Pivotal CFB Matchups, NFL Playoff Picture, Texas Hoops Home Opener Prep

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Friday, folks, and welcome in to the Craigways Show
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. It's a
Longhorn bye week on the grid Iron. Texas coaches are
busy out recruiting, checking out some high school games in
the area this weekend, and our Craig Way getting a

(00:21):
rare day off enjoying himself on the buy. I'm Jay Herbin,
the producer of this program. Happy to be filling in
and keeping you all in the loop on what's going
on in the world of sports here today.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
We've got a very busy show.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Lots to get to, including that Thursday night football slugfest
between the Raiders and the Broncos last night. We'll talk
about that in just a few moments. Reset the NFL
playoff picture for you. Big matchup coming up for the
Houston Texans on Sunday when they take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.

(00:54):
Looking for a little measure of revenge in that one.
We'll tell you about the implications of that, and we'll
hear from Demico Ryans coming up from his press conference yesterday.
We will have inconceivable, which on a Friday means we
head down to Florida for some sports tie in, some

(01:15):
sports media tie ins. We've got a lot packed into
that segment for you today, and then we'll also stay
down in Florida, you know, the start of the three
o'clock hour. Why Steve Helwick's going to join us, a
college football reporter who is this sports version of Mister Worldwide.
He covers the Big Twelve, the Group of five for

(01:36):
eSPI Nation's Underdog Dynasty.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
He's very plugged in.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
He's gonna tell us about some of the great games
going on around college football this weekend that will have
college football playoff implications.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
We focus on the SEC.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
A whole lot during this program, given where the Longhorns play,
but with Texas on the week off, we'll take a
look at some of the other big game around the
country as Steve reacts to some of the college Football
Playoff rankings as well.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
No.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
G five teams in the College Football Playoff Committee's initial rating.
G five, of course, referring to the group of five
outside of the Power four conferences whose champions are guaranteed
pretty much bids to the College Football Playoff every year
in this twelve team structure. So we'll talk to Steve
about that at about three point fifteen today and get

(02:25):
you a lot on what's going on around the SEC
this weekend as well. We've also got plenty of Texas
basketball going on. The women in action tonight taking on
twenty fourth ranked Richmond at Moody Center. We'll hear a
little bit from Vick Schaeffer later on as that game
gets closed, So you could hear that game with coverage
starting at six forty five pm right here on sports

(02:47):
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Roger Wallace on the
call filling in for Craig Way tonight. And if you
listen to us yesterday and a bunch of you did
lucky enough to win several pairs of free tickets to
that ball game, we have given all those away, but

(03:08):
you are in luck because the men play on Saturday
against the Leopards of Lafayette, the home debut at Moody
Center for the Texas Longhorns under new coach Sean Miller,
and they'll try to get back to five hundred at
one and one after losing in Charlotte on Tuesday night,
their season opener at Duke, A very tough season opener,

(03:29):
one that Sean Miller did not schedule. He inherited that,
so to speak, and I say, at Duke. Of course
it was in Charlotte, but ninety six, ninety seven percent
of the crowd we're wearing blue, supporting the brotherhood as
they call it, the Duke Blue Devils. But you've got
a chance today to win some tickets to Texas men's

(03:52):
basketball's home opener against Lafayette and that game tips off
at two o'clock on Saturday at the Moody Center. And
if you want to win a pair of tickets, here's
what you do. We've got five pairs of tickets to
give away, and it's very easy, completely free. Step one,
you want to download the iHeartRadio app and step two

(04:13):
search for AM thirteen hundred zone. Once you're there, some
of you might even be listening to us on the
app right now, and we appreciate those of you that are.
The third step is simple. You'll click on the red
microphone button. It's a red button with a white microphone
on it, and leave us a talkback message tell us
that you want to be entered for the tickets to

(04:35):
the Texas men's basketball game against Lafayette.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
On Saturday afternoon.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Tell Us your name, and through the app, we're able
to get your contact information from that as well to
give you the tickets if you are one of the
first five people to leave us a talkback, So that's
all you have to do. You get a chance to
bring your son, your daughter, your significant other, your parent, whoever,
out to the game on on Saturday to watch the

(05:01):
Texas Men host Lafayette non conference play continues. You can
also hear that game right here on sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred. The Zone, as part of the Longhorn Radio Network.
SEC Network Plus has the TV broadcast on Saturday afternoons.
So we'll have plenty to talk about with Texas basketball,

(05:24):
including Lacina Triore, the center who came off the bench
during the loss against Duke on Tuesday. Came over with
Sean Miller from Xavier after missing all of last season
with an injury. Then he picked up another injury along
with Madus Vokatitis, the other center transferred in from FAU.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Both were banged up and missed the scrimmages.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Both featured prominently in the season opener against Duke. He
visited with some of the local media over zoom this
morning and we'll have those sound bites for you sprinkled
throughout the show, but mostly towards the back half. Set
up our second guest just after four o'clock today, Jason
Canander is going to join us former Longhorn who now
calls The Little Apple Home, where he hosts the Hook

(06:09):
of Hoops podcast, part of the Field of sixty eight.
Him and Tommy Yarish and Zach Davis do a great
job keeping you in the loop on all things Texas basketball.
They had a good season preview podcast out last week.
We're gonna get Jason's thoughts now that we've seen it
in action. Sean Miller's team falling to zero to one
against Duke, but certainly showing some flashes playing the Blue

(06:30):
Devils real tough for about well two thirds of that game,
including a one point lead the Longhorns held at the
half in that game, but has promised a little recap
of some of the football that we saw last night.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Like I told Craig that Thursday night game, I didn't
think you would pick my interest all that much. I
didn't know it was going to be that slow paced.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
What I did check out was a big local high
school game, and that is Anderson taking on Weiss at
the field in Flouville. Now, this game featured Anderson trying
to go for its first ever unbeaten regular season. They've
already clinched the district title, but Weiss was in the
mood to play spoiler last night, and they put together

(07:16):
their best defensive performance of the year, bouncing back from
a loss to College Station to beat Anderson soundly by
a final score of twenty eight to seven. Their first
three touchdowns came from the Shad brothers. Jackson, the sophomore quarterback,
to Dallas, his older brother at receiver, and then they
iced it with a seventy nine yard strike from Shad

(07:39):
to Trey Moore, who is going to be playing a
prominent role on Saturdays very soon, extremely talented wide receiver
at Weiss, and they were able to hold Caleb Crenshaw,
who was threatening Cedric Alexander's AISD rushing record. They held
him to one hundred and two yards took him twenty
three carries to get there.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
That was the kicker.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
They kept Anderson from being its normal efficient self on
the ground, and despite not being able to really move
up or down in the district standings for playoff seating,
to Weiss team that needed to win like this after
losing kind of their two other big district games this
year between College Station and A and M Consolidated. So

(08:20):
the Wolves beat the Trojans. Had they beaten College Station
last week, they would have shared that district championship with Anderson.
But they'll settle for some momentum as they head into
a very tough draw come playoff time. In terms of
the bracket, the final standings in five A District twelve

(08:46):
District twelve to five A Division one, I mean to say,
see Anderson at seven to one Consolidated can win and
tie them for the district this week, But of course
Anderson has the tiebreaker after winning that crazy six over
time game that he J. Sanchez told us about on
Tuesday when he had when he came and joined the program.

(09:08):
College Station is six and two, Weiss is six and two.
Of course College Station has the tiebreaker. Weiss will be
the number four seed come playoff time from a very
loaded district, with Hendrickson just on the outside looking in
in fifth, Hayes in sixth. As that district heads down

(09:29):
the stretch. Thursday night football last night, as we shift
gears to the NFL.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
For the next few moments. Here Denver gets to win.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
They win ugly again, They find a way by a
score of ten to seven. The two quarterbacks in this game,
Bonix and Gino Smith, combined for less than three hundred
passing yards. The teams were combined nine for thirty on
third down. But the Broncos are eight in two and
they've won seven in a row. That's their longest winning

(10:02):
streak in a decade. But outside of their defensive line
and those orange crush jerseys, not too much looked best
in a decade for Denver.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Last night.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
They had more penalties than first downs, eleven flags, ten times,
they moved the chains, and it was special teams that
kind of saved them. They had a blocked punt that
set up the fuel goal, which ultimately put them ahead
late in the third quarter, helped them stay ahead in
the ballgame, and the Raiders missed the potential game tye
and kick late Daniel Carlson unable to connect on a

(10:37):
windy night at Mile High Stadium. So a lot of
the discourse today about Denver sitting here at eight and
two is about, well, you know, how do you view
this team? Is your record indicative. Are you what your
record says? You are at eight and two, the best
team in the NFL quote unquote, and you think about

(11:01):
this Denver team, they could be nine to one if
not for the leverage penalty that negated what would have
been a.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Miskick by Indianapolis in that game.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
The Colts got a second chance off of that seldom
called you know, roughing the center.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Type of call and escape with that game. So what
are we supposed to make of this?

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Well, A lot of the focuses on the Denver offense
catching some flak for a very inefficient performance where they
did just and I mean just barely enough to get
the victory. But I decided to do a little digging
into this Denver defense and it was a little worse

(11:48):
on what I found. They've had some great games, but
you look at who those have come against. Okay, the
Raiders last night, held to seven. It's not been a
good season for Vegas offensively. He saw it against well,
almost everybody Vegas has played this year. They've really struggled
to move the ball. Jacksonville last week a little bit
of an exception. How that they have brought Bauers back,

(12:10):
but he was out there this week, held at just
one catch by Denver. They held the Bengals to three
points on Monday Night football. Denver did that was against
the Jake Browning version of the Bengals. That experiment ended
a couple of weeks later. Last week, they had given
up several first half points and time of possession to C. J.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Stroud.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Once Davis Mills came into the ballgame, that was when
Denver put the clamps down, won the field position battle,
ultimately wrestled that game away from the Texans. Who will
talk about it just a moment. Then they held the
Jets to eleven. Who hasn't held the Jets offense and
checked this year besides Pittsburgh Week one and the Titans
to twelve. So they feasted on bad teams, and that's good.

(12:58):
That's what you're supposed to do as a defense. How
about the other games. Gave up thirty two to the
Giants that fourth quarter comeback that wasn't for Jackson Dart
and the Giants that day, a game in which the
Giants were already without elite neighbors. How About giving up
twenty nine to the Colts in that sort of unlucky

(13:21):
defeat late twenty three to the Chargers without their offensive tackles.
It's a Charger team that's been very inconsistent on that
side of the ball this year.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Twenty four to the Cowboys. So it's a little bit
of both.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
For Denver, the record can be misleading, and in this
case it might be because of their schedule, but finding
ways to win this time of year counts for something.
The Broncos are eight and two and their playoff odds
right now said at ninety two percent according to NFL's

(13:55):
next Gen Stats. We'll tell you about the rest of
the playoff picture and set the stage for a big
game on Sunday for the Houston Texans.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
They've got to have it.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Tamke O'Ryan's will tell us about it right after this
here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone and the
free iHeartRadio app. You know, Fridays on this show are
typically branded fire me Up Fridays, but on a Longhorn
bye week, this felt fitting much needed rest recovery Texas

(14:32):
after that long stretch on the road coming home to
beat Vanderbilt not a top ten win, move up to
number eleven in the College Football Playoff Committee's initial rankings,
and they get to take it easy on Saturday and
prepare for a big, potentially season defining game in Athens

(14:55):
a week from today. Still lots to go, lots to
talk about in terms of college football later in the program.
And hey, we've still got some pairs of tickets to
give away for the Texas men's basketball game on Saturday afternoon.
That's tomorrow at two, the men's home opener against Lafayette.
And all you have to do is leave a talkback

(15:16):
message on the iHeartRadio app. Open the app, search thirteen
hundred zone, tap the red microphone button, give us your name,
tell us, hey, I was listening to the Craig Ways show.
I heard you're give it away tickets for the Texas
home opener. I can tell you right now we've still
got a couple pairs left that you can claim and

(15:40):
make a good Saturday of it. Well, nothing's come too
easy for the Houston Texans this year. We're going to
get to them in a moment as we go through
the playoff picture in the NFL. This is coming up
on week nine, Well, excuse me, this is week ten
of the NFL season. It's going fast, it's going faster

(16:01):
than I can keep track of. In the NFC seating
is about as clear as mud. We had a Texter
messages in yesterday talking about a high school football tiebreaker. Yeah,
that clears it up, clear as mud. That's pretty much
how the NFC seating looks at the moment. In the
National Football League, the following teams are all six and two,

(16:26):
The Eagles who leave the NFC East, the Buccaneers who
leave the NFC South, the Seahawks who lead the NFC West,
the Rams who are tied to the NFC West, currently
second on the tiebreaker, and then you've got the six
and three forty nine Ers, the five to two and
one Packers that tie against the Cowboys keeps on coming back,

(16:49):
The Lions at five and three currently hold the seventh spot,
that third wild card in the NFC, and then also
in the mix, the five and four surprising Panthers, who
backed up the kind of frisky start they've had with
a win at lambeau Field in Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Their defense has improved.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
They found something in the running game under Dave Canalis,
with former Cowboys bell cal Rico Dowdle taking advantage of
an opportunity when Chewba Hubbard was banged up, going out
there and really showing the league, reminding the league what
he can do. The Vikings, after turning the keys back
to JJ McCarthy, got a big win over the Lions

(17:32):
to get to four and four, so they are within
a game of that last playoff spot as well, and
that went over the Lions was huge to be able
to have a division tiebreaker still attainable if you're the Vikings.
And then the Cowboys three to five and one after
losing to the Arizona Cardinals, who are also three and five.

(17:53):
Cowboys playoff odds currently according to next Gen Stats on
nfl dot com five percent five percent. They're on by
this week they play the Raiders, who just lost to
the Broncos ten to seven last night. Cardinals play the
Seahawks this week, and then the three and five Falcons

(18:16):
get the Colts. Tough tests for a couple of three
and five teams, and both of their playoff odds would
dip below five percent with a loss. Then my Washington
Commanders at three and six, and the Giants and Saints,
those three teams are really out of the picture, I think,

(18:36):
and the playoff odds reflect that over to the NF
Over to the AFC, where you mentioned the Broncos with
the league's best record at eight and two, sitting atop
the AFC West. The Colts are seven and two, the
number two seed if the playoffs started today, and they
lead the AFC South where the Texans and Jags are
chasing them. Patriots are seven and two. Turnaround story of

(19:02):
the season. I'm seeing a lot of parallels between the
Patriots this year and what the Commanders did last year.
Drake May in his second year looking like a future
and present star in this league. Mike Rabel, the defensive
minded head coach who has the playoff experience coming in,
changing the culture, getting results right away. They have played

(19:23):
a very easy schedule, the Patriots, but they've also gone
to Buffalo and grabbed a win that I think legitimized
their progress on the defensive side of the ball. And
despite having Stefan Diggs, who is coming off a knee
surgery at thirty two years old, as his quote unquote
top weapon. No slight to Diggs, but he's not the

(19:43):
receiver he used to be. Drake May is really elevating
things on that Patriot offense. Steelers lead the AFC North.
They're the four seed. If it started today with the
Ravens trying to roar back in that division, Bills would
be the five seed at six two, and they do
not have the head to head with the Patriots at

(20:05):
the moment.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
In the AFC East, Chargers at six.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
And three are an interesting team because they just lost
their left tackle Joe Alt lost their right tackle ray
Shawn Slater earlier this season, and in the games that
they were both out, the offensive line looked like the
worst offensive line in the league. It's amazing what those
two guys. How hard those two guys are to replace.
Chargers six and three, but potentially on shaky ground there.

(20:32):
Their playoff odds set at sixty eight percent. They host
the Steelers this week. They win that game, jumps up
to nearly eighty percent. They lose that game, they fall
to about fifty to fifty, so stillson wingle room for
the Chargers. The Jags are seventh and would be the
last team in if the playoffs started today.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
And they get Houston this week.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
So if if the playoffs started today, I know you're thinking,
why haven't we talked about this team yet? Yeah, the
Kansas City Chiefs would not be in yet. I think
we'd all agree that the Chiefs are likely to make
the playoffs. They're starting to play their best football as
of late. Caught some certainly some tough breaks in that
loss to the Bills on Sunday. Have some defensive questions

(21:19):
I think to answer after that one. Josh Allen ultra
efficient twenty three of twenty six for two hundred and
sixty three yards in that game, Chiefs defense couldn't get
off the field on thirty. I hadn't seen a game
like that from them in a while. Bill's just able
to hold the ball, and that's the recipe against Patrick
Mahomes and Kansas City really struggled to establish Munch on

(21:42):
the ground. They made it offer for Brese Hall at
the NFL trade deadline, could not meet the Jets third
round pick price tag. So they're gonna roll with Forshard
Smith and Kareem Hunt in the backfield. They've even used
Rushie Rice out of the backfield a little bit, Kansas
City has while they wait for Isaiah to Checkoup to
come back. So then that is every AFC team with

(22:04):
a winning record, those eight teams I just mentioned with
the Chiefs sitting in eighth right now if the season ended,
still a seventy three playoff probability for the Chiefs if
the season ended today. They will face the Broncos on
the road next Sunday, then host the Colts. So it's
not like the schedule does case a lot of favors.

(22:25):
They do get the Titans and Raiders two of the
last three weeks, and they also have the Texans and
Chargers at home. No guarantee the Chiefs are making the playoffs,
but I felt good about the way they looked the
couple weeks leading in to that Bill's loss, with victories
over the Lions, Raiders, and Commanders all pretty decisive fashion

(22:49):
over the last three weeks.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
So we talked about this being a big week for
the Texans.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Their current playoff odds at three to five ninth place
in the AFC sit at nineteen percent. If they win,
it jumps up to thirty percent. If they lose, it
drops down to just ten percent. The divisional tie breakers
playing a big part in that, and Tamiko Ryan certainly
knows the importance of this game for Houston. He's been

(23:17):
on the wrong end, certainly of some heartbreakers this season,
and there were some that expected the Texans to be
busy at the trade deadline, so perhaps be buyers and
add to this roster. Demiko Ryans was asked what made
the Texans decide to stand pat instead?

Speaker 4 (23:39):
Yeah, Look, when it comes to the trade deadline, it's
because a transaction did not happen.

Speaker 5 (23:44):
Is not from a lack of effort.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
Of course, we tried to do several things as did
it pan out.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, some thought they might look to add on the
offensive line, perhaps bringing a veteran to a young unit
that struggled a little bit. This year, Texan is among
the top five, top ten, and every category where you
can imagine. It's kept them in every game this season.
So with the offense needing to pick up the slack

(24:12):
a little bit, scoring just twenty one points per game,
that's twenty fourth out of thirty NFL teams, Tamiko Ryans
was asked, how is your involvement in the offense changed
this year year four?

Speaker 2 (24:27):
For him as the head coach.

Speaker 5 (24:28):
And for me as a head coach.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
I've been involved in all phases of our team, with defense, offense,
special teams. Is being able to lean and give my
advice where needed, So it's trying to help everybody out.
At the end of the day, everything falls on me,
you know what we're doing. Everything is offense, defense, special teams.
All falls on me as a head coach. So now

(24:52):
we've done a thought, we've done a good job. You know, collectively,
I've been able to help out in a lot of
different areas. But overall, you know, we've dropped some games.
I felt like we should have had that. We just
got to go out, We got to coach better, we
got to play better.

Speaker 5 (25:06):
All start on me.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
And so the Texans offense did show signs of improving
over the last couple of weeks, most notably the win
over San Francisco, and they did some good things in
the first half in the loss to Denver last week,
but they did lose their quarterback in the process, CJ
Stroud in the concussion protocol, one of several Texans who

(25:30):
are in danger of missing this game. Stroud already declared
out for this game by Demico Ryans. So, with Davis
Mills stepping in as the starter, first time that he
has started a game for Houston since January of twenty
twenty three, what kinds of expectations does this coaching staff
have for their backup.

Speaker 5 (25:50):
Kay, What I.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Expect from Davis is to do what he's done in
the past. He started games in his league before, so
it's nothing new for him.

Speaker 5 (25:59):
But it is benefit for him being able to.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
Get the reps, get the reps throughout practice, getting the
walk through, getting every single rep that he can get,
you know, getting on the same page with the receivers,
get in the huddle, get in the snapcow all those
little things right, getting the operation down a proper way.
He's done a good job of that. Today he did
outstanding job. Thought we were efficient in and out of

(26:23):
the huddle. At the line of scrimmats, he did a
great job of communicating. So I'm excited to see you,
Davis go play well.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
Davis Mills has a five nineteen and one record as
the Texans start or not not a great mark, but
you got to remember the Texans did not exactly have
the weapons around him that he has On Sunday against Jacksonville,
Tamiko Ryan's when asked about those other guys, got this question,

(26:51):
do those other guys need to.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Step up a little bit more? With CJ. Stroud out
and Davis Mills in I have an interesting answer to it.

Speaker 5 (27:00):
Everybody just has to do their job.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Nobody needs to expect or try to step up and
do something different. If that's the case, what you've been
What if you been holding back? So I never look
at a game as, oh, y'all got to do something
different because we have a new quarterback, and know if
that's the case, then why are you out there? So
everybody just go out and play their game, do what
they've been doing. Play with everything that you have, do

(27:23):
your job, do it really well.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
And the Texans in the offseason extended Davis Mills through
twenty twenty six. He's gonna make seven million dollars guaranteed.
So Jamiko Ryans was asked what kinds of progress Mills
has made since getting that extension to back up their
franchise guy.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
I've seen Davis grow and truly get better just playing
the position, being able to take his time going through
his reads, going through it the proper way. I think
I've seen growth in that where he's really protected the
football more, made better decisions throughout training camp. I just
like the progression that I saw from where we were
our first year to where he is now.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
So against the Jaguars defense that thrives on forcing turnovers.
What kinds of keys do Mills and the rest of
the offensive guys need to follow.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
Kids always said just protect the football, right, You have
to be conscious of where these guys are, especially you
know they're back of twenty three does a really good
job of, you know, finding a way to punch out
the ball. So guys just have to be conscious just
making sure we're securing the ball all the way to
the ground and just having an awareness.

Speaker 6 (28:29):
Right.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
That's most of the time when the ball is lost
is when guys aren't aware of their surroundings. We always
got to anticipate these guys are coming after the football
every single snap. No one can let up or ease up.
We got to finish every play with the ball.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
So it should be a good one. Jaguars and Texans.
The Texans are a one point underdog at the moment.
That light has gone back and forth a couple of times.
If you're interested in what the folks in the desert
thing about this pivotal AFC South game, Texans injuries might
have a lot to do with that.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
CJ.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Stroud is going to be out with a concussion Titus Howard,
offensive tackle for a much Maligan Texans offensive line. He's
in the concussion protocol. Picked that up in the second quarter.
I think of that Bronco game, as is defensive back
Jalen Peatree, part of that arguably league best secondary that
the Texans boast. And to make matters, wors kicker Kayamie

(29:22):
Fairbairn is missing practice with the quad injury. So that's
the type of thing that might not matter until it does,
if you know what I mean. With a kicker injury
like that. Jags are banged up too, particularly at receiver.
Brian Thomas Junior is going to miss this game with
an ankle injury. He's had a very injury riddled season.
Diami Brown is in the concussion protocol for the Jags,

(29:44):
and of course, Travis Hunter hurt his knee during their
bye week after that great performance he had in.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Oh shoot, I think it was in Dublin.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Can't keep track of all these international games anymore, but
I know Madrid is getting the Dolphins and Commanders. That's
not gonna make any new fans, but hey, maybe it will.
I don't know, but Travis Hunter hurt his knee coming
back on the bye week that the Jags had after
that good performance against the Rams and a losing effort.
So new trade acquisition Jacobe Meyer is gonna play a

(30:15):
big role for Jacksonville in that matchup. So there's a
little preview of a pivotal matchup for the Houston Texans
up next inconceivable on a Friday edition of The Craig
Ways Show Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone in the
iHeartRadio app, second hour of the Craig Ways Show. I'm
Jay Kurman in for Craig today during this Texas Longhorns

(30:37):
by week, and we will get back to some college
football in just a moment.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
But first, a couple of pieces of business.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Number one, we still have a couple pairs of tickets
left to give away on the talkback feature of the
iHeartRadio app. If you are hoping to catch Sean Miller's team,
the Texas men's basketball team in action on Saturday afternoon
two o'clock tip off time against Lafayette at Moody Center,
all you have to do is open the iHeartRadio app

(31:06):
or download it if you don't already have it, search
thirteen hundred zone, tap the red microphone, tell us your
name and that you want the chance to win these tickets.
It is first come, first serve, folks, and we are
running low. So if you want to make a fun
Saturday out of seeing the Texas Longhorns in person, I
highly suggest you take us up on this, and some

(31:29):
folks already did so. Yesterday we gave away some tickets
to Texas women's basketball tonight. That is a seven o'clock
tip off with network coverage beginning at six forty five
right here on AM thirteen hundred the zone for the
Texas women taking on twenty fourth ranked Richmond, and we'll
hear a little bit from Vick Schaeffer on that matchup

(31:50):
before we wrap up the show today. And this just
dropped within the last hour of this show. We're gonna
talk about it because it's a disturbing trend in college
sports right now, and that is more allegations of gambling
and investigations into that in college athletics today. As David

(32:16):
Purdham reports on ESPN dot com, six players from three
schools in college basketball were found to have thrown games
or shared betting info. The players come from three different
schools in New Orleans, Mississippi, Valley State and Arizona State,
and are found to have participated in gambling schemes that

(32:38):
included game manipulation or sharing information with known betters. As
announced by the NCAA, the players Data Hunter, di Quavian Short,
and Jamond Vincent, who played for New Orleans last season,
were found to have manipulated their performance for betting purposes

(32:58):
in seven games, according to the NCUBLEA, whether that is
missing shots, turning the ball over. You can bet on
these player props now where every player's individual statistical counts
can be wagered on and obviously the team, So Hunters,
Short and Vincent, the three players at New Orleans allegedly

(33:21):
lost or attempted to lose by more points than the
spread as a part of a conspiracy with outside betters,
according to the NCUBA. Then there's two players at Mississippi
Valley State who were offered money to throw a game
on January sixth, earlier this year against Alabama A and M.

(33:42):
And one of those two Mississippi Valley State players, Donovan Sanders,
was overheard discussing throwing the game ahead of a matchup
earlier that year in December against Tulsa and then a
former Arizona State forward bj Freeman was found to have
shared information with a former teammate. It was betting on
Freeman's performance at a daily fantasy site.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
It's a major problem, same major problem.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
And by the way, this story broken by ESPN, who
just announced on Inconceivable yesterday DraftKings as their new partner.
No longer ESPN bet in partnership with Penn and the
Barstool owned gambling venture. It's all intertwined and you can't
trace a direct line to blame for it on any

(34:28):
one thing. It's just gambling is so pervasive now in
sports media culture, and the legality of it means, yes,
you can track things, you can find suspicious line movements
and identify these these problems and find the culprits. But

(34:48):
this is another story now following the NBA, following a
story like this in college basketball earlier this year. It's very,
very worries and they found text messages, screenshots from FanDuel
and DraftKings with specific amounts to wager on specific games.
As I continue to read this story, the NCAA found

(35:12):
athletes participated in the scheme and then they list off
several games for New Orleans seven games they found the
athletes to participate. Six of the seven New Orleans failed
to cover the spread. The exception was a wait over
East Texas A and M on January eighteenth, so New
Orleans suspended the players in late January. This was something

(35:36):
that the NCAA has been looking at for a while
and kind of a worst fear is confirmed situation, I
suppose for these schools and for college basketball in the
wake of reading stories like this, so we'll continue to
keep our tabs on that. Meanwhile, this week in the SEC,

(35:57):
Georgia plays at eleven AM while the Longhorns rest and wait.
The Bulldogs take on the other Bulldogs of the SEC.
They go to Starkville take on Mississippi State at Davis
Wade Stadium. Mississippi State still looking for its first conference win.
Georgia a nine and a half point favorite in that one.

(36:19):
Betters project a lot of points fifty six and a
half the over underspread oleviss hosts the Citadel, Texas A
and M travels to Missouri. How about this stat? Texas
A and M has scored forty or more points in
four consecutive true road games. How many teams have done that?

(36:44):
Just one Texas A and M. It ties their own
mark for SEC and school history, but Missouri's got a
pretty good defense. They'll be without Bo Prabula, their starting quarterback,
Matt Zohlers, who came on and relieve him, and the
loss they had to Vanderbilt, a game that Missouri controlled

(37:04):
for long stretches just couldn't make the most of their opportunities.
He will start for Eli Drinkwitz's crew. Right number twenty
two by the CFP might be you could argue the
toughest SEC game A and M has played yet and
their biggest test they'll have faced since going to South
Bend and picking up that signature win to start the season.

(37:26):
The third ranked Aggies at the twenty second ranked Missouri Tigers.
One of a couple ranked matchups in college football this
week BYU pays a visit to Texas Tech eleven am
on ABC in Lubbock. We'll talk about that with Steve
Helwick coming up. College Football Reporter covers the Big twelve,

(37:46):
lots of Group of Five conferences. He's gonna join us
in just a few minutes here on the program, and
Oregon visits Iowa. I don't care who you are, it's
not easy to win at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa, for all
of its offensive struggles, has really started to string some
wins together, catching the Committee's respect at number twenty, Oregon
at number nine, the one loss coming at the hands

(38:09):
of Indiana. They've got to go on the road and
pick up their first ranked win of the year. Right now,
Oregon's best win of the year is Penn State, which
isn't looking like such a great win after all.

Speaker 7 (38:20):
So prove it.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Time for Dante Moore and the Ducks, who have looked
very explosive on offense this year, when things have gone
right and they're going up against the stingy defense in
a hostile environment. Two thirty CBS for Oregon and Iowa.
Auburn visits Vanderbilt and that game at three o'clock on
the SEC network. Arkansas idol this week, and I didn't

(38:45):
mean to discount the Bulldogs. They went to Fayetteville and
beat Arkansas last week thirty eight to thirty five. So
it's Mississippi State trying to pick up its second conference
win after that late comeback. Heck, if you had turned
the game off late in the third quarter or early
in the fourth when Arkansas had a two score lead,

(39:07):
maybe you would have believed me, but nope, good thing
we double checked on that one. With Mississippi State now
one and four in the SEC, dropping Arkansas to zero
to five, they will take on the Georgia Bulldogs at
eleven AM in Starkville, and of course Georgia hosting Texas
next week. A six thirty kickoff for that one the

(39:30):
next time the Longhorns will be in action other games
in the SEC. This week, we'll actually that yeah one
more the night game in Tuscaloosa, Frank Wilson will lead
the LSU Tigers as their interim head coach against the
Alabama Crimson Tide seven to one, five and zero in

(39:50):
conference plays, an Alabama team that survived probably one of
the tougher stretches you'll see in the SEC this season,
playing four straight teams who were in the top sixteen.
The win at Georgia, beat Vanderbilt at home, a win
at Missouri, and then a seventeen point victory over Tennessee

(40:14):
in the friendly confines of Brian Denny Stadium. Then they
were on the ropes last week at South Carolina, pulled
back a late eight point deficit to win twenty nine
to twenty two behind two late touchdowns from Jeremy Bernard.
So Alabama will host LSU as the post Brian Kelly
era begins for Baton Rouge. We'll see what kind of

(40:39):
performance LSU puts together against an Alabama team. We both
teams coming off of bye in that one six point
thirty on ABC tomorrow night. But that's far from all
the college football action going on this weekend. Coming up,
Steve Helwick will join us, a college football reporter who
is always chasing some of the best Big twelve and

(41:02):
Group of five games. Whether it's the MAC, the Sun Belt,
the American Conference, he covers it all, and we'll pick
his brain on the college football playoff rankings and some
of the marquee matchups outside of the SEC this weekend.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Don't go anywhere.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
This is the Craig Way Show on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred The Zone. Welcome back to the Craig Ways
Show on this Friday afternoon. Jay Kerman in for the
Hall of Famer today and happy to welcome a great

(41:39):
guest to the program. Steve Helwig, in fitting fashion, is
joining us from the road today. He is kind of
the mister worldwide of college football. You can read his
work at Underdog Dynasty and if you're a fan of
the Big Twelve, the American Conference USA, or just college
football in general. He's probably on his way to a
stadium near you soon. And Steve, where are you right now?

Speaker 3 (42:02):
I am currently on a bus from Tampa, Florida to Orlando.
I covered the South Florida UTSA game last night, and
tonight I am covering the UCF versus Houston game. So
the bus is running a little late, so I'm still
stuck in transport, but I'm willing to take this yere live.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
We certainly appreciated and we talked earlier during our Inconceivable
segment about the strange game you covered last night at
Raymond James Stadium. I mean, have you ever seen something
like that? A team doesn't touch the ball for fourteen
minutes of the ball game and they're down fourteen to three,
or they're up fourteen three in USF's case.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
Yeah, I don't know if there's ever been a team
that started a game with four consecutive offensive possessions until
last night. So it was certainly a unique thing that
we saw from UTSA and then in the second quarter.
There were four touchdowns before five and passed in that quarter.
So just a completely bizarre game in Tampa last night.
But South Florida looked incredibly strong. They looked like a
team that can contend for the playoffs, and that's what
they showed like night in Raymond James Stadium.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Yeah, so you're heading now to Houston UCF and we'll
get your thoughts on that in a few more games
in just a little bit. But I wanted to go
back to the big picture. The college football playoff rankings
revealed on Tuesday night for the first time with this
new committee in the new season. Were you surprised, Steve
to not see any group of five teams in that
initial list.

Speaker 8 (43:25):
I wasn't completely surprised.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
I know that the committee has always been harsh on
the American Conference. The A people has always given them
more respect than the committee has, so it wasn't complete shock.
I was just interested to see that who was in
the playoff picture, and that ended up being Memphis, even
though they're unranked for now. So that was interesting to
see that they control their own destiny, most likely for

(43:47):
a college football playoff spot. But it wasn't necessarily surprising
how the picture unfolded. I know that Memphis lost versus
UAB doesn't have the best look in the committee's eyes,
but I do think that there are somethings. Memphis has
covered the spread in all of their eight other games.
They are exceeding expectations. South Florida. They have good wins
over Florida, which beat Texas. They have wins over Boise

(44:08):
State by twenty seven. That's a six win team. They
eat eight and one North Texas. South Florida has a
good resume too. So I think that you do have
a case that you could rank several American teams right now,
probably anywhere from the twenty to thirty range.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
And how about the Big Twelve in terms of where
they ended up. What might BYU at seven, Texas Tech
at eight, and Utah at thirteen mean for this league's
hopes of getting to two teams in.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
I think the Big Twelve should be looking at three
teams in because we have the Big Texas Tech versus
BYU game on Saturday. If Texas Tech wins that game,
both of those teams have one loss and they'll both
control their own destiny for the Big Twelve title game. Now,
both those teams beat Utah, and Utah is sitting right
now at number thirteen. They might have as strong as
a two loss resume as anyone in the country, because

(44:59):
if you look at utahs seven wins this year, all
of them were by twenty five or more points. They
beat a six and three Arizona State team by over thirty.
They beat a seven and two Cincinnati team by over thirty.
Utah is just pummeling teams, and I think that's as
strong as a two loss resume as possible where I'm
looking at a Utah team. If they continue just dominating
on a weekly basis, they have a complete offense now

(45:20):
with a new coordinator, their defense is as physical as
the Utah teams that would win the Pac twelve back
in the day. That looks like a team that could
make the playoff. I think at ten and two, if
things keep going in their trajectory, you know, Texas Tech
and BYU, both of them look like they're in pretty
good shape going into this big matchup we're going to
see tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
And the team's Utah has left by the way at
Baylor home for k State and then at Kansas, so
those aren't necessarily the type of losses you can afford
if you're Utah in that position, would you agree, Yes.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Utah definitely has to win out to qualify. But I
just think that I think margin of victory matters. I
think if you're winning big, Texas Text winning big right now,
all their wins are by twenty three or more points,
I think that should count for something. As Utah is
just they're decimating everyone in their path other than.

Speaker 8 (46:06):
The two top teams Texas Tech and BYU that we
just mentioned.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
So as far as the group of five's playoff bid,
right that the highest ranked conference champion out of that group,
Memphis right now, as that projected American champion gets the nod.
But we've got so much football left to play. The
American is wide open. You've also got teams in other
conferences like James Madison and San Diego State still sitting
there too. Is there a team right now that you

(46:33):
feel like has the most straightforward path to the playoff?

Speaker 3 (46:39):
Well, I do want to mention and clarify that there
is no such thing as a group of five or
a group of five bid, and it's the five highest
ranked conference champions and with the chaos that we're seeing
in the ACC right now. I mean there's a chance
to do could lose a yukon this weekend, and they're
favored right now to win the ACC. They have conference
losses to Tulane and non conference losses to Tulane in Illinois,

(47:00):
so there's a chancey ACC could get left out of
this if the cards fall in a certain direction. So
we could see both James Madison and the American Champion
in this thing. So there are definitely some plausible scenarios
out there. But as I mentioned earlier, I would think
that South Florida has a good shot to end up
as one of the five highest ranked conference champions.

Speaker 8 (47:18):
They control their own destiny right now.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
They have pretty a schedule that they should be able
to handle upcoming with Navy of Rice in uab as
their final three opponents.

Speaker 8 (47:29):
So I do like South Florida.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
They're incredibly physical on defense, force a ton of turnovers,
we saw that to open the game last night, and
their offense is just incredibly explosive, getting over fifty points
in almost all their wins this year. So I would
think South Florida is a team right now that I
think is in prime position for a playoff spot.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
It's a good clarification.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
It would take a lot of chaos in the ACC
so much that I sort of discounted it, But I
appreciate you reminded me of that. What about teams that
you know, take the scenarios out of it and the
schedules out of it a little bit, just from what
you've seen covering the sports this year, teams that from
that group we just discussed might have the most upside
to make noise if they get a playoff bin.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
I would say South Florida does in that category. Another
team that could maybe get a playoff ed. And this
is part of the remaining schedule with North Texas. North
Texas this year got an American Conference schedule that didn't
feature Memphis, Tulane, or East Carolina, which are three of
the other top teams in the conference.

Speaker 8 (48:27):
If you look at North Texas.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
And Drew Mestemaker is as good as any quarterback in
the country, and some of the throws that he's making.
He doesn't only pass the statistical rent tests throwing for
over six hundred yards against Charlotte, he passes the eye
test with some.

Speaker 8 (48:41):
Of the high level professional throws that he's making.

Speaker 7 (48:43):
On the field.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
And then there's a true freshman running back Caleb Hawkins
one hundred ninety seven yards four touchdowns last week against
undefeated Navy.

Speaker 8 (48:50):
That defense, that defense was a visible the past few years.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
They really invested in that defense, got a new coordinator
at Skyler Cassidy, and they are a turnover producing machine here.

Speaker 8 (49:00):
So North Texas is one team I'm looking forward. That's
a fun team with a lot of upside.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
I think, yeah, And the dream Estamaker story is fantastic,
so is that of Bear Bachmeier at b YU. As
we sort of get to this weekend slay a little bit,
they go on the road take on a Texas Tech
team with a completely rebuilt defense. What do you expect
to see in such a high stakes, you know, high
intensity matchup.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
Like this, Well, Texas Tech has a lot of physicality
and that's a defense that's really developed. Jacob Rodrigez this year,
I think he should be in Heisman conversation. Seven forced
fumbles already, that's just insane numbers for a linebacker. And
Rodriguez is doing a great job. Dave Baily, he's leading
he's leading the country in sacks right now. So I

(49:47):
think there's a lot of star talent on that Texas
Tech defense, even after losing one of its top defensive
tackles at Skyler Gil Howard. So I'm going to see
how much b YU, which is another physical team, what
their offensive line can do to Texas Tech's defense a front,
if they can get enough yards for LJ. Martin to
really power through bear Backmeier is not a quarterback that's
beating you with three hundred yards per game. YU is

(50:07):
playing smart football, trying to push a pile forward and
see what LJ.

Speaker 8 (50:10):
Martin in the run game can get against that Texas
Tech defense on the road.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
And Memphis, who we just mentioned, would be in the
field if, of course, this kind of arbitrary cutoff this
checkpoint for the first rankings today, lots of football left
in the American They take on a two lane team
that needs to bounce back from that loss to UTSSA.
What's got your attention in this particular matchup besides how

(50:36):
hot commodities these two coaches might be in the offseason.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
I think one thing that's catching my attention right now
is whether Brendan Lewis is going to play in this.

Speaker 7 (50:45):
Game or not.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
He's an engine that really makes Memphis offense go. Dual
threat quarterback didn't do a lot of winning at Colorado
and Nevada, but because those teams weren't really good when
he was there. But he has a lot of talent.
Now you put good pieces around him and Smith, Greg
Deuocia running back, Cortez Bramant receiver, and Brendon Lewis looks
like a star duel throat quarterback.

Speaker 8 (51:06):
But he left that Rice game last Friday night limping
in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
So if Lewis is good to go and he's able
to move, I think Memphis should be in good shape
here because they've won twelve straight home games that they've
I said earlier, they covered every single spread except for
that one stunner against the UAB this year.

Speaker 8 (51:23):
So Memphis has looked good.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
But I don't know Tulane's bouncing off a rare conference loss.
They won twenty five out of their last twenty eight
regular season conference games, so I think this is going
to be a close.

Speaker 8 (51:33):
One that comes down to the wire there, And who knows.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Last year tu Lane was in a prime playoff position
New Orleans Thanksgiving Night, Memphis comes in out physicals and
wins that game by ten and SEU Lane's playoff hope,
so we could see the reverse happen to night in Memphis.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Do you think the loss would and Memphis playoff hopes tonight?

Speaker 7 (51:51):
I do.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
I think that would be the case, especially with South
Florida controlling its own destiny still in North Texas having
a manageable schedule, where I think that we would see
a crash course for a prematch of North Texas versus
South Florida, that fun Friday night game from a few
weeks ago, back in the American Conference Championship game.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
We're talking with Steve Helwick from Underdog Dynasty as your tour,
your bus tour through Florida continues, first from Tampa to Orlando.
You're going to cover Houston at UCF tonight. This Houston
team has been awesome on the road, but like you
wrote this morning, they're a fitting opponent for the Space
game in Orlando.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Tell us about that a little bit.

Speaker 8 (52:30):
Yeah, the Space game in Orlando.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
It's just one of those crazy things how efficient UCF
is one. The uniforms are always spectacular every time they
do one of those space games. But UCF has just
dominated that game to an overwhelming extent, and it doesn't
matter what UCS record is or who the opponent is.
Two years ago, Oklahoma State made the Big Twelve championship game,
UCF finished sixth since seven. On that day, UCF just

(52:54):
completely outplayed Oklahoma State in forty five to three fashion.
So space game magic is a real thing for UCF
and that should be an interesting one, especially Houston coming
off a very stunning, puzzling loss against West Virginia where
they match their season turnover out but committing four turnovers
against the Mountaineers. So I think this one does have
makings for at least a close game in Orlando considering

(53:17):
and UCF foods perform much better at home four and
one in the Bounce House this year.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Steve, you have a favorite stop in all of your
travels covering games across the country.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Some of my favorite stops really like going to TCU,
I think for Orth's always a fun place. I really
like going to the Stockyards. That's always one of my
favorite road trips to go. Arizona State. I went to
a few weeks ago for the Houston game. Arizona State
very seen at campus, that very nice atmosphere out there,
good food, love, love Arizona, good hiking spots there.

Speaker 8 (53:49):
So so those are some of my favorite trips I've
made so far this year.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Yeah, yeah, so a couple of I was hoping for
maybe a few hidden gems, but I know those places
can be a lot of fun, both both in and
around this Do you know where you're heading in the
coming weeks? Do you have any big matchups ahead that
you've already kind of circled?

Speaker 8 (54:10):
I have two for the remainder of the regular season.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
At Cincinnati, covering Arizona versus Cincinnati, and then doing another
Big Twelve matchup Houston versus TCU on the Saturday before
Thanksgiving weekend. So those are the two games I have
planned coming up in this Big Twelve title race. I
mean we mentioned the heavyweights. There are a lot of
good teams in this conference that could make some noise,
be pretty entertaining to watch in bowl season.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
No doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Hey, we're starting to lose your cell service a little bit,
so we'll let you go. But Steve, thank you so
much for making the best of it joining us from
the road to talk some college football today.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Let's do it again.

Speaker 8 (54:48):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 7 (54:48):
Jake, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
That's Steve Helwick from Underdog Dynasty. You can read his
work about the Big twelve, American Conference USA and college
football in general dog dynasty dot com. Thanks so much
for the time, Steve. When we come back, we'll pivot
to the hardwood. Texas men's and women's basketball in action
over the weekend. We'll hear from men's basketball center Lacina

(55:12):
Trior and women's head coach Vick Schaefer on The Craigway
Show on AM thirteen hundredth The Zone now the voice
of the Texas Longhorns. Craigway along with the Longhorns on
by this week. I'm Jay Kurbin, the producer of the
Craigways Show, filling in today. And you know, normally Fridays
on this program are fire me up Fridays, but we're

(55:34):
embracing a little bit of a different vibe with the
team getting so much need to rest, so we put
a spin on it with a little fire on the mountain. Hey,
Texas Longhorns men's basketball certainly fired up to take the
floor at Moody Center on Saturday afternoon, two o'clock. We've
got one more pair of tickets just one to give

(55:55):
out via the talkback feature, and all you have to
do is open the iHeartRadio app, search AM thirteen hundred zone,
tap the red microphone, leave us a message that you're
listening to the Craig Ways show. You want the free
tickets to Texas men's basketball's game against Lafayette Saturday at
two o'clock. First Come, first serve. Hope you make a

(56:17):
great Saturday afternoon out of it. Texas Basketball hopes it's
a happy homecoming and a good start to their stretch
of schedule coming up that'll see them play in the
Movie Center quite a bit. They'll host FDU Early Dickinson
out of the NEC on Wednesday, Lafayette coming in tomorrow

(56:38):
they play in the Patriot League, and then the Ruse
of Kansas City on Saturday the fifteenth at noon.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Rider here out of New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
They come to town on Tuesday, November eighteenth, and then Arizona
State playing in a ten pm tip off. To double
check that on November twenty fourth. That doesn't that doesn't
sound right to me, but we'll check on that for
you as we move.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Along with the show here.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
So the Longhorns opening up a homestand and before that starts, Lacina.
Triore sat down with the media this morning via zoom. Triore,
of course, has been dealing with not just rehab from
a season ending injury at Xavier, where he sat on

(57:28):
the bench last season part of Sean Miller's squad that
knocked text Us out in the first four stage in
Dayton in the NCAA Tournament, but also a foot sprain
that cost him a foot sprain that cost him some
time during the offseason workouts, that practice window that Shaw

(57:52):
Miller's using to try and get this team up to
speed as quickly as possible. Wasn't able to take part
in the scrimmages. Nonetheless, he played eighteen minutes in the
opener against Duke. Nine rebounds led all Longhorns in that one.
It was his first time on the floor since the

(58:13):
NCAA Tournament in twenty twenty four against Arizona when he
was playing for Long Beach State. So he talked with
the media a little bit about that rehab process, and
the first thing he was asked was, when you are
dealing with an injury like this, how much do you

(58:33):
deal with anxiety when you come back and how much
do you have to prove not just to your teammates
but to yourself.

Speaker 9 (58:46):
I don't unversly feel like all the anxiety and stuff
like that went out of the window when I came
back on the court during the summertime, because when I
started working out then I was having a little issues
and mentally to adjusting learning game, how to do everything.

Speaker 6 (59:04):
So then I was happy anxiety.

Speaker 9 (59:06):
I was having a hard time, but with time where
everything got better and I went back to being myself
and I'm more confident and playing basketball and like I
always do.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
So and Triory was asked after that, how nice is
it just to be back out there after such a
long wait?

Speaker 9 (59:25):
Now, It's just a great feeling just to me that
I still have it, you know what I'm saying. I
was just extremely excited and also blessed to be out
there for the first time in a while. I'm just
I was just grateful for the opportunity because I know
I was a wait it wait for a minute, and
I'm like, I was the album like that, finally I
get to play basketball. I was just excited to be

(59:46):
out there and just we didn't get a win, but
I was just happy that I played one game at least,
and obviously we can't do better in the next few
games coming up for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
In those next few games include Lafayette Saturday, FDU Wednesday
at seven o'clock at Moody Center, then a week from Saturday,
a noon tip off against Kansas City, then eight pm
on Tuesday, the eighteenth against Rider. That Arizona State game
on the twenty fourth is in Maui. No wonder it's
so late. Ten thirty pm Central Time tip off. ESPN

(01:00:21):
two and the Longhorn Radio Network bring you the coverage
of that one, as Texas will start the Maui Invitational
with Arizona State. Of course, who they play next determines
on the other results out there on the island. So
back to Triore, who played in the lost Tuesday. Did

(01:00:42):
he feel any rust or lingering effects coming back from
that footspra and he suffered in training camp?

Speaker 9 (01:00:51):
Definitely, that was a little setback for me because I
was I thought I was one hundred percent good for
the scream bags that we had, I didn't get to
play them because of the food springing. But I'm just
I was just glad to be out there and everything.
I'm I take it I'm taking it back day food,
getting better at each and every day, and so I

(01:01:13):
was just I would feel uncomfortable with being out there.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
You know, the hardest thing to replicate when you're out
injured can be the physicality of playing a team like Duke.
Any college basketball game, it's particularly physical game, especially in
the second half. Did Lucina Treori missed the physicality and
if so, how big of a part did it play
the game?

Speaker 6 (01:01:37):
I missed that a lot. That's all I do.

Speaker 9 (01:01:38):
Mike get really based on physicality and down there, on
the play on the post and stuff like that.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
So I definitely missed that.

Speaker 9 (01:01:46):
I mean, also during the summertime I went, I went
against Matas every day, so that's a big dude also,
So we enjoyed good each other and it was all fun.

Speaker 6 (01:01:58):
It was all fun.

Speaker 9 (01:01:59):
I was just I tried to be myself and I
tried to play the game that I've been playing since.

Speaker 6 (01:02:05):
So it was definitely a good feeling to be out there.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
We'll hear a little more from Lacina Triori as we
roll into the four o'clock hour on this Friday afternoon.
We'll get you a couple of MLB off season notes
next as we wrap up this hour of The Craigway
Show on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone, one

(01:02:30):
hour to go on this Friday afternoon. We hope you're
getting your weekend off to a terrific start. If you're
leaving work joining us today, maybe on your way to
catch some high school football around the area, and we'll
talk about some of those games as we wrap up
the show later this afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
My name is Jake Kerman. I'm the producer of The
Craigway Show.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
Feeling in for Craig today during this Texas bye week.
And one thing that Texas fan can expect over the weekend,
despite the football team not being in action as they
await their trip to Athens next weekend, our two great
games at the Moody Center, starting with Texas women's basketball

(01:03:13):
taking on number twenty four Richmond, Texas ranked third in
the country right now, a rematch of the game that
happened up back where I grew up this well earlier
last year between Texas and Richmond. It was Texas who
got off to a really good start in that game.
Roger Wallace, who had the call, came on the program

(01:03:34):
to discuss it. With us yesterday and if you missed that,
you can go back and listen to it wherever you
get your podcasts, including on the iHeart podcast app. And
you know, he mentioned the way Texas came out early
in that game, built a big lead, but Richmond made
a game of it, trimming the deficit to eleven in

(01:03:54):
the third quarter. We heard several soundbites from Vick Schaeffer
on the show yesterday and going back earlier in the
week as well when he spoke with the media ahead
of this game. There was one question, an item we
didn't get to, and that is the kind of unique
challenge that this Richmond offense poses. And he was asked

(01:04:20):
about the way that Richmond's offense tests your attention span.
On defense, you got to be pretty patient and diligent
to defend against a team like Richmond that moves the
ball well, but as so many shooters spreads to the floor.
Here's what Vic Schaeffer, the coach of the third ranked Longhorns,
had to say.

Speaker 10 (01:04:39):
Yeah, the answer to that is yes, for sure, it does.
It tests you in a lot of different ways and
so you you know, you've got to really lock in
all those kids can stretch it and shoot the three,
but especially even their bigger kids, and so sometimes you're
not used to if you're a four or five, you're

(01:05:00):
not used to stepping out there and having to guard
somebody who can shoot the three and take you off
the bounce.

Speaker 5 (01:05:05):
So it's a big challenge for us.

Speaker 10 (01:05:07):
And you know, last year, Taylor I think played thirty
something minutes and did a nice job out there defensively,
and us as a whole team defensively, we were pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
Longhorns put their twenty five game winning streak at the
Moody Center on the line. Later tonight, coverage starts at
six forty five right here on AM thirteen hundred zone.
Roger Wallace and Kathy Harson will have you covered on
the men's side. They will get a chance to take
the floor on Saturday at two o'clock. We gave away

(01:05:42):
some tickets for that earlier in this program via the
talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app give away five pairs
of tickets to that game. We can tell you that
those at the moment are all claim we went first come,
first served in that guard. But for those of you
that will be going to that game, here's a little

(01:06:03):
bit more of what you can expect from Lucina Treiori,
the Longhorn center and one of a couple of centers
who have really pushed each other throughout their their brief
time together in camp. Both Treori coming over from Xavier
previously at Long Beach Daye, and Maduspocatitis, the FAU transfer,
who each played a big role against the Blue Devils.

(01:06:25):
Traori was asked this morning, what are the ways that
you and Voca Titis have helped each other develop and
learn from one another?

Speaker 6 (01:06:33):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (01:06:33):
Myne is definitely a great player, and we we learn
from each other every day of practice.

Speaker 6 (01:06:39):
We just go at each other.

Speaker 9 (01:06:41):
And I mean I don't necessarily do when I say
our teach him, show him some stuff. Bet we talk
to each other if I make some mistakes, you tell
me what to do. If I makes some mistakes, so
I also turn correcting and tell him the correct way.
We just do the Everybody do it on their team
to help each other to be a best version of himself,

(01:07:01):
and we tried to do it just to get better
and have a good team too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
So mention that Treiory had to sit all of last
year with an injury. During that time, did he get
a good grasp of Sean Miller's offense. Is that helping
him as the long Ones prepared to host Lafayette on Saturday.

Speaker 6 (01:07:20):
Yeah, most definitely.

Speaker 9 (01:07:21):
That was the easiest transition for me, I would say,
because before I got hurt last year, I was I
was I was a powered team. I was playing, I
was practicing with the team every day, so I kind
of I was familiar with the offense. So me being
coming here, uh with Sean Miller and knowing his offense,
I just know I kind of know all the players already.

Speaker 6 (01:07:42):
Even being on the sideline last year I was. I
used to travel with the team everywhere.

Speaker 9 (01:07:46):
I used to watch the game, so I kind of
learned from that and learn from the guys that I
was watching last year, learned from Sean Miller also on
this island, while be on this sideline, So when I
come here, it was just easy for me just to
I didn't have to do too much and learn all
over again because I already knew everything already. Obviously, h

(01:08:07):
he introduced something a lot of new stuff that I
have to learn, but it's not it was all the
same concepts, so it wasn't a big problem.

Speaker 7 (01:08:14):
For me.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
What's it going to feel like for Lacina and the
rest of his teammates when they take the floor of
the Moody Center for the for the first time.

Speaker 9 (01:08:24):
All the new guys, We're excited, man, we can't wait
to be out there in front of the great crowd.
We just want I just want to see while playing
Moody Center field, like I just want to experience that.

Speaker 6 (01:08:37):
I've seen a lot of great players playing here.

Speaker 9 (01:08:39):
Thanks just I just I just want to flow their
footsteps steps and they just be out there in front
of everybody. Just show them what I can't do, what
the team is about, show them what we've been cooking
in uh since the summer time. It's time for us
to show their fans what we've been doing. Obviously against Duke,
it wasn't we didn't ended up with didn't win, but

(01:09:02):
I believe that we had a lot of good things.

Speaker 6 (01:09:04):
We did a lot of great things.

Speaker 9 (01:09:05):
That we correct our mistakes and howefully tomorrow we come
out and play a great game in front of our fans.

Speaker 1 (01:09:13):
Of course, the game was technically a neutral site. Speaking
of fans, as Lacina Treory just was one of the
centers for the Texas men's basketball team. He was asked
following that what did you what did you learn tuesday
playing in front of such a hostile crowd. It was
in Charlotte, so it was about ninety five percent do

(01:09:34):
Blue Devil fans.

Speaker 9 (01:09:35):
I've seen that a lot of people do not like Texas.

Speaker 6 (01:09:38):
We they don't like us, but we don't. We don't,
We don't mind. We don't be no mind to it.

Speaker 9 (01:09:43):
We just trying to focus on ourself and trying to
beat us not to We don't focus too much on
the crowd.

Speaker 6 (01:09:49):
We just trying to come out and play our basketball.

Speaker 9 (01:09:51):
And just I for sure know that people don't like Texas,
but now I know we just got us. We just
got ourself and we gonna try to uh play.

Speaker 6 (01:10:03):
Be us every time we step on the car. So yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
He was then asked about one of his veteran teammates,
one of several experienced guards Texas has, and that's Kendall Weaver. Well,
when Weaver has it going and and he didn't make
quite his normal impact on Tuesday against Duke, what what's
it like playing with Weaver and how does he impact
the team.

Speaker 9 (01:10:27):
Kendell Weaver, he really a great player. Before I got
to Texas, I wasn't really familiar with him, So me
being here practicing with him every single day, I really
got to know about him on and off the car.
He a great player, and I feel like people haven't
seen it yet. He's come. He definitely a great player.
He can do everything. He basically he just he a

(01:10:49):
great defender. He played offense, he everywhere, deflection. He really
he the main guy on a blue guy. He do
all the dirty work. He just everywhere. He kind of
like me, I would say, I feel like, we just
play hard. We just we just do what we have
to do to have the team to win. That's it,
that's all were about. Kind of kind of one of

(01:11:11):
those guys too. So I really love his game and
hopefully we bring that a game tomorrow too, so he
can get it up.

Speaker 6 (01:11:17):
We can get a win tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
As as Troyo looks ahead to the season and certainly
a season full of sky high potential for this Texas
team trying to mesh together on the fly, what does
he see in himself that that gives him confidence and belief.

Speaker 9 (01:11:33):
I would say, I'm mainly on the court off the
car as it like both I would say, I'm a
great human being. Honestly, I'm just ID expect everybody. I
thought to everybody, I'm always smiling. And also on the court,
I'm a different kind of play it. You know what
I'm saying. I just kind of bring that same emotion

(01:11:54):
on the court, but at the same time, I know
how to switch it up on and off. You know
what I'm saying. I know when to go hard. I
done went to smile with my appoint I don't want
to interact with them.

Speaker 6 (01:12:03):
I just I'm just me.

Speaker 9 (01:12:04):
I'm just happy to leave this dream. I'm just happy
to be here. I'm happy to play the game that
I love. I haven't playing a long time. I'm just
trying to repriason where I'm from back hom I'm trying
to represent my family. I'm trying to do it for
our community. I'm just I'm just a great human being.
I would say, honestly, I just I love what I do.

Speaker 6 (01:12:23):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
Yeah, talking about his family back in the Ivory Coast,
and you have to appreciate that mindset coming in from Triory.
You can tell kind of the the joy he has
for the game when you when you watch him play.
He does feel like though when he gets out there.
He told told us he feels like a little bit
of bit of a different person when it really gets going.
So one last one, last SoundBite from Lacina Triory and

(01:12:46):
the Longhorn Center. The good dudes for him and Madaspokatitis
was that they combined for twenty points seventeen rebounds in
that loss to Duke. The bad news is they combined
for nine turnovers. How do they avoid that against future opponents?

Speaker 6 (01:13:02):
I would say that part.

Speaker 9 (01:13:04):
I feel like me and Matt as uh might as
we didn't playing the scrimmages and stuff. It might us
also haven't played the game since I would say last season.
Me also had missed the old season that was our
both our first game really being back on the course.
So I feel like we was a little we make
a bunch of mistakes as a team. That just us
as a team with a bunch of We made a

(01:13:24):
bunch of mistakes.

Speaker 6 (01:13:25):
But me and Miles we learned from it and we
move on. We're gonna correct thing and come on better games.
Tomorrow for sure, we'll.

Speaker 1 (01:13:31):
Talk about Texas hoops coming up with Jason Canander, host
of the Hook Them Hoops podcast, they covered Texas men's
basketball as a part of the Field of sixty eight
Media Network. He'll hop on the show next and share
some thoughts as Texas turns the page from its lost
to Duke and gets set for some number. Welcome back

(01:13:56):
to the Creig Ways Show, where we welcome in Jason Canander,
a sports reporter and anchor at WIBW in Manhattan, Kansas,
and one third of the Hookham Hoops podcast, who covers
Texas men's basketball, is a part of the Field of
sixty eight Media Network.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
Jason, thanks for doing this. It's great to see you, Jake.

Speaker 11 (01:14:19):
It's awesome to talk to you. Man well TSCB Sports Reunion.
Glad to see that you're back in Austin and doing well.
Always down to talk Texas hoops. So excited to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:14:28):
Hey, you haven't gone fully wildcat purple on us yet,
have you?

Speaker 2 (01:14:31):
With all your time in the Little Apple.

Speaker 7 (01:14:33):
No, no, no, So I'm in too, Peka.

Speaker 12 (01:14:35):
Now.

Speaker 11 (01:14:35):
I was in Manhattan last year as just a Manhattan reporter.
Now I'm in too Peka covering all the sports that
we cover so k u K State Chiefs, Royals, all
our local high schools, and no I am far from
K State fan. I have a lot of respect for
their programs, but no, I'm definitely not a K State fan.

Speaker 2 (01:14:53):
No, I know where your loyalties lie, Jason.

Speaker 1 (01:14:56):
And look, we had a long offseason INTI of painting
watching this Texas basketball program, kind of trying and rebuilds
as you can do in just one offseason in modern
college basketball, with a new coaching staff led by Sean Miller.
And now we get to unwrap this Duke game. A
lot to learn and just curious what your kind of

(01:15:19):
initial takeaways were from the game Tuesday night.

Speaker 7 (01:15:22):
This team's gonna be good. This team's gonna be good.

Speaker 11 (01:15:24):
I was already higher on this roster than most people were.
And that's not just a preseason optimism type of thing,
like I wasn't very high on the last two Texas rosters.
This team is constructed to beat teams or at least
contend with teams like Duke.

Speaker 7 (01:15:42):
They're not going to beat them, you know, the first
week in November.

Speaker 11 (01:15:46):
But what I saw, the biggest positive that I saw
on Tuesday was that the pieces are there on the roster.

Speaker 7 (01:15:52):
There is not.

Speaker 11 (01:15:52):
Going to be personnel issues this year. There is height
that can compete with the tallest teams in the country.
There are lengthy guards who can defend some of the
best shooters in the country, some of the best three
level scorers in the country. And there is shooting on
this roster, even though it didn't really make itself apparent
on Tuesday, Texas has multiple outlets of scoring. It's not

(01:16:16):
just going to be Trey Johnson Jordan Pope as a
pure scorer off the bench man, He's going to be
a lot of fun. So that was really the big
thing that I saw was that the pieces are there.

Speaker 7 (01:16:26):
They don't quite fit yet, but they might fit pretty well.
By March. I was excited with what I saw.

Speaker 11 (01:16:33):
I didn't expect to win, but you know that exceeded
my expectations, I'll say.

Speaker 7 (01:16:38):
And I was already high on this roster.

Speaker 1 (01:16:40):
Yeah, and I think a lot of people are really
high on what this Duke team is going to be
able to do, which which certainly feeds into I think
those takeaways. Let's talk about Madis Boca Titus. I mean,
how impressed were you by by the game he had
what he sort of flashed in that spot against Duke.

Speaker 11 (01:16:57):
Yeah, I got to call my shot a little bit
when we talked about his transfer class on the hook
of whose podcast, I said he was my favorite ad
because he has such a high ceiling. We saw the
flaws in his game just as much as we saw
the things that he's already good at. I think that
he needs to be a little bit more physical. I
think that he needs to be a little bit more controlled.

Speaker 7 (01:17:19):
In the paint.

Speaker 11 (01:17:20):
We saw a couple of travels, but as I said,
with the Texas roster reigns true with Madus, the pieces
are there. He has the height to compete with any center,
any big man in the country. He has very versatile
skill set. He has the softest touch I've seen from
a Texas big man not named Dylan De Sue and.

Speaker 7 (01:17:40):
So modus voctitis man.

Speaker 11 (01:17:43):
They really struck gold with him, and for me, the
most exciting thing about him is the fact that he's
only a sophomore and that doesn't make him a guarantee
to stay until he's a senior. He could go back overseas,
he could declare for the NBA Draft, he could go
to another program.

Speaker 7 (01:17:59):
But the prospect of this kid.

Speaker 11 (01:18:02):
Starting where he's at now, imagining what he could be
by senior day a couple of years down the line.
That's an All League SEC player without a doubt in
my mind if he stays for all three years.

Speaker 1 (01:18:14):
I mean, just the fact that we're having that conversation
after a game like that, I think speaks to to
what he flashed and how excited you know they are
about him. And then you look at what a player
like Dalan Swain can do and making an impact. That's
another piece joining with an experience group in the back
court that I think Sean Miller is still just trying

(01:18:34):
to find the right combinations for at the right times.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
It's early, Yeah, it is early. It's early.

Speaker 11 (01:18:40):
That's why, like I said, I didn't expect them to
win that game against Duke. They're not They're not connected
enough to win a game like that. And from a
coaching standpoint, you know, they just haven't figured out the
rotations that that are going to work the best for
this team.

Speaker 6 (01:18:54):
Yet.

Speaker 11 (01:18:55):
The rotations that are going to work the best, though,
are going to have Dylan Swayin on the court ninety
nine percent of the time because he does things that
most college basketball players just can't do. It his size,
He's an above average ball handler at six foot nine
he can guard all five positions, he can stretch the court.
He showed on Tuesday that he's a better shooter than advertised. Man,

(01:19:16):
if he can shoot, you know, thirty seven thirty eight
percent from three this year on the volume of shots
he took on Tuesday.

Speaker 7 (01:19:23):
This guy's going to be really good. He already is
really good.

Speaker 11 (01:19:26):
I mean, there's a reason why Sean Miller wanted him
so much, and so Dalan Swayin's gonna be at the
heart of everything that Texas wants to do this year.
My thing is they need to find a way to
get both him and Tremont Mark going at the same time,
because the more you can play those guys at the
same time late in the game, the there are few
teams with the defensive personnel. You know, two lengthy guards

(01:19:50):
who defend hard like that. You know, if they're both
scoring enough to where you can keep them on the
court and they're both satisfied, you know, with the splits
that the balls in their hands not in their hands,
then you know those two are really valuable pieces.

Speaker 1 (01:20:03):
Sway especially, you know Sean Miller teams play fast, and
that was what he harped on after the game. In
the press conference. Offense didn't play fast enough. I didn't
share you know, not enough assists, not enough motion. That's
something that you know, they're obviously going to work towards remedying.
But how much will that pace change kind of the

(01:20:23):
the way Texas will look, if that makes sense.

Speaker 7 (01:20:27):
Yeah, a lot.

Speaker 11 (01:20:28):
I mean we saw in the last couple of years
Texas's pace was slower.

Speaker 7 (01:20:32):
He was a little stagnant. They struggled out in a
fast break.

Speaker 11 (01:20:36):
That's gonna be the exact opposite to this year, especially
because they have.

Speaker 7 (01:20:40):
Some high flyers on their team.

Speaker 11 (01:20:41):
Cam Heidi and sameon Wilcher are some guards who are
going to you know, not only they're gonna be more
than just shooters. Those are guys who can hit the
three and are going to be asked to do it
a lot more than they were asked to.

Speaker 7 (01:20:53):
Do it on Tuesday.

Speaker 11 (01:20:55):
But those two guys can also go and get you
some quick bursts and lead the fast break and start,
you know, uh, turning defense into offense. And so I
think that the the speed that this Texas team is
going to play with wasn't well represented on Tuesday because
they didn't control the Pacers that game. And so we'll

(01:21:15):
get a better look in some of these lesser non
conference games like tomorrow, we'll get a better look at
how fast they really want to play.

Speaker 7 (01:21:23):
It's gonna be dang fast.

Speaker 11 (01:21:24):
It's gonna be complete opposite of the last couple of years,
and that really excites me from a fan standpoint.

Speaker 1 (01:21:30):
Hey, I promise this is going somewhere in your in
your local news roles. Have you ever had to fill
in and cover the weather?

Speaker 7 (01:21:38):
No, thank god, No, I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:21:40):
Gonna ask you to to do that for a moment
and just forecast what what this team will look like
and what we're gonna be talking about come conference play
with this Texas group.

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
The strength yeah, the strength of the Oh sorry, what
are you gonna say?

Speaker 12 (01:21:55):
I said, like, I don't want to sound too optimistic,
but like the SEC, he's way more wide open than people.
And I wouldn't be that surprised if they're, you know,
in that top half of the standings, not necessarily competing
for an SEC championship. But I wouldn't be surprised if
they finished above the five hundred and SEC played.

Speaker 11 (01:22:11):
I'll just say it. I wouldn't be surprised at all.
I think that this team is the perfect mix of
veterans and young guns and good coaching and personnel that
can beat any team at any given night. I think
that this team can compete this year for all every
month the conference play. If they're not gonna be, you know,
knocking on the door of the bubble like they were
last year. I think that this team's gonna be safely
in the tournament at least as an eight seed.

Speaker 7 (01:22:31):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:22:31):
And it's you know, that's pretty confident for this early
in the season. But I was just gonna sort of
go down this road. The strength of this team will
be what when we talk about them come tournament time.

Speaker 11 (01:22:43):
Okay, I see the strength of this team I think
is going to be the big men. I think that
Manus and Lacina Chayori are going to be two of
the best, like one of the best big men combos
in the SEC.

Speaker 7 (01:22:58):
And that's not something that you can say lightly.

Speaker 11 (01:23:00):
You look at last year at Jeni Bruman dealing card well,
look at you know, Ruben chin Leu and Alex Condon,
like those are the best center duos, big men duos
in the country.

Speaker 7 (01:23:10):
And I really think that if.

Speaker 11 (01:23:12):
Triory can stay out of follow trouble, and get his
conditioning up and Vocatitis can play more control than the
paint and be a little more physical. I really do
think that that's going to be a true strength of
this team, especially contrary to years past.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
Yeah, I think it'll be balance.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
I think they have enough guys that can kind of
pick up the scoring torch on different nights, and we'll
see how that kind of materializes. A lot of that
has to do with finding those right combinations. You know,
who are your closers? If you're Seawann Miller. All right,
what about the flip side? What might the drawback or
Achilles heel of this team be.

Speaker 11 (01:23:48):
They don't have a guy who they can just count
on to go win them the game late. Trumaan Mark
did it at times last season down the stretch, and
you can even say that that saved Texas season against
to an M and Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament. But
Texas right now, I don't look at that. I can't
look at that roster and say that there's a guy

(01:24:08):
who I would like, without a doubt put the ball
in their hands at the end of the game, like
right now, Jordan Pope probably.

Speaker 7 (01:24:15):
And I feel all right about that.

Speaker 11 (01:24:17):
Because he was pretty likes out on Tuesday, But they
don't have like and you can't expect to have a
Tree Johnson every year, but like, they don't even have
a Max Asmis this year. And I think that's my
big concern is some of the best players in the
country play in this conference.

Speaker 7 (01:24:31):
There are going to be guys averaging close to twenty
points per game.

Speaker 11 (01:24:35):
I don't know if Texas has somebody who's going to
average more than twelve points per game this year. And
there are ways that you can win like that, but
it definitely concerns me that there's not a clear ELFA
on this team.

Speaker 1 (01:24:45):
Okay, I know we talked about a lot of the
guys already. If there's someone that we only barely brushed
by or didn't talk about much yet that we should
be if we watched this back in a few months, who's.

Speaker 7 (01:24:56):
That kind of weaver?

Speaker 11 (01:24:58):
Without a doubt, I've already been thinking in my that
I haven't mentioned him yet and that he needs to
be mentioned because he's going to have a huge role
on this year's team. He's going to start, it appears
it looks like he's going to be tasked with guarding
the team's best defend the opposing team's best offensive.

Speaker 7 (01:25:12):
Guard at times more often than not.

Speaker 11 (01:25:15):
And so Kendall Weaver is going to be very important,
especially from a defensive standpoint. Seawan Miller teams are very
strong defensively, and he's going to be that anchor. The
other piece that I want to mention is Nick Cody.
People didn't expect him to start on Tuesday. He started,
and he locked up cam Boozer in the first half.
The offense definitely needs work. He's got no bag down low.

(01:25:35):
But Nick Cody plays hard, he's physical, he gives you
strong minutes when he's on the court man, especially on defense.

Speaker 7 (01:25:43):
And I mean that's why he started on Tuesday.

Speaker 11 (01:25:45):
That's why he's going to be on the court a lot,
especially late in games.

Speaker 7 (01:25:49):
Because he gives you good minutes.

Speaker 11 (01:25:50):
He plays physical, hard basketball, and he's a smart defensive player.

Speaker 7 (01:25:54):
We saw that in the first half against cam Boozer.

Speaker 11 (01:25:56):
So Nick Cody and Kendall Weaver two guys who don't
get the claim that everyone else does, but we'll.

Speaker 7 (01:26:02):
Both have huge roles on this Texas team.

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
We're talking with Jason Canander's one third of the Hook
Them Hoops podcast, grew along with Tommy Yarsh and Zach Davis. There,
what was the range of outcomes you guys kind of
put on this Texas season before it started, and you
know how much has that changed after seeing the Duke game,
if at all?

Speaker 11 (01:26:22):
So none of us, like we all think that this
is safely an NCAA tournament team. We all think that
this is really safe, Like they're not going to be
on the bubble like last year. This is a deeper roster.
I feel better about the coaching at least. I can't
speak for the other two guys, because I mean, we
all liked Rodney Terry, but I was probably a little
more hard on the fact that change probably needed to

(01:26:44):
happen changes here, and I think that we're going to
see progress. I think that, like I said, Texas is
going to be an eight seed or better. I wouldn't
be surprised if they drop a couple of these, Like
the Virginia game is gonna be tough. They should win that,
but if they lose, you know, it's not the end
of the world. They lost to Ohio State last year
and ended up making the tournament. So you know, the

(01:27:06):
range of outcomes, I would say anything from like, I guess,
a three seed in the.

Speaker 13 (01:27:12):
Best world case scenario ever, you know, if the SEC's
stacked like last year and Texas is at the top
half of that and then you know, the bottom half,
I guess would be just knocking on the door of
the tournament like Sean Miller's Aavier team last year.

Speaker 11 (01:27:25):
But I really have a hard time in envisioning this roster,
with this coaching staff, in this wide open of an
SEC having that heart of a time making the tournament.

Speaker 1 (01:27:35):
So now they get Lafayette and the home opener on
Saturday FDU Kansas City Rider. It's kind of that road
to Maui chapter of the season for this Texas team
at home. Besides wins against those four teams, what do
you want to see from the Longhorns.

Speaker 11 (01:27:52):
Yeah, stay healthy, figure out who your best rotations are,
give guys confidence who need it, play the young guys.
It doesn't seem like any buddy, well, it doesn't seem
like I mean, Declan Duru's not red shirting because he
played on Tuesday.

Speaker 7 (01:28:07):
Cody's obviously going to play a lot. He wasn't a
red shirt candidate. You know, if John Clark's not gonna
red shirt.

Speaker 11 (01:28:13):
I'd like to see him in these games, you know,
I'd like to see anybody who is playing this year
on the team and has any chance.

Speaker 7 (01:28:20):
Of getting on the court and conference play.

Speaker 11 (01:28:22):
I want to see what they're made of these next
couple of games against lower competition.

Speaker 2 (01:28:27):
Well, Jason, are you getting to a game this year
at any point? Come on down?

Speaker 7 (01:28:29):
We love that's the goal.

Speaker 5 (01:28:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:28:32):
I want to get back to Austin.

Speaker 11 (01:28:35):
January or February, see some see some guys, and especially
catch a Texas basketball game. I've only been to one
as a fan ever. It was my senior year Senior Day.
Had a great time, so I'd love to go back.

Speaker 1 (01:28:48):
Well, he gave away some tickets earlier. Where were you
for the talk pack feature? I'm I'm giving you a
hard time? Thanks for thanks for stopping by. Jason.

Speaker 2 (01:28:55):
Where can where can they find you with the guys
on hookum Hoops?

Speaker 11 (01:28:58):
Yeah, so we're all on at I'm at WIBW Jason.
You can find Tommy and Zach's handles on there too.
We are doing shows every week every other week. We're
still trying to figure out our posting calendar during non
conference play, but we're running it back for a third year.
We're excited to be doing it and we're really fortunate
to have this opportunity feel at sixty eight so I

(01:29:20):
love it.

Speaker 1 (01:29:21):
Yeah, you guys do a great job. Jason, thanks for
stopping by. Really appreciate the time.

Speaker 7 (01:29:25):
Thanks Jake, keep up the great work. See us new men.

Speaker 1 (01:29:28):
That is Jason Canander of hook Em Hoops. Great podcast.
Keeps me up to date on Texas men's basketball. Always
great to catch up with Jason and the guys. All right,
coming up next. I know a lot of you are
on your way to watch some Friday night lights. As
we wrap up the program on this Friday afternoon, we'll
tell you what Jerry Forres thinks with his computer predictions

(01:29:50):
of some of the biggest high school games on the slate.

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Speaker 3 (01:35:08):
It's the Craig Way Show with Hall of Fame broadcaster
invoice of the Texas Longhorns, Craig.

Speaker 7 (01:35:16):
Before you did, you got.

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Your head com right.

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Yeah, the neighborhood would.

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It's the hardest cut, wells.

Speaker 1 (01:35:54):
Man, this cuts the hardest cut from spoon right here
in Austin as we highlight some area high school football games.
What a week this is on the high school Football slate.
We previewed it throughout the week on this program when EJ.
Sanchez from Texan Live came on gave us his thoughts

(01:36:14):
and predictions. Roger Wallace, Greg Temper regular guests here on
the Craig Ways show, lending some of their expertise as well.
Roger had the call last night for Weiss's win over
Anderson in Flugerville. That game did not change anything in
terms of playoff seating, but some nice momentum for the
Wolves as they head into the playoffs. They picked up

(01:36:37):
a victory last night. We'll tell you what the computer
thought of that game when we get to five A
in a moment. But these picks come from Pigskin Prep
strictly computer based, no human input. Here and here is
what the computer thinks of tonight's pivotal matchups in six
A football. Starting in District twenty six to six A,
the matchup between Westlake and Dripping Springs. Big time seating

(01:37:00):
implications on the line in this one, and Westlake, who
is the home team for this one at Chaparral Stadium.
They are picked to win by five points according to
the computer. That's an interesting amount right there, Westlake coming
off that lost to Lake Travis a couple weeks back,
that the Chaparrals lost that game by a wider margin

(01:37:23):
than Dripping Springs did against Lake Travis, But the computer
still likes the Shaps to beat Dripping Springs tonight, albeit narrowly.
Lake Travis is taking on Austin High tonight and Aikens
an eleven point pick over Dell Valley by the computer.
In District twenty six six say okay, on to twenty
five six A, where we broke down some of the

(01:37:44):
tie breaking scenarios earlier in the week, and you've got
five teams still alive with a shot of making the playoffs.
Only four will go through the potential All four could tie.
You have McNeil taking on Huddo. The Hippo have the
potential to win the district tonight. They are picked to
beat McNeil by ten points according to the computer. The

(01:38:08):
other matchup to watch is round Rock taking on Vandergrift,
and Vandergrift is picked to win that game by six.
But there are some funky tie breaking scenarios in play there.
And in order for Vista Ridge, who is picked to
beat Westwood by seven to qualify for the playoffs, they

(01:38:32):
would need round Rock to lose. Remember, Vista Ridge has
that head to head tiebreaker. Obviously they have to beat
west Wood tonight. They would need round Rock to lose
that game against Vandergrift. Now there's a scenario where Huddle,
Round Rock, and Vista Ridge all win. That would mean
Huddo would claim the district title. They be seven to

(01:38:55):
one in district, play top seed in the D one
bracket and they would host Bowie. And in that case,
if Huddo and Round Rock and Vista Ridge win, Round
Rock would be six to two in the district the
D two runner up, they'd have to go to Lake Travis,
but they'd still be in the playoff. So there's lots
of potential scenarios there. They got three matchups that matter

(01:39:16):
for playoff positioning, and they're all picked to.

Speaker 2 (01:39:19):
Be within ten points or less.

Speaker 1 (01:39:21):
This is one of those chaos knights potentially in area
high school football, particularly in District twenty five six A.
So we teased it. What did the computer think? What
happen between Weiss and Andrewson. Well, the computer got the
winner right. They picked Weiss to beat Anderson by ten points. However,

(01:39:41):
the margin was actually twenty one in Weiss's favor. That
late touchdown from Trey Moore helped ice the game twenty
eight to seven. Weiss beat Anderson, denying the Trojans their
first perfect season, but the Trojans will have at least
a share of the district championship, and that assumes that
and M Consolidated takes care of things against Lockhart. Hayes

(01:40:04):
takes on Layman Tonight, Hendrickson takes on Cedar Krieg. Hayes
and Hendrickson both picked to win by forty plus in
those matchups according to the computer. College station gets the
open date. So now to a big matchup between Georgetown
and Cedar Park and in District eight to five A

(01:40:27):
D one. Georgetown can have the district title all to
itself with a victory tonight over a Cedar Park Timberwolf
team that is just one game behind Georgetown picked to
win that game by four according to the computer. Eastview
is taking on Leander tonight, and that is a seventeen
point Eastview edge according to the computer picks. Rouse picked

(01:40:50):
to beat Glenn by thirty one and Lake Belton picked
to beat Killian Chaparral by thirty three. Remember, Rouse would
need the miracle win from Chaparral, who is winless in
that district, in order to pass Lake Belton for that
last playoff spot because Lake Belton does have that head
to head an eleven point victory over Rouse earlier in

(01:41:10):
the season towards the beginning of district play over to
five A D two where District eleven five A is
up for grabs night just a pure.

Speaker 7 (01:41:22):
A pure.

Speaker 1 (01:41:24):
Winner take all situation at the home of the Panthers
in Liberty Hill, where the bass Drop Bears, defending district champions,
visit and look for their first back to back district
championships since two thousand and one and two thousand and two.
And remember in two thousand and two, the Bears had
to share that district championship, so Bastrop looking to make

(01:41:45):
some school history. The computer likes the visiting Bears to
win by three or remember they beat Liberty Hill by
four last year. Liberty Hill with first year head coach
David Seaborn, they feel like they're a little healthier right
now than they were at this point last season. They
had that second round playoff exit against Brenham. It was
the shortest Liberty Hill playoff run in almost a decade.

(01:42:08):
It's still a great season for the Panthers, who were
just one stop away from winning the district this year.
Bass Drop or Liberty Hill just two buzz saws getting
set to collide this evening. I'm gonna have the call
for that one on Vipe Live and the Ku plus app.

Speaker 7 (01:42:24):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:42:25):
I just can't stop. Haven't been able to stop thinking
about it.

Speaker 1 (01:42:27):
Since I woke up this morning, So so excited to
see what Liberty Hill in that slot t offense runs
so efficiently this year, averaging over four hundred and sixty
rushing yards per game. They have scored fifty eight or
more in every district game against Bass Drop. All they've
done is score sixty or more in every district game.
They both put up seventy points on Flugerville, who is

(01:42:50):
locked into the number three position in that district. They
will take on Connolly tonight and Flugerville a twelve point
pick by the computer over Connolly, and it's a Connolly
team that needs McCallum to lose in addition to winning
tonight if they want to get into the playoff picture.
And McCallum is picked to beat Crockett by forty Elgen

(01:43:10):
Navarro the other matchup in that district, and the computer
likes the Wildcats to win by thirty two. So we
hope you enjoy the high school football action wherever you
find it tonight, however, you are planning to enjoy it,
and we'll see if those computer picks are accurate or not.

(01:43:31):
We'll wrap up the show in just a few moments
right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone and
the iHeartRadio app.

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