Hour 2- September 24, Matt Moreno

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on
the iHeartRadio just search Eye on the Ball.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hey, welcome back to you on the Ball here on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
I'm Steve Rivera.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
You're Blake Eager. Just out of the day. James only
has sixty eight sixteen sixty one thousand. It's gonna be
sold out right right. That's the funny that you like learned.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
I thought you were.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
Did you not spend the whole break googling pregnancy so
you could have it this question? I gotta I gotta
talk to my two boys about this. That's what got
me in trouble.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
I didn't really really and someone don't me.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
My beautiful mistakes is what you call them, right, Yes, yeah, yes,
I'm not gonna go through any breaking news. But if
you want to talk about anything breaking news wise, the
Cowboys still sick.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Cowboys are not good. Who's your tape? I'm the bet
hackers because.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, so you know I talk about momentum all the time, right,
and I don't believe in it?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Oh, last week Green Bay Packers are going to the
Super Bowl. They're playing, Oh, they're playing out of their
mind two of the season exactly, and you're thinking, Oh,
they're going to be great, blah blah blah, and then
they go and loose to the brown to the Browns,
I'm thinking, there goes your momentum. You never had it,
and probably you were playing against teams that you should
have beaten.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Anyway.

Speaker 4 (01:22):
I mean, there's a lot of questions on the offensive
side of the ball for me. With the Pack, there's
a lot of weapons and being able to move the ball.
I think there's some question marks still from Jordan Love,
but their defense is a real deal. You know, you
ran into you ran into a bad or a bad
Browns team that played well.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, I should say guess what You've done that a
thousand times.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Absolutely, that's how baseball or how sportsports work exactly well.
And you can use Green Bay in that mix. You
can put the Chiefs in that mix. You can put
the Baltimore Ravens in that mix. Bill, I don't know
if I've took the Chiefs in that mix. What have
you watched the Chiefs play this year? They're not very
good right now. They're probably gonna get beat this week.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
They're not. It's not that they're not good. I mean,
it's not that they're trying to find where they're at.
They just don't look good at all.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
No, No, there's no Mahomes doesn't look like Mahomes.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
Kelsey doesn't look like Kelsey. Yeah, I mean Kelsey's old, right,
I mean, he's an older guy. You can't rely on
him as your number one target anymore. I think Thornton's
probably going to be their number one way worthy. He's
supposed to come back this week. Then you give hived
Rice back week seven. I mean, if they can, you've
got weapons. But I'm just saying that Mahomes doesn't look
like Mahomes throwing the ball, right, he's not expanding, he's

(02:33):
not you know, the deep targets aren't there.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
There was a couple ones.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Thornton had two good catches that were deep target targets,
but I mean, other than that, just they don't look
very good. You're running games not great. Sorry, I don't
want to get do a deep dive on the Chiefs,
but realistically that's what it is.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, well, there's a few teams like that, the guys
that we've seen there in the past recent past just
start playing up to just stuff, which is fine. It
makes the league even better because you never know what's
going to happen.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, I mean, you know, you've you've you've been able
in the last you know what ten years to put
four teams kind of in that conversation every single year.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Maybe there's some more.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Uh So we're talking about the NFL now, you know,
rather than baseball. But give me their top three teams
right now.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Buffalo, Buffalo, Lions, Packers.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Lions and Packers. Okay, you know I still like Baltimore, Yes,
so do I. I just I they've run into their
own own mistakes. First game they should have beaten the Buffalo,
and then the last week they should have won again.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
But it's still three games in. Nothing happens three weeks in.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
No, I think you're finding out a lot of You're
you're finding out a lot of answers to different questions
you're asking. But I mean, you know, the Lions lose
the Packers the first week, and then they I mean, yeah,
I mean they just beat the Ravens, right, Yeah, the
Ravens are one and two. But I take that with
a grain of salt. Yeah, it's wild for me to
say this, but Daniel Jones kind of looks like the

(04:01):
real deal right now, like maybe his time in the
New York was just not a good situation for someone.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Do you believe in Jinxus or do you believe in
fate in that way where New York is destined to
be New York and just not any good?

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Do you believe that with the Jets?

Speaker 4 (04:17):
Okay, yeah, I don't know if i'd say that with
the Giants because they've won Super Bowls in my lifetime.
I do believe that with the Jets, and I apologize
to my friend Anthony for saying that, but man, it's
got to be difficult to be a Jets fan, even
when you think you have a good team on the field,
they just they let you down week in week out.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Almost. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
You know who's a Jets fan? My guy Kobe. Yeah, Kobe.
He's had a tough childhood, He's had a fine childhood.
The fact that he doesn't know who Wu Tang clan is.
I don't have any I have no love for Coke.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
He's at the bottom of your list.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
I will say I would throw the Eagles in there
as well, and I'll explain why. You know, They remind
me of the Kansas City Chiefs last year, where they
don't they don't look good at times, but they find
ways to win. I mean, you think about what they have.
They had a fumble, interception and a block field goal
in their first three games. That's how they ended three
games to win games. Uh, there's something there, right, And

(05:09):
you see Jalen Hurts in that second half last week
and he looks like the real deal. Again, they didn't
have to rely on Barkley. He was able to move
the ball. So yeah, I think I have more. You know,
obviously I went four and oh this week in fantasy,
So I'm all about it right now.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Bring all the heat, you know, all the guys, because
you have every player on your roster. Yeah. Unfortunate for
the most part. Yeah yeah. In fact, you played each other. Yeah.
It was the stupidest thing in the world. Yeah, totally.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
And most of our friends playing at least three of them,
so it's really dumb.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
So there are obviously no breaking news that we'll be
going through. Just maybe talk about stuff. You guys have
a chance to call five two oh four, one, six,
seventy four forty good to hear from you. Guys think
you guys with the calls already the first hour, what.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Do we uh? How did how did the press day
for you a basketball go? We? We had him here,
I was on.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, it was fine.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
It was fine.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Guess what We're gonna have the same type of thing
with the women's basketball team next Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
When's your Tuesday? I can't remember.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
I think it's Wednesday, weds today, Wednesday, Wednesday. I think
I gave him a week. So we're not gonna go
down there. It's probably too difficult, but so we'll might
get some calls.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
I mean, I thought it worked out really well last week.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
We got some good, good, good kids calling in. Yeah,
it was it was nice. We have something tonight. I'm
trying to get to it. They have a function on
the South Side to do some signings, perfect some some
autograph signings for for the demographic down there.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
So yeah, I know Raoul Gary has been working with
DESIREE and the athletic departments trying to expand them out
into some of our regions that may not otherwise have
the chance to get to see those players player be
involved with the programs. So that's good that the where's
it at tonight.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
I'm trying to find out because we talked about this.
I think Juan talks about it every now and again,
you know when he was a kid and he had
kids over, you know, over to school or what it
was sold on it because that's when you kind of
get your No, we talked about you get your love
and when you get when you need a chance to
meet players in person or coaches for that matter, You've

(07:10):
got you've got a fan for life. Pueblo Neighborhood Center. Yes,
I'll probably go down there to cover that. Uh, it's
almost here, I mean next Friday.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
Is the big Red Blue, Red Blue next Friday, Friday Night,
you're going.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, we didn't buy tickets ready.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
From my thoughts on it, it's.

Speaker 4 (07:34):
Just a we might be going because there might be
a plenty of tickets, I'm sure. Yeah, but there might
be a group in town that the US working with,
that might be working with for some well.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
You that we talked about baseball, I'm sure baseball starts
a second right with with Gammas he said, yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:51):
Gama said, second to the fifth, and then I've got
to be in Concert Grande on the fourth for their
Mexican Baseball fiesta, but I was supposed to go to
the U A football game, but I'm not gonna be
about to next week noon noon. It was a busy
weekend in town. It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
But guess how many people are in Tucson not sixty
eight thousand, one point five.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
And plenty of things to do? Uh and uh yeah,
you know, enough time to get around doing it.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
Yeah, let's make a good showing for everybody. I think
I think we can do it. So no breaking news.
What I asked you, you asked me this, I didn't
ask you. But what's your favorite time of year from
a sports standpoint?

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Good question? Well, March. I love March because the tournament.
Yeah about four years ago, five years ago, uh Ariz
when I was not in the tournament, so I was
able to go to uh go to Vegas to watch
the first round up in Vegas rather than doing you know.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Ever done it before?

Speaker 4 (08:45):
We're going to we go to Vegas when you've plays
up there, but I've never been from March mad Yeah, no,
it was it.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Was uh not as cool as I thought.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
It would be. Yeah, because you could sit there.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
All day watching sports and watching games, but then you
get tired. You want to get out and see the people. Yeah, yeah,
so it was okay, but you have these.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
You envision this unbelievable things in the chair the whole day,
and you wear a diaper, not your normal diaper, but
a special diaper.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Right right, and it turns out to me not what
you think. But it was as cool. And then you know.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
The final four. Yeah yeah, but that's my best time.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
You get the Masters.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
I mean it's a lot of stuff going on during
that time, right, Yeah, it's a great like I said, March,
March or October.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
But in Tucson, in Tucson, no, I've been here forever.
You grew up here. Now now until early June probably,
come on.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Can't beat the weather, you can't beat the weather. But
think about what you have in line your Mexican Baseball Festa.
You have Arizona Fall, you have Tucson Baseball team l Tour,
and then you like wild yeah yeah you have.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
You've got the road Runners, right, You've got the road
Runners playing like it's if you're a sports fan living
into this is a even if you're not a sports
like this, the experiences just get out, get out, you know,
I know we're not uh uh you know, bottomless pit
on our in our pockets. But but there's plenty to do.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Uh yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
But I would also argue, and I'm not trying to
be insensitive, if you're a sports fan, or if you're
just a fan of trying to go do stuff, it's
much more affordable to do it here than it is
in like a Phoenix or an La because you can't.
I mean, and the traffics going, traffics going to those
who can afford to go to those games. No, you're right,
especially football games. You're paying what four hundred dollars for

(10:28):
a nose plate to see and don't forget parking, yeah,
which is fifty dollars. By the way, is it something
I haven't.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Been there in forever? They played a Thursday night Denver
game and I haven't been back. Yeah, it doesn't doesn't
appeal to me, I mean, just so much. Then it
takes four hours to get there and get out and
blah blah blah.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
Have you had Simon an old man? God, I'm a
grumpy dude.

Speaker 5 (10:48):
No.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
I was going to bring that up when we were
talking about Vegas for March Madness, And it's just I'm
not a big I don't want to be. I can
do it at home, right, and I can control my atmosphere.
I don't want to be in crowds at this Blake.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
You're You're the guy and I'm the guy that I
complain about not going to the games. Yeah, I know
to the games, you know you. I mean I go
to I go to quite a bitute what I'm saying though.
I take a picture of the stadium at uve A.
There's a lot of empty seats and they say where
are you? Well, they're probably with you at the at
the my air conditioned home watching eighty five inch screen.
I wish I eighty five. You tried to get it,

(11:20):
but my wife won't let me have it. There is
a boss, someone needs to be in control in that house. Yes,
it's not me. We be burned down at this point
if that was the case. But yeah, you're right.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
I mean we do sound like the two old people
bitching on the radio, and I'm sure our listeners are
probably Okay, guys, turn.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
How did you get it?

Speaker 6 (11:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (11:37):
But but yeah, you're mean, but I'm pretty supportive. I
was gonna ask you have you had Bob on to
talk about the road.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
No, No, In fact, I tried to get Chase on
oh yeah, and I didn't hear back.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
So I'm gonna maybe do that tomorrow, depends what. Just
let me know I'm grab them for you.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, Chase, so talk about their school. You have a
lot of things coming up too in the next few
weeks with the galas.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
And yeah and things. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
I mean, I will say this as a kid that
grew up that had no idea what hockey was or
watched hockey, but going to a game live is a
lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
I've only been to one and it was a long
time ago. And uh, it's kind of like soccer, even
though my kids played and I know the game now,
but I have no clue about off size and stuff
like that.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
Yeah, I'm a diehard soccer guy because of the Premier League.
But that's that's a different that's a whole different conversation.
And I know nobody wants to do a deep dive
on No, the PM.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Want me to talk about baseball. We're definitely not talking
about soccer.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
That's fair. I'm fair, That's fine. I can I can
chat it up with somebody else.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yes, see, at least you get that you know the
other the other thing that's coming in time that we
haven't talked about is PBR, and that's another experience. You
get a chance to go tell me and pro the
Pro Bowl, right, that's unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
I went to it last year and that was No.
Fimber seventeenth. It's it's somewhere around that same time this year.
But that I was, let's say it this way, I
had a lot more fun than I would.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Give me a reminder, because then we can have those
guys on the show, you know, whether it's the bull
riders and or the officials.

Speaker 4 (13:03):
I can send you their head of marketing. Okay, she's
great to have it, Diane, she's from Australia.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
Okay, No, that'd be a lot of fun because I
remember hearing about it last year. It is around ELK tour,
I think because it's your Yeah, I think it was
two weeks after maybe or the week after. Okay, yeah, yeah,
well okay, well that'll be cool because hey, what a
way to make a living.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Oh what a tough way to make it.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
Would you want to make a living like that? No,
So we're we've been I've been working with PBR. Now
it's November fifteenth and sixteenth this year. Oh so yeah,
a week before two.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah, so you can run in the marathon during the
day and they go to PBR night like there's some
there's some cool days that you're like, I could really
do something crazy here. No, we've expanded, so we've been
working with PBR on a youth academy. So they're actually
doing their first youth academy in Florence, Arizona.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Of how to Ride a Bull? Yeah or no.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
They're bringing in kids and they're bringing in athletes. So
they're two top or two of their top money makers
on the tour are a former soccer player and a
former wrestler, and so they're now they're trying to expand
their their reach into junior colleges with some athletes that
not be might not be moving on to D one
or pro careers, but still are athletes, right, and they
get them on a bull and see what happens?

Speaker 2 (14:13):
What a transition? What did you do while I was
a soccer player?

Speaker 3 (14:15):
What do you now?

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Bull?

Speaker 3 (14:17):
Bull? Rudder?

Speaker 4 (14:19):
And I love soccer, both men's and women's. I when
they said soccer player, I go, there's no way. I
mean I've watched soccer those guys.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Get these guys get yet knocked over with a little push,
I mean, unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
And they're on the ground for five minutes. I know
they're trying to kill extra player.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Let me tell you something. You know, while I'll never do,
I'm too pretty for bull riding. Well, and you're also
probably a little bit old to get a little those
little see doctors enough doctors now, yeah, that would be
a head way to go out those things where Stevie's
than you are again. Yeah, yeah, No, I have no

(14:53):
interest in getting into I mean, I have no interest.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
We gotta go.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
We're already way over time. I'm gonna try about that.
We're gonna have met.

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He's got his eye on the ball on Tucson's sports
station yet Fox Sports Sports Team Big Day.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
Hey, welcome back to you want of the ball get
on Fox Sports Sports change of I'm Steve Rivera. You're
a break eager now on the phone, we have Matt
mordenell Or on three.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
How you doing that?

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Doing great? Steve? Thanks for having me back.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Good Good. What the heck are you up to? Are
you a busy man covering college football?

Speaker 5 (19:43):
Yeah? Covering college, covering, high school, covering, recruting a little
bit of everything, Steve. You know how business goes, you know,
things changed pretty quickly. So yeah, I've been kind of
getting adjusted to our new surroundings here. You know, it's
on three rivals they combined over the summer and you know,
kind of getting going with everything there.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
So are you more busy now? Is it more teams
to cover? Arizona is not one of them?

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Right?

Speaker 1 (20:06):
No?

Speaker 5 (20:06):
So yeah, so Arizona is off the table for me.
I still obviously have a chance to kind of pay
attention to everything, and uh, you know, being out in California,
I'm able to see a lot of the recruits. I've
seen a couple of their commits already this offseason or
this this season rather and Arizona getting some good ones.
But yeah, I still my post one kind of what's
going on and keeping an eye on, you know, the commits,
and all that stuff, but primarily Ucla and cal is

(20:27):
kind of the schools that I'm covering, and then continue
to kind of you know, cover recruiting all across the
West coast.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Okay, solely shot. You brought it up.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
Let's talk about what Arizona is getting with the people
you've seen.

Speaker 5 (20:39):
Yeah, I mean you have to start with the quarterback Offstarios.
I mean, oh yeah, it's a great fit for what
Arizona wants to do. He's you know, one of two
four stars that we have at Rivals on three and
so in this class, and and you know, it was
interesting to see his recruitment play out because it really
came down to Ucla and Arizona and was a battle
down to the end, and Arizona eventually, you know, showed

(21:00):
him enough and proved him enough that hey, that's the
place he needs to be that you know, they went
out and in hindsight, you know, you look at it,
you know, a couple of months removed from that decision,
you go, wow, he made the right choice there, because
you know, you still he's kind of been a debacle
and fired their head coach and likely going to fire
a lot more people in part ways with a lot
more people, you know, this offseason, and so you look

(21:21):
at what Ostrios did and his decision and you go, wow,
he made the right choice there. And so, you know,
just a really talented quarterback, you know, I think is
somebody that that will fit their system really well, A
really good running quarterback. You know, he's done that quite
a bit already as a senior, and you watch the
tape and he's he's impressed us. I've seen him quite
a few times over the course of the last you know,

(21:42):
few years, and the one thing that always structed was
that he was a little bit, you know, a little
bit skinny. You look at him and go, man, I
don't know if he's gonna be able to kind of,
you know, take the punishment that a college quarterback is
gonna have to take. But he's not afraid to run.
He's not afraid to you know, initiate contact and take
those hits. And so I think if you add some
both to him, I mean, it's he's everything you wanted
to be. You know, he's the six to three guy,
has some you know, some good height. Watched him over

(22:04):
the summer at the Elite eleven Quarterback event, which is
you know, puts together twenty five or so of the
top quarterbacks in the class, and you know, let's some
kind of battle it out for the title of you know,
being one of the Elite eleven quarterbacks and there's a
champion named in that. But aust Rios held his own
at that event and really looked good on you know,
many of the events and maybe at times looked like
the best quarterback there is some of the drills, and

(22:26):
so you go, Okay, that's somebody that you know can
fit in really well with whatever's going to want some
and so I think they really targeted him. That was
the guy that, you know, once things kind of started
to shake out over it, that was the guy that
they were like, you could tell that's the guy they wanted.
And so anytime you're able to get, you know, the
player you want at that position, it's going to be
a big deal. And then the Malachi Joiner from William
Field is somebody that you know, Rivals recently bumped up

(22:50):
to a four star. He's down you know, number one
twenty nine. And the overall rankings for Rivals is the
highest rate to recruit. You go buy the Rivals rankings
industry rankings are a little bit different. They take everybody
into it count and Austria's is at the top of
that list. But in terms of the rivals rankings, our
own company's rankings, Malachai joiners number one on that list,
and so you know, he's really shot up, you know,

(23:10):
over the course of his senior season. Obviously, Arizona at
any program you know, needs interior lineman, needs offensive lineman,
and so a very very good pick up there in state.
And so that's somebody I really like. And then, uh,
you know somebody that have watched the season that I
really I hadn't seen in a little while. I've seen
him in other years before, but defensive lineman Manoa Fapusa

(23:31):
from from Orange County. Uh, he's at Santa Maria in
South Orange County now playing with Dash Fafito, who's also
going to be coming in next year as a linebacker.
But Manoa Fapusa is he is a mountain like he
is a big dude, and but he can still move
and he's made some really impressive plays. I've watched him
a couple times already this season, and just a really
impressive player. You know, Arizona's battling with some some pretty

(23:51):
big schools to get his commitment. Obviously has that connection
to Noaen and that you know, the Fafida family and
and you know the Orange County guys that you know
they've been able to kind of get there at Arizona
and just a really impressive recruit you know that. I've
watched this.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
Season, Matt.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
Have you seen a drastic change in the openness of
recruiting on the West Coast since the PAC twelve kind
of has I don't want to say dissolved but not
fully gone away and the emergence of the Big ten
and Big twelve and ACC on the West coast. Have
you seen a huge difference in recruiting and people coming
in to recruit West Coast kids.

Speaker 5 (24:24):
Yeah, it kind of started before the PAC twelve fell apart.
I think people were kind of getting the sense of
that when you know, you stop by stell Point during
you know, the recruiting period and you're like, Oh, these
are schools that are not from around here. You're talking
about Michigan, You're talking about Tennessee and Florida and Ohio
State and all these programs you know stopped by you know,
local high schools in Tucson. You're like, this is different
than what we've seen before. And so that kind of

(24:46):
started kind of before the PAC twelve you know, eventually dissolved,
but it's really kind of hit overdrive, you know, these
last couple of years, and you're really seeing a lot
of players decide that, hey, the West Coast is not
where I want to be. I want to go make
that big money. You know, in the SEC, in the
Big ten, they've seen a lot of California guys right now,
go to Ohio State and Michigan. You know, Texas is

(25:08):
getting a lot of guys from California. You know, the
SEC school is obviously George is pulling a lot of
players from California, and you know, the surrounding area of
the surrounding states on the West coast, and so it's
become more difficult I think for a lot of the
you know, former PAC twelve schools to keep players home.
You're battling it out for maybe a different level of
recruit than you would have before. USC has kind of

(25:29):
made a strong push in this class to really keep
a lot of those top players from California home and
they've done a really good job of that. You know,
have the number one recruiting class, but that's taken a
serious investment and obviously we can talk about that now,
and that's something that's all out of the open because
it's all you know, above board. For the most part,
they've invested a lot. I mean, there's in many cases
there's guys that they wouldn't have gotten in this recruiting

(25:51):
class at a place like USC in past years that
if not you know, without the nil revenue sharing component.
And so you know, they've got donors to invest money
into the programs and so that's been a great equalizer
I think for a lot of programs across the board.
But you have to invest if you want to keep
those players home. And so that's a big challenge for
a lot of a lot of programs on the West Coast.

(26:11):
And but yeah, I think it's it's really been interesting
to see that it's really ramped up in the last
couple of years with you know, programs from outside the
area coming in and pulling the best players you know,
away from the West Coast.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
So you've been away from Arizona for about a minute.
You were here for about twelve years. I think, I
don't know, you let me know, well, but how many no, no,
how would you gauge the temperature of the program as
you see it from there now? Because you were here
for a long time to watch it under you know,
three year Rich Rod and and something and the rest.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Well, where is it now?

Speaker 5 (26:47):
Yeah, I mean I think it's kind of back on
the rise. I think last year you know, didn't do Arizona.
You know, very many favors. I think there was you know,
a lot of people who were interested and obviously, you know,
I think going back to when Brent Brannan was hired,
you know, I knew the person Maladies would eventually kind
of time through and get them players. But you know,
we're talking about competing in terms of nil dollars and

(27:08):
revenue sharing all the money now, and so you have
to have the money, and so I think there was
a little bit of an adjustment there, it felt like.
And so you know, there was a little bit of
a hey, let's get to know what everybody's about and understand,
you know, what the nil component is about. But there
was a they were rolling when they had just issh
and I think you just can't ignore that that they

(27:29):
were on an upward trajectory. It was like, Okay, this
is this has a chance to be something very very good.
Obviously that changed very quickly when he left to Washington
and things that kind of changed for everybody in that scenario.
But I think they're kind of starting to ramp up
a little bit. I think they've kind of identified a
lot of the key areas that they need to need
to in terms of recruiting. I think there's a nice

(27:50):
buzz about Arizona. They're in with a lot of you know,
top end guys. You know, I don't think someone like
Ostario's joins the class you know, a year ago or
you know, whenever. Arizona's going through some struggles when running
first got there. But I think there's still enough remnants
of kind of that big run that they made a
few years ago, a couple of years ago, and uh,
you know, getting to Almable and all that kind of uh,

(28:11):
you know, feeling about the team. But it's it's it's
really about you know, revenue sharing, and I like keep
coming back to those words, but a lot of it
is that's a huge component of what's going on right now,
and so you know, it's it's something that you have
to pay attention to something that can change recruitments. You know,
eleven dollars can change recruitments, recruitments overall, and so I

(28:32):
think you don't really know until you get those players
on campus what it's all going to look like. But
I think in terms of a recruiting perspective, there's some
nice buzz about what this program is doing. Obviously, the
on field product helps and winning games helps, but over
the course of the summer, I think they really kind
of dived in in a different way, really identified you know,
certain players that they really like, and it's a solid class.

(28:53):
It's a solid recruiting class, and I think there's a
a good buzz about Arizona, you know, among the West
Coast recruits, and you know, you know, once you and
as they tap to the field and start to rack
up the win that they that kind of grab everybody
else in that respect.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Matt To just tend to hit on this a little
bit and if you can share some stories that would
be great, or just the kind of a synopsis of
where you're at right now from all this is. You
brought it up the nil and what it is. I mean,
you're a very thin layer, if not no layer at all.
Professional athletes now at the collegiate level, and with what
you're doing where you have to rank them and put
them in a category, it could cost players hundreds of

(29:28):
thousands of dollars. Do you have have you had some
stories or some encounters with parents, players, agents that you
could kind of share of what the world is now
with all that going on compared to what was before.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
Nil. That's a great question.

Speaker 5 (29:44):
Listen, believe Yeah, I mean nothing in particular. I mean,
you obviously there's so many people. I think that's the
biggest change. The biggest change that I've seen in the
last you know, let's say three or four years, is
there are just so many people who are involved in
these decisions that just weren't that before. I mean, there's
a lot of players, you know, a lot of people
are trainers that were you know, just trained players who

(30:05):
are now being thrown into Hey, I'm now an agent
and I'm now having to make these decisions, and that's
what you're seeing a lot And I don't think it's
benefiting a lot of players. It's definitely not benefiting a
lot of recruits. But there are a lot of people
that are involved that kind of got thrown into it.
And I don't blame families for you know, gravitating towards
certain people and saying, hey, I trust this person, so

(30:25):
I want them to be with me throughout this process.
But there's money involved for everybody, and that's that's kind
of the thing you're seeing right now. A lot of
you know, there's a lot of people in the business
where you go, oh, you were not you were never
an agent, you were never any anything to do with
that side. But now you're the person to talk to
when it comes to the nil aspect and what this
player is going to be asking for what he expects

(30:46):
to see, you know, when he signs and when he
plays for this team. And so I think that's been
you know, something that's been kind of, I guess not surprising.
You know, when there's money involved, there's going to be
people who want, you know, access to that money and
want their piece of that. But just the types of
people I think that are that are getting involved where
you go, oh, they're just you know, they were they
were on the periphery, or they were just you know,

(31:08):
a trainer or a coach or a family friend that
is now being thrust into this role of negotiating these
deals and they just don't have that experience, and so
there's just a lot more people involved, and I think
that's it's kind of made the whole thing a little
bit more murky and a little bit more tricky. And
I know, you know, coaches and everybody involved in kind
of that side is kind of pulling their hair out

(31:28):
trying to deal with so many people, because it's not
just you know, when you're talking about a coaching, you know,
a coach, you know, everyone kind of says, oh, you know,
there's a select group of agents that deal with coaches.
And so when you're you know, an athletic department you're
going to negotiate for a new coach or renegotiated deal,
it's like, okay, I know kind of the general people
involved here, Well, when you're talking about you know, dealing
with hundreds of recruits that you've offered and they all

(31:49):
have representation, it just becomes a lot. And so that's
you know, the last six months, So especially during this
the heavy recruiting season over this summer, I heard that
a lot from you know, people within programs where it
was just constant trying to figure out and work through
these kind of situations where you don't really know who
you're supposed to be talking to, you like, who is

(32:09):
the one that's going to make this final decision. It
used to just be hey, recruit and families, parents, that's
who you go to to make any kind of decision about,
you know, where a player is going to commit to you.
Now you just have so many people, so many other
people that are part of that process and so many
people involved in So that's been. Yeah, no specific stories
in terms of what you asked, but yeah, it's definitely been.
There's a lot of people involved now and it just

(32:31):
wasn't that way a few years ago.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
So, you know, you and I have been friends for
a long time. So I'm gonna give you my Barbara
Walters question. You know, what kind of tree would you be?
Blah blah blah. But so you have a parking lot,
a car park, an auto uh, you have an auto
sales place. You're you're Arizona and I'm giving you you
are Arizona, And what kind of car can you afford

(32:53):
in this in this nil world of that we live
in of college sports in football, So you have to big,
you know, with Mercedes, all these nice like whatever, what
kind of car is Arizona.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
Can you afford? And who would they be?

Speaker 5 (33:07):
You can afford, You could afford the kind of maybe
lower tier Mercedes, Like it's like a luxury item, Like
you can afford a luxury car, maybe not the most
expensive Mercedes, but you can afford the Mercedes that's gonna
grab attention and you know, get you some looks, get
you some stairs. But maybe you're not gonna turn everybody's head,
but you can you can, you know, impress the people.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
I think, Steve so so let me say this.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
So you're telling me, and I've lived here and see
the games, that they still have enough nil money or
get enough money to be competitive at that level.

Speaker 5 (33:45):
I think so. And I think you're seeing that in
the recruiting class, and I think you're seeing that with
some of the recruits that they're going after and that
they're getting in. So, yes, there are other things that matter,
and there are other things that are important to that process.
But if you look at the players and you look
at the Ashton Woods built in some of the names,
it takes money and and it's becoming pretty standard kind

(34:05):
of what each position demands. I know, there's numbers that
are thrown out there, and it's it's still very difficult
to decide for exactly how much everybody is getting. But
you know, I think I've heard, you know, a decent
amount about certain positions and what they demand, what they expect,
and and so I don't think it's that landish to
think that Arizona's in that ballpark. I think everybody, I

(34:26):
think everybody would feel like they want more and and
and I think you're when you're talking about the top
tier programs, they are spending a ton of money and
and that's just how it goes. But I think there's
enough there to be to be competitive. You know, again, everybody,
I think wants more. I think everybody hopes to have
more and see more coming in. But I think when

(34:47):
you look at the recruiting class and you look at
you know, just kind of the transfers, they're able to
get all that types of things and see who they're
kind of filling in with this roster, I think I
think they can still okay about where they're at. I
think there's obvious the room for improvement, but it's not
handicapping them, I don't think in anyway right now.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Okay, Okay, Well Matt as usual, Thank you very much
keeping us up to date. Absolutely, I'm gonna go look
for nice muse Mercedes, amuse, amuse, amused. I'm amused and amused.
I'm gonna go look from news too. I need amuse.
Let's go and come back. I have a question for you, Blake.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Uh uh.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
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(35:45):
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Speaker 1 (39:18):
Com breaking down all the xs and ohs. This is
I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports
fourteen fifty.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Hey, welcome back to I'm About you know Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, you're Blake Eager. We got
about thirteen minutes, I guess in the segment. And even
you want to call, please do five to two oh
four one, six, seventy four forty.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
I have a question for you.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
So, uh so baseball this baseball, but I want specific
to you. I want to use baseball this year's season
as an example. So, uh, Matt was talking about money.
Nil you would you played when you played?

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Were there?

Speaker 2 (39:58):
And I'll give you a roster of book thirty.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
I was a roster yeah right here there?

Speaker 2 (40:02):
How many how many of those twenty five got paid?
And how many did not get paid? I'm talking about
well and not so well? And for college, no, for baseball,
pro your pros. I mean, you're you're, you're, you're pretty
much on it. Just a general minor league contract until
your six year and then you can negotiate. And that
depends on what you're where you're at. You're talking about

(40:25):
from a draft standpoint. Yeah, well, I'm talking about so
I'm saying that all this money that's being thrown around
doesn't guarantee you success. You know, everyone's we got to
spend money to give talent. Sometimes you buy talent that's
not any good.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
Well, I mean, we do a deeper diving, we talk
about what I mean. You look at Tommy Lloyd. Guy
recruits on character just as much as he does the talent.
And it's worked out really well. I think in this
day and age, when you've been told in maybe that's
the case, you've been told you're a number one recruit,
you're a five star athlete right your whole life. Yeah,
and then you've never had to face any kind of adversity,

(41:03):
you've never had any really consequences in your life. And
you step on a college campus and there's another ten
five star recruits because you're playing at Ohio State, you're Texas,
you're playing at Penn State, you're playing the SEC Alabama.
The reaction to that is not going to always be great.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Right, right?

Speaker 2 (41:18):
And I was going to use the Milwaukee Brewers my example. Right,
aren't thinking on a small market. They're not as as
costly as other teams, And who's one of the what
team is better than them?

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Right now?

Speaker 10 (41:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (41:31):
And there's there's nobody. And they've done it with their
homegrown talent. They've made some smart trade. Saint Louis was
like that for a while too where they extended guys.
Atlanta was like that for a long time, where they
would sign young talent. You're looking at Cunya al Bees.
They have to a long term contract strider, So you've
got to get creative right.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Well, to my point, money doesn't always buy that.

Speaker 4 (41:50):
It's got to be a fit in the clubhouse. It's
gonna be a fit for where you're trying to execute
on the team. It can go exactly sideways really quick.
Talent can destroy teams as much as they can build
it up right.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
And I think which you bet your example of Tommy
is a good example.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
We don't know.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
I don't know how many people are getting paid well,
you know really well, yeah, so there's that I don't
I don't know, so uh. To your point, even if
they're just talented and they play together well, chemistry, YadA, YadA,
you don't need that fancy smancy money. Oh you like
to have it, but doesn't guarantee you gonna win championships.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
You know, I think you and I talked about this
like a month ago, maybe a little bit longer. You know,
we we looked at the nil for a while. It
was gonna be the death of the mid major m HM,
which I don't know if that's necessarily true. It's just
gonna be hard for a mid major to uh be
good annually every year, year and at But I think
you're still gonna see some emergence from give me a

(42:44):
mid major in your mind, VCU.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
I'm gonna throw this at you. Yeah, and I know
my answer. It's just a question. Yeah, is there what
I'm in major? No, it's not.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
If you're gonna if you're gonna compete for much ships
with the Alabamas.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
You're talking about you're talking about football. I'm talking with football.
I'm talking football.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
I would say, I would say they're closer to a
mid major than Yeah. I think I think the Big twelves.

Speaker 4 (43:11):
I think there's two major conferences right now in football,
and that everybody else is mid majors. Big ten and
SEC are the only two mid majors. I mean two
major conferences. I don't I think everybody else is a
mid major.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Okay, no, perfect, But if I switch it to basketball,
it's different.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
It's a different, it's a it's it's exactly different because
Big twelve is now one of the two major conferences.
How you could argue with the SEC baseball.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
But baseball is different because you're not getting.

Speaker 4 (43:35):
Paid and if you are now, but not not like yeah,
people go, you're not getting paid like that.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
Guys, we're getting paid.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
I got paid a little bit when I was going
to school, but nothing like what they're getting paid now softballs.
I mean, you're seeing a million dollar arm at Texas Tech.
That's going to change the ways the land the whole
landscape of college softball where Oklahoma's and Texas Techs can
afford it the rest of those school and realistically in softball,
and you can act ask Andrea andre this question.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
Uh, it's arms, right if you if.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
You're in the you know there's maybe ten elite arms
and softball really elite. If you have one of them,
you've got to get change. And that's why yours hasn't
been that team. Yeah, it hasn't had an arm. College
baseball is a little bit different, right. You have guys
on every single team you're number one, number two. There's
not a there's there's there's elite number ones, but there's
a lot more mid number one number twos that will compete.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
So to use uh, to use the and the opus
is analogy of ones, twos, and threes. The ones are
gonna probably get paid, right, Uh, the twos are hoping
to get paid. But if you have a bunch of threes,
a bunch of threes who are getting paid but not
as much as the ones or the twos, I think
that you're gonna be okay.

Speaker 4 (44:42):
Yeah, I would almost go about it. And you're gonna
miss out on a lot of talent here, but you're gonna
buy into a program where, yeah, you have a amount
of money, everybody gets the same amount of money on
that team, yeah, no matter who you are, right, because
you create consistency in that clubhouse.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Right right, Hey, it wasn't that a pretty good model? Well,
the thing is you have to work. Here's here's my
here's my analogy. There there there are some elite, elite
college players, absolutely no doubt about what a bad for baseball, right,
but your number twenty five on you of a.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
Is still pretty darn good, like pretty darn good. Right.

Speaker 4 (45:23):
So if you can get programs like that where you're
able to develop talent, which I think Chip's done a
phenomenal job surrounding himself there. Uh, if you can develop
talent and you're keeping that consistent model and you can
get that twin. Let's say you're getting a fifteen to
twenty guy every year, you're gonna be pretty good. And
if you can keep them for three years, you're gonna
be real good because they're going to develop that you're
gonna develop.

Speaker 5 (45:43):
You.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Well, look at the kid Skins Skins all Skans.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
Air Force DH guy drop bombs closed and then he
goes to l SU and it's like, yeah, unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
This guy's gonna win a cy Young this year, right, right,
So they're they're there. I mean those are the elite.
He was an Air Force guy. Yeah, Yeah, And you
find these guys and you move them up, and.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
You have to do that. I think I think there's
a man. I don't want to knock Jay Johnson, but
I think there's coaches in the same breath as j
Johnson that have all the money in the world. I mean,
they're pitch His pitching coach is getting paid more than
pitching coaches than big leagues twice as much. Right, you
left the twins to go there, Uh where the emphasis

(46:25):
is not on developing talent. It's getting the highest level
of talent and letting them win and it's it's worked
out really well for.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Him, right, And that's that's a really good way to
put it, because it's getting the best players doesn't always
end they better win the better we're right, well, the Yankees, yeah, Dodgers. Yeah,
you know you're buying teams and hopefully the turn into championships.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Absolutely, And you've got to I mean, I don't believe that,
and I don't believe that.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
I don't like it's like my my momentum thing, and
I could be totally off base and totally wrong with this.
I just don't think that money buys championships all the time. No,
it absolutely doesn't. I mean it does sometimes. You saw
it with the Yankees in the nineties, right, and then
they lost that chemistry. If you ever watched that doc
the Derek Jeter documentary, your docuseries, it's unbelievable because they
talk about the change and that you know that when

(47:08):
they had the the Elite five and then they were run.
They were done with their run and they were starting
to bring in like the two Sharas of the world,
and it just didn't it didn't meld very well. Yeah,
So I think you're absolutely right. I would say it
like this.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
The teams that I want to watch right now, and
I'm saying this is a Cubs fan, are teams like
Oakland and Milwaukee that are exciting. They're young, you don't
know what you're gonna get, but you know you're gonna
get there and busting their butts every single night. They're
gonna run, they're gonna steal bases there and put balls
in play. They're gonna have good they're gonna have good
presence on the mound. Like those teams are fun to watch.
I'm watching the Yankees and I go, okay, So you're

(47:44):
relying on three run home runs every single night, it's
not gonna like that's a boring way of watching baseball.
That's a boring way of playing baseball. It's the same
thing when you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
If if I'm turning on the TV and I I
know Alabama is gonna beat whoever they're playing by thirty points,
why it's not fun. It's not fun, right, But I
think you're seeing a little bit more of a change
in how it's going to go. You know what The
part is seeing the Alabamas get their ask watching that
Florida State game. I was like, this is unbelievable. I'm

(48:14):
all in, yeah, yeah, right, because you see all the
halves I mean getting kicked by.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
There's not so.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
Many things right now in life that they're just not
hiding anymore. And one of them is ESPN and their
love for Big Ten. In the SEC, they could care.
They want everybody to know, right, that's the only two
conferences ESPN cares about, right, So it makes me excited
whenever they play a team from a different conference and
they lose, I don't care who it is in the
SEC or the Big Ten. If they lose to an
opponent outside of them, I'm all in. And that's that

(48:40):
mid major factor that you still have in like a
March madness.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Right, And I think Arizona's always forget about the nil.
Arizona has always been in that spot, you know we're
talking about. It's not the Mercedes. Yeah, it's maybe not
even the undersized Mercedes. It's it's a nice car, but it's.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
Not that you're competing for Bowl every year depending on double,
but once every four years you're hoping for a top
tier Bowl.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Yes, that's what I think that should be the expectation.

Speaker 4 (49:09):
Are you to me, I'm going to if they're competitive
on the field, I want to go to the games,
or I want people to go to the games. Right,
But the change and the bad hires we've had in
the past, and we don't need to name no names.
I think we're all pretty well aware kind of just
disrupted that whole flow. And you're talking football specifically, I'm
talking football specifically. Yeah, And that's what's different because it

(49:29):
has a steadier stream of it's pretty it's pretty easy,
and I would say easy. It's it's a much easier
place to recruit basketball players than it is probably football players.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
And it has come on the reputation and uh a
name brand. It sells because you talk about Arizona. It's
basketball basketball I love yeah, blah blah blah. But it's
also it's not what it used to be. It's just
not whether you like it or not. I'm not trying
to get into argument with you.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
Do you see the do you see my eyes?

Speaker 2 (50:02):
Yeah, you're trying to figure out what I'm trying to
tell you. No, no, No, Sweet sixteen is sweet sixteen and
great for that, but but it's not final fours and
a lot of lead eights.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 4 (50:12):
I mean, I can't argue that, but I would say
right now, the product on the court is the most
exciting product we've had.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
Oh, without questions.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
And I'm not saying without question since two thousand and one,
two thousand and two, two thousand and three, like those
were fun teams to watch, right Oh yeah, yeah, you're
seeing that and I'm seeing it right now in the
court where you're saying, oh wow, they're doing it on
both sides of the ball against arguably much better competition
when we had to play back in the back twelve.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
Yeah, no question.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
I think the last four years under Tommy have been
a lot more enjoyable to watch than the last four
of Sean.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
And it's not that's note No, it's just the style
of play.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
And and you have hope with these teams because they
have a chance to get to the final four.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
Yeah, and I wish.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
I mean, when we're talking about the Jay Johnson coaching
style of the world, Sean had a little bit in
that where you had you had a lot of the
best athletes I think in college basketball at the same
time of the court. But he tried to force him
in I thought, yeah, I'm gonna say this, and I'm
not trying to say.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
This in a rude way or anything. I think he
tried to force him into his own style of play
instead of saying, like Moo talked about it, you had
a chance when you had Zeus, you had Gordon, you
had Ashley McConnell and Nick Johnson the court. I would
have rolled the ball out and said, guys, go beat
the team, but go beat these teams by forty points.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:29):
Yeah, But instead you're forcing them into these patterns and
these role plays where I mean, you have Hallis Jefferson
at the same time, like it's just wild to be
the amount of talent that he.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
Had, and that window was very, very small.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
And that's where you look back and you go, it's
it's that's a shameful time. Where you go, yeah, we
went to two elite ates, but that one of those
teams should have made it to not only a Final four,
probably title game.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Hey, thanks for being here today. We'll talk to you
guys tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
Everybody