I'm in like the twelfth throwe, I'm like, what the
hell is this? I can't see anything here, spoiled the privilege. Um,

(01:07:12):
all right, let's jump to a couple of quick hitters
and then we're gonna get out of here. Um. I'm
a book junkie, so I want to get a couple
of book recommendations that you would recommend to me. People
listening don't matter just me. I'm not a big books
We can get him on board, but a couple of books.
Maybe you give a starter book for Drew and then
like some advanced REX for us avid readers. The last

(01:07:34):
book I I read um of a more contemporary nature,
was called The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein. It
was about um, it was about how our society has
segregated itself. And it was done not de facto but
de jura. That it's that that segregation and discriminatory practices
are still embedded in law in our country. And it

(01:07:56):
was fascinating. Was you know, empirical and uh so it's
not necessarily uh you know, the easiest eat, but once
you dive into it a little bit, I was fascinated
by it. And then I read a book. I reread
a book that I read in college that is still
my favorite book of all time. It's called Confederacy of
dunce Is by John Kennedy O'Toole, and it's been out

(01:08:19):
there a long time, but but it's a it's a
fabulous book. All right, Next question for you? What TV
show should I get into? I'm a TV show kind
of guys. So you've got any good recommendations for me? Yeah?
I just finished Yellowstone or not finished it. I just
I just got into the most recent season of Yellowstone.
I still I don't know why I like that show

(01:08:39):
so much. My parents just a bunch of cowboy There's
a bunch of cowboys beating the crap out of each other,
but it's it's really good. I watched that, you know,
I've watched that every time, every time it comes on,
and uh and then I've been watching a lot of
these English murder mysteries. My wife and I watched a
show called broad Church that we really liked. Um and

(01:09:02):
then I just watched I've curtailed a lot of this
stuff because I'm busy with other things during the season,
but I just watched that. UM. I think it was
Facing Nolan or Facing Ryan. It was. It was about
Nolan Ryan the Hall of Fame picture and it was awesome.
I mean, I loved it. I loved every minute of
that thing. And uh so I would I would commend

(01:09:23):
that highly. Two shows, did you watch? People talk about
ted Lasso a lot? And are you on the House
of Dragon train. I haven't started House of Dragon. I
was late to Game of Thrones and I got into
that during the pandemic. My son found out I hadn't
seen it, and he's like what, and he's like, you
have to watch this. Yeah, And when you said, give it,

(01:09:46):
and I was like, I don't want to watch a
bunch of you know, medieval dragons flying around. I'm not
that's what I said. And then I was like, yeah,
I made the best decision ever. I blew through that
thing in three weeks, the whole thing, and uh, and
I couldn't stop watching it. I was like an addiction
for his like crack um. So, but I haven't gotten
into I haven't gotten into House of Dragon yet. I

(01:10:08):
did watch ted Lasso. I loved season one. I didn't
I wasn't as into season two. I wanted to be
funny and not poignant. I want to laugh. It was
pretty so yeah, yeah, so I enjoyed that. Um and
then uh, I love Breaking Bad when I when I
first watched it, and then I watched Better Call Saul,

(01:10:30):
which is almost as good. It's almost as good. My
problem with those shows, like my brother has been trying
to get me on Better Call Saul, but like the
Progression and Breaking Bad took so long to get to
the good stuff, Like the first two seasons of Breaking
Bad to me are unbearably slow and just like I
want to fall asleep. You don't like him cooking out
in the because he wasn't really cooking that much. Jay,

(01:10:54):
I do have a tip, not a tip, but a hint.
House of Dragons I might, I might be wrong. People
will criticize me. But too much incest, not enough dragons,
that's it. That's my critique. Yeah, incest usually turns me
off the show, So yeah, I would be more into
the dragon's part. I would agree. It's it's the amount
of a general rule. The amount of it though that

(01:11:15):
they're portraying is like, all r enough is enough. Being
the southern man myself, I was like, all right, not
even I've had enough of this. Let's uh ja favorite
car you own? I only own one. My wife owns
the other one. I I only have one car. I
have an Autie um Q eight. It's ah and it's

(01:11:39):
it's bigger than any car I've ever had, which I
like because I can fit in it and it has
massage seats so everything. My wife and I sit in
and have a drink just in the garage while does it?
Does it massage while you're driving? Or is that yeah?
Oh yeah. My wife didn't want me to buy it.
She's like, you don't need a new car, And I said,
what what does need have to do with anything I do? Now? Um,

(01:12:02):
there's nothing I you know, I don't I want this?
And so I took her on a test drive. We
went down to look at it, and uh, and I said,
press that button on the side, and she had started
massaging her back, and she goes, I think you should
get that you don't want You don't want another one
like you only want the autie, like I would have
expected you to have at least like three three in
the garage. No, I don't like paying for it. Took

(01:12:26):
me a long time to buy a new car. I had.
I drove used cars for a long time and because
I thought, you know, would a waste of money. You know,
the car los a ton of value when you drive
it off a lot. But now that I'm a little
bit older and I'm not, I'm now I'm looking at
how many years I have left to live. I'm not
driving to use cars anymore. I'm getting what i want.

(01:12:46):
I'll feel that. Man, I'm a simple man. I'll put
my money at one car is good for me. And
I got one last question for you, and this one,
this one's personal, man, So get ready, what is it
gonna take for me to get a nine ft with
Jay Billis? Because I haven't got one yet, and I'm
just I've been waiting for the time available. I mean

(01:13:09):
I've done it, you know when when I come up
there to do a game. You know, if if we're
there at practice, all few he has to do is
agree to it. I'll go with you. You were just
in Portland together. What happened? We couldn't get There was
no way for us to get the space to do
it because there were games being played all the time.

(01:13:30):
So yeah, we couldn't. We couldn't fit it in. I
mean we had thirty two games on the air during
that period, and we probably had two hundred people in
Portland doing all those games. I mean, it was ridiculous
how much product there was on the air. But yeah,
that I'll tell you have some questions coming at you.
We'd have to turn around do it. I've done it
with Gonzaga players before. I think I didn't want with

(01:13:52):
ruy Hashi mora um. He did it all in Japanese. Yeah,
we dubbed it. We dubbed it in afterwards phony phony
answers like like who the hell are you? I thought
all doing stuff like that, and I thought that could
have Ruey was a huge missed opportunity for Gonzaga, especially

(01:14:12):
in his early time there when English wasn't his his
strong suit. I thought there could have been a great
like TV show that would have been hot on Netflix
of of the the Japanese player recruited by the American
coach and living together, and we could have called it

(01:14:32):
Ruey and Fewy. It would have made What can you do?
I don't think I don't think that's a lost cause.
I think you can revive that somehow, or started, you
can start at somehow. Yeah, it's a fire name. I
mean yeah, like like Ruey leaving a message for Mark
on the door with a post it and it's too

(01:14:53):
high for Mark to have seen. All Right, I got
one more for you've done a lot of traveling? Where
and what is the best pizza you've had? Wow, that's
a good one, the best, but probably in New York, um,
or or actually there's Detroit. Detroit pizza is really good.
Um have you ever had Detroit pizza? It's kind of
a cross between, you know, kind of thick crust New

(01:15:15):
York and uh and you know it's kind of Chicago style.
You said New York. Are you going New York or Detroit? Well, no,
I said in New York, but second would be Detroit.
But like, I actually like Detroit style pizza better than
Chicago style. All Right. I get into a lot of
debates with people about because I'm from New Jersey whatever
close to New York, and I'm wholeheartedly believe those are

(01:15:37):
the two best places you can go get pizza. So
that's what I recommend. I'm glad you said New York
because it's a it's a true statement. You go to
the South Drew, you've never had good pizza. Sorry, as
long as they have ranch, not cucumber ranch, not some
weird ranch. Like, as long as they got ranch, I'm
gonna like the pizza. So that's all I care about.
Like like ranch dressing. Yeah, I like ranch with my pizza.

(01:16:00):
That doesn't enter that doesn't enter a pizza conversation. That
you get kicked out of this conversation right here, because
that's you're just like you like pizza without behavioral disorders?
What that is like? You don't do you know? I
mean I know people that do that, but you guys
get eliminated from this pizza discussion. Yeah, that's way beyond.

(01:16:22):
That's beyond even the ridiculous pineapple on pizza discussion. I've
never heard somebody talk about ranch, ranch with pizza. Well,
you like rance with your wings? Nor cheese? Ranch with anything? No,
I don't like. I don't like blue cheese. I don't
like sharp cheeses. What do you dip in? What are
you dipping your wings in? I don't dip it in anything.

(01:16:45):
I just eat them. They've got they've got, you know,
they've got like, you know, buffalo sauce on them already.
It's a good all right. Well, when did you get
off the ranch and blue cheese train? Because you clearly
you gotta ever been on it. I've never been on it.
I don't like. I don't like creamy dressings and all
that stuff. I'm not into that. Puzzled by that. Do
you have ranch with your salad? Like? No? Like? No,

(01:17:08):
Well that defeats the purpose of a salad. Yeah, ranch
on the salad is weird. I'm gonna tell you on that.
I like. I like a light Italian type dressing or
a very light caesar like. I don't like heavy, creamy stuff.
All right, Well, uh no, I feel really left out.
That's all she wrote for episode four. Guys, jay I,

(01:17:29):
I couldn't be more grateful for you coming on. I
mean It's an honor to be able to sit down
and talk to you for I don't know. We stole
two hours of your time, so I appreciate it. Thank
you again, Drew. How are you gonna sign us off? Yeah? Man,
thank you so much. Appreciate you for coming on. And guys,
don't remember to subscribe and uh write a review? Man
get her bad. We like all reviews. We don't hate
on him. So if you want in mind to indulge

(01:17:49):
us on that. Thank you. Guys. Did you just say
don't remember to subscribe? Did I did? Talk? He said,
don't remember to subscribe? First of all, you do usually
do this to subscribe. Just tell them to forget to
subscribe easier. I didn't want to say anything because I
usually do like the scripted stuff. I'm the worst with.

(01:18:11):
It's the office script stuff. I'm good. That's a rap fellas.
Thank you, thanks j I really appreciate that this. Thank
you so much, my pleasure. You guys are fantastic. Those
are really fun. Yeah, well this won't be the first,
this won't be the last one, so we've guaranteed that. Yeah, well,
don't remember to call me. That was crazy, Drew. You're

(01:18:31):
crazy for that it'll blow over people's heads. This has
been a presentation of the College Athletes Network

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The Jay Bilas Interview | Ep #4 |

Episode Transcript

Host

Drew Timme

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Jay Bilas Interview | Ep #4 |