July 21, 2022 • 42 mins
Conor Glennon, current walk-on for the University of Memphis Men's Basketball team under Head Coach Penny Hardaway, joins the pod for the 2nd time to talk all things Memphis Basketball.
A 2 part episode with PT. 2 coming next week, Conor talks about:
- Conor's hustle to find a spot on the team
- Being coached by NBA Legends
- Earning the respect of those coaches
- Winning the NIT in 2021
- Stepping into more of a leadership role
- The Emoni Bates situation
- Jalen Duren getting drafted
- The criticism Coach Hardaway faces
- Team facing postseason suspension
.... and so much more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Heyllo, Gang, Day, Yeah, what's up
(00:28):
Walkie Talkies? Gang, Welcome back to Walkie Talkies podcast on
the College Athletes Network, featured on I Heart Radio. I'm
your host, Noah Bano, former five year college basketball walk on.
Thank you all for joining us today. You're listening to
episode fourteen of the podcast and part one of two
of episode fourteen. Here with me today is basketball junkie,
current walk on for the University of Memphis men's basketball team,
(00:49):
and a true friend of the show, Connor Lennon. I
don't want to talk too long here in the intro,
but Connor was actually the show's inaugural guest back when
I started Walkie Talkies in September of two thousand twenty one,
the literal first interview I had ever done. That episode
is no longer available once I signed with my Heart,
So this episode is brand new, updated and upgraded conversation
that I'm very excited to share with you guys. So
(01:09):
I mentioned this is part one of two parts with Connor.
Now brief synopsis of what we talk about in the
full episode. Throughout both parts ranges all the way from
Jalen during getting drafted, the Amanty Bates situation that unraveled
during the season, Coach Hardaway's coaching style and him as
a coaching general, the team facing postseason suspension from the
infractions case against them when recruiting James Wiseman, winning the
(01:32):
n I T during the COVID year, earning the respect
from NBA legends like Larry Brown, Rashid Wallace, and again
Coach Hardaway. We also get into Connor's hustle sending letters
and emails just for him to get into Memphis. We
talked about his connection with former assistant coach Cody Topper,
who is now at l s U, and we talk
about Connor's leadership role moving into an upperclassman, and just
so much more. And you know, it's thirty five forty
(01:52):
strong than it's two weeks in a row with Connor
talking about all of that. And the reason I'm not
going to tell you guys which episode will have which
stuff exactly, because how else will I get you guys
to come back next week. There's a good blend of
all of that stuff in each episode, so don't worry.
I just want everyone to have two rounds of this
great conversation instead of all at once in a long
eighty five minute movie format, especially all you die hard
Memphis fans man. You guys are great and there's some
(02:14):
really goodies here on the program's future. So really, again,
just just too much stuff to jumble all together into
eighties straight minutes, And as I continue to grow as
a podcaster, I want people to feel like they can
get through the whole thing and also feel like they
want to get through the whole thing. Seeing an eighty
minute show versus a forty minute show is a big difference.
It's much less intimidating for the listeners, and I've always
been very pro shorter episodes, regardless if the episode catalog
(02:38):
that I have doesn't show that. Like I said, I'm
still growing as a podcaster, and not that that has
anything to do with the episode itself, but that's my
reasoning for a two part or maybe even a three party.
You never know, but anyway, these two parts really are
top tier. Connor is a basketball guru, really has a
special basketball mind, especially for the age that he's at
and only going into his third year of college basketball.
(02:58):
He knows a ton about the game and he really
has been soaking in high level, respectable basketball knowledge since
he was you know, all the way back into the
sixth grade. And you'll hear him talk about what those
moments were that started so early for him. Just a
really fun conversation. So let's get right into it with
current Memphis Tigers basketball walk on Connor Glennon. So, baby,
(03:18):
can hear me? Ye? Can you hear me? Yeah? It
was good man. How you been? How are you doing? Good? Bro?
All right, so let this thing rip round two. Um. So,
for those who don't know, you've now done two years
in the program under head coach Penny Hardaway, which that
alone and him being the head coach makes the team
such a high profile program no matter what. So in
(03:39):
that program, what is your day to day role, like,
you know, within this type of high level program with
you being a walk on, Like, what is that day
to day like for you individually? I think the most
important thing you could have just said right there is
day to day because day to day it's different. Some
days you gotta bring a lot of energy some guys,
you know, you got to dry guys in the locker room.
Sometimes people need to be pushed on the court, really
(04:02):
just depends. But as a as a gotten old or
it's been easier to figure out, easier to see you
kind of you know, you get a feel for how
the week's been going and stuff like that, especially in
the summertime. You know, guys are tired, guys sore, if
you're coming up a level, if you're coming down to level,
or if you're new, whatever the case. Maybe I've been
there have been through out of the stuff that these
guys are going through. So just really just being a
(04:23):
voice for guys right now, um, telling them what to
expect and kind of how things are gonna move forward
as we as we progress. Yeah, So I mean on
top of like you know, your day to day practices
and like where you stand on the team, you kind
of are stepping into this leadership role because you know,
you're being upper classmen. A lot of these dudes that
are gonna be playing are probably a majority freshman sophomore
(04:44):
aside from you know, probably Kendrick Davis and maybe some
returners that and other transfers you got. But for the
most part, like you know, you're gonna be right at
the top of that like leadership role. So is that
the main thing for you is kind of just being
that vocal leader. Is that what you think you're going
to have the most value these next two years? Like
within the program? Yeah, this year especially absolute, I think, um,
(05:06):
with so many new guys coming in this year and
we're still waiting, we'll probably have even more new guys
coming down the line as we fill out a roster.
But everyone's new. Almost everybody's new. There's there's so many people.
It's like it's almost weird because you say things and
they're like, what are you talking about. It's like, oh, yeah,
I forgot you know, you wouldn't you wouldn't know about
(05:27):
that yet. But yeah, So it's it's different because in
the past it's been, like I've said before, it's like
just bringing energy and going hard and being a leader
on the court and stuff like that. But now a
bigger part of it is being a leader off the
court and really being there for guys and um, just
trying to help him with what we do, what we're
trying to do, you know, the work, the culture we're
(05:48):
trying to build, all that kind of stuff, and UM,
it's it's a little bit different, but I like it.
It's fun. Uh, it's it's a challenge, but it's good.
It's different because you know, you're going from young guy
too old guy, and now you've got to have the
same perspective that some of you older guys gave to
you and I give to the younger dudes, because you are, like,
(06:08):
what one of how many left on last year's team
that that is still there, Like how many guys left
and how many guys are returning from the season. I
couldn't even tell you off the top of my head,
but it's basically, it feels like a brand new locker room.
It feels, you know, with staff included, we've we've had
some staff move on and some new people come in
(06:29):
and take over, and some people step up and all
kinds of things. So it just like, truly, it feels
like a new I don't want to say a new place,
but it feels like we're moving on, we're moving forward,
we're moving up or something. And if it's good, it's
it's refreshing. It's you know, guys are coming in with
high expectations and the guys who are returning are as well,
(06:50):
so we're just trying to mesh all that together. And um,
it's been it's been really good so far. We're heading
in a good direction for sure. That's good. So I
want to get a little bit more into the thickness
of just straight basketball here. Um, but first I want
you to tell the listeners about your hustle that got
your foot in the door at Memphis and how you
created this opportunity for yourself to be on this team. Absolutely.
(07:13):
I Um, in high school, I played for national championship
winning coach. His name was Bobby Fraser. He played at
Carolina with Tyler Hansboro, Danny Green, and I played with
some great players, and I just you know, my my
goal in high school is to win and win and
win and win. And I and my recruitment fell a
(07:36):
little shorter than what you journey of as a kid.
But um, you know, my father told me when I
was young that if I wanted to do something, just
just figure out why we do it. There's always a
way to do it. So that's what I did. I
started looking up different ways do it. I was sending emails.
Emails were cool. I was emailing every single coach you
could even think of, assistant coaches, director of operations, all
(07:58):
that kind of stuff. And um, you know, the success
rate was it wasn't very good. It's pretty easy to
just blow off an email. So I had to think
outside the box a little bit. So I started writing
these letters, um, two schools, just on a piece of paper.
And I was sending on some coaches and I heard
back from one of them. I was like, oh man,
this is this is cool. He was like, I like
(08:19):
what you're doing. We just don't have roster spots. But
keep keep doing it. Let me know if you need
an help. So boom, I I create my own cards.
I got my name, my email, my school references, all
this stuff, you know, my g p A, all this stuff.
They're pretty cool. And I just started writing to assistant coaches,
head coaches all over the place, and um, this coach
Cody Toppert. I met him years before and he just
(08:42):
so happened to be rolling into Memphis as I'm looking
for a place to play, and I write him a
letter and the rest of his history. Where did you
meet coach Toppert? Coach top worked for somebody named Gan
Baker through Gan Baker Basketball. He's to come to Chicago.
I'm from Chicago, Chicago and area. He used to come
(09:02):
during the combine every year and train the end A
players and this and this and this, and my dad
was in the training business as well, working with Gannon
and kind of just loose ties, you know. And one
day my dad was like, this, this guy's looking for
a gym to to train some people. You want to
come rebound for these guys. I was like, yeah, man,
I went rebound for some for some pros. I think
(09:25):
it was Terry Rosier, Justin Anderson. Um campaign was there,
um and uh she probably six seventh grade. Maybe, Yeah,
I just broke my wrist. I was in a cast.
I remember, I'm rebound and throwing these guys lefty passes.
(09:45):
I'm hoping they don't think these passes are horrible. But
that was the first time I met him. He was
working at a prep school down in Florida. And then yeah,
time went by. He ended up with the Phoenix Suns,
and then when he was done with the Phoenix Suns,
he ended up in Memphis, and I, you know, I
wrote him a letter and he helped me from the rest.
(10:08):
Maybe you should have wrote him your first couple letters
versus like your letter, because you had your best success
chance of someone answering with him. I guess right. He
was like so like I said, he was, he was
with the Phoenix Suns. So when I started writing my letters,
he was still working in the NBA, or at least
planning and working in the NBA. And then way down
(10:29):
the line that it kind of just fell in my lap.
I was like, oh man, Yeah, So you guys definitely
built some connection and relationship your last two years. And
we'll get into that a little bit more when we
talk about your high level, high profile coaches. But you know,
the time period of your first year of college basketball
was a lot different than most. Like you came in
as a freshman, you know, writing these letters and then uh,
(10:51):
you know, not recruited the way you had dreamed of. Um,
you know, some of us can relate to that pain
and you know how to deal with that. But you
came in during a pandemic and then you know, you
guys go on and win the n I T Championship
this year or wi. I was just telling you, I
had no no clue you guys even did that, which
is great, and I mean you got to be a
part of that. So what you know, just about what
(11:12):
you remember about entering you know that first year of
college basketball, that journey, what you've taken away from just
that one year into you know, your second year, that
you'll continue carrying with you as you finished this out. Yeah. Man,
it was the whole, the whole. Everything was weird. It
was the way the season shut down. I was nervous, like,
you know, I had just gotten in connection with these people, Like,
(11:34):
am I even gonna be allowed to come? Like it's
something going to change. I was paranoid. I remember I
was in Michigan. Um we were up at the lake.
I was at my girlfriend's lake house and I got
a text, Hey, you gotta report Saturday, and it was
it was like Wednesday. I was like, are you like,
I have four days? I gotta be down from the jump.
(11:56):
It was just it was crazy, like I got down
there immediately got COVID. I don't know if it's bad
things say now, like it just happened. And I remember
I was in quarantine and it set us back. So
we're all down there and we had to go through
every precaution like that we're in we're right now just
so people know we're back in the heart of the pandemic.
(12:17):
But and um, so we're we're fighting just to get
back on the court, you know, Like I think they
brought us and maybe football or volleyball or some one
other sports team, and um, we were allowed to start.
They're like, Okay, this is how we're gonna do it.
We had all these rules, all this you know, you
got to enter this way and leave the building through
this door and get tested every day and all this stuff.
(12:40):
So we men, we were there for a month before
we even stopped foot on the court. Probably I think
today about this time last year or two years ago
was probably when we officially started, and it was just
I remember it was like stations of like one on one.
It was just like this kind of like false sense
of like what it really was. I was like, man,
this is it doesn't feel like what I kind of
(13:02):
thought it would be. But um, we started to solely
ramp it up, ramp it up, ramp it up. And um,
you know I knew coming in, um that I had
my work cut out for me and my mindset kind
of going. It was just baptism by fire. I was
just gonna throw myself out there. And it fell hard,
fell often until I figured it out. And um, you
know I wasn't afraid of the work or anything like that.
(13:23):
I knew it was gonna take time. I didn't have
any crazy expectations for my first year. I just kind
of want to soak it all in. And we are
playing in front of crowds with no fans and playing
on the road and all this stuff was new to me,
and it just for some reason it felt it was like,
is this is this how it is? Like it just
doesn't fully feel like you know what you what you
(13:45):
think it would. And then we go and we you know,
we felt like we we made a good running to
to make the tournament. Late in the year, we had
a a late opportunity. We lost to Houston on a
half core buzzer beater and that kind of put us out. So,
you know, after that, we were like, man, you know,
this is it. We got to win the conference tournament.
We didn't win the conference tournament. Um, and we we
(14:07):
genuinely we thought our season was over. Like on the
way home, we were like, man, that's that. That that
happened so fast, that's it. Blahlah blah blah. And then
maybe two days later we got a text like, hey,
we're playing in the n I t let's you know,
we got practice today and we're like, oh my god,
like we forgot about the n I T Like we
still have a chance to play, And most of the
(14:28):
guys were like, let's do it. Like we got a
chance to win the champion. It's a short pool. It's
maybe these teams. We we felt like we we felt
like we could have won the real tournament. So we
had no worries going into the tournament on the n
I T tournament and man, we we dominated in that tournament,
and um when we won, like as all years, like
you know, there was limited fans in there. It was
(14:50):
so it just didn't fully feel like we just want
a championship. It was like weird feeling like you wanted
to be you know, you wanted to have like that
crowd interaction and fans and and all that kind of stuff.
But I think once we got back into the locker
room it kind of hit us. We had this big
cooler of it started with just water and we started
(15:10):
dumping gatorade in there, and a couple of kids like
mountain dews or something crazy. They put like mountain dew
in there. When coach came in, we dumped it on
him and all that kind of so we once it.
Once it got to that point, it felt pretty authentic.
And then I remember we flew home and all the
fans were at the airport when we landed and all
that stuff. So it started to feel pretty real after that.
(15:31):
And then man, I remember we got home less than
twenty four hours later. I was in the gym when
more people were in the gym, and we're like, man
it it's we're just not satisfied, like we want more,
Like that felt great, but that's not what we're looking for,
Like we just we want to take to the next level, right,
you know you you said you kind of to rewind
a little, like you know, threw yourself in like it
(15:53):
was like baptism by fire, and you know you you
go on this whole journey your freshman year of college. UM,
So everything that happened in that freshman year was like
such a learning curve, such an adjust spent period for you,
and at some point it started to click for you,
just like it does for every freshman. UM. But I
think it's interesting because you know, you, you you have
(16:13):
that freshman year, and I feel terrible for every freshman
that was a freshman that year. I mean, yeah, we
like everybody got that year of eligibility back. But like dude,
like like you were saying, like is this really what
it was? Like? Like you guys got the weirdest taste
of college basketball, like the station work, Like that's so
funny because we were doing you know, I was my
first year. I do kin that same year and we're
(16:33):
doing the same stuff. We're practicing and like groups of three,
groups of five, like groups of two or like individual stuff,
and it's like, this is so awkward, Like when do
you get to build a camaraderie and like getting that
team environment. Okay, quick break, but don't go anywhere because
when we come back, Connor is going to get into
the details on what it's really like to be around
and to be coached by former NBA legends. It's coming
(16:54):
right up. We'll be right back and we're back here
on part one of episode fourteen on Waukie Tucky's podcast,
Let's Bring back in our guest Memphis back football player
Connor Glennon. So, obviously you got to a certain point
where COVID was what it was, you had to accept
it and then for your own personal adjustment, period like
throughout that year, Like, how did you navigate You know,
(17:17):
you're around those NBA legends. You're around Penny Hardaway, Larry Brown,
Rashid Wallace, Cody Toppert who played professionally, had a lot
of experience with you know NBA guys. Um, Like how
did you navigate being around those coaches and staying calm
and like kind of trusting your ability to show that
you're not a scrub, that you maybe that you do
(17:38):
belong there and you know, ultimately earned their respect as
well as your teammates, but more so your coaches because
like you know, you you you said it, You threw
baptism by fire, You threw yourself out there. You were
okay with failure, but there's always a certain point of
like how uncomfortable you are and it's affecting your ability
every day on the court. So like what was your
balance with that? Like how did you navigate being around
(18:00):
those high profile coaches and just obviously they've been around
all the players have been round, you know, like that
they've played with or that they've coached, and now they're
coaching you, and it's like look at me, Like how
do I open their eyes their eyes have been opened
by Allen Iverson, by Shaquille O'Neal, like all their great teammates,
and you know what I mean, how did you do that?
How did that work for you that first year? Um?
(18:22):
I think I came in and like you said, I
forgot to mention when I came in the locker like
we weren't even allowed to our lockers yet, Like we
had chairs spread out throughout the locker room, so like
I knew nobody. I didn't know it, Like I didn't
even met a single player yet, and they got to
spread out in the locker room like we're not even talking.
We're coming in early in the morning, getting out quick
(18:45):
like all this stuff. So it's like it took me
a while to kind of just get over the hump.
And it was like mentally coming in, I was like
like I belong here, like I know I do, Like
I know so much about the game. I just you know,
I know how to lead, I know people, I know
how to do all these things. It was the physical part.
I was like, Okay, I need to get shrunk or
I need to get a little bit big here. I
need to you know, I need to move faster, I
(19:07):
need to you know, the game picks up a little bit.
So that stuff was like, Okay, it's gonna take time.
Just chip away at, chip away at it. Don't don't worry.
You know you're gonna go out there. You're gonna do
some great things. You're gonna do some horrible things. Just
find small victories, Just find small wins, and just keep going,
stack them on top of each other. Keep building, keep building,
and keep building, and just find your your niche. Like
(19:28):
that year I kind of picked up. Like the gyms
were quiet, they were so empty, they were just silent.
Like my voice, I've never been a friend. My dad
used to tell our teams when we were second grade
that the gym is the loudest classroom in the school.
Were like we used practiced at the at the local schools.
This is the loudest classroom. Don't be scared of your
own voice. And so I was just out and practice
(19:50):
every day. I was loud, and you know at home games,
I was loud. I was starting starting a chance on
the bench, trying to get you know, if we did
have fans, trying to get the little fans we had
involved um just being vocal, being extremely vocal, talking on
defense is something like this are I was like, okay,
I can't really you know, I can't say hey, screen left,
screen right, you know, pick coming, box, out shot, all
(20:12):
that kind of stuff. You can't say it because it's allowed. Jim.
You know, we're on the road playing against somebody. Um
but that first year, I could, you know, if someone
was going for a backdoor lob and I saw coming,
I said, you know, we watched the film and I
see I pick up on it. I call out to
play all that kind of stuff. So I picked up
on some some little things. Like I said, it was
just the small victories for me, Like that meant the
world to me that I could. I felt like I
(20:33):
could help have an impact on the game from from
the last seat on the bench, just because the arena
is empty and I could use my voice. Um so
I man, my teammates will probably tell you I took
full ownership and I'd probably talked too much. I'm too loud.
To tell me to be quiet. Someone would say, like, man,
I if Connor was yelling at me, like I know
I was, you know, I know I was around, I
(20:53):
was doing something bad. So that was cool for for
my first year and then UM, like I said with
the with the physical part, it was just I'm around
these these great players, these like you have no choice
but to get better. You have no choice. You just
show up and do the work and that's it, Like
you're going to improve. And then if you show up,
you do the work and you do more, and you
do a little bit harder, and you you take the
(21:15):
next step and the next step and the next step
you do. UM, ask questions, you asked the right questions. UM,
and you just gotta get over yourself, like you're not
you gotta understand. You're just you're not perfect. You're not
gonna make every shot, You're not gonna make every read.
Like we're doing stuff pretty simple and I'm I'm I'm
messing it up and it's like, oh man. At first
I'm there and like my head's going crazy. I'm moving
(21:38):
too fast. I gotta slow down. And you know, by
the end of the year, I was like, man, I
know all the reads, I know the rotations, I know
just do it like I know it. I know, I
know it, I can I can translate. I just gotta
I just gotta do it. So that next summer it
was all about just just doing it like I know
it all. I feel like I know I know all
these things that we're looking for, the principles, the rotations,
(22:00):
all all the stuff. I just gotta go do it.
So last year for me was it's just about trying
to do it. Just do it right, do it right,
do it right. So how many times you can do
right before I do it wrong? And as walk on
you get so many reps and it's limited, but just
small victories. You know, if I do a whole week
without you know, messing up a defense rotation, or if
I cracked back every single time supposed to and show
(22:22):
drill like, those are small victories that I just started
stacking on top of each other. And it builds your confidence.
And then you feel like you can communicate with your
teammates and they see you doing stuff right and it's like, Okay,
well he knows what he's talking about a little bit.
You know, they can kind of listen to you a
little bit more right. It takes some time for you
to get to that point mentally, but then also to
be able to express it you know vocally that your
(22:43):
teammates also are locked into the fact that like, oh,
Connor does Connor might understand this more than I understand
this like and then boom like because it was very
similar for me, Like the vocal nous that I had
that you're speaking about very similar, and I think that
that was where I like earned a lot of my stripes.
Was like, you know, sometimes I couldn't maybe get on
the court and physically do it, just because, like you said,
(23:05):
the reps are limited and and you know, sometimes it
just didn't work out. But nine times out of ten,
like I could see it and then explain it to someone,
I might get on the court and mess it up,
but like I could definitely, I could definitely explain it
to you, like you know, just like all of our
minds work a little bit differently. But you know, so
you said something about the physical the physicality part of
it that you needed to like kind of upgrade and really,
(23:28):
you know, build your strength. So let's do two quick things.
That first year, you probably you know, I'm just gonna
assume because it was the same for me, and it
was probably like this for everybody. But you probably had
more embarrassing moments that in your head made you feel
like ship than you did good moments in the beginning
so hit me with the most embarrassing thing that happened
on the court in practice that you did. You know,
(23:49):
maybe someone pins you to the glass or they get whatever.
It just quick embarrassing thing and then a quick turnaround
for your your best thing that you were like, all right,
you know what, I'm good. I'm good. I think it
would be I'm gonna flip that. So the first official practice,
so what we had workouts and we were doing all,
you know, whatever you're allowed to do. I don't even
(24:10):
remember at the time, and our first official practice, you know,
we're allowed to get up and down play five on five.
We didn't have I remember, we didn't have a ton
of I think we maybe had twelve or thirteen guys
that year, and we had maybe two guys heard at
leavest eleven. So we're getting up and down. One kid
gets hurt. Okay, now I'm tenth, right, I gotta play
(24:32):
whatever is left on the scoreboard, like this is all
we have, Like we're going to finish this out. So
whatever team we were playing against, they just doubled off
me and tried to make the ball find me and
rotates me. And I was just like, I gotta shoot these,
that's no problem to me. Made probably three or four
of my five you know, twenty minute game whatever it was,
(24:55):
and I was on top of the world there, you know,
my first first fish practice. You know, it's like this
click in my mind, like okay, I can do that,
and I can do this every you know, oh man,
like you get all these crazy thoughts run through your
head and then you know, the next practice just maybe
the polar opposite, same kind of thing, same, and now
(25:16):
it's like, Okay, he made these shots yesterday. Let's let's
speed him up. Let's put some pressure on. Let's you know,
put him in the post. See if you can garden
the post. So I'm trying to front the post. You know,
I got Lester canon as these six seven wherever he
is heavy guard, trying to post me up and back
me down. And you know, like I said, you know,
I gotta switch screens. You know, I'm trying to rotate them,
trying to get out, and people are yelling and screaming,
(25:37):
and I'm just trying to figure it out on the
fly because I don't I don't know enough yet to
to keep myself out of those situations. And it was
just so much at once. I don't know that. I actually,
you know, like you said, you just you take these
little mess ups and they blow up in your head
and you think it's the end of the world. I
don't know that. I I really did so horribly, but
(25:58):
in my head, I was like, man, that that's that
was embarrassing. Like every single possession I was getting hunted,
like I don't know if you saw that clip of
Duncan Robinson saying Lebron like, point Nan, I'm calling him
up into ball screens because they want man. I felt
the same way. They were just going at me and
they were talking to me too. But so it was
a quick one eighty, you know, I felt I was
(26:18):
on top of the world that first day. Played really well.
I played hard. I mean I I just played hard.
But I was like, man, there's there's gonna be some
time before I can really, really, really really compete with
these guys. And I kind of just accepted that in
my head that day and moving forward, I just you know,
I chipped away, chipped away, chipped away, and uh yeah, yeah.
(26:39):
It's so funny because like obviously I did the walk
on thing too, and you know, countless countless times of
playing pickup or getting in on five on five and
you have like you know, you you're you're shorter than me,
but have a little bit more size. I'm taller, but
I'm skinny. So it's like both of us could be
looked at by like a two guard or a three guard,
even some point guards as a mismatch. And it's the
(26:59):
funniest thing to me is at like most walk ons
I know, like they always have to go through that
ringer in the post where god, oh well, I'm gonna
just take advantage of this guy down low, like makem
down here. And it's like it's so funny because sometimes,
like you know, more often than that, they probably do
have the upper the upper hand, but like there's a
(27:19):
there's a good handful of time throughout at least my time,
like where I got the upper hand because you figure
it out. You're like, I'm not gonna get scored on
down here. I'm gonna be physicals fuck and like I'm
not gonna value, but maybe I will value a little
bit because they fill value. They don't care about value,
so why should I care? But um, I think that's
the funniest thing all right, walkie talking is getting last break.
When we come back, Connor may or may not be
(27:41):
talking about the criticism coach Hardaway faces. He might talk
about Jalen during getting drafted, the Monty Bates situation, and
earning the respect from his NBA coaches. I don't know
which one it's gonna be, but you'll have to stick
around to find out. We'll be right back, and we're
back here in the home stretch of part one of
episode fourteen on Walkie Tucky's podcast. And if you're enjoying
this episode, please leave us a review towards the bottom
(28:03):
of the show page on full podcast or towards the
top of the page on the show page on Spotify
to make sure you are subscribed and downloaded to the
shows you know on this part two next week. Otherwise,
what the heck are you don want listen in the
part one that Let's bring back him Memphis basketball player
Connor Glennon. You know I mentioned some of your coaches earlier,
and um, you know, just some of the people that
they've been around that they've coached. Obviously, Larry Brown coached
(28:23):
Allen Iverson with the Sixers, and you know Penny played
with Shack and Rashid Wallace was on the O four
Pistons championship team. So, you know, what has your relationship
become like with all of them? Through your vocal nous.
You know, obviously you're not a quiet guy, and and
that means that you're actively probably built these relationships and
a good rapport with a lot of these big time names,
(28:45):
like you know, really respected people in the basketball world.
So what has your relationships become like with them? And
if any standout? And visually, I know, individually, I know
you had the you know, we touched on it briefly
before with coach Cody Toppert, who did recently leave for
l s U, but he coached with you know, the
songs worked with Devin Booker the year he averaged points
of his career game I think it was in two
(29:07):
thousand nineteen. So you get to touch on some of
those relationships, how you've built, you know, a good rapport
with you know, highly respected people that now respect the
hell out of you. Yeah, it's um I think just
being so um, having this this understanding by yourself that
(29:28):
you just you don't know as much as they do.
They've been around longer, they've been around everything. They know
you know, Coach Brown, I would say, no, it's close
to as everything as anybody's ever gonna know in the
game beastball um currently today just because of how long
he's been around the game. He's seen it change and
change and change, and he's seen what works throughout time.
(29:50):
And you know, people being you know, Coach top was
in the NBA coaching for a while. Coach Hardaway was
one of the best players ever. UM Coach Wallace won
the championship as a player. Like there's everyone had their
own niche and it was like I just had like
this level of respect that like I just I don't know,
like I can't physically know what they know, so anything
(30:11):
they have to say is like it's like you know,
coming in in a glass bottle, and you know, it's
like the most important thing I'm gonna learn today. I
used to write down things that they would say, like, oh,
coach coach Hardaway said this to have like that a lot.
You know, he said this, Um, you know, coach Brown
(30:32):
said this today. This is this is really good. I
like this a lot. And it was like this comment.
The more I started look at it, It's just like, man,
I've been hearing these things my my whole life. Like
it's nothing crazy, It's just these simple things. But it's
like just the bestball truths if you will. Like every
great coach, you know, we'll say these things in some ways,
(30:55):
you know, they might have their own spin on it,
but it's all the same message. They're all preaching the
same thing. And I've, like I said, I've heard it,
you know, being a young kid hearing these things and
then going to high school. He my high school coach
was teaching me the stuff that you know, Roy Williams
was teaching him. And at the time, I just thought
it was you know whatever. And then I got to
(31:17):
college and I'm hearing the same things, and I'm like
like wow, Like this is bestball is. You know, there's
like the center and best ball and everything kind of
revolves around this, and everybody branches their own way and
and has their own spin, and you know, we want
to shoot threes or no, we're gonna play in the
low post, or man, we're gonna be a defensive team.
But just having this this prior knowledge and understanding of
(31:41):
you know, what great bastball is and how to play
the game the right way. I think that resonates with
people and they're like, oh man, we need we need
people to play like this. We need people to enjoy
it and work and you know have the passion that
he does, and that just kind of builds a relationship,
you know, you have like a mutual respect um and
just being coachable and you know, Coach Brown used to
(32:03):
used to he used to just say these things and
it would feel like he's just saying them because he's
got to Sam and he doesn't know who to Sam too.
So I told me, you know, you could always say
to me like I'm always gonna listen. I'm always gonna
do um whatever it is that you know, you can
tell me to do anything, I'm gonna listen. So just
doing you know, being coachable and taking this information and
(32:26):
trying to spread it and and share with teammates and
get them to understand it the way that you understand it.
I think that what kind of catapults in relationship that
you could have with the coach. And then you know,
they see that and they ask you questions like do
you want to be a coach someday? Do you want
to you know what I mean? And it's like, you know,
I don't. I don't know what I want to do,
but man, I'm open to anything, and I'm keeping note.
(32:48):
I'm doing all this stuff just because like this this
information is gold. Yeah. Men, you do have like a
great mentality for a walk on not many have and
to have that kind of self awareness right away, you know,
as an eighteen nineteen year old of like, I do
not know as much as these guys know. Like it's
literally impossible. I mean, because man, there you've been around
(33:09):
and I'm sure you've seen it. There's a ton of
dudes who I think the complete opposite, you know, and
and we'll you know, show that and act like they
do know more. And you know, that's unfortunate because you
only cheat yourself when when you lack that type of
self awareness, Like how could you be in a gym
with that many great basketball minds and not want to
do exactly what you do? I would have been taking
(33:30):
just as many notes as you. Man. I would have
liked had a pen in my you know, compression pants
and just scribbled on my arm or something like, you know,
my memories dogship. But just in case, so you know,
you're around all these guys I mentioned, you know, some
of the people that they have been around and and
they're all former NBA guys. You know, like every one
(33:51):
of them has had their own experiences and connections within
that NBA world. So you know, they bring that into
the Memphis Basketball gym and they do it to you
current players. They bring those experiences and those moments and
the things that they've learned and the things that they
have had success with and they pour it out onto
you guys. So you know, how valuable is that and
(34:12):
how apparent is some of that you know on a
day to day basis for you guys. Um, it's it's gold.
Like I said, like just the information, Like it's something
that people people would pay just to hear certain things,
you know what I mean, Like you'll go sit down
on at a at a coach's clinic just to hear um.
(34:34):
You know, someone like coach Hardaway or coach Top or
coach Brown or whoever you know, just talk about what
they know about the game. Right, People do that, you know,
coaches clinic happened all the time. Like you just go
and you sit and you listen. So to for me,
it was like man, I was in class every day,
but it was it was a class that I love,
you know, I was, I was engaged, you know what
(34:55):
I mean exactly and m So that's that's how I
looked at I was like, I'm learning every day, I'm
growing and every day I'm getting better every day, and
I'm doing it around the like the best. Like there's
no I don't know that you can you know, everyone,
like I said, everyone's got their own spin on things.
But man, I just I truly felt like this is
(35:18):
the best like source of knowledge, like all of this
combined right here, and I'm just it's just hitting me
every day. Like so for that alone is one thing.
And then being able to you know, share that with
your teammates and um my teammates as well, you know,
they especially um the past two years, man, I had
(35:39):
some very accoladd teammates and some big time high school
prospects stuff like that. I wasn't, you know, I didn't
they know more about that than I do, you know.
I mean they're always talking about, you know, playing on
the circuit and all this stuff, and I didn't play
on the circuit, so they they have like this this
knowledge about people in the game that I don't have.
(36:02):
So even then just listening to them and just being
a sponge to everything and everyone, especially that first year. Man,
I just soaked everything in that I could and just
try to learn as much as possible. It's gonna pay
off for you to man. I mean, I know the
last time, you know, past conversations we've had, you've mentioned
coaching and that, and like you just said before, it
might be something you're interested in. You're open to a
lot of things. Um, something I do want to hit
(36:25):
back on that you said. You know, well, I brought
it up about about your coaches and like how valuable
their knowledge is and stuff like that. And I think
that's something that listeners are probably wondering, is like, Okay,
well then why don't you guys win more? What is
this like stigma about Penny Hardaway, Like he's not really
that good of a coach and obviously he's one of
the best to ever play, but there is a lot
(36:46):
of that criticism about him as a coach and not
you know, I've heard so many people say a million
different things, Oh, he's not good with player development, Oh
he's not an X and those guys, Oh he doesn't
recruit well or even though that's probably the best thing
he does whatever anyway, And you know, you being someone
that is in those locker rooms, and you know, I
kind of do like to look at you as like
a young coach, Like your high school coach was coached
(37:09):
by Roy Williams and you were you have had amazing
basketball knowledge is poured into you since a very young age,
and so like you know, you're very advanced and knowledgeable
about the game and probably most people, uh in your position.
I know that I had nowhere near as much confidence
in my knowledge of the game of basketball at your
age that you currently have. Like there it's night and day.
(37:31):
So to hear you speak about it, and I can
see exactly where it comes from. So take that young
coaching mind that you have, and you know, what do
you think about that stuff about Coach Hardaway as a coach?
What do you see about him as a coach That
gets maybe misconstrued to the public because not everyone else
gets to see what you see in that locker room,
in the practice, in the huddles firsthand. Like what what
(37:53):
is from your young coach mind that perspective? M hm, yes.
So the biggest thing is, like I said, there's just
so much information to be learned. When you're trying to
learn a million things at once, sometimes it's difficult. You know.
You you might remember this, you might remember this, but
trying to learn everything at once. So like these kids
(38:14):
come up and they didn't you know, Like I said,
I've been hearing a lot of these things since I
was kids, since I was little playing basketball. I don't
know that everybody has. So this is the first time
they're hearing certain things like simple concepts, simple technicue, whatever
it is. So it's hitting them. You know. Yeah, they're
they have all the talent and athleticism and ability in
(38:34):
the world, but the mental side is it's a whole
another ball game for them. So when you've got all
these all these people pouring their heart out and pouring
all this information into it can be overwhelming and be stressful.
It can be a lot. And to do it every
day and trying you're trying to be every If you're
at this level, you're a perfectionist to some sort, like
you want to do everything perfect, you want to do
it right every single time. Nobody goes out there and
(38:57):
tries to you know, have miss a rotation or miss
a blockout or you know, we're supposed to be doing
this on the scouting report and you don't do it.
Nobody wants to do that, but the pressure to do
it right can be a lot for people. So what
I would say is coach knows so much about the game.
All of our coaches do, and they try and share
(39:18):
everything with us. They try and you know, they want
us to be great. But above all, they just want
us to play hard. You know, they tell us all
the time, if you just play harder than the other team.
You know, Coach Brown used to say, if you just
play harder than then nine times out of ten, you're
gonna win. If you're the more aggressive team, if you're
the more physical team, if you're all these things, you're
just gonna win. So it's like, okay, so let's just
(39:39):
just you know, forget about this and let's just play hard.
And you're trying to feel and we got a lot
of young guys um, but most importantly, I think it's
just the guy's got to kind of come together. And
you know, like when we my first year, when we
we struggled a little bit and then we kinda we
kind of found our niche It was defense, Like this
is our identity. And we ran with it. And that's
(40:01):
wild led us to winning an n i T championship,
and from then not a coach has been so so
disciplined defense, likes so meticulous about defense that is now
our identity. Like we're gonna be one of the best
defensive teams in the country every year, no matter what,
like offense, whatever, We'll figure it out your your year.
(40:21):
We're gonna be the best defensive team in the country.
And in order to do that, you have to really,
really really have guys who are willing to just sacrifice
themselves and lock into our principles and program, right, I mean, well, okay,
I don't mean to interrupt you, but I do want
you to I want you to hit more on you know,
just that that stigma of Penny Hardaway, Like you, you
(40:44):
are in that huddle and you see ship way differently
than other people see that, you know, formulate these opinions
with their own basketball minds and their own spins on
the game. That maybe he's doing some of these things wrong,
but as a player for his team, you know what
are they wrong about? Like you get the ins and
the outs, Like he's obviously not a bad coach. I
would be damn am if any conversation I had, I
(41:07):
don't even know the guy. But if I let someone say,
like Penny Hardaway was a bad coach, there's there's no
way like, yeah, there's people like you know, different spins,
maybe they have different approaches and taxes, but we we
just we can talk about this n I t championship
like three or four times, like he helped you guys
win a championship, he led that group, like he took
guys to the tournament, won a tournament game, like he's
(41:27):
only been at the Helm for what three or four years?
So it's like, go into that about him as a coach,
and what you see that we don't say. Okay, I
know you all want the answer to that. I'm sorry
to leave it here, but this was genuinely dead smack
in the middle of the episode. So we're gonna pause
it right here. And I know, guys, I know you're mad,
which I'd be mad to man. I teased a bunch
of stuff, but it really had to be done this way.
(41:49):
You know, those eighty minute episodes at this stage of
the show, just that good business and this is good
for me and it's good for you. Guys, trust me,
and if you want to yell at me and come
to Twitter, find me at w t Z podcast or
snow dot three my personal page and tell me about it.
And maybe if I get enough you, I'll release Part
two a few days sooner, just for you guys, you
die hard fans at Memphis. So but for now, Part
(42:09):
two is coming next week. Make sure you are subscribed
to the podcast to get notified when the episode drops
to hear the rest of this fantastic conversation where kind
of really goes into coach Hardaway's coaching style and all
of the details about the Emmanti Bass situation, the current
infractions case against the program, and about Jalen during getting drafted.
Forty more minutes of Juice coming your way next week.
If you are subscribed, you will be notified, so please
(42:31):
go ahead and do that. And I appreciate everyone who
tuned in and enjoyed this episode. Make sure you are
downloading and leaving the show a review. It does truly
mean a lot if you can do those things, So
thank you again and we'll see you guys back here
next week for Part two. Peace Walkie Talkies. It's a
production of I Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I
(42:53):
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Heyllo, Gang, Day, Yeah, what's up
(00:28):
Walkie Talkies? Gang, Welcome back to Walkie Talkies podcast on
the College Athletes Network, featured on I Heart Radio. I'm
your host, Noah Bano, former five year college basketball walk on.
Thank you all for joining us today. You're listening to
episode fourteen of the podcast and part one of two
of episode fourteen. Here with me today is basketball junkie,
current walk on for the University of Memphis men's basketball team,
(00:49):
and a true friend of the show, Connor Lennon. I
don't want to talk too long here in the intro,
but Connor was actually the show's inaugural guest back when
I started Walkie Talkies in September of two thousand twenty one,
the literal first interview I had ever done. That episode
is no longer available once I signed with my Heart,
So this episode is brand new, updated and upgraded conversation
that I'm very excited to share with you guys. So
(01:09):
I mentioned this is part one of two parts with Connor.
Now brief synopsis of what we talk about in the
full episode. Throughout both parts ranges all the way from
Jalen during getting drafted, the Amanty Bates situation that unraveled
during the season, Coach Hardaway's coaching style and him as
a coaching general, the team facing postseason suspension from the
infractions case against them when recruiting James Wiseman, winning the
(01:32):
n I T during the COVID year, earning the respect
from NBA legends like Larry Brown, Rashid Wallace, and again
Coach Hardaway. We also get into Connor's hustle sending letters
and emails just for him to get into Memphis. We
talked about his connection with former assistant coach Cody Topper,
who is now at l s U, and we talk
about Connor's leadership role moving into an upperclassman, and just
so much more. And you know, it's thirty five forty
(01:52):
strong than it's two weeks in a row with Connor
talking about all of that. And the reason I'm not
going to tell you guys which episode will have which
stuff exactly, because how else will I get you guys
to come back next week. There's a good blend of
all of that stuff in each episode, so don't worry.
I just want everyone to have two rounds of this
great conversation instead of all at once in a long
eighty five minute movie format, especially all you die hard
Memphis fans man. You guys are great and there's some
(02:14):
really goodies here on the program's future. So really, again,
just just too much stuff to jumble all together into
eighties straight minutes, And as I continue to grow as
a podcaster, I want people to feel like they can
get through the whole thing and also feel like they
want to get through the whole thing. Seeing an eighty
minute show versus a forty minute show is a big difference.
It's much less intimidating for the listeners, and I've always
been very pro shorter episodes, regardless if the episode catalog
(02:38):
that I have doesn't show that. Like I said, I'm
still growing as a podcaster, and not that that has
anything to do with the episode itself, but that's my
reasoning for a two part or maybe even a three party.
You never know, but anyway, these two parts really are
top tier. Connor is a basketball guru, really has a
special basketball mind, especially for the age that he's at
and only going into his third year of college basketball.
(02:58):
He knows a ton about the game and he really
has been soaking in high level, respectable basketball knowledge since
he was you know, all the way back into the
sixth grade. And you'll hear him talk about what those
moments were that started so early for him. Just a
really fun conversation. So let's get right into it with
current Memphis Tigers basketball walk on Connor Glennon. So, baby,
(03:18):
can hear me? Ye? Can you hear me? Yeah? It
was good man. How you been? How are you doing? Good? Bro?
All right, so let this thing rip round two. Um. So,
for those who don't know, you've now done two years
in the program under head coach Penny Hardaway, which that
alone and him being the head coach makes the team
such a high profile program no matter what. So in
(03:39):
that program, what is your day to day role, like,
you know, within this type of high level program with
you being a walk on, Like, what is that day
to day like for you individually? I think the most
important thing you could have just said right there is
day to day because day to day it's different. Some
days you gotta bring a lot of energy some guys,
you know, you got to dry guys in the locker room.
Sometimes people need to be pushed on the court, really
(04:02):
just depends. But as a as a gotten old or
it's been easier to figure out, easier to see you
kind of you know, you get a feel for how
the week's been going and stuff like that, especially in
the summertime. You know, guys are tired, guys sore, if
you're coming up a level, if you're coming down to level,
or if you're new, whatever the case. Maybe I've been
there have been through out of the stuff that these
guys are going through. So just really just being a
(04:23):
voice for guys right now, um, telling them what to
expect and kind of how things are gonna move forward
as we as we progress. Yeah, So I mean on
top of like you know, your day to day practices
and like where you stand on the team, you kind
of are stepping into this leadership role because you know,
you're being upper classmen. A lot of these dudes that
are gonna be playing are probably a majority freshman sophomore
(04:44):
aside from you know, probably Kendrick Davis and maybe some
returners that and other transfers you got. But for the
most part, like you know, you're gonna be right at
the top of that like leadership role. So is that
the main thing for you is kind of just being
that vocal leader. Is that what you think you're going
to have the most value these next two years? Like
within the program? Yeah, this year especially absolute, I think, um,
(05:06):
with so many new guys coming in this year and
we're still waiting, we'll probably have even more new guys
coming down the line as we fill out a roster.
But everyone's new. Almost everybody's new. There's there's so many people.
It's like it's almost weird because you say things and
they're like, what are you talking about. It's like, oh, yeah,
I forgot you know, you wouldn't you wouldn't know about
(05:27):
that yet. But yeah, So it's it's different because in
the past it's been, like I've said before, it's like
just bringing energy and going hard and being a leader
on the court and stuff like that. But now a
bigger part of it is being a leader off the
court and really being there for guys and um, just
trying to help him with what we do, what we're
trying to do, you know, the work, the culture we're
(05:48):
trying to build, all that kind of stuff, and UM,
it's it's a little bit different, but I like it.
It's fun. Uh, it's it's a challenge, but it's good.
It's different because you know, you're going from young guy
too old guy, and now you've got to have the
same perspective that some of you older guys gave to
you and I give to the younger dudes, because you are, like,
(06:08):
what one of how many left on last year's team
that that is still there, Like how many guys left
and how many guys are returning from the season. I
couldn't even tell you off the top of my head,
but it's basically, it feels like a brand new locker room.
It feels, you know, with staff included, we've we've had
some staff move on and some new people come in
(06:29):
and take over, and some people step up and all
kinds of things. So it just like, truly, it feels
like a new I don't want to say a new place,
but it feels like we're moving on, we're moving forward,
we're moving up or something. And if it's good, it's
it's refreshing. It's you know, guys are coming in with
high expectations and the guys who are returning are as well,
(06:50):
so we're just trying to mesh all that together. And um,
it's been it's been really good so far. We're heading
in a good direction for sure. That's good. So I
want to get a little bit more into the thickness
of just straight basketball here. Um, but first I want
you to tell the listeners about your hustle that got
your foot in the door at Memphis and how you
created this opportunity for yourself to be on this team. Absolutely.
(07:13):
I Um, in high school, I played for national championship
winning coach. His name was Bobby Fraser. He played at
Carolina with Tyler Hansboro, Danny Green, and I played with
some great players, and I just you know, my my
goal in high school is to win and win and
win and win. And I and my recruitment fell a
(07:36):
little shorter than what you journey of as a kid.
But um, you know, my father told me when I
was young that if I wanted to do something, just
just figure out why we do it. There's always a
way to do it. So that's what I did. I
started looking up different ways do it. I was sending emails.
Emails were cool. I was emailing every single coach you
could even think of, assistant coaches, director of operations, all
(07:58):
that kind of stuff. And um, you know, the success
rate was it wasn't very good. It's pretty easy to
just blow off an email. So I had to think
outside the box a little bit. So I started writing
these letters, um, two schools, just on a piece of paper.
And I was sending on some coaches and I heard
back from one of them. I was like, oh man,
this is this is cool. He was like, I like
(08:19):
what you're doing. We just don't have roster spots. But
keep keep doing it. Let me know if you need
an help. So boom, I I create my own cards.
I got my name, my email, my school references, all
this stuff, you know, my g p A, all this stuff.
They're pretty cool. And I just started writing to assistant coaches,
head coaches all over the place, and um, this coach
Cody Toppert. I met him years before and he just
(08:42):
so happened to be rolling into Memphis as I'm looking
for a place to play, and I write him a
letter and the rest of his history. Where did you
meet coach Toppert? Coach top worked for somebody named Gan
Baker through Gan Baker Basketball. He's to come to Chicago.
I'm from Chicago, Chicago and area. He used to come
(09:02):
during the combine every year and train the end A
players and this and this and this, and my dad
was in the training business as well, working with Gannon
and kind of just loose ties, you know. And one
day my dad was like, this, this guy's looking for
a gym to to train some people. You want to
come rebound for these guys. I was like, yeah, man,
I went rebound for some for some pros. I think
(09:25):
it was Terry Rosier, Justin Anderson. Um campaign was there,
um and uh she probably six seventh grade. Maybe, Yeah,
I just broke my wrist. I was in a cast.
I remember, I'm rebound and throwing these guys lefty passes.
(09:45):
I'm hoping they don't think these passes are horrible. But
that was the first time I met him. He was
working at a prep school down in Florida. And then yeah,
time went by. He ended up with the Phoenix Suns,
and then when he was done with the Phoenix Suns,
he ended up in Memphis, and I, you know, I
wrote him a letter and he helped me from the rest.
(10:08):
Maybe you should have wrote him your first couple letters
versus like your letter, because you had your best success
chance of someone answering with him. I guess right. He
was like so like I said, he was, he was
with the Phoenix Suns. So when I started writing my letters,
he was still working in the NBA, or at least
planning and working in the NBA. And then way down
(10:29):
the line that it kind of just fell in my lap.
I was like, oh man, Yeah, So you guys definitely
built some connection and relationship your last two years. And
we'll get into that a little bit more when we
talk about your high level, high profile coaches. But you know,
the time period of your first year of college basketball
was a lot different than most. Like you came in
as a freshman, you know, writing these letters and then uh,
(10:51):
you know, not recruited the way you had dreamed of. Um,
you know, some of us can relate to that pain
and you know how to deal with that. But you
came in during a pandemic and then you know, you
guys go on and win the n I T Championship
this year or wi. I was just telling you, I
had no no clue you guys even did that, which
is great, and I mean you got to be a
part of that. So what you know, just about what
(11:12):
you remember about entering you know that first year of
college basketball, that journey, what you've taken away from just
that one year into you know, your second year, that
you'll continue carrying with you as you finished this out. Yeah. Man,
it was the whole, the whole. Everything was weird. It
was the way the season shut down. I was nervous, like,
you know, I had just gotten in connection with these people, Like,
(11:34):
am I even gonna be allowed to come? Like it's
something going to change. I was paranoid. I remember I
was in Michigan. Um we were up at the lake.
I was at my girlfriend's lake house and I got
a text, Hey, you gotta report Saturday, and it was
it was like Wednesday. I was like, are you like,
I have four days? I gotta be down from the jump.
(11:56):
It was just it was crazy, like I got down
there immediately got COVID. I don't know if it's bad
things say now, like it just happened. And I remember
I was in quarantine and it set us back. So
we're all down there and we had to go through
every precaution like that we're in we're right now just
so people know we're back in the heart of the pandemic.
(12:17):
But and um, so we're we're fighting just to get
back on the court, you know, Like I think they
brought us and maybe football or volleyball or some one
other sports team, and um, we were allowed to start.
They're like, Okay, this is how we're gonna do it.
We had all these rules, all this you know, you
got to enter this way and leave the building through
this door and get tested every day and all this stuff.
(12:40):
So we men, we were there for a month before
we even stopped foot on the court. Probably I think
today about this time last year or two years ago
was probably when we officially started, and it was just
I remember it was like stations of like one on one.
It was just like this kind of like false sense
of like what it really was. I was like, man,
this is it doesn't feel like what I kind of
(13:02):
thought it would be. But um, we started to solely
ramp it up, ramp it up, ramp it up. And um,
you know I knew coming in, um that I had
my work cut out for me and my mindset kind
of going. It was just baptism by fire. I was
just gonna throw myself out there. And it fell hard,
fell often until I figured it out. And um, you
know I wasn't afraid of the work or anything like that.
(13:23):
I knew it was gonna take time. I didn't have
any crazy expectations for my first year. I just kind
of want to soak it all in. And we are
playing in front of crowds with no fans and playing
on the road and all this stuff was new to me,
and it just for some reason it felt it was like,
is this is this how it is? Like it just
doesn't fully feel like you know what you what you
(13:45):
think it would. And then we go and we you know,
we felt like we we made a good running to
to make the tournament. Late in the year, we had
a a late opportunity. We lost to Houston on a
half core buzzer beater and that kind of put us out. So,
you know, after that, we were like, man, you know,
this is it. We got to win the conference tournament.
We didn't win the conference tournament. Um, and we we
(14:07):
genuinely we thought our season was over. Like on the
way home, we were like, man, that's that. That that
happened so fast, that's it. Blahlah blah blah. And then
maybe two days later we got a text like, hey,
we're playing in the n I t let's you know,
we got practice today and we're like, oh my god,
like we forgot about the n I T Like we
still have a chance to play, And most of the
(14:28):
guys were like, let's do it. Like we got a
chance to win the champion. It's a short pool. It's
maybe these teams. We we felt like we we felt
like we could have won the real tournament. So we
had no worries going into the tournament on the n
I T tournament and man, we we dominated in that tournament,
and um when we won, like as all years, like
you know, there was limited fans in there. It was
(14:50):
so it just didn't fully feel like we just want
a championship. It was like weird feeling like you wanted
to be you know, you wanted to have like that
crowd interaction and fans and and all that kind of stuff.
But I think once we got back into the locker
room it kind of hit us. We had this big
cooler of it started with just water and we started
(15:10):
dumping gatorade in there, and a couple of kids like
mountain dews or something crazy. They put like mountain dew
in there. When coach came in, we dumped it on
him and all that kind of so we once it.
Once it got to that point, it felt pretty authentic.
And then I remember we flew home and all the
fans were at the airport when we landed and all
that stuff. So it started to feel pretty real after that.
(15:31):
And then man, I remember we got home less than
twenty four hours later. I was in the gym when
more people were in the gym, and we're like, man
it it's we're just not satisfied, like we want more,
Like that felt great, but that's not what we're looking for,
Like we just we want to take to the next level, right,
you know you you said you kind of to rewind
a little, like you know, threw yourself in like it
(15:53):
was like baptism by fire, and you know you you
go on this whole journey your freshman year of college. UM,
So everything that happened in that freshman year was like
such a learning curve, such an adjust spent period for you,
and at some point it started to click for you,
just like it does for every freshman. UM. But I
think it's interesting because you know, you, you you have
(16:13):
that freshman year, and I feel terrible for every freshman
that was a freshman that year. I mean, yeah, we
like everybody got that year of eligibility back. But like dude,
like like you were saying, like is this really what
it was? Like? Like you guys got the weirdest taste
of college basketball, like the station work, Like that's so
funny because we were doing you know, I was my
first year. I do kin that same year and we're
(16:33):
doing the same stuff. We're practicing and like groups of three,
groups of five, like groups of two or like individual stuff,
and it's like, this is so awkward, Like when do
you get to build a camaraderie and like getting that
team environment. Okay, quick break, but don't go anywhere because
when we come back, Connor is going to get into
the details on what it's really like to be around
and to be coached by former NBA legends. It's coming
(16:54):
right up. We'll be right back and we're back here
on part one of episode fourteen on Waukie Tucky's podcast,
Let's Bring back in our guest Memphis back football player
Connor Glennon. So, obviously you got to a certain point
where COVID was what it was, you had to accept
it and then for your own personal adjustment, period like
throughout that year, Like, how did you navigate You know,
(17:17):
you're around those NBA legends. You're around Penny Hardaway, Larry Brown,
Rashid Wallace, Cody Toppert who played professionally, had a lot
of experience with you know NBA guys. Um, Like how
did you navigate being around those coaches and staying calm
and like kind of trusting your ability to show that
you're not a scrub, that you maybe that you do
(17:38):
belong there and you know, ultimately earned their respect as
well as your teammates, but more so your coaches because
like you know, you you you said it, You threw
baptism by fire, You threw yourself out there. You were
okay with failure, but there's always a certain point of
like how uncomfortable you are and it's affecting your ability
every day on the court. So like what was your
balance with that? Like how did you navigate being around
(18:00):
those high profile coaches and just obviously they've been around
all the players have been round, you know, like that
they've played with or that they've coached, and now they're
coaching you, and it's like look at me, Like how
do I open their eyes their eyes have been opened
by Allen Iverson, by Shaquille O'Neal, like all their great teammates,
and you know what I mean, how did you do that?
How did that work for you that first year? Um?
(18:22):
I think I came in and like you said, I
forgot to mention when I came in the locker like
we weren't even allowed to our lockers yet, Like we
had chairs spread out throughout the locker room, so like
I knew nobody. I didn't know it, Like I didn't
even met a single player yet, and they got to
spread out in the locker room like we're not even talking.
We're coming in early in the morning, getting out quick
(18:45):
like all this stuff. So it's like it took me
a while to kind of just get over the hump.
And it was like mentally coming in, I was like
like I belong here, like I know I do, Like
I know so much about the game. I just you know,
I know how to lead, I know people, I know
how to do all these things. It was the physical part.
I was like, Okay, I need to get shrunk or
I need to get a little bit big here. I
need to you know, I need to move faster, I
(19:07):
need to you know, the game picks up a little bit.
So that stuff was like, Okay, it's gonna take time.
Just chip away at, chip away at it. Don't don't worry.
You know you're gonna go out there. You're gonna do
some great things. You're gonna do some horrible things. Just
find small victories, Just find small wins, and just keep going,
stack them on top of each other. Keep building, keep building,
and keep building, and just find your your niche. Like
(19:28):
that year I kind of picked up. Like the gyms
were quiet, they were so empty, they were just silent.
Like my voice, I've never been a friend. My dad
used to tell our teams when we were second grade
that the gym is the loudest classroom in the school.
Were like we used practiced at the at the local schools.
This is the loudest classroom. Don't be scared of your
own voice. And so I was just out and practice
(19:50):
every day. I was loud, and you know at home games,
I was loud. I was starting starting a chance on
the bench, trying to get you know, if we did
have fans, trying to get the little fans we had
involved um just being vocal, being extremely vocal, talking on
defense is something like this are I was like, okay,
I can't really you know, I can't say hey, screen left,
screen right, you know, pick coming, box, out shot, all
(20:12):
that kind of stuff. You can't say it because it's allowed. Jim.
You know, we're on the road playing against somebody. Um
but that first year, I could, you know, if someone
was going for a backdoor lob and I saw coming,
I said, you know, we watched the film and I
see I pick up on it. I call out to
play all that kind of stuff. So I picked up
on some some little things. Like I said, it was
just the small victories for me, Like that meant the
world to me that I could. I felt like I
(20:33):
could help have an impact on the game from from
the last seat on the bench, just because the arena
is empty and I could use my voice. Um so
I man, my teammates will probably tell you I took
full ownership and I'd probably talked too much. I'm too loud.
To tell me to be quiet. Someone would say, like, man,
I if Connor was yelling at me, like I know
I was, you know, I know I was around, I
(20:53):
was doing something bad. So that was cool for for
my first year and then UM, like I said with
the with the physical part, it was just I'm around
these these great players, these like you have no choice
but to get better. You have no choice. You just
show up and do the work and that's it, Like
you're going to improve. And then if you show up,
you do the work and you do more, and you
do a little bit harder, and you you take the
(21:15):
next step and the next step and the next step
you do. UM, ask questions, you asked the right questions. UM,
and you just gotta get over yourself, like you're not
you gotta understand. You're just you're not perfect. You're not
gonna make every shot, You're not gonna make every read.
Like we're doing stuff pretty simple and I'm I'm I'm
messing it up and it's like, oh man. At first
I'm there and like my head's going crazy. I'm moving
(21:38):
too fast. I gotta slow down. And you know, by
the end of the year, I was like, man, I
know all the reads, I know the rotations, I know
just do it like I know it. I know, I
know it, I can I can translate. I just gotta
I just gotta do it. So that next summer it
was all about just just doing it like I know
it all. I feel like I know I know all
these things that we're looking for, the principles, the rotations,
(22:00):
all all the stuff. I just gotta go do it.
So last year for me was it's just about trying
to do it. Just do it right, do it right,
do it right. So how many times you can do
right before I do it wrong? And as walk on
you get so many reps and it's limited, but just
small victories. You know, if I do a whole week
without you know, messing up a defense rotation, or if
I cracked back every single time supposed to and show
(22:22):
drill like, those are small victories that I just started
stacking on top of each other. And it builds your confidence.
And then you feel like you can communicate with your
teammates and they see you doing stuff right and it's like, Okay,
well he knows what he's talking about a little bit.
You know, they can kind of listen to you a
little bit more right. It takes some time for you
to get to that point mentally, but then also to
be able to express it you know vocally that your
(22:43):
teammates also are locked into the fact that like, oh,
Connor does Connor might understand this more than I understand
this like and then boom like because it was very
similar for me, Like the vocal nous that I had
that you're speaking about very similar, and I think that
that was where I like earned a lot of my stripes.
Was like, you know, sometimes I couldn't maybe get on
the court and physically do it, just because, like you said,
(23:05):
the reps are limited and and you know, sometimes it
just didn't work out. But nine times out of ten,
like I could see it and then explain it to someone,
I might get on the court and mess it up,
but like I could definitely, I could definitely explain it
to you, like you know, just like all of our
minds work a little bit differently. But you know, so
you said something about the physical the physicality part of
it that you needed to like kind of upgrade and really,
(23:28):
you know, build your strength. So let's do two quick things.
That first year, you probably you know, I'm just gonna
assume because it was the same for me, and it
was probably like this for everybody. But you probably had
more embarrassing moments that in your head made you feel
like ship than you did good moments in the beginning
so hit me with the most embarrassing thing that happened
on the court in practice that you did. You know,
(23:49):
maybe someone pins you to the glass or they get whatever.
It just quick embarrassing thing and then a quick turnaround
for your your best thing that you were like, all right,
you know what, I'm good. I'm good. I think it
would be I'm gonna flip that. So the first official practice,
so what we had workouts and we were doing all,
you know, whatever you're allowed to do. I don't even
(24:10):
remember at the time, and our first official practice, you know,
we're allowed to get up and down play five on five.
We didn't have I remember, we didn't have a ton
of I think we maybe had twelve or thirteen guys
that year, and we had maybe two guys heard at
leavest eleven. So we're getting up and down. One kid
gets hurt. Okay, now I'm tenth, right, I gotta play
(24:32):
whatever is left on the scoreboard, like this is all
we have, Like we're going to finish this out. So
whatever team we were playing against, they just doubled off
me and tried to make the ball find me and
rotates me. And I was just like, I gotta shoot these,
that's no problem to me. Made probably three or four
of my five you know, twenty minute game whatever it was,
(24:55):
and I was on top of the world there, you know,
my first first fish practice. You know, it's like this
click in my mind, like okay, I can do that,
and I can do this every you know, oh man,
like you get all these crazy thoughts run through your
head and then you know, the next practice just maybe
the polar opposite, same kind of thing, same, and now
(25:16):
it's like, Okay, he made these shots yesterday. Let's let's
speed him up. Let's put some pressure on. Let's you know,
put him in the post. See if you can garden
the post. So I'm trying to front the post. You know,
I got Lester canon as these six seven wherever he
is heavy guard, trying to post me up and back
me down. And you know, like I said, you know,
I gotta switch screens. You know, I'm trying to rotate them,
trying to get out, and people are yelling and screaming,
(25:37):
and I'm just trying to figure it out on the
fly because I don't I don't know enough yet to
to keep myself out of those situations. And it was
just so much at once. I don't know that. I actually,
you know, like you said, you just you take these
little mess ups and they blow up in your head
and you think it's the end of the world. I
don't know that. I I really did so horribly, but
(25:58):
in my head, I was like, man, that that's that
was embarrassing. Like every single possession I was getting hunted,
like I don't know if you saw that clip of
Duncan Robinson saying Lebron like, point Nan, I'm calling him
up into ball screens because they want man. I felt
the same way. They were just going at me and
they were talking to me too. But so it was
a quick one eighty, you know, I felt I was
(26:18):
on top of the world that first day. Played really well.
I played hard. I mean I I just played hard.
But I was like, man, there's there's gonna be some
time before I can really, really, really really compete with
these guys. And I kind of just accepted that in
my head that day and moving forward, I just you know,
I chipped away, chipped away, chipped away, and uh yeah, yeah.
(26:39):
It's so funny because like obviously I did the walk
on thing too, and you know, countless countless times of
playing pickup or getting in on five on five and
you have like you know, you you're you're shorter than me,
but have a little bit more size. I'm taller, but
I'm skinny. So it's like both of us could be
looked at by like a two guard or a three guard,
even some point guards as a mismatch. And it's the
(26:59):
funniest thing to me is at like most walk ons
I know, like they always have to go through that
ringer in the post where god, oh well, I'm gonna
just take advantage of this guy down low, like makem
down here. And it's like it's so funny because sometimes,
like you know, more often than that, they probably do
have the upper the upper hand, but like there's a
(27:19):
there's a good handful of time throughout at least my time,
like where I got the upper hand because you figure
it out. You're like, I'm not gonna get scored on
down here. I'm gonna be physicals fuck and like I'm
not gonna value, but maybe I will value a little
bit because they fill value. They don't care about value,
so why should I care? But um, I think that's
the funniest thing all right, walkie talking is getting last break.
When we come back, Connor may or may not be
(27:41):
talking about the criticism coach Hardaway faces. He might talk
about Jalen during getting drafted, the Monty Bates situation, and
earning the respect from his NBA coaches. I don't know
which one it's gonna be, but you'll have to stick
around to find out. We'll be right back, and we're
back here in the home stretch of part one of
episode fourteen on Walkie Tucky's podcast. And if you're enjoying
this episode, please leave us a review towards the bottom
(28:03):
of the show page on full podcast or towards the
top of the page on the show page on Spotify
to make sure you are subscribed and downloaded to the
shows you know on this part two next week. Otherwise,
what the heck are you don want listen in the
part one that Let's bring back him Memphis basketball player
Connor Glennon. You know I mentioned some of your coaches earlier,
and um, you know, just some of the people that
they've been around that they've coached. Obviously, Larry Brown coached
(28:23):
Allen Iverson with the Sixers, and you know Penny played
with Shack and Rashid Wallace was on the O four
Pistons championship team. So, you know, what has your relationship
become like with all of them? Through your vocal nous.
You know, obviously you're not a quiet guy, and and
that means that you're actively probably built these relationships and
a good rapport with a lot of these big time names,
(28:45):
like you know, really respected people in the basketball world.
So what has your relationships become like with them? And
if any standout? And visually, I know, individually, I know
you had the you know, we touched on it briefly
before with coach Cody Toppert, who did recently leave for
l s U, but he coached with you know, the
songs worked with Devin Booker the year he averaged points
of his career game I think it was in two
(29:07):
thousand nineteen. So you get to touch on some of
those relationships, how you've built, you know, a good rapport
with you know, highly respected people that now respect the
hell out of you. Yeah, it's um I think just
being so um, having this this understanding by yourself that
(29:28):
you just you don't know as much as they do.
They've been around longer, they've been around everything. They know
you know, Coach Brown, I would say, no, it's close
to as everything as anybody's ever gonna know in the
game beastball um currently today just because of how long
he's been around the game. He's seen it change and
change and change, and he's seen what works throughout time.
(29:50):
And you know, people being you know, Coach top was
in the NBA coaching for a while. Coach Hardaway was
one of the best players ever. UM Coach Wallace won
the championship as a player. Like there's everyone had their
own niche and it was like I just had like
this level of respect that like I just I don't know,
like I can't physically know what they know, so anything
(30:11):
they have to say is like it's like you know,
coming in in a glass bottle, and you know, it's
like the most important thing I'm gonna learn today. I
used to write down things that they would say, like, oh,
coach coach Hardaway said this to have like that a lot.
You know, he said this, Um, you know, coach Brown
(30:32):
said this today. This is this is really good. I
like this a lot. And it was like this comment.
The more I started look at it, It's just like, man,
I've been hearing these things my my whole life. Like
it's nothing crazy, It's just these simple things. But it's
like just the bestball truths if you will. Like every
great coach, you know, we'll say these things in some ways,
(30:55):
you know, they might have their own spin on it,
but it's all the same message. They're all preaching the
same thing. And I've, like I said, I've heard it,
you know, being a young kid hearing these things and
then going to high school. He my high school coach
was teaching me the stuff that you know, Roy Williams
was teaching him. And at the time, I just thought
it was you know whatever. And then I got to
(31:17):
college and I'm hearing the same things, and I'm like
like wow, Like this is bestball is. You know, there's
like the center and best ball and everything kind of
revolves around this, and everybody branches their own way and
and has their own spin, and you know, we want
to shoot threes or no, we're gonna play in the
low post, or man, we're gonna be a defensive team.
But just having this this prior knowledge and understanding of
(31:41):
you know, what great bastball is and how to play
the game the right way. I think that resonates with
people and they're like, oh man, we need we need
people to play like this. We need people to enjoy
it and work and you know have the passion that
he does, and that just kind of builds a relationship,
you know, you have like a mutual respect um and
just being coachable and you know, Coach Brown used to
(32:03):
used to he used to just say these things and
it would feel like he's just saying them because he's
got to Sam and he doesn't know who to Sam too.
So I told me, you know, you could always say
to me like I'm always gonna listen. I'm always gonna
do um whatever it is that you know, you can
tell me to do anything, I'm gonna listen. So just
doing you know, being coachable and taking this information and
(32:26):
trying to spread it and and share with teammates and
get them to understand it the way that you understand it.
I think that what kind of catapults in relationship that
you could have with the coach. And then you know,
they see that and they ask you questions like do
you want to be a coach someday? Do you want
to you know what I mean? And it's like, you know,
I don't. I don't know what I want to do,
but man, I'm open to anything, and I'm keeping note.
(32:48):
I'm doing all this stuff just because like this this
information is gold. Yeah. Men, you do have like a
great mentality for a walk on not many have and
to have that kind of self awareness right away, you know,
as an eighteen nineteen year old of like, I do
not know as much as these guys know. Like it's
literally impossible. I mean, because man, there you've been around
(33:09):
and I'm sure you've seen it. There's a ton of
dudes who I think the complete opposite, you know, and
and we'll you know, show that and act like they
do know more. And you know, that's unfortunate because you
only cheat yourself when when you lack that type of
self awareness, Like how could you be in a gym
with that many great basketball minds and not want to
do exactly what you do? I would have been taking
(33:30):
just as many notes as you. Man. I would have
liked had a pen in my you know, compression pants
and just scribbled on my arm or something like, you know,
my memories dogship. But just in case, so you know,
you're around all these guys I mentioned, you know, some
of the people that they have been around and and
they're all former NBA guys. You know, like every one
(33:51):
of them has had their own experiences and connections within
that NBA world. So you know, they bring that into
the Memphis Basketball gym and they do it to you
current players. They bring those experiences and those moments and
the things that they've learned and the things that they
have had success with and they pour it out onto
you guys. So you know, how valuable is that and
(34:12):
how apparent is some of that you know on a
day to day basis for you guys. Um, it's it's gold.
Like I said, like just the information, Like it's something
that people people would pay just to hear certain things,
you know what I mean, Like you'll go sit down
on at a at a coach's clinic just to hear um.
(34:34):
You know, someone like coach Hardaway or coach Top or
coach Brown or whoever you know, just talk about what
they know about the game. Right, People do that, you know,
coaches clinic happened all the time. Like you just go
and you sit and you listen. So to for me,
it was like man, I was in class every day,
but it was it was a class that I love,
you know, I was, I was engaged, you know what
(34:55):
I mean exactly and m So that's that's how I
looked at I was like, I'm learning every day, I'm
growing and every day I'm getting better every day, and
I'm doing it around the like the best. Like there's
no I don't know that you can you know, everyone,
like I said, everyone's got their own spin on things.
But man, I just I truly felt like this is
(35:18):
the best like source of knowledge, like all of this
combined right here, and I'm just it's just hitting me
every day. Like so for that alone is one thing.
And then being able to you know, share that with
your teammates and um my teammates as well, you know,
they especially um the past two years, man, I had
(35:39):
some very accoladd teammates and some big time high school
prospects stuff like that. I wasn't, you know, I didn't
they know more about that than I do, you know.
I mean they're always talking about, you know, playing on
the circuit and all this stuff, and I didn't play
on the circuit, so they they have like this this
knowledge about people in the game that I don't have.
(36:02):
So even then just listening to them and just being
a sponge to everything and everyone, especially that first year. Man,
I just soaked everything in that I could and just
try to learn as much as possible. It's gonna pay
off for you to man. I mean, I know the
last time, you know, past conversations we've had, you've mentioned
coaching and that, and like you just said before, it
might be something you're interested in. You're open to a
lot of things. Um, something I do want to hit
(36:25):
back on that you said. You know, well, I brought
it up about about your coaches and like how valuable
their knowledge is and stuff like that. And I think
that's something that listeners are probably wondering, is like, Okay,
well then why don't you guys win more? What is
this like stigma about Penny Hardaway, Like he's not really
that good of a coach and obviously he's one of
the best to ever play, but there is a lot
(36:46):
of that criticism about him as a coach and not
you know, I've heard so many people say a million
different things, Oh, he's not good with player development, Oh
he's not an X and those guys, Oh he doesn't
recruit well or even though that's probably the best thing
he does whatever anyway, And you know, you being someone
that is in those locker rooms, and you know, I
kind of do like to look at you as like
a young coach, Like your high school coach was coached
(37:09):
by Roy Williams and you were you have had amazing
basketball knowledge is poured into you since a very young age,
and so like you know, you're very advanced and knowledgeable
about the game and probably most people, uh in your position.
I know that I had nowhere near as much confidence
in my knowledge of the game of basketball at your
age that you currently have. Like there it's night and day.
(37:31):
So to hear you speak about it, and I can
see exactly where it comes from. So take that young
coaching mind that you have, and you know, what do
you think about that stuff about Coach Hardaway as a coach?
What do you see about him as a coach That
gets maybe misconstrued to the public because not everyone else
gets to see what you see in that locker room,
in the practice, in the huddles firsthand. Like what what
(37:53):
is from your young coach mind that perspective? M hm, yes.
So the biggest thing is, like I said, there's just
so much information to be learned. When you're trying to
learn a million things at once, sometimes it's difficult. You know.
You you might remember this, you might remember this, but
trying to learn everything at once. So like these kids
(38:14):
come up and they didn't you know, Like I said,
I've been hearing a lot of these things since I
was kids, since I was little playing basketball. I don't
know that everybody has. So this is the first time
they're hearing certain things like simple concepts, simple technicue, whatever
it is. So it's hitting them. You know. Yeah, they're
they have all the talent and athleticism and ability in
(38:34):
the world, but the mental side is it's a whole
another ball game for them. So when you've got all
these all these people pouring their heart out and pouring
all this information into it can be overwhelming and be stressful.
It can be a lot. And to do it every
day and trying you're trying to be every If you're
at this level, you're a perfectionist to some sort, like
you want to do everything perfect, you want to do
it right every single time. Nobody goes out there and
(38:57):
tries to you know, have miss a rotation or miss
a blockout or you know, we're supposed to be doing
this on the scouting report and you don't do it.
Nobody wants to do that, but the pressure to do
it right can be a lot for people. So what
I would say is coach knows so much about the game.
All of our coaches do, and they try and share
(39:18):
everything with us. They try and you know, they want
us to be great. But above all, they just want
us to play hard. You know, they tell us all
the time, if you just play harder than the other team.
You know, Coach Brown used to say, if you just
play harder than then nine times out of ten, you're
gonna win. If you're the more aggressive team, if you're
the more physical team, if you're all these things, you're
just gonna win. So it's like, okay, so let's just
(39:39):
just you know, forget about this and let's just play hard.
And you're trying to feel and we got a lot
of young guys um, but most importantly, I think it's
just the guy's got to kind of come together. And
you know, like when we my first year, when we
we struggled a little bit and then we kinda we
kind of found our niche It was defense, Like this
is our identity. And we ran with it. And that's
(40:01):
wild led us to winning an n i T championship,
and from then not a coach has been so so
disciplined defense, likes so meticulous about defense that is now
our identity. Like we're gonna be one of the best
defensive teams in the country every year, no matter what,
like offense, whatever, We'll figure it out your your year.
(40:21):
We're gonna be the best defensive team in the country.
And in order to do that, you have to really,
really really have guys who are willing to just sacrifice
themselves and lock into our principles and program, right, I mean, well, okay,
I don't mean to interrupt you, but I do want
you to I want you to hit more on you know,
just that that stigma of Penny Hardaway, Like you, you
(40:44):
are in that huddle and you see ship way differently
than other people see that, you know, formulate these opinions
with their own basketball minds and their own spins on
the game. That maybe he's doing some of these things wrong,
but as a player for his team, you know what
are they wrong about? Like you get the ins and
the outs, Like he's obviously not a bad coach. I
would be damn am if any conversation I had, I
(41:07):
don't even know the guy. But if I let someone say,
like Penny Hardaway was a bad coach, there's there's no
way like, yeah, there's people like you know, different spins,
maybe they have different approaches and taxes, but we we
just we can talk about this n I t championship
like three or four times, like he helped you guys
win a championship, he led that group, like he took
guys to the tournament, won a tournament game, like he's
(41:27):
only been at the Helm for what three or four years?
So it's like, go into that about him as a coach,
and what you see that we don't say. Okay, I
know you all want the answer to that. I'm sorry
to leave it here, but this was genuinely dead smack
in the middle of the episode. So we're gonna pause
it right here. And I know, guys, I know you're mad,
which I'd be mad to man. I teased a bunch
of stuff, but it really had to be done this way.
(41:49):
You know, those eighty minute episodes at this stage of
the show, just that good business and this is good
for me and it's good for you. Guys, trust me,
and if you want to yell at me and come
to Twitter, find me at w t Z podcast or
snow dot three my personal page and tell me about it.
And maybe if I get enough you, I'll release Part
two a few days sooner, just for you guys, you
die hard fans at Memphis. So but for now, Part
(42:09):
two is coming next week. Make sure you are subscribed
to the podcast to get notified when the episode drops
to hear the rest of this fantastic conversation where kind
of really goes into coach Hardaway's coaching style and all
of the details about the Emmanti Bass situation, the current
infractions case against the program, and about Jalen during getting drafted.
Forty more minutes of Juice coming your way next week.
If you are subscribed, you will be notified, so please
(42:31):
go ahead and do that. And I appreciate everyone who
tuned in and enjoyed this episode. Make sure you are
downloading and leaving the show a review. It does truly
mean a lot if you can do those things, So
thank you again and we'll see you guys back here
next week for Part two. Peace Walkie Talkies. It's a
production of I Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I
(42:53):
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Noah Buono
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