Ewers In, Tua Out, Texas Transfer Portal News, Women's Basketball Back in Action

Jake Herman hosts the show and discusses the latest in Longhorn sports, including soundbites from both Sean Miller and Vic Schaefer with midweek non-conference basketball action for the men and women. Evan Vieth from InsideTexas joins the show to discuss the latest movement in the transfer portal. Plus, former Longhorn Quinn Ewers is named the starter of the Miami Dolphins!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Horns and your host of the Craigway Show. Here he
is now, Craig Way.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good afternoon, Happy Wednesday. You're on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred zone. Jay Kerman with you for the next three
hours while Craig continues his call of the high school
football state Championships up in Arlington, Texas today at and
T Stadium, where they've already crowned one champ. The Gordon

(00:51):
Longhorns go back to back to back in one A
Division one. It just kicked off between Jaydon and Richland
Spray in one A Division two. We'll check in with
Craig a little bit later in the program and get
you all caught up to date on his day in Dallas,
but for now, we've got lots of other topics to cover.

(01:14):
Quinn Ewers is an NFL starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins.
Mike McDaniel making the decision this morning. He had hinted
at this yesterday, and I know Craig brought this up
during the program. They're going to turn it over to
the two time CFP semifinalists rookie out of Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Here were those comments yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
If you missed him from Mike McDaniel, we'll have those
comments for you in just a few moments. But Mike
McDaniel yesterday saying that quarterback play part of the story
in terms of where the blame fell after the Dolphins
loss to the Pittsburgh's deal on Monday Night Football, he

(02:02):
said the quarterback play was quote not good enough and
to a tongue of Iloa, who has been struggling for
the better part of a month now, put up just
sixty five passing yards in the loss to Pittsburgh. It
was the game that eliminated Miami from the postseason, by
the way, after they had somewhat of a resurgence there

(02:22):
in the month of November.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
He did rack up.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Two hundred and fifty three yards in the game, but
sixty five through three quarters, including an interception and two
drive killing sacks. Sacks or a quarterback stat too, and
Mike McDaniel's offense often predicated on getting the football out quickly,
making things simple, taking a lot of the decisions out
of quarterbacks hands. Well, in the case of to a

(02:53):
Tongue of Iloa, those sacks were part of the straw
that broke the camel's back in those four games that
the Dolphins had won to the loss of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Mike McDaniel had really leaned on the running attack, right,
they hadn't been leaning so much on Tua. He had
fewer than one hundred and seventy five passing yards in
four consecutive games, and that was enough for the Dolphins

(03:17):
to get past a well less than stellar stretch of opponents.
But it wasn't enough to beat the Steelers, and it
won't be enough for to a Tongue of Ailoa to
keep the job moving forward. Now I'm seeing some people
frame this as Wow, this is Mike McDaniel, or this
is the Dolphins rather choosing Mike McDaniel over Tua. Right,

(03:39):
giving McDaniel the freedom to make the move that he
sees fit, rather than sticking with the guy that the
Dolphins are fully committed to. Remember, he signed a four
year to a tongue of Iiloa did two hundred and
twelve million dollar contract back in twenty twenty four, and
we're less than two years into that.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Tua has been benched. Every penny of the.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Fifty six point four million dollars he's owed in twenty
twenty six are guaranteed if you release him, it means
ninety nine million dollars in dead cap space.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
That would be an NFL record. Even if they wait.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Until June first that deadline, it would still count over
sixty seven million dollars against the Dolphins cap in twenty
twenty six. A trade would save the Dolphins some money. But,
and we'll get to this later, the trade market for
Tua might be a little bit limited at the moment,

(04:42):
especially if the Dolphins aren't willing to take on his
thirty nine million dollar base salary. Russell Wilson in Denver
a big example of this. The Broncos took on what
was a record eighty five million dollars in dead money

(05:02):
to just cut ties and move on correct what they
saw as a mistake, a contract that gave out that
just didn't work out for a veteran QB. But this
is fourteen million above that in terms of what the
dead money would look like.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
So Quinn yours.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Trying to make some history and become the first Texas
quarterback to win his NFL debut since Chris Simms did
it in two thousand and four. That stat comes from
Adam Schefter ESPN Insights. He pointed out, Vince Young, Colt McCoy,
Sam Ellinger all lost in their debut starts. So it's

(05:47):
Quinn Ewers trying to be the one to flip that script.
And we'll get to some more reactions from around the league.
What this might mean for Mike McDaniel's future with the Dolphin,
what it might mean for to a tongue of Iloa's future.
Even guys like Tyreek Hill weighing in on this big
news that dropped this morning. Quinn, you were's gonna be

(06:10):
the starter of the rest of the way, starting this
Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. So not the hardest matchup
to start off with. Cincinnati been pretty quarterback friendly for
most of the season at linebacking corps, that secondary outside
of Jordan Battle not much to write home about. Ravens
got right against the Bengals a week ago, So hoping

(06:33):
for the best in terms of former Longhorn Quin youw
Weers getting his shot with the Miami Dolphins. We've got
lots of other topics to get to in a moment.
We're going to visit with Evan v from Inside Texas
get the latest on the movement surrounding the transfer portal,
talk about which Longhorns have left the program, which players
Texas can and should target as the portal draws closer.

(06:59):
We will have in Receivable later this hour with some
transfer portal tie ins, as well as some other notes
from around the NFL. Some comments from Travis Kelcey, We're
going to play for you that might indicate something. Some
news on Patrick Mahomes the MVP odds, the playoff picture
as they stand, including where the Houston Texans figure into

(07:20):
all of that. We'll also hear from Sean Miller. The
Texas men's basketball team bounce back with a big victory
over Le Moyne at Moody Center last night. We will
hear from Texas women's basketball head coach Vick Schaeffer as
well as guard Justice Carleton.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
They play at.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Eight o'clock tonight at Moody Center against the Northwestern State Demons.
We'll get be giving away from some tickets for that
a little later on in the show as well. Plus
some other college football notes are checking in with Craig
and much much more, all coming out right here on
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Beck You're on

(08:14):
a Wednesday, joined by Evan v from Inside Texas Evan.
It's It's yacht Rock Wednesday on the craig Ways Show.
Are you Are you much of a fan of sticks
and come sail Away?

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (08:26):
Come on, I have about Renegade by Sticks. That's where
we're really at.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
That's you know, I don't claim to know as much
yacht rock as craig Way has forgot. He might he
might weigh in on whether this song is actually yacht rock.
We'll get his thoughts on that a little bit later,
but I want to start by getting your thoughts on
Longhorn basketball. I know Leamoyne's not a great team, but
you wrote in your recamp last night this was some
of the Sean Miller offense that US folks were, well

(08:53):
Texas fans, I should say, we're promised. What did you
see that kind of excited you on that side of things?

Speaker 5 (08:59):
Yeah, kind of finally right, It's felt like you've been
promised this, this Sean Miller offense since he's been hired,
and you knew, you knew they were gonna be growing
pains coming into the year. I think there's a little
bit of a poor roster building identity with the lack
of a point guard and maybe a true, true number
one scorer, and they had to go through that in
the first few games of the year. I do think
that you saw big change in the Yukon game, where

(09:21):
you know where you're at as a Texas basketball team.
A seven point seven or eight point loss really isn't
that big deal to a team like Yukon, probably a
top five team in the nation. Against Lamoine, you know, offensively,
Lamoint which is not quite the team that can compete
with Texas, but Longhorns were getting too shots into spots
in the on the court that you were hoping you'd
see that do against SEC teams in Misissippi State first
and then Tennessee when they play them, and hence these

(09:42):
other opponents. It was a lot of Dalan Swain was
making good passes into the corner. They took a lot
of corner threes. Most of their shots otherwise were in
the paint. I mean, that's that's NBA offense. That's what
Miller likes to do. That's that's the philosophy came in with,
is where he's gonna take shots that are efficient and
not force ourselves into these long twos or these intestin reason. Yeah,
you're gonna have tougher defensive competition going forward into the SEC.

(10:03):
But I liked the spots they were getting to and
the way that some of these players like Mark and
Cope and Swam were dribbling on ball. We'll see how
that actually shows up in the SEC play. And there
there was a little bit of an eight eight minute
stretch where they looked poor offensively, but otherwise it was
a good showing and they really got got that game
wrapped up with about ten minutes left in the second
four or second half.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Sorry, what'd you make of the showing in Hartford against Yukon.
It was one of those losses that I came away
from the game feeling a little bit better about this
team ceiling than I had before. With that said, though,
they lost the game and really leave non conference play
without that signature win.

Speaker 5 (10:42):
Yeah, and I think you could maybe the problem is
that they didn't get that win before Yukon. That should
have been penciled in beforehand. And now they did get
one on them Maley Invitational, but when it's for the
five to six that it's not quite the win that
you're looking for. Even the NC State it's a good program, Yeah,
I think you nailed on the head. This is a
game that was pretty much a true away game. It
wasn't quite in the home of the Yukon, but it

(11:03):
was in Hartford, Connecticut. But you saw a few contributors
doing their things, specifically guard play with Mark and Pope,
and that's that's what you need. They have to have
those guys playing like scoring point guards because they're not
going to be these elite passers and playmakers. They have
to be able to get to their spots in the score,
and I think they did that really well. Now it's about,
especially as matas spoke Titis, getting him into the positions

(11:24):
against these higher level plays because he looks like the
best player on the court when they're playing Lemoyne or UTRGV,
but when they're playing Yukon in Virginia, he's really struggled.
So they have to figure out how to keep him
solid defensively when he's getting attacked by these good guards
while also, you know, let's get into the free throw line.
He's got one of the best free throw rates in
the country. He also hits his free throws, so him
only having nine to nine game definitely hurt the long

(11:44):
rues but thirty combined from Ope and Mark, that's a
good sign going into SEC play.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
And we'll hear from Sean Miller get some of his
thoughts on last night's victory a little bit later on
in the program. Right now, we're talking to Evan Vith
from inside Texas. You can follow him at Evan Veeth
Over to football and the long defense. We knew would
have a lot of turnover coming into the twenty twenty
six season. With leungel of foul entering the transfer portal
earlier this week, that's becoming even more evident. So with

(12:12):
this defense not getting a lot of experience back, how
quickly do you expect Texas to strike here in the
portal and other potential targets you think they've already kind
of zeroed in on.

Speaker 5 (12:23):
Yeah, I think they were going to take a linebacker
no matter if Leon Willa fasted them on this team
or not. They just definitely needed another guy with he
and Smith and Spence. Excuse me, maybe bo Bonds gives
you something next to me, you can't bank on that
when you're making a title run. I think what they're
going to do is take two and have one of
these guys be a true Mike linebacker that they can say, hey,

(12:43):
we are going to plug and play. It's a position
in college football you really need experience that more than anything.
You can get away with wide receivers for just great
athletes and great players. In some ways, you can get
away with that at edge if you got the right athlete.
But linebacker's got to be able to be in the
right spot to make a tackle, and that can come
from someone who played or G five football the last
three years. But they're gonna look for someone with experiences,

(13:05):
no matter if that's a G five guy or they
can pay up for someone who just left a powerful program.
And I think they're also going to try to look
for one of those kind of plus one guys where
I think we talked about this in the show a
few weeks ago, where you're getting him because he can
maybe help you this year, but really what's nice is
that he has another year of eligibility.

Speaker 6 (13:21):
Maybe a third.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
That's what you're seeing with Brad Spence, who's going to
take over the trade war role in twenty twenty six.
I think Spence is gonna be a great player on
the defense, but they need more linebacker. Linebackers right now,
it's just Smith, a pure will an athlete, but he's
a little smaller. Elijah Barnes and Tyler Atkinson who are
very new to this college football. Tyler Akinson hasn't gotten
the campus yet, so they're gonna need two in my opinion,
But I don't think it changes all that much about

(13:44):
their overall philosophy for the position.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
And there's a philosophy question to surrounding Grayson Littleton. I
liked your headline to star or not to star. The
long Horns have a decision on their hands. Do you
move Grayson Littleton to the outside to use his cover
skill that we saw really from the jump last year,
or does he stay as that kind of true nickel
role that he won from the beginning of this year.

Speaker 5 (14:08):
It's really a hard discussion, Jake, because a lot of
it predicates on what you have and who leaves, also
what you add in the portal and who's available and
who wants to come play there. Right now, as I
see it, if Trelawney McDonald returns, you know three players
that must start for your team. McDonald, Littleton, and I
think Kate Phillips has gotten himself into that position where
he should be a starting cornerback next year. Now that
could mean that the two cornerbacks are Littleton and Phillips,

(14:30):
or if you really like what you got from Kobe
Black and then Warren Roberson, you can add a death
guy as your fourth cornerback, because Texas always wants to
have four outside guys. Then maybe that's when you're fine
keeping Littleton in the slot. Wardell mack Leaving, if that
were to happen, would definitely probably keep Littleton inside and
then maybe they go after and bigger fish at cornerback,
a true number one guy. But that's hard to do.

(14:51):
It's a lot easier to find an experienced slot defender
who can keep up with players and tackle than it
is to find out your number one lockdown corner in
the portal. But I think no matter what, it's one
of those Champagne problems for Texas. You've either got a
guy who is so good at nickel that he started
there as a true freshman, which I looked up some
snapcount numbers. There hasn't been a power for true freshman's

(15:11):
played four hundred plus snaps in the slot since twenty
twenty two, and that's what Littleton did this year for Texas,
so you already know what you've gotten him in the slot.
Now it's more is his best long term either to
get to the NFL or your Texas the best chance
winning a championship playing on the outside. If they truly
think that, which he'll see raps in the bowl game
from this, then they should move him outside and see
what you got on the inside and that safety. But yeah,

(15:33):
like I said, it's not a bad problem to have.
You have a really talented guy, it's just where's the
right place to put him.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
I'm kind of curious what that group was like a
freshman who have played that many snaps on the inside.
Was it a bunch of future pros? Or did it
kind of surprise you? I think you know, because I
don't remember the name specifically. I think it was some
college players, good players, but nothing crazy. Not any guys
who I remember either becoming great nickels in the NFL
or moving outside. Specifically, I believe Pittsburgh and Washington or

(16:01):
two of the teams that had used those guys early on.
Oh interesting to note. Okay, we're talking to Evan v
from inside Texas. Flipping to the offense, where Jabbar Jaluke
comes in as the running backs coach.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
We knew that room was going to look different.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Now, does this hire give you any insight into maybe
the type of running back that Texas could add via
the portal?

Speaker 6 (16:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (16:21):
Well, the home run hit is Chelou's former former player
Jaden Vow, who's arguably the best running back in college
football heading in the next season. He's tremendous talent, one
of those real bruisers. He comes in at two hundred
twenty five pounds as soon as he hits the campus
this season. Now, I think bo is a guy who's
gonna be a tough gut He's real. He's loyal to
the Florida team. But at some point it's like, if

(16:43):
you already know you're going to be a really high
draft pick at running back, do you want to go
to the do you want to stay on the team
that has had a lot of turnover? You have no
idea who's playing quarterback. You're probably need to get run
into the ground because they're going to rely on you
a lot on your offense. Or come over to Texas
and be the number one be's solid contrayment Wiser and
Archman taking carries. If not him, They're still going to
look for a number one. I believe, even if Simon

(17:05):
and Clark are here to stay, even if Wiser is
here to stay, they need a power back, someone that
can run in between the tackles, that can get them
yardage every single down. Texas just really struggled with the
guy to find a guy that had four or five
yards in him every carry. But Travan Wiser had his
big games. That was two games. What about the other
ten and really the other three or four that were
super important. They need someone who they can rely on

(17:27):
fully as a starter. And I don't know how many
positions outside of running back in no line that truly
needs starters starters for but that is clearly.

Speaker 6 (17:33):
One of them.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well, they'll have to replace a starter on the outside.
DeAndre Moore is going to the NFL draft. Out of
the guys that we saw from this young wide receiver
room in twenty twenty five, who maybe one or two
who stand out could most naturally fill DeAndre Moore's role
in the offense.

Speaker 5 (17:53):
Yeah, I think the two obvious ones are Dylan McCutcheon,
who came in as clear slot guy in that really
loaded twenty twenty five receiver recruiting class and was the
first guy to play out of that group. He was
I think he was the fourth highs rated of all
of them, but he played against Ohio State, played throughout
the year that they really like this kid. I mean
he's one of those guys that came in early and
impressed the staff. Has kicked or kicking punt return the opportunities.

(18:14):
Not sure if he'll do it next year with Ryan
nibbling around, but he's someone that could maybe be confident
in just playing the slot next year. That's but with
DeAndre Moore, he wasn't the high secuited guy, but true
software was starting on the team. Then there's also m
Mosey who made profile better as a slot receiver. I
mean he played some a little bit at both both
of the schools, but just his body type and the
way he plays, it might be better to have him
be that blocking slot receiver. You have him go do

(18:37):
your fade routes if you need to have the slot,
and then hey, maybe you go to the portal. Maybe
Parker Livingston is another step guy I'm looking out for.
Is Khalek Lockett ready to be a real full time player?
I would love if if they could have their end
kind of end game group, be an elite trio of Wingo,
Lockett Mosley. I'm all there for that, but that is
based on how well you can develop and how well

(18:57):
the Country and Moseley can play in the slot. So
this man also be a portal position. But I do
think that they're going to try one of those two
in this loot.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, it'd be very very interesting to see how that
wide receiver room develops. What you make of the way
the national media kind of reacted and reported on arch
Manning's decision to return. I mean, those of us who
cover Texas day in day out, I don't think anybody
was really all that surprised by it. Does it speak
more to the state of college football today?

Speaker 5 (19:27):
Yeah, it felt like a no duh, Like, did anyone
really believe that outside of you know, people that kind
of wanted him to not to not succeed in Austin,
say he's gone, or maybe some draft guys who were
high on him. But yeah, we knew this was coming.
We felt this way before the season started, and then
the season didn't go his way, so of course he
was going to come back. This This has probably been
the plan all along. I'm not in ours Fanning's mind,

(19:49):
but that's the way it's been reported forever. I didn't
think it needed this whole you know, the way USC
does it where they're talking about resigning their players. Texas
didn't need that. I think Sarkisian and Manning both a
mutual idea that hey, we're just going to quietly return
next year and get you ready for a national championship
heis and contending season.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
That's Evan Veith from inside Texas.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Before you go, let's get your thoughts on the college
football playoff matchups this weekend. It might be a super
Bowl of hate watching from a Longhorn fan perspective.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Youve got Oklahoma and A and M.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
Texas has two bitter rivals to the Longhorns, by the way,
beat by multiple scores, each hosting playoff matchups. Should Oklahoma
or Texas A and M feel better about their matchup
this weekend? Which one do you think might have a
better chance of advancing?

Speaker 5 (20:37):
I think Oklahoma likes there's a little more. I think
just because purely from how these two teams play. Between
them and Alabama, they don't play very great on offense.
Really I mean, it's two struggling teams that can't run
the ball that well, can't throw the ball real well.
Then they're two hyped up quarterbacks really decline, and two
elite defenses. But when you look at how these two

(20:58):
teams profile, A, they've already been in Alabama. B. If
you had to say which of these run games will
do better, I think the answers Oklahoma, see who is
the better defense Oklahoma's, and then you also get the
fact that Oklahoma probably plays better special teams and is
at home. I think A and M is looking and going. Man,
this Miami team just always the most inconsistent great team

(21:18):
in college football for the past three years. But if
you get the right Carson back and Malachi Tony and
that offensive and defensive line, they've got game breakers on
the other side of the ball. For Marcel Reid, who
just had to deal with Colin Simmons recently, I'd be
pretty scared of them kind of leaving their own players, like,
how do we lose this game? But I think the
Oklahoma matchups better for them to just win a sixteen

(21:39):
to thirteen game, Whereas if this gets to a highest
scoring with Miami, you never know who's going to come
out on top in College Station?

Speaker 3 (21:46):
Did you see Miami?

Speaker 2 (21:47):
The Kyle Field crowd will be almost double the largest
away crowd that the Hurricanes should see in the season.
That we could still learn a lot about them in
this game Ohio State.

Speaker 5 (21:58):
It's also the cold. Who knows how it's going to
be there? Who knows in Miami you can play there?

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yes, the frigid cold of College Station, all right, it
is a concern for Miami though.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
As far as the National Championship.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Winner odds out in Vegas, Ohio State is the favorite,
followed by Indiana. Then you've got a little bit of
a gap towards the rest of the field.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
If you were to be.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Given an option right now, you can have Ohio State,
Indiana or you could have the field. Is that as
obvious as the lines seem to make it that you'd
take those two big ten teams?

Speaker 5 (22:30):
Yeah? I think the only one that would really put
a mix into that is Georgia just because they're really
coming together at the right time. They've got all the ingredients.
But I would take the two. Honestly, it doesn't help
that part of that field, right, four teams get eliminate
in the first round, and two of those are as
non competitors. One of the teams is going to go
onwards is Ole miss who doesn't have a coach, so
there's no way there winning. I'm not super bullish on

(22:51):
either any of ann Miami Oklahoma, so it's Oregon Tech
in Georgia that you're betting against at that point, I'll
take the two vers is those three really I do
think that they're the two best teams in the Big Ten.
I think Ohio State is probably the best team in
the nation. You know, Indiana beat them in the Big
Ten championship game. But because Indiana beat them, that means
that they can probably beat anybody. So yeah, give me

(23:12):
those two over the field.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
I tend to agree with you.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
But if Ryan Day is going to keep kicking surrender
field goals, I don't know if I can get on
board with it.

Speaker 5 (23:20):
He's got to stop those. Oh my god, that was
game ruining for him.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
It was appalling.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
I'll talk a little more about it as those games
get closer. But Evan, thanks so much for stopping by.
I always appreciate your time, and we'll talk after the holidays.

Speaker 5 (23:34):
Definitely sounds good. Jake, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
Thank you to Evan Veth from inside Texas as always
good to hear the latest on the transfer portal movement
in and around the Texas Longhorns. I've said it before,
it's this time of year that no news kind of
feels like good news, especially with some of the other
headlines going on around college football at the moment. We'll
take a quick break, come back with some stories from

(23:57):
the Inconceivable file, including some transfer portal tie ins, right
here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone our

(24:20):
number two on this Wednesday afternoon, and Jake German with
you on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred of the Zone,
filling in for the Hall of Famer Craig Way, who
was on the call for the second of seven Texas
high school football state championships. See there are twelve games
in total. Of course, Craig calls seven of them, including
the first to today, Gordon beating Rankin sixty nine to

(24:43):
twenty two, and right now Jayton leading Richland Springs thirty
two to sixteen. As we speak, Coyotes just punched it
into the end zone for a touchdown.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
So we'll keep you posted on that.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Hope to hear from Craig a little bit later on
in the show, but for now, let's talk NFL. We
started the show with some news Quinn getting named the
starter by Mike McDaniel. He will lead the Miami Dolphins
into battle this week against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
Of course, both of those teams eliminated from.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Playoff contention, Joe Burrow not really playing or looking like
himself at the moment. After that, Miami will host Tampa
and New England. By the way, Joe Burrow, we're gonna
hear a SoundBite from him in just a few moments
that kind of follows a theme we were seeing from
him if you listened last week, talking about how he's
a little bit unhappy with the way things are going

(25:33):
in Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
But let's start with TUA first.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Mike McDaniel and his comments on to us play Monday night.
This was, of course, before he made the decision to
tab yours the starter today.

Speaker 7 (25:46):
Well, I think the quarterback play.

Speaker 8 (25:51):
Last night was not good enough, and so for me,
everything's on the table.

Speaker 9 (25:56):
And who would you consider going to if.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
You make a change.

Speaker 8 (26:01):
Well, I think that you know we're in the process
of game planning for the Cincinnati Bengals. So in that process,
we're trying to determine who'll give us the best chance
to win. And I'll probably give you more clarity on
that tomorrow as we are, i think fourteen hours removed

(26:22):
from the game.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
So that clarity arrived today. Like we told you at
the top of the show, the Dolphins making the decision
to sit to a tongue of by Loa giving their
seventh round rookie Quinny were was a shot here down
the stretch, and I alluded to this earlier. Some people
are are taking from this that the Dolphins are backing

(26:45):
Mike McDaniel rather than backing to a tongue of by Loa,
who they are tied to contractually. We talked about the
franchise's tough cap situation. Here's here's where they stand on that.
To right, he signed a contract that's worth a total
of two hundred and twelve million dollars ahead of the

(27:08):
twenty twenty four season.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
So this is year two of four.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
The salary cap next year is about two hundred ninety
five million. Round it to three hundred. Keep it simple,
and some of you are driving, don't pull out the calculators.
If the Dolphins cut to a tongue of I LOOA,
that is ninety nine million dollars in dead cap space,
about a third of their cap. They already have thirty
four million dollars in dead money and that is sixth

(27:37):
in the NFL, and that's mostly due to some defensive
guys that they paid and then parted ways with. It's
it's been a rough go for Chris Greer, the Dolphins
GM former GM now and you know how that happens.
You pay Zavi and Howard, Jalen Ramsey, Jalen Phillips and
then get rid of them because things aren't working out.

(27:59):
That Dolphins d defense has not rounded into form over
the last few years. So if the Dolphins were to
trade to U that's probably the most ideal scenario for him,
but it's also one of the least likely. To a
tongue of Bailoa's market not exactly wide now, if the
Dolphins were to cut him to what would certainly be

(28:22):
signed somewhere to the veteran minimum, and we'll get to
who those teams might be in a moment. But the
Dolphins would love to trade him, but they have to
fight a team that wants him and pay at least
his a portion of his thirty nine million dollar base
salary to send him off. And you can see why
they'd want to trade him, especially if Quinn you were

(28:43):
starts playing well. Maybe he enters twenty twenty six as
the starter, or maybe the Dolphins draft a rookie, but
if that starter struggles, right, Mike Florio noted this, if
Tua is still on the team, you're gonna have a
segment of the fan base, maybe even a segment of
the locker room that's still going to clamor for Tua
to play. I remember the old saying the backup quarterback

(29:04):
is the most popular figure on any given football team.
That's true if you follow Loghard football and follow this
program reading some of your texts over the course of
the season. Don't want to out anybody, but there were
some folks calling for the backup when Arch Banding was
struggling against the likes of Florida and Kentucky earlier on
in the season. Remember, you can always text the show

(29:25):
by texting the word Texas followed by your question or
comment to the number eight one, five, three zero. We'll
try to answer those like this from Seapow, who says
Gordon has been so dominating back to the high school
football ranks, they couldn't get games, so they played Thorndale
and eleven Man and beat them handily. Yeah, Craig Way
and Greg Tepper talked about that yesterday and if you

(29:46):
missed their conversation, it is up wherever you get your podcast,
including on the iHeartRadio app. They have three signed with colleges.
I believe you may have heard all this from Tepper.
We did, but still appreciate the text Sea Pal the
the Gordon Longhorns have several players that are signed. I
think they're out there dominant run here. They've sent several

(30:09):
players to service academies over the course of that kind
of dominant stretching, and that makes sense when you think
about the style of six man football. But appreciate the
text and what We'll circle back to high school football
a little later in the program. So the Dolphins have
a decision to make. They made the first decision and

(30:29):
that is tapping Quinn you Weer as the starter. The
second decision is will they keep to a tongue of
Iloa if they're going to pay him. Mike Florio writes,
there's an argument that says, why not keep them around
as a backup, or the best move could be to
do what the Broncos did in twenty twenty four with
Russell Wilson. Rip off the band aid, pay the money,

(30:50):
take the cap charges. In this case, it'd be an
NFL record for dead cap space, and just move on.
There's some differences though, between the Russell Wilson situation and
this Tua deal. Number One is the you know, kind
of the way that the contracts are structured. If if

(31:14):
the Broncos had kept Russell Wilson, there was more kind
of front loaded money coming in for Tua, that money
kind of dips if they were to hang on to
him pass the twenty twenty sixth season.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
And then the other.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Part is is that there's not really going to be
a trade market for a guy with that high of
a base salary next season. Now, there are some teams
out there that are looking for a potential veteran quarterback.
According to Pro Football Talk, there are teams that could
be looking for Tua, including the Jets. By the way,

(31:52):
Tuas never lost to the Jets. He's seven to zero
the Steelers. You don't know how many more years you'll
get from Aaron Rodgers, the Brown and their revolving door
if they decide shudor Sanders is not the long term answer.
The Las Vegas Raiders, who did not get very good
offensive line play this year in spite of that, the
underlying stats aren't pretty for Geno Smith, and then the

(32:17):
Minnesota Vikings, we've seen what a.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
Kind of quick.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Read veteran can do in that system that JJ McCarthy
has struggled in this season. The Atlanta Falcons, who might
be without Michael Pennix for all of twenty twenty six,
and of course the Arizona Cardinals who have handed the
reins over to Jacoby Brissette. Kind of a benching slash

(32:43):
injury situation for Kyler Murray that we'll probably hear more
details about in the offseason. So those are some teams
to consider. Here's another perspective to consider. This was on
our network earlier this morning. Robert Griffin, IID on The
Dan Patrick Show, actually thinks that this decision carries some

(33:05):
risk for Mike McDaniel. He doesn't see it that way
to where the Dolphins are picking McDaniel over Toua.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
This is this is how RG three sees the situation.

Speaker 7 (33:15):
I love quin Owers, don't get me wrong. I believe
that Mike.

Speaker 10 (33:21):
McDaniels put himself in a situation that if quinn Ewers
doesn't go out and absolutely bawl out, that they will
move on from him.

Speaker 7 (33:28):
And it's because of the contract.

Speaker 10 (33:30):
You've got two a tongue of biloel who's got what
two hundred million dollar contract?

Speaker 3 (33:35):
I think they're on the hook for, you know whatever,
fifty million next year.

Speaker 7 (33:39):
Correct.

Speaker 10 (33:40):
So you're as a head coach now saying I don't
want this guy, you know, and that to me puts
you in a very pecurious situation as a head coach.

Speaker 7 (33:52):
When you make those types of decisions, you have to
be right.

Speaker 10 (33:55):
And the question you have to ask, if you're a
fan of the Miami Dolphins, is is quinn yours.

Speaker 7 (33:59):
The guy to make that decision? Four?

Speaker 10 (34:02):
I thought he handled himself well at Texas. You know,
I've had him on our show out of Pock with
RG three. He is a god fearing, great young man
who probably shouldn't have fell in the draft as far
as he did. But are you that confident as the
coach that quinn Ewers is the guy that I'm gonna
move forward with because I'm bitching to a tongue of baaloa.
Or are you saying we're gonna go draft into the

(34:24):
quarterback next year and we're gonna pay two to get
out of here in the same way that the Broncos
did to Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah, So we talked about the similarities and differences with
those two kind of situations there, with the veteran on
the big contract where the team necessarily wants to move on.
So it'll be Quinn Yours and the Dolphins against the
struggling Cincinnati Bengals pass defense.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Both of those units are bottom five. It's the old.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
The old stoppable force versus movable object, if you will.
But nonetheless a big opportunity for Quinn Yours to potentially
secure his status as the Dolphins preferred option or at
least having a shot to be the Dolphins starting quarterback
entering the year twenty twenty six. Tyreek Hill as wide receivers,

(35:18):
that's a stereotype of wide receivers. Cryptic tweets kind of
moodiness a little part.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
For the course, when you talk about receivers.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Tyreek Hill simply posted a jiff or a gift of
somebody throwing up the peace sign and vanishing that. We
don't even know if he's talking about himself talking about
to a tongue of I Looa. We'll hear Tyreek Hill's
comments on that as soon as we get them. We
have some new comments though from McDaniel and Tongue of

(35:51):
Iloa talking about this situation. I know Mike McDaniel who
was brought in to the Dolphins in part two to
quote unquote fix to a tongue of Iloa who had
been struggling a little bit, and these were his comments.
It's sort of sort of an emotional comment on his
decision to bench to them.

Speaker 8 (36:08):
So you know, out of principle, I try with all
the integrity that I can possibly conjure up to to
do and think and be about the twenty twenty five Dolphins,
like I don't minimize any of that. And for my
the way my brain works is I'm not I'm there's

(36:34):
you're talking about emotions, and I have no idea, like
the emotions.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
Are not.

Speaker 5 (36:42):
Part of my duty.

Speaker 8 (36:44):
And in times where there's tough decisions to be made,
the furthest thing from from my scope is how I
feel that doesn't. People are depending on me too, do
with a full intentionality everything as best as I can
do it. So uh, thinking about those broad scopes, that's

(37:11):
dismissive to the players in that locker room. That's dismissive
to this team.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
So I don't go there.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
So look, I know Mike McDaniel gets gets a lot
of crap from the media for.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
Kind of the.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Edgy, indifferent kind of vibe he can give off its
own of his press conferences. But but deep down, you
know this was not an easy day for him and
not an easy decision for him to make. As for Tua,
here were his reactions justified disappointment in the decision.

Speaker 7 (37:47):
Naturally, I'd say I'm disappointed. I think it's normal.

Speaker 6 (37:52):
It's a normal human emotion.

Speaker 7 (37:54):
But you know, outside of that, I got to do
my part. My road here right now is to help whoever.

Speaker 11 (38:03):
The quarterback is.

Speaker 7 (38:03):
Going to be for this team, to lead this team
if you can help.

Speaker 5 (38:06):
In whatever way I can, you know, to help the
team win this.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
Game on Sunday Control.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
And as for Joe Burrow, who will be opposite quinn Ewers,
We've talked a lot about his.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
Kind of.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Well let's just say Patchee twenty twenty five, he hasn't
necessarily looked like himself, and at times has it sounded
like himself when talking to the media, he tried to
clear some things up today. Any apologies of that. He
tried to clear some things up today. In terms of
his future, he said, I'm going to be playing for

(38:43):
a long time. I expect to be playing for a
long time. Was asked if he could see himself being
with a different team during his career in wake of
the comments last week where he did not seem pleased
about the way things were going in Cincinnati.

Speaker 5 (38:57):
Is there, ever, is there any world in your mind
where you're not the quarterback of the Fangles next year?

Speaker 7 (39:03):
I could, I couldn't.

Speaker 9 (39:04):
I can't see that now.

Speaker 11 (39:07):
Very both thought about the possibility of not being the
quarterback here during your career or.

Speaker 5 (39:13):
Can you think about a lot of things?

Speaker 3 (39:16):
And that was it.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
So another a hominous answer from the brooding Burrow at
the moment, who is still kind of dropping hints and
dropping signs that not everything is so rosy in Cincinnati
the moment. Easy to see that from the outside looking.
And we've got some more NFL stories that we want
to get to. Also want to get to your comments
and questions on the text line. You can text the

(39:39):
word Texas follow by your question to eight one five
three zero. This is the Craigway Show on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred Zone and the free iHeartRadio.

Speaker 12 (39:49):
App Whoever show Away I knew Now allong awash.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
The faces with Ooh La La on a yacht Rock
Wednesday on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone. Jay Kerman
in for Craig Way, continuing to talk NFL Okay. We
covered the Dolphins quarterback situation a little bit earlier on
Now to another developing story the Kansas City Chiefs star

(40:26):
quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who underwent surgery for a tour in ACL.
Reports say he'll try and face about a nine month
timetable in his recovery, doing everything he can to try
and get ready for the twenty twenty six season. And
Patrick Mahomes at that point will be turning thirty one

(40:48):
years old next September. Still plenty of time, you would
think to add to what's been a outstanding start to
his Kansas City Chiefs career. But as for today, the
Kansas City Chiefs officially eliminated from the NFL playoff picture.
And we'll get to that playoff picture in just a moment,
but I want to play you a SoundBite from the
New Heights podcast featuring both Travis and his brother Jason Kelsey. Jason,

(41:13):
the of course, future Hall of Fame center for the
Philadelphia Eagles. This is what Travis had to say about
Patrick Mahomes. Listen closely though to this sound bite. See
if you pick up on what I and the rest
of the sports media world have when you listen to this.

Speaker 13 (41:33):
He's a fearless, fearless warrior when it comes to this
football thing, and he's going to make sure that he
comes back stronger than ever. And you know, hopefully the
Chiefs can get him back as as soon as possible.
I know right now it's kind of right around that
week one or the beginning of the season next year,
so I know he's going to be doing everything he

(41:53):
can to get back back out on that field for
the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Not hopefully we get him back, not hopefully he is
back soon.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
For us.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Talking about the Chiefs in the third person, does that
imply perhaps that Patrick Mahomes or that Travis Kelcey I
meant to say, is nearing a decision to retire, and
if he does, like several people are expecting him to
and they can never assume anything. He will have set

(42:30):
the NFL record for consecutive one thousand yard seasons with
seven in a row from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty two,
coinciding with that excellent Chiefs run of divisional titles, of
AFC championships.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
And of course the two Super Bowls.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
He has the all time tight end record for receiving
yards in a season, over fourteen hundred of those back
in twenty twenty. Trey McBride is having a heck of
a year for the Arizona Cardinals, especially since Jacoby Brissett
took over, but even he would need about three hundred
and fifty yards in the next three weeks. That's doable,

(43:10):
but it'll come with that asterisk right of the extra
game in twenty twenty five with the eighteen week schedule.
This is the third year of that in the NFL,
so out of any position, Travis Kelcey is the all
time leader in postseason receptions of one hundred and seventy two,
has the most one hundred yard games with nine of

(43:32):
them among any receiver, and has the career Super Bowl
receptions lead with thirty five.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
It's been in quite a career.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
Jason Kelcey is his older brother, waited on this and
he told the Kansas City Star on Monday night that
to nail the decision on when to retire, you've got
to step away from the game a little bit. So
perhaps that decision coming in the offseason, he told. He
told Travis, play these last three games, Enjoy them with

(44:02):
your teammates, enjoy them with your coaches. The team is
going to be different whether you come back or not
next year. And play these three games. Let it sink in.
It'll come to you with time. So Kelsey, of course,
who has seen his production dip a little bit, only
eight hundred and twenty three yards despite playing in sixteen
games last season, he might surpass that in the final

(44:23):
three games this year, has one more year. Well, this
is the final year of his contract, but if he
plays again, the Chiefs will certainly accommodate that request with
a one year contract. Of course, there was all the
talk in the offseason about Kelsey and the rest of
the Chiefs are angry and motivated to avenge that Super

(44:47):
Bowl lopsided loss they suffered to the Eagles in Super
Bowl fifty nine. Didn't work out that way for Kansas City.
So now, as NFL dot COM's Kevin Patrack writes, the
question is whether Kelsey would be comfortable going out like this,
not with a bang, but with a whimper, ending his

(45:10):
final campaign, not standing atop the podium with a fourth
Lombardi hoisting, but out of the playoffs, with his final
pass coming from someone not named Patrick Mahomes. They'll be
Gardner Minshew getting the start for the Kansas City Chiefs
at quarterback. They play the Titans this week, so that's
a story to monitor, certainly out of Kansas City. With

(45:31):
Patrick mahomes season done, a lot of people thought Patrick
Mahomes in that kind of revenge tour was going to
be an MVP candidate this year. Instead, with just three
weeks remaining in the NFL, Matthew Stafford is the odds
on favorite to win the award. He's got thirty seven
touchdowns five interceptions. Another brilliant performance against the Detroit Lions
much needed victory for the Rams if they hope to

(45:54):
win the number one seed in the NFC. Craig and
I have been following this NFC West Division race with
perhaps the conference is three best teams hailing from that division.
The Rams at eleven and three, currently holding the tiebreaker
over the Seahawks. Those two teams will play on Thursday
Night Football. We'll have a little preview of that tomorrow,
will definitely talk about the result of that game on Friday.

(46:18):
Seattle can leap frog the Rams wi a win in
that game, and the forty nine ers are lurking and ready,
and they played the Philip Rivers led Colts this week.
They're ten to four in the second wild card spot
and San Francisco one win away from clinching a playoff

(46:40):
ber if their playoff odd sit at ninety eight percent
as we speak. So Matthew Stafford right now at minus
three hundred on DraftKings to win the MVP. But the
question becomes, well, if the Rams were to slip here

(47:00):
down the stretch to lose to Seattle and potentially stumble
down to the number five seed, does that stop Stafford
from winning the award? Well, who's the next favorites? Drake
May at four to one, Josh Allen just over five
to one, those two kind of lurking, and they faced
off on Sunday, with Josh Allen and the Bills coming

(47:23):
from behind to win in that game. Little fun note
on Josh Allen, who will take on the Cleveland Browns
this week. They've got Miles Garrett, the former Texas A
and m Aggie chasing NFL history. He's one and a
half sacks away from breaking the NFL single season sack record,

(47:45):
and Josh Allen was asked if he's worried about being
on the wrong side of such history.

Speaker 14 (47:51):
No, I haven't thought about it. I do like highlight tapes,
but I don't like being a part of other people's
highlight tapes. I mean, he's an absolutely tremendous fo ball player.
He's one of the greatest of all times. And yeah,
I mean he's a force to be reckoned with, and
we got to be ready for everything that they can
throw at us. But you have to be aware of

(48:13):
we're ninety five's out at all times. The biggest guy
out there is the fastest guy out there. His ability
to get off blocks, his motor is higher than really
anybody else that you'll ever play. He can beat you
with speed and power. I mean, he's just the all
around football player.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
So Miles Garrett has eight and a half more sacks
than the next highest NFL player this year, that is
Brian Burns, and he just needs one and a half
more to break the single season record that's twenty two
and a half sacks right now, Garrett has twenty one.
Michael Strahan did it in two thousand and one.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
TJ.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
Watt matched it four years ago with the Steelers Soles.
Garrett chasing history down the stretch for a Cleveland Browns
team that is otherwise already eliminated from playoff contention. So
the playoff picture in the NFC. First, we talked about

(49:13):
the Rams. They have the number one spot for the moment,
fighting to keep that in a great blockbuster Thursday night
matchup with the Seahawks. That game will be in Seattle,
Amazon Prime tomorrow. The Chicago Bears at ten and four,
lead the NFC North and they play the Packers to
try and keep that division lead. This weekend, another outstanding

(49:38):
matchup with playoff implications. The Bucks and the Panthers will
have playoff implications. Both of those teams are seven and seven.
Nobody wants to win the NFC South. It feels like
we've said that the last few years. Tampa Bay blew
that game on Thursday Night, the fifteen point fourth quarter
lead to the Atlanta Falcons, and then, of course, the

(50:00):
the Carolina Panthers went to New Orleans and lost to
Tyler shuck in the Saints, a game that they.

Speaker 3 (50:05):
Led until the final moments.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
A crucial penalty late helped the Saints set up a
game winning field goal in that one. As a Commander fan,
I didn't mind it. With the Saints now four and ten,
matching Washington for the third worst record of the NFC,
So you get the Bucks in the four seed. The

(50:28):
Eagles are the three seed. They're trying to win the
NFC East for a second straight season. You know, that
would be the first time an NFC East team has
repeated as the champion since two thousand and four. Two
thousand and four, back to those Donovan McNabb Eagle teams.
They have the Washington Commanders and if they win, it
would eliminate the Dallas Cowboys from NFC East contention. Dallas

(50:53):
right now getting ready for a matchup with the Chargers.
You'll hear a little more from Brian Schottenheimer later in
the week, but Dallas currently has their playoff odds at
one percent.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
If they win, that goes up to two percent.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
But remember, if the Eagles beat Washington, they are ruled
out of the division. And with the head to head
losses to teams like the Vikings and Lions, the tie
with the Packers, it's not looking likely, but the Dallas
Cowboys are gonna be able to crack that NFC playoff picture.

(51:26):
With the Seahawks, Niners, and Packers hanging on to those
three wild card spots, the Detroit Lions sitting there with
a thirty eight percent playoff probability. They've got a massive
game in Detroit at Ford Field against the Steelers this
week that might determine the Lions playoff fate because either
the Packers or Bears are gonna lose this week, and

(51:49):
the loser of that game, if the Lions win, is
either going to have a one game lead or a
half game lead over Detroit.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
As this season comes down the stretch.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
In the AFC, the Broncos at twelve and two, have
won eleven in a row. They get the Jacksonville Jaguars,
the other red hot team in the AFC, and they
look well poised to win the AFC South so long

(52:18):
as they can hold off the Houston Texans. The Jags
have won five in a row since that thirty six
to twenty nine Texan come from behind win back on
November ninth, five weeks ago, and Houston is red hot
right now coming down the stretch having won six in

(52:40):
a row. To shame those two teams played so early
in the season, because I'd love to see it again.
Guess what we might see it again in the playoffs.
The Texans at number seven in the AFC, holding onto
the last wild card spot, one game ahead of the
Indianapolis Colts, two games ahead of the Ravens. Their playoff
odds are at ninety six percent. There is a chance

(53:02):
that if the Niners beat the Colts this week and
the Ravens beat the Patriots this week I'm sorry, the
Patriots beat the Ravens this week, that our AFC playoff
teams are pretty much gonna be set. Broncos and Patriots.
They are almost one hundred percent locked in. The Broncos
have clinched their playoff spot, then you've got the AFC

(53:26):
North winner, whoever that might be. And right now the
Steelers in the driver's seat at eight and six, the
Ravens seven and seven. Those team's gonna play again down
the stretch, followed by the three wild card teams, the
Chargers in the AFC West, the Bills at ten and

(53:46):
four coming out of the AFC East, still one game
behind the Patriots, and then the Texans at nine in five.
It's a good note here on the Texans, who, by
the way, elevated Jawar Jordan to the active roster yesterday.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
That was the running.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Back that came in off the practice squad ran for
one hundred and one yards in his Texans debut. He
gets a slot on the active roster with Woody Mark
still a little banged up this week. The Texans have
had a very hard schedule this year. We mentioned they
lost some close games early. Only seven NFL teams have
played ten or more other opponents that are five hundred

(54:21):
or better. Remember this is week fifteen that we just finished.
Everyone's played fourteen games. The Buys are done, so this
means that seven teams have had a really hard schedule.
Over two throws of their game have come against teams
over five hundred. The Rams are the only one with
a winning record. Out of those seven teams, they're eight
and three. The Texans at five and five are the

(54:46):
next best. Everyone else is three and seven are worse
if they had that heart of a schedule, including the Chiefs,
the Bengals, the Saints three and seven, the Cardinals at
one and ten, the Titans at oh to eleven. Houston
gets the Raiders this week, perhaps a much need to
reprieve and what's been a very difficult schedule for Demiko

(55:08):
Ryans's bunch. So there's your NFL landscape with Week sixteen approaching.
Unlike Craig and I, maybe some of you are still
alive in your fantasy football playoffs. Happy to take your
questions there at eight one, five three zero Text the
word Texas followed by your question or comment. Coming up,

(55:30):
we're gonna give away some women's basketball tickets, and here
from Texas women's basketball head coach Vick Schaeffer on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone. Yes, Vick Schaeffer has

(56:01):
been banging the drum for this Texas women's basketball team,
I'll tell you that, and for good reason.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Texas getting some national recognition.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Number two in the polls, but number one in ESPN's
latest power ranking. As far as women's basketball goes, Madison
Booker picked up some awards yesterday, being named both the
AP and USA Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week.
Big performance for book in the win over Baylor and
for the whole week, she averaged twenty seven and a

(56:31):
half points per game, nine rebounds, seven and a half assists,
shooting seventy two percent from the field. Of course, that
big triple double back on Wednesday a week ago against
UTRGV with twenty eight ten and ten points, rebounds and assists,
only the fifth Longhorn in program history to do that.
Back that up with twenty seven more points very efficient

(56:53):
in the longhorns eighty nine to fifty four win over Baylor,
the fifth ranked win of the season, and the Longhorns
play again tonight against Northwestern State at Moody Center. That
game tips off at eight o'clock Central time, meaning you've
still got time to win one of four pairs of
free tickets we're giving away right here on the program.

(57:16):
All you have to do is, well, like the voiceover said,
open up the iHeartRadio app, install it if you don't
have it already.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
It's completely free and.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Leave us a talkback message claiming the tickets. We're going
to give them away to the first four to leave
a talkback message. We've got four pairs of tickets completely
free for you to see the number two ranked Texas
women's basketball team in action tonight at the Moody Center.
All you've got to do is open up the iHeartRadio app,
search AM thirteen hundred the zone, and then tap the

(57:48):
red microphone, giving you about thirty seconds to leave us
a message. Tell us that you heard Jake on the
show giving away tickets for Texas women's basketball. And that's
all you have to do to be a winner. Vick
Schaeffer knows a thing or two about winners, and when
he built this schedule, he had to do so very careful.

(58:10):
He wanted lots of tests for his team. Of course,
the five ranked wins a big part of that. Richmond
the first ranked team that came into Austin this season,
always a tough team that presents kind of a different
look offensively. Longhorns took care of them, then beat then
ranked number two at number three, South Carolina and UCLA.
Well was Ucla then South Carolina back to back Knights

(58:31):
to win that Player's Era Championship, and now that gets
backed up with a victory over Baylor at Dickey's Arena
in Fort Worth. That will be a site of a
regional final this year. So Texas, with some incentive keep winning,
stay on that number one seed line, have a chance
to play in the lone Star State when it comes

(58:54):
to the Sweet sixteen and Elite eight, that's far down
the road. In the more immediate future, Texas is going
up to Brooking, South Dakota to take on South Dakota State,
a Summit League powerhouse. Now, how did that come to
beville question? Vick Schaeffer was asked in the press conference
that he had earlier this week.

Speaker 11 (59:13):
Well, we had played a member. It was a home
and home, and we had played them last year here
at home right before Christmas. They're always in the top
twenty five. Coach does a great job with that team.

Speaker 6 (59:27):
They are.

Speaker 11 (59:30):
Always well coached, well disciplined, and playing up there has
been very, very difficult for a number of teams. So
we played them basically because again, remember it's hard for
me to get people to come to Austin. And while
that household name for football down here might not be

(59:56):
a household name. It's a household name up in the
Midwest in football, but in women's basketball it is a
household name in our industry because everybody knows how good
they are and how well coached they are. And so
for us, it was a team we got late in
the schedule a year ago when I needed to finish
up my schedule.

Speaker 6 (01:00:17):
He was nice enough to.

Speaker 11 (01:00:18):
Come here last year knowing that we would return this year.
It was a bonus that you know, Jock was from there,
But at the end of the day, that wasn't the
end all decision.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
What more form Vic Schaeffer in this hour of the program,
he was asked about weathering that difficult non conference storm
of games in quick succession before the holidays, near the
end of the semester, where players have a lot going
on off the court. Here was his answer, as Texas
has just those last couple of non conference games remaining,
including tonight's before SEC play kicks in.

Speaker 11 (01:00:53):
I haven't weathered it yet. Get me through Sunday. If
I can get through the twenty first, then we weathered it.
Get through tomorrow night, we get through the twenty first,
then we've weathered it. But I just think it speaks
to the maturity of my kids, their toughness, their competitive spirit.

Speaker 6 (01:01:16):
Playing smart.

Speaker 11 (01:01:18):
You know, when you got three guards for three positions,
you can't afford for anybody to go out there and
just get in foul trouble, especially early.

Speaker 6 (01:01:27):
And we were able to weather that.

Speaker 11 (01:01:30):
And but I think that's what happens when you have
smart a smart team. So again, play as hard as
you can, as long as you can, you know, and
go as long.

Speaker 6 (01:01:45):
As you can, and you know, just I think that's
that's a big key for us.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
We'll hear more from Vick Schaeffer coming up as we
wrap up our second of three hours today. You're listening
right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone. Much
more Longhorn hoops notes coming out third in final hour
on the program today, sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone,
also streaming on x and YouTube and Facebook.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
Glad to have you with us.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
However you're joining us, maybe it's via the free iHeartRadio app.
And if you are on that iHeartRadio app, make sure
you leave us a talkback message if you're interested in
winning a pair of tickets for tonight's Texas women's basketball
game eight pm tip off against Northwestern State, one of
your last couple chances to see this team in non
conference play.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
We still have a couple of pairs left to give away.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Just leave us a talkback message by tapping the red
microphone button on AM thirteen hundred zone that is on
the free iHeartRadio app. We're going to get back to
Vick Schaeffer on Texas women's basketball in a moment. First,
we continue to discuss the Miami Dolphins handing over the
reins to Quinn. Youwers at starting quarterback for this week's

(01:03:00):
game against the Cincinnati Bengals, and you assume the last
three games of the season the Dolphins close with the
Buccaneers and Patriots. Mike McDaniel with more thoughts on what
he thinks Quinn viewers can provide that to a tounguo
Biloa can't or wasn't providing these last couple of weeks,

(01:03:21):
Well really these last couple seasons.

Speaker 7 (01:03:25):
You know, I think, you know there's.

Speaker 8 (01:03:30):
I said it before, but ultimately the team needs and
I'm looking for conviction in quarterback play and understanding that
he is a rookie, you know, I felt that he
would play the position most convicted, which is uh and

(01:03:51):
which uh impacts.

Speaker 7 (01:03:54):
Every player on the field.

Speaker 8 (01:03:56):
And you know, I realistically that that's what I was
looking for. I needed more convicted play from the quarterback position.
I thought Quinn could deliver on that best.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
So Quinn, you weres going to take the reins this
week and trying to become the first Longhorn to win
his debut start since Chris Simms did it back in
two thousand and four. Again, he talked about this being
a decision that a lot of people will label as
a future minded decision, with Tuatungua bi Looa on the

(01:04:31):
books for a big time contract, the team needing to
see what they have in Quinn yours. Mike McDaniel also
reassuring the folks in the media, the folks in his
locker room, that this is a twenty twenty five Dolphins
minded decision. Of course, we all know that for Quinn,
you weers, how he performs in these first three games
might go a long way into whether he has a

(01:04:51):
future in Miami beyond twenty twenty five. More comments from McDaniel,
This was about what it was like to inform Tua
that he would being benched, and I know that wasn't
easy for Mike McDaniel, remember the story him calling to
a tongue of by Lowell on the plane the moment
he got the job and kind of reassuring Toua that

(01:05:11):
that he was, you know, that's his guy. And obviously
the plan for Miami was to have Tua in his
third playoff appearance by this point not suiting up as
the third string quarterback with Zach Wilson get a back
up Quinn yours. This week, here's Mike McDaniel commenting on
what it was like to tell to what he was

(01:05:31):
making this move.

Speaker 8 (01:05:33):
It wasn't It was, you know, a tough conversation. But
also I think he exhibited what makes him a captain
and a leader on this team as he he understood
what that uh you know, means for his his contribution
to uh the team and how he's gonna help you know,

(01:05:56):
Quinn prepare.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
For for his first start.

Speaker 8 (01:05:59):
So, you know, I think he displayed leadership skills by understanding.

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
But as a competitor, you know, it's tough and we
heard a.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
Little bit from earlier in the program covered that story
now pretty well, but Mike McDaniel apparently was his decision
didn't come from anyone upstairs, didn't come from the front office.
And you heard RG three's take away that Mike McDaniels,
he's sticking his net out, his neck out for Quinn.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
Ewers a little bit here, and we hope the best
for Quinn.

Speaker 2 (01:06:31):
We certainly hope the best for Tua as well, and
we'll see how this decision plays out for the Dolphins
over the last few weeks of the season. But as
far as the NFL goes, that's a matchup that Longhorn
fans should have their eye on.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
Quin yours.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
We saw a little bit of time and mop up
duty against the Browns earlier this year, getting his first
real shot here as the signal caller for the Dolphins,
and we'll see how the team responds to him playing
there as well. Okay, the Texas Longhorns women's basketball team
back in actions and I against No.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
Western State.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
We heard a little bit from Vic Shaeffer yesterday as
well as earlier on in the show. He announced in
his presser that Ashton Judd is going to come back
into the fold. She's been out throughout the season with
a kneecap injury. And you'll hear a few more specifics
on that. Judd a junior who transferred in from Missouri

(01:07:22):
where she averaged eleven and a half points per game.
She's a thousand points scorer, really good rebounding presence as well,
six foot one senior.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
So getting Judd.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
Back into the fold, what does Vic Shaeffer expect and
what is he most excited to see.

Speaker 6 (01:07:40):
Oh, she's a competitor. Number one.

Speaker 11 (01:07:44):
She may be our best back to the basket player
that we have, even though she's not a five player,
but you know, I'll play her at three and four.

Speaker 6 (01:07:57):
Runs the floor really well. She's t u.

Speaker 11 (01:08:04):
But just to combatitor and she stretched the floor. She
can shoot the three. You're you know, she's gonna be
fun to watch. She'll take a charge, she'll stand in
front of a freight train. So kids, really my kind
of player. I'd love to have coached her four years
because but at the end of the day, it's good

(01:08:25):
to finally get her back after you know, she's been
out this whole semester.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
And so Ashton Judd back on the court.

Speaker 8 (01:08:39):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
As for the.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Depth behind Ashton Judd, it's something that you know, really
had to get tested in her absence. Texas prefers right
to have about a nine or a ten player rotation.

Speaker 3 (01:08:53):
They've only been playing eight most of the time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
How has that depth behind Ashton Judd really stepped up
in her absence, including Justice Carleton, who will hear from
a little later in the program.

Speaker 11 (01:09:06):
And you know, you know you've had it. Yeah, I
think the thing that Ashton provides, you know, she can
play on the perimeter at the three or the perimeter
at the four, and she can go inside at the four.
Justice is you know, gotten so much better. And I'm

(01:09:27):
really proud of her. I again, it's my job to
get it out of her. But she's obviously offensively, she's
been so good, and you know, she's making strides defensively.
She did some things today and practice defensively that I
was really excited about. And you know, she's great in

(01:09:50):
film U Taya the same thing. Taya's Taya came in
the other night and and really did a good job
defensively of helping us take Baylor out of what they
wanted to do because they were running everything through their
four player, and we did a nice job of taking
her out. Taya did, and so you know, that's kind

(01:10:14):
of a two headed monster right now, just like my
fives are now.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
Turnovers played a huge part in texas as eighty nine
to fifty four victory over Baylor in Fort Worth on Sunday.
Matter of fact, Texas had a fifty well forty two
to two advantage and points off of turnovers against the
number fourteenth team in the country no less, So Vic

(01:10:42):
was asked, have you ever been part of another game
like that? And just how impressed was he with the
defensive effort.

Speaker 11 (01:10:48):
I don't know if I've been a part of a
game where he had thirty fast breakpoints. I don't care
who we're playing. You know, our kids were really good
the other night. Like I said, you forced thirty turnovers
against a a top thirteen team in the country. And again,
I think Baylor's good. I just think we played that good.

(01:11:10):
I mean, we played really hard, y'all. And so yeah,
forty two to two is a pretty staggering statistic. And
again I think that speaks to our kids and how
hard they're playing, and as long as they do that,
we're gonna have a chance every night.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
So as for the Ashton Judd injury, how did that
specifically come about?

Speaker 3 (01:11:37):
And where was Vick Schaeffer when it happened.

Speaker 11 (01:11:40):
She actually fell during a half court quarter court pregame
warm up drill we called triangle passing, and she fell
down and cracked her kneecap. So doctor went in, put
us screw in and to help it heal quicker and

(01:12:06):
just a freak deal like I've never seen anything like it.
I was standing literally ten feet from where it happened.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
You could almost hear the disbelief from Vic Shaffer. Remember
this Longhorn team also without a Leah Krump, the outstanding
freshman from Minnesota who could provide a big time spark,
particularly on offense when she's back. Brianna Preston, they're hoping
to get back soon as well, one of their faster
players who would perhaps stretch that edge and transition out

(01:12:33):
even further. So, when all these injuries happened during the
challenging non conference portion of the Longhorn schedule, how did
Vic Shaeffer know the team would respond this well? Did
he feel like they responded better than to a similar
situation a couple of years ago, to an injury like
Rory Harmon's.

Speaker 11 (01:12:52):
I've been through this, you know, two years ago when
we lost Rory and you've heard me, you know, compare
it to Paulo thirteen. You got to you got a
ship that's just kind of out there, and you got
to rework it and get them home, right. And that's
my job every night, every game. My job is to

(01:13:14):
get my kids home. I got to get them home.
I got to get them through it, and and and
get them home and get them a victory and and
and and uh. But with this team, I knew what
we had left was enough. And you know, they it's
kind of a joke around here.

Speaker 5 (01:13:33):
You know.

Speaker 11 (01:13:33):
They they don't like it when I take them out
of a game. You know, they're, well, why do you
take me out? Well, then it became man, coach, we
don't have any subs. I go, come on, man, you
can't have it both ways. You can play when I
take you out. Now you're saying you want to come out,
and I can't.

Speaker 6 (01:13:50):
Take you out.

Speaker 11 (01:13:51):
And you know there's there's been that time or two
when they're over there doing this.

Speaker 6 (01:13:56):
I'm like, hey, i'll get you a whistle, I'll get.

Speaker 7 (01:14:00):
You a blow.

Speaker 11 (01:14:01):
You know, well, I'll call the time out, but you
ain't coming out right now. And and but you know
what that ain't happened often. Those kids are in great shape, man,
you saw that Sunday. Our kids, they are really I'm
really proud of them. They've worked hard to be and
put themselves in the position are in and again they're

(01:14:23):
just fun to be around.

Speaker 6 (01:14:25):
I mean, they're just a great group.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
Of kids and they're back in action tonight at eight o'clock.
You can hear the game with coverage starting at seven
forty five. Roger Wallace Kappy Harston have the call right
are on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone. Up next,
we'll hear from Justice Carlton, who's been stepping up in
a big way for this Texas women's team. Right here
on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 15 (01:14:49):
There's talk on the streets. Sounds so familiar, great expert.

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
No, it's great to hear from the Eagles on a
yacht rock Wednesday. This is new kid in town, of course,
Justice Carlton no longer the new kid in town for
the Texas women's basketball team. The sophomore out of Seven
Lakes and Katie has been taking on an even larger
role for the Longhorns as of lates, starting in the

(01:15:26):
last two ball games. Pouring in twenty one points against
UTRGV had some cool family tie ins to the matchup
against Baylor, of course, where her mom played, and she
talked a lot about that with reporters via zoom yesterday.

Speaker 3 (01:15:41):
I want to let you hear some of this.

Speaker 2 (01:15:43):
What has Justice Carlton had to say about the great
start to this Texas season and how has it impacted
the team's confidence as a whole.

Speaker 9 (01:15:52):
I think we're still learning. Obviously, there's a lot of
things that we have to figure out.

Speaker 16 (01:15:57):
I mean, obviously with we're kind of danged up right now,
the couple people out, and I think kind of just
being able to learn how to play without them, and
being able to kind of alternate people at all different
kinds of positions and be able to adjust to anything
that everybody throws at us, I think is something that
we're learning and we're doing a really good job at
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
When they get Ashton Judd back tonight, that'll be one
piece back into the puzzle. When Brianna Preston and Leah
Crump hopefully return soon, those are two more how we'll
getting back to a ten player rotation help this Longhorned
team entering conference play.

Speaker 9 (01:16:30):
I think it's really going to help.

Speaker 16 (01:16:32):
I think we're going to grow a lot, you know,
like I said, having people be able to play multiple
positions and stuff like that. I mean, obviously Breed coming back,
it's going to be really good for us to have
a second true point guard coming in there and helping
us out. Obviously, Ashton can play at any position on the floor,
and it just kind of helps a lot of people
get reps and get the matchups that we want and

(01:16:53):
stuff like that. So I think that we're going to
be a completely different team whenever they all come back,
and I'm really excited.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
If you go to the game tonight, you might notice this,
and even if you watch it on TV or listen
right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone,
you can see that that Justice Carlton has almost a
smiley demeanor on the floor until you start watching her hustle,
and then there's kind of a killer instinct the second
gear there.

Speaker 3 (01:17:19):
She was asked, where did that come from?

Speaker 16 (01:17:21):
Yeah, I mean I like to play really aggressive and
you know, offensive rebounding and stuff that I like to get.
Since I came to Texas, you know, I've learned how
to take charges and stuff, and it's like like kind
of the dirty work that I like doing. I think
from a very young age, I was always just kind
of taught to like keep my composure, like don't let

(01:17:42):
anything rattle you, Like don't let your opponent show that
you're rattled, and like don't show that you're tired, and
like stuff like that. I think was something that I
just learned from a lot of coaches at a really
young age. And I started playing way higher than my
age division, which is also something that I need to
get really good at, you know, just being the youngest
kid on the floor and not letting things like working

(01:18:02):
me up easily and stuff like that. I think it's
just something that I've really tried to do my entire career,
is just not really let anything get to me.

Speaker 2 (01:18:10):
Yeah, being the youngest kid on the floor can often
really impact not just the way you develop skill wise,
but personality wise. She was asked to expand on how
that age gaped kind of shaped her as a player.

Speaker 5 (01:18:26):
So when I.

Speaker 16 (01:18:26):
First went to actually they picked me up from my
little like Katie club team called the Katie Rebels, and
I actually played with g on the seventeen U eybl team.
Whenever I was thirteen, So playing up there with them
and Matty Cox and Logan Johnson and Smooth who's at

(01:18:51):
UNLV right now. You know those girls, they were just
incredible and they're super aggressive, aggressive, and being able to
play against them and practice and then going out and
playing against London like UCLA and stuff like that, it's
just I can't imagine, you know, not having that experience
and then coming to Texas and playing in the SEC

(01:19:12):
as a freshman. So I think a lot of things
that I did really early in my career is something
that really helped me.

Speaker 9 (01:19:18):
Obviously playing up as something.

Speaker 16 (01:19:19):
That I'm super grateful for. Obviously Earl Allen and Todd Cooper,
you know some of my AU coaches or somebody's who
really helped pushing and just helped me start that aggression
really on.

Speaker 3 (01:19:32):
So now to this connection with Baylor.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
Of course, her mom, Casey Carlton and then Casey Moffatt,
played at Baylor, also played professionally for seven years overseas.
Brief stayed with the WNBA franchises in Detroit The Shock
and Miami The Soul, and her mom coached her to
a very decorated career at Seven Lakes and Katie. She

(01:19:55):
was a McDonald's All American, All State Offensive Player of
the Year, a Natesmith All American Honorable mentioned several offensive records,
a rebounding record in terms of rebounding a game twenty
three rebound performance at one point for Carlton in high school. So,
in terms of her relationship with her mom and her

(01:20:17):
family in the crowd at this Baylor game, did that
early school right off the jump that Justice had create
a fun moment for them?

Speaker 4 (01:20:26):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 16 (01:20:27):
I've gotten a couple of questions about this, and my
mom is super all about us. Honestly, I have three
little sisters, so there's four girls in total, and I
think whenever I come to Texas and now my little
sister Maddie going custon, I think now that my mom
has just kind of accepted that, like Baylor's done, and

(01:20:47):
like my mom has always just been like super involved
in a part of our lives, and like we're really
big for her. And so she told me that after
the game that she was singing the fight song and
that she didn't do a sickm and like she was
very excited about it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:02):
How else did did Justice as mom and younger sisters,
Like you heard her younger sister Madison going to Houston
to play college basketball. How else did they shape her
love for the game in general?

Speaker 16 (01:21:17):
My mom coached me in high school also, so that
was something that was just really nice to have somebody,
you know, firsthand to kind of talk to me and
tell me how things are going to be, and you know,
tell me when I I'm switching and like stuff like that,
and like whenever I don't have that switch on and
practice and stuff. You know, it's really nice to have
somebody really close to me. My mom actually like forced

(01:21:37):
me to play basketball whenever I was in like sixth grade,
So you know, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't
even be like on this meeting with y'all. And you know,
my mom mused to pay a huge part and just
me being able to play basketball, working camps and stuff
over the summer to give me money, you know, to
be able to go to tournaments and stuff like that.

(01:21:58):
So yeah, my mom is huge, huge part of my
life and a huge reason why I'm still playing basketball
and like even able to compete.

Speaker 2 (01:22:05):
Finally, how does Justice see her development continuing to grow
now in this or sophomore season at Texas.

Speaker 16 (01:22:13):
Yeah, I do feel a lot more like myself this
year without the knee brace and just kind of you know,
coming back out. I mean, obviously, you know it takes
people different amount of times after your ACL injury and
stuff like that, which is.

Speaker 9 (01:22:25):
Something I didn't want to admit for a long time.

Speaker 16 (01:22:28):
But I think finally, you know, muscle and stuff is
coming back and I feel like me again.

Speaker 9 (01:22:32):
And so that's something I'm really excited.

Speaker 16 (01:22:35):
To be able to contribute this year that I wasn't
able to last year. I think my offensive rebounding piece
and being able to be really aggressive on offense and
being able to apply that on defense as well. I
think coach Chaferres called me out on that a couple
of times. So it's something that you know, I'm ready
to apply and like I'm I'm like ready to help this.

Speaker 9 (01:22:56):
Team win and something I'm super excited for.

Speaker 2 (01:22:59):
Well, nice look there behind the curtain for Justice Carleton,
who has been an unsung hero for this Texas women's
team to start the season with all the injuries they've had,
and appreciated her taking the time to share those thoughts
with the media. Sean Miller did the same after the
Texas men's team got back in the win column last night.
Big victory over le Moyne final of ninety five to

(01:23:22):
fifty three will tell you where they stand in the
ken Pom ratings. And here from the Texas men's basketball
head coach when we continue on sports Radio Am thirteen
hundred the Zone Man Okay back on a yacht rock Wednesday,
Texas men's basketball back in the win column. Victory over

(01:23:45):
Lemoyne ninety five to fifty three. Texas moves up from
number forty nine to number forty four in the ken
Pom rankings, and the defense moves from outside the top
one hundred into now the top eight in terms of efficiency.
Certainly in the second half, it was a better defensive
performance from Texas than what they showed at times earlier

(01:24:07):
in the season. They had a little bit of a
struggle to distance themselves in the first half, but came
out and played pretty decisively. They were up nine at
the break and wound up winning the game in pretty
lopsided fashion. So Sean Miller had a lot to say
after the win, starting with his opening comments, you.

Speaker 4 (01:24:29):
Know, today tonight was an important game for our team.
On the heels of the Yukon game and just being
able to learn from that game and bounce back and grow.
I think every team at this time of year wants
to be trending in the right direction towards conference play,
the conference that they're in. Obviously we're in America's best
we understand that, and getting better, improving being the most

(01:24:52):
ready we can be. That's part of this, and another
part is just these final two tests before Christmas break.
Today and next week, you know how much better have
we gotten. We're emphasizing defense. I think we talk to
our players, they would tell you that, you know our
activity deflections. The thing about Lemoyne into ten games they've played,

(01:25:17):
they do two things really well. They're very accurate from
the three point line, and they take threes. They make them,
and they have a high assist number, like they're an
assist team. They're a system team. They passed the ball well.
And if you look at those two things and remember,
regardless of our opponent, our three point defense is something

(01:25:39):
that we've struggled with early this season. We're getting better
in that area, and I thought today was a good test.
They were two for eighteen. I didn't think they had
a cold shooting night, or they had a bunch of
open shots. I thought we affected their ability to make them,
which is a good thing. Same thing with the Cysts
they had five. In a large part our guys, especially

(01:26:01):
our perimeter players, I thought that an excellent job played,
great energy and togetherness, in particular in the second half.
I thought just the game in general, we played with
effort and consistency and togetherness. The last eight minutes of
the first half was our bad time. I thought the
other team out scrapped us. They turned up their pressure,

(01:26:25):
We turned the ball over and that's why they made
a little run before the half to cut it to eleven.
But other than that eight minutes and just generally speaking
after halftime about we got stronger, is the game more
on and we had a number of guys make a
lot of good plays.

Speaker 2 (01:26:42):
Next the discussion of how comfortable certain players are getting
in their roles, including Sean Miller's rotation, how deep it
goes maybe in the Yukon game, compared to what we
saw last night where some different players got in the game.

Speaker 4 (01:26:57):
So the hardest part for me this year is just
coming here. At the end of March. In early April,
and it's just kind of in the new world of
college basketball, putting together a team in essence, in about
a six week window. Time is not on your side
as you approach these November and December games. And back
to your question of you got to be smart and

(01:27:19):
understand the team that you have and what you're trying
to accomplish. I'm just telling you, in my best attempt,
there's no way I could be the best coach for
Tremon Mark until I'm around him longer. He didn't participate
this summer, he didn't participate in September. Tremon it wouldn't
surprise me if he really hits his stride in the

(01:27:39):
next couple of months. If you notice he's starting to
play better right now, part of it isn't him, it's me.
We're putting him in a better position on offense. We
understand his strengths and weaknesses better, and I think that
he's more comfortable. I wish I had that answer Game one, Duke,
but I did it, and I think that that's the

(01:28:00):
case across the board with a number of people. Against Yukon,
it was the first time that we played eight players. Again,
if you play nine, that means that nine guys deserve
to play. What's happened to us over the last six
weeks is incrementally those eight have pulled away from everybody else.
It's not that we don't believe in nine and ten,

(01:28:22):
and in a given moment we're going to have to
call on them, but there's something to be said about
playing eight. Everybody's more comfortable, more sure of themselves. I
really believe that that helped us against Yukon be an
overall better, more confident team just playing that group of eight.
So those are things that I think we're learning. Same

(01:28:42):
thing defensively, who can do what? You know? I know
a lot about Dalen Swain. I know what he can
and can't do what we're trying to make him better at.
But you know the other guys, I think we have
a lot better feel for their strengths and weaknesses today
than maybe we did in September or October. So my
hope is that when I say all that we have

(01:29:02):
a ceiling, that we're not near right now, that the
word improvement is really in our future and each day
and each week, whether it be an individual player or
the team itself, that we just have that opportunity to
grow because we are so new to each.

Speaker 3 (01:29:18):
Other and against Yukon.

Speaker 2 (01:29:20):
You noticed those eight You have the starters Mark Vokatitis,
daland Swain, Jordan Pope and Camden Heidi, and then you
also work in Lasina Trei already off the bench, Simmey
and Wiltcher and Kendall Weaver. That kind of left Declan
Duru and Nick Cody on the outside looking in.

Speaker 3 (01:29:37):
We saw both of them play last night.

Speaker 2 (01:29:39):
Dubreu eleven minutes, score two points and grab a couple
of rebounds. Nick Cody in six minutes, grab two rebounds
and scored two points as well, to go with one turnover.
And Trema Mark, like Sean Miller mentioned hopefully finding that
mid range game a little bit a game high eighteen
points last night, it was the sixth time in twelve

(01:30:01):
games this year that he's reached double figures. That's a
little bit well that that's right at half of the
team's games. And Tron Mark a guy that has been
in double figures eighty times in one hundred and forty
eight games in his career, So not quite the level
of consistency just yet that you hope to see from Mark.
But like Sean Miller hinted that he thinks the best

(01:30:22):
days for Tremont are still ahead. There's always this question
of playing with pace. Sean Miller often harps on this
concept to his team. Longhorns are just middle of the
pack and in the entire Division one ranks in terms
of adjusted tempo right now in Ken Palm pretty much
smack dab in the middle at one hundred and seventy
ninth out of a possible three hundred and sixty five

(01:30:46):
teams in Division One. It's something that Sean Miller wants
his team to get more consistent with, and he was
asked for his thoughts on the way they played with
pace in the Lemoyne game and where the team's confidence
is executing that against stronger opponents going forward.

Speaker 4 (01:31:02):
So we want to play with pace, you know. That
doesn't that doesn't mean that everybody gets to shoot in
the first six seconds. That's that's not what we're after.
I think we have to be smart early in o'clock.
But there's just something to be said about fast into it,
and I think that's really what I'm asking for. Fast
speed on and off the ball, North South, get the
ball up the court quick, and even get the ball moving.

(01:31:26):
You know, those are the teams that I believe are
the hardest to defend, and it allows players to play freely.
But man, it's also allows all five guys to be involved,
you know, where they're all touching, cutting, catching the ball,
and I think over time that type of group is
more difficult to defend. But you know, we don't want
to fall prey into walking it up and playing five

(01:31:49):
on five. I think it just makes it harder, bogs
the offense down, and that's really not how our team.
That's not our team's strength. I think we're going to
be better and we can get those open court opportunities.
Matter of fact, if you look at Yukon, one of
the things that hurt us and didn't allow us to

(01:32:09):
really push them to the final minute or final play
was when we did get the open opportunities in transition,
we didn't cash in. We had some unforced turnovers, we
missed some shots, we missed some free pros, and we
didn't take advantage of our open court opportunities. If we
would have, that game would have came down to really

(01:32:31):
the final minute or final play.

Speaker 2 (01:32:32):
Yeah, he's right, and those misses against Yukon almost hurt double.
There are very few teams in the country who are
better off of a misshot than Yukon, and things kind
of snowballed off of those missed opportunities. Felt like every
time Texas left some points either at the stripe or
in transition, Yukon punished it back the other way with
a tough shot and make I thought Texas hung though

(01:32:55):
very tough with Yukon in that particular game.

Speaker 3 (01:32:58):
So looking at this long conference scale.

Speaker 2 (01:33:00):
We discussed this a little bit earlier in the program
with Evan ved from inside Texas. Sean Miller was asked
about the schedule, a lot of which he inherited from
Rodney Terry, the old staff, and he was asked, will
the Longhorns non conference schedule look different from this going
forward structure wise? Does he have anything already in the

(01:33:21):
works for next year, because looking down this late, obviously
you started with Duke that's a top five team in
a road like environment in Charlotte. Then you also have
Yukon on the road in Hartford. Of course, the games
in Maui where you don't fully control who you play.
Got the win over NC State but lost to Arizona State,
and then beating Shamanad doesn't do a whole lot for

(01:33:42):
you from a net perspective.

Speaker 3 (01:33:44):
Remember that's the Division two program in Hawaii.

Speaker 2 (01:33:47):
And outside of that, the Longhorns did not play another
Quad two or even Quad three team besides Virginia, who
of course came to Moody Center and got the eighty
eight to sixty nine win in a game that Sean
Miller called a real fork in the road moment for
his team, a real missed opportunity, a chance to kind
of reset afterwards. So Texas going to lead the non

(01:34:10):
conference schedule with a record of eight and four coming
into the next matchup with Maryland Eastern Shore on Monday night,
but kind of lacking that signature win, just the one
Quad one win coming against NC State. And as far
as the analytics rate the Texas non conference schedule, they
played a lot of teams down near the bottom of

(01:34:32):
Division one, making their non conference schedule rating in the
bottom one hundred and all of Division one despite playing
Duke and Yukon. So there's some things that could use
the second look as far as non conference scheduling goes.
Here where Sean Miller's thoughts on the non conference structure.

Speaker 4 (01:34:51):
Yeah, So I think the whole key is two full balance, right,
because the thing that's different about basketball, you know you're
going to grow into about thirty five games, thirty four games,
you know, your health understanding that like basketball is a
two semester sport, towards the end of the first semester,

(01:35:12):
players have a lot going on in their lives in
the classroom, off the court, and you have to be
careful not not just you know, trying to bite too
much of the apple off, if that would make sense.
You can lose confidence. You can in your best attempt
to schedule just every game tough, it sometimes can go
the wrong direction. I would just tell you that, you know,

(01:35:34):
there's some games that obviously we inherited, some games that
we scheduled. So I think moving forward, we need to
have more neutral site, a couple of neutral site you know,
heavyweight games against you know, power for great teams. And
then you know that neutral site is in Madison Square Garden,
that neutral site is in Nashville or Kansas City or Charlotte.

(01:35:57):
But they have to return the game, you know, they
have to come to San Antonio, they have to come
to Houston or Dallas, Right, So I think we want
to create a couple of those. Uh, there's other benefits
to those games now. UH. Next year, we're scheduled already
to play in one exempt tournament. It's in San Diego.
The three other teams are Saint Mary's, U C. L A,

(01:36:19):
and Georgetown, So we're gonna play two games there. Obviously,
we're on the road in the ACC big big Uh,
I should ACC SEC challenge, right, We're on the road,
so we already know that, and we want to get
into a couple of home and away series is with
good teams, you know. Having said that, we also have
to be smart and with some of the other games

(01:36:42):
and be able to get better, get confidence, develop a
team's chemistry and some of our new players. So I
think that's what you'll see. I would be surprised if
you guys would look at our schedule moving forward and saying, coaches,
he's just trying to get wins. That's not it. You know,
we want ballots, we want tough challenges. We want to

(01:37:02):
be away from home. We want to be at home,
we want to be neutral and sometimes you know, we
want to have a team where we want to be
able to really play great at home. And win the game.
So I think that's what we're after. Look, I know
the SEC historically a year ago was great. I was
on the other side of that. I watched it with
like disbelief. It was just completing total dominance. So the

(01:37:27):
dominance isn't as strong this non conference season. But make
no mistake, like we're still the number one conference in
the country. These eighteen games or nineteen if you count
the SEC tournament that we have in front of us,
there's going to be a lot of stiff competition, Quad
one games, big opportunities, and you can really get beat up,

(01:37:47):
but you can also have great, great wins. So we
know after the holiday season what's at stake. And my
hope is that this non conference schedule has prepared us well.

Speaker 3 (01:37:58):
And Shawn's right.

Speaker 2 (01:37:59):
Ten of them those nineteen upcoming SEC games are currently
quad one. That can change as teams kind of shift
up and down throughout the season. But you look down
the list, they start with Tennessee, Alabama Vanderbilt. Those are
Quad one Matchupssissippi State of course, with the conference opener
at home on January third. Other quad one teams right

(01:38:20):
now Kentucky, Georgia, Auburn, Oklahoma, Missouri, Florida, Georgia, and Arkansas.
Whether or not a game is classified as Quad one,
of course, depends in part on whether the game is
at home or on the road. Okay, we're gonna wrap
up the show next here on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred Zone. Tell you what to expect tomorrow right here

(01:38:42):
on the program