Thursday, January 4, Hour 2

Thursday pod, Hour 2
− BREAKING NEWS: Two key Arizona football players head into the NFL draft, not unexpectedly.
− GUEST: Arizona Daily Star’s Michael Lev on the Alamo Bowl and Arizona basketball.
− A caller argues that great players make great coaches.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Streaming live on the iHeartRadio WIF.This is I on the Ball with Steve
Rovera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sportsfourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back to
I on the Ball here on FoxSports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's
Jay, and I'm hoping Jave hassome breaking news. This is Eye on
the Ball, breaking news on FoxSports fourteen fifty. All right, with

(00:25):
just one game left in the collegefootball season, obviously, you know Michigan,
Michigan and Washington Monday, a lotof activity both in the transfer portal
as well as players declaring for theNFL today. Tyler McLaughlin, the tight
end at Arizona. He's got anotherplayers still have the one year of free
ouchability from the COVID year. He'sgot your your eligibility left. But he's

(00:47):
declared for the NFL rightfully. Sohad a great year, a lot of
attention and I really liked him alot. Yeah, like him a lot.
The good thing is good for you, good luck and all that because
they have Benett was at our guythat we talked to, the Dad Burnett,
Chester Burnett, Chester Burnette and agood stock coming in right and actually

(01:11):
Chester Burnett went on on Twitter todayand thank you and thanked him for everything
that he did for his kid,said he was he was a great mentor
feels like his kid. You know. Uh, Kyl learned a lot about
about kind of key on his learneda lot from from Aclachlin, you know

(01:32):
what. And that opens the doorfor for him to, you know,
to to have a chance to makean impact next year. Look, you
know, guys like a door on. Jacob Cowing also announced today he's you
know, he's going into the draft. He could I think he could stand
another maybe not Jacob Cowan. JacobCown Oh yeah, yeah, of course,
you know. Yeah, here's time. What else do you need to
prove? Exactly. So, sothose two guys are to open the door

(01:56):
for another guy to come back.Yeh, it's I can't help it be
a jerk about this. And thenI would say, no, you can't
come back. The door's locked.You broke up with me, and now
you want you want to come back. It out of here, And I'm
saying, Dorian, come on back. We know that you wanted to date

(02:19):
that cute girl. Didn't turn outwell, did it? Yeah? Exactly?
Okay, A couple of oh wait, one more, one more player
that's going in going into the draft. Uh the Jonathan Brooks are running back
from from Texas towards a cl inNovember. He's not going to take any
more chances about geting hurt in college. He's uh No, mal Kuiper has
him as his top ranked available tailback, so he's going into the draft.

(02:42):
A really good player missed at theend of the season with that injury.
As far as the transfer portal goes, we saw that Malachi Nelson, who
was the top rated quarterback last year, uh well, two years ago,
went over to USC under Lincoln Riley, who had recruited him to Oklahoma.
On Lincoln Riley take the job atUSC. He he went to he went

(03:04):
to US. He jumped into thetransfer portal. Now they're saying he's going
to What do you think about?No, no, no, no,
no, you got you got tolower your standard way man, I don't
know. Well, there is aPeter principle involved in a lot of this.
Right, if you're not good enoughto play here and you reach your
level of competence or whatever, youend up at Boise State and maybe you'll

(03:28):
turn into but you know, that'skind of what the transfer portal does,
right, You kind of reach alevel of how good you're going to play
if you and you want to playright away. If there's one thing I've
learned in this business, Okay,what's the number one? They think they're
coming to school for to play?Play to play. It's not about education.
Money is being in there, andnow I know now money yeah right,
No, that wasn't the case whenwe covered the teams. Now it's

(03:50):
the case where where can I goplay? And where can I get the
bag? And then one more again, another one of those head scratchers.
Quinn Shawn Judkins running back in Oldmiss He is it all SEC players this
year. He was at last year'sSEC Freshman of the Year. In two
years, he's rushed for twenty sevenhundred yards thirty four touchdowns and he's jumping
into the portal. Wow, that'sa huge career too. Yeah, twenty

(04:11):
seven hundred yards into into two years. He's got he's gonna you know,
he's got as is anybody happy?What are they looking for? Right?
Nobody? Oh, it's not likeOld Misses some crap program. No,
where he's gonna where he's not gettingvisibility and those kinds of things. There
was a player just uh, Ithink he's a receiver alignment at Florida.

(04:34):
Who is going to Georgia now goingto the rival. And it's like,
these guys, what are they lookingfor that picnic? That picnic is gonna
be different now right? Yeah,no, no one's happy. I guess
they always see the greener, greenergrass. Blah blah blah. Yeah,
it's nuts, it's really nuts,all right. Okay's some twenty twenty four

(04:58):
hes been betting odds are out,Benny nuts. Ye, okay, there's
a there's three guys that our favorites. One of them I don't your note.
I think he's the Neohio state quarterback, but Quinn yours, Jalen Milroe
Carson Beck are the three favorites.But down here on the list in about
I think twelfth place. So there'sone Noah Fafida, which four thousand plus

(05:23):
four thousand, and then a littlefurther down the list, not not a
lot further down the list, buta little further down the list, you
gotta Jaya Roy McMillan, and he'sabout five thousand, seventy five hundred.
I would i would bet ten bucksor twenty bucks on that. That gets
you some pretty good, pretty goodthe news, the breaking news on that
that there's two Arizona guys on thehigh school. No, that's very that

(05:46):
crazy. When was that ever?When was the last time that ever happened?
Never? Ever, never, Thatis breaking, never, never,
huge breaking is that those are onon our our buddies over at fanduels.
So those just came out today.No, that's a that's that's good.
Interesting. Well, now you havepeople we hadn't talked to NFL with UA
football in forever. Yeah, andnow we're talking the NFL exactly. Another

(06:10):
ranking that came out in the lastcouple of days is ESPN's top one hundred
players. Yeah of twenty twenty three. Yeah, Arizona has a guy at
number thirty one in Noah Fafida.Yeah, we'll get back. There's a
guy missing from the list, andArizona fans have lost their And we'll talk
to Michael Love about that, becausehe's tweeted about this already, right,
because everyone bags out of ESPN.Yeah, but they hate us. Yeah,
well that I yes, that's whereI got this. I followed that

(06:34):
that discussion where people are saying ESPNhates Arizona. They don't think about Arizona.
There's a difference. They don't hate, they don't think about him.
Where's Arizona? Have you ever beento all forty nine states? You know?
No? No, no, didyou get my point exactly? Yeah,

(06:54):
Arizona, no one exists. Wedon't belong to the union. Yeah,
and Arizona was what the forty ninthsor forty eight state? So you
know, look, that's fine,that's fine. Yeah, it's yeah,
because it was he one of thetop one hundred players. Of course,
of course, of course he was. You know, there's there's something they
were comparing other receiver stats to this, and you know he's got the stats

(07:15):
and stuff like that. But again, no, they're not intentionally ignoring airs
Arizona. They just don't think aboutit and they just don't watch Pennix play.
I'm still mad. I'm still madabout that. Here's my finger.
And I don't know why I'm somad about a guy who not even from
Arizona. But again, maybe it'sbecause because they called this at the beginning

(07:35):
of and he never did anything.I thought to lose the heist because at
one point you had it came true. Yeah, that was right once and
I the people won't agree with allrights. Some very funny not very funny,
interesting discussion. Oh wait, letme go one more time, one

(07:55):
more sort of a rainy Two fourseven Sports came out with five teams who
could be next to kick the doordown in the twenty twenty four twenty twenty
five season being football, with fiveteams with national championship potential. The reason
I'm bringing this up is because Arizona, Arizona is one of the fives.

(08:16):
Well they could be. Well therecan be a top ten team next year.
Yeah. That they've got these fiveteams that you know, it says,
twenty twenty four candidates right with nationalchampionship potential. According to Brad Crawford
from two four seven Sports, helists Missouri, Arizona, Ole, miss
Oregon, and Tennessee. And they'vealways kind of been kind of not always

(08:37):
but uh those are names, yeah, except for Arizona long term Missouri.
So did you did you? Iknow you haven't talked about you had to
have read. It came out lastweek. I guess why you were on
the road the athletics Blue Blood Series. No, it was fantastic basketball fantastic
because because they had like four orfive writers talked about the blue bloods in

(08:58):
basketball are discussion to a t andthey had to go back and do it.
Oh miya coupla kind of because theyforgot, you know, they so
it was. It was very good. Go go read it. Dan O'Neil's
part of it. And it's agroup. I think it hits to my
point because they have like six teams. They're the blue bloods, but the

(09:20):
next up and comers Arizona. Butthere's a lot of there's stuff to work
work on. Go go read andwe can talk about it when you read.
I love it, but it's maybea week ago. Okay, I
voted that I was busy Land Athleticson my radar. All right, Big
big news in the n C DoubleA with the with their the NT Double
A and ESPN signed a nine twentymillion dollar eight year deal for ESPN for

(09:43):
rights to forty championship events, includinguh Division one women's basketball, the women's
basketball tournaments being valued at being worthsixty five million of that. It's a
big deal in that there's a lotof people saying, you know, women's
a women's particularly basketball, is startingto get, you know, the attention
it deserves from a financial standpoint.Look, it's still based on who's gonna

(10:07):
watch, right, That's that's whatThat's what ESPN is paying for. But
it's a it's about one hundred andfifty million dollars a year that they're paying
for, uh these sports, includingyou know, softball, you know,
all kinds of other stuff, butwomen's basketball obviously is sort of thing because
remember, and men's basketball doesn't.Uh is A is a CBS Probert Yeah,

(10:28):
and then right now is strike whileyou're hot, right, because the
women's team with Kaitlyn you just seethe shots. Yeah, Yeah, she's
Steph Curry. She's Steff carry Out. I mean, unbelievable step back three
from the logo to win a game. I'm crazy, crazy, crazy.
She can play anyway. All Right, So that's a that's the big news
coming out of DNC double A.All right, the Rose Bowl as a

(10:52):
venue, there's been the topic ofa whole bunch of discussions last couple of
days. Yeah, you've got you'vegot Kirk Curbs Street came out and said
he thinks that the National Championship Gameshould be played at the Rose Bowl every
year. Just make it the nationalwhether you call it the Rose Bowl or
that's just where you have it,sure, but that's where the game should
be every year. Obviously, youknow, people in New Orleans and Dallas

(11:13):
and Houston this year and wherever gonnasay the hell with that. You know,
we we want it around, butthat as a venue, there's no
better venue for the game. Atthe same time, stephen A. Smith
comes out and says they should movethe Rose Bowl game from the Rose Bowl

(11:35):
over to Sofar because the traffic isso bad about around the Rose Bowl.
I'm like, so you're inconvenienced bythe traffic, so let's kill one hundred
and some years of tradition because youdon't want to deal with it with the
traffic. He's been obliterated on socialmedia for saying that, and what just
a stupid thing it was for himto say. But that's stephen A.
Smith's stick. He's say stuff likethat. But you know, the whole

(11:58):
idea of locking in on the RoseBowl and I don't know, like I
said, nobody said, you'll stillcall it. You know, the National
Championship game will be called the RoseBowl. I hope that doesn't happen,
because what I'm looking at is ifArizona can win a Big twelve championship and
get in a bracket where they canplay in the Rose Bowl, that's the
only shot I got to get toa rose Bult before I kick. No,

(12:22):
No, it's going ticking fast.But lot you know, but a
lot of a lot of conversation ofthat. Chris Vanini has talked a lot
from the athletic has done a coupleof a couple of calms about that,
you know, and are are you'resaying? He called he compared the Rose
Bowl the game or the rosebu tothe Masters. It's just like one place

(12:45):
that's that you just there's a mystiqueto it, which there is, there
is. But then again, youhear people were pissed off at the fact
that the Rose Bull won't move fromits time slot, which made the National
champion and the other semi final gameon Sunday and at one o'clock in the
morning Eastern time. If people arepissed about that, and they're pissed at

(13:07):
the rose Ball because of that,Yeah, so just a lot of discussion
about the Rods. Well, Iwould assume I would assume that. Well,
I guess they could play it atnight at Rosebull, but it's so
beautiful during the day it is.It's such a cool place. I don't
know if you've ever ever been toa game, it could be a u
c. L A game or aRosebull or whatever, and going to see
a game at the Rose Bull there'snothing else like it. I've not gone

(13:30):
to a rose Bult because I don'twant to go to a Rose Bold until
Arizona gets into a Rose Bold,which may never happen. But well,
the tribucket list exactly exactly, allright, So that's that's what we got,
Steve. Okay, No, that'sgood timing. We got about a
minute. Let's just go and thenget ahold of Michael left Michael, we'll
get get his last takes on onthe Arizona on on the ALBUMO Ball,

(13:50):
and maybe talk a little basketball withhim, see if he's got some some
things that he wants to say aboutthis game going in tonight. He is,
after all, the columns, notnot just the football writer. Chick
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I on the Ball with Steve Riveraand Jay Gonzalez sound Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

(19:06):
Subscribe now to the podcast on theiHeartRadio app just Surgeon. I on
the Ball. Hey, welcome backto Aing the Ball here on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera,He's Jacobs Austin. Now on the phone,
we have I was on a DailyStar columnist Michael lev Michael how are
you. I'm doing fine. Howare you, guys? We're doing fine
as well. That we haven't talkedto you in a while, or at

(19:26):
least the big game of San Antonio. What were your impressions from that game?
Well, it was kind of liketwo games, right. The first
quarter and the fourth quarter were controlledby the wildcast, second and third quarters
were controlled by the Sooners. Ithink the absence of Jordan Morgan was a

(19:49):
bigger factor than a lot of peoplethought it would be. Oklahoma really was
able to affect the quarterback and madeaway, especially in the middle of that
game. And you know, ifit weren't for the heroics of Dalton Johnson
and Gunner Maldonado, Arizona probably wouldhave lost because they were on the ropes.

(20:12):
They were down already two scores.Oklahoma was driving, and then those
two teamed up to make you know, one of the iconic plays in Arizona
football history, right, I mean, that's got to be. That's got
to be a top ten all timeplay. I would think, considering the
stakes, the situation, you know, the difference between a nine win season

(20:36):
and a ten win season, allof that stuff. So you know,
you just mentioned it a ten winseason. Obviously shocked the hell out of
everybody. I'm sure shocked. Youshocked me, I know, a shock
Steve because he thought they were onlygonna get five. But you know,
how does that carry into you know, next year? I mean you hang
your hat on something great like thatfor Arizona, which you know people talk

(20:57):
about, Well, Oklahoma's done ita million times, then their zone's only
done it now four, But howcan Aarzon to use that going forward?
Yeah, obviously it's a huge milestonefor the program. It is only the
fourth time that's ever happened. Ithappened a lot sooner than most people expected

(21:18):
it to happen. Well, thebiggest silver under I think was five right
coming into the season. I thinkI think maybe the initial one might have
even been four and a half,maybe a climb to about five and a
half. I always thought that thatnumber was too low. I had them
going seven and five, which wouldhave been, you know, good progress

(21:41):
from five and seven the previous year, but obviously made an even bigger leap
and it gives them a lot ofmomentum and buzz heading into next season,
going into a winnable conference in theBig twelve. I don't think it's going
to be a cakewalk by any means. I've mentioned this already elsewhere, but

(22:06):
the schedule next year, especially theroad games, is kind of tough.
It's kind of tough. There's theycan easily lose three of their six road
games or however many they have whenyou when you break it down, so
you know, winning the Big twelveis going to be a big challenge,
but I think it'll be It's aneasier wall to climb than the Pac twelve

(22:30):
of this year. And they wereextremely competitive in the Fact twelve this year
against really good competitions. So giventhe momentum and given you know how many
key pieces are coming back, theprogram is in really good shape heading into
next season. But one one lastone last thought on last season, you
know, being the being the Arizonafan that I am and that you know,

(22:52):
the history that I have with thisprogram, probably wasn't until going into
the SU game that I thought thisteam is really good. When did you
think that? Or was there atime that you thought that? When they
kept winning those games, particularly againstranked teams. Well, okay, so
you know they'd be Washington State handilyright the game, right before the Buye.

(23:15):
I was th was forty four tosix. I mean, they just
they obliterated them. I mean itwas completely one sided. They were clearly
the superior team. But I don'tthink that that was the that was the
game that convinced me, because Ifeel like Washington State was a little bit
overrated heading into that and Arizona waskind of due to win. I would
say that two game home stretch againstOregon State and UCLA. They went to

(23:41):
Totoe. With Oregon State, itwas a really close game against a very
good team. They came out ontop, and then they were really controlled
the action against UCLA, A prettytough UCLA team. I know they had
some ups and downs over the courseof the year, but their defense was
really good good and for them tokind of control the line of scrimmage win

(24:04):
that game relative relatively drama free fashion, that was pretty telling to me.
I thought they were kind of ontheir way when that happened. So realistically,
did you and you talked about itwith Maldonado and the other one other
one, Justice Johnson, did youthink going into the fourth quarter they had

(24:25):
a chance at all that game?I would say, I mean going into
the fourth quarter. Yes, latein the third quarter, no, because
I mean they were in trouble.It was twenty four to thirteen, and
worst case scenario really you thought forOklahoma and that drive was that they're going
to get a field goal if youhave twenty seven to thirteen, right,

(24:48):
And the offense wasn't doing anything,you know, I mean those of Fido
was kind of running for his life. They were all out of whack.
They weren't able to get the ballto their makers. And then everything changed,
you know, the whole the tideof that game changed did a full
one to eighty when that play happened, and you know, the turnovers kept

(25:14):
coming and the offense kind of foundits rhythm a little bit. They were
able to put together one nice,big scoring drive and they got another turnover
scored again, and that was that. It was. There weren't a lot
like that this year either. Really. The Stanford game on the road was
tough. The Colorado game required acomeback. But you know, when we

(25:38):
talk about the term game control,you know, starting with that Washington State
game, they were in control ofpretty much every game that they played.
So it was interesting to watch howthey would respond to uh An adverse situation
like that. So from where wesaid, now you was all that you

(26:00):
know, covers all these things usas me as a fan, Steve is
just a grumpy guy. What youknow, what what should we be keeping
an eye out for this off season? You know, we as fans have
been through this thing. You know, they've had three other ten win seasons.
The next year has not been evenclose to what you know, reaching

(26:21):
you know, the level of expectationthat those seasons created. And so that's
the kind of thing that I'm sittinghere thinking about, like, how do
you not how do you not screwthis up so that this isn't just a
one off? What do you whatdo you get an eye out on?
Yeah, well, I mean thefirst thing, of course, is the
coaching staff. It looks like,you know, Jetfish is going to be

(26:42):
around for at least one more seasonhere, and you know, I think
in less an NFL team takes aliking to him and then makes him an
offer that you can't refuse. That'sI think still a possibility at least and
not only Jed, but you know, Johnny Manson reportedly has been offered a

(27:04):
job at Texas as a co defensivecoordinator, intet linebackers, coach. So
you know, there's those issues thatyou have to monitor. I think,
you know, they've pretty much survivedthe transfer portal at this point. You
know, things change if there arechanges to the coaching staff, that might
spur some players to leave. ButJedfish has done a remarkable job in terms

(27:29):
of retention with both coaches and players. And then you know, like what
else can they add through the portal? They've addressed some of their needs.
I was really high on the offensiveline acquisition that they that they made last
week, you know, getting akid from the Phoenix area with four years

(27:49):
of eligibility still in college, witha big frame and Alex Deuce. I
think that was an excellent pickup.That got a defensive back, two defensive
back defensive linemen. Would still liketo see them, you know, come
up with an edge rusher at somepoint, maybe a linebacker to add to

(28:11):
that mix, and also a widereceiver who can just bring in a little
bit more experienced than you know,some of the young guys they have coming
up through the ranks. But youknow, none of those things are deal
breakers, you know, as faras the as adding personnel I mean,
I think if they went into nexteven with the roster that they have today,

(28:32):
they'd feel pretty good about things.Okay, you mentioned a wide receiver
at the end of that list.Do you knowing Jed? How you know
him? If Dorian Singer wanted tocome back here, what do you think
he says or does? Man,that's such a tough one. I think
if Dorian wanted to come back andhe was like, hey, you know,

(28:53):
I I messed up. I shouldnever have left, you know,
give me a second chance, Ithink Jed would. I think Jed would
take him back. Personally. Hemight go to the team, to the
votes right, you know, andbe like, hey, what do you
guys think you know? And Ibet you bet the team would say yes.
Also if given that choice, Ijust don't know really what the status

(29:15):
of that whole relationship is like ifthat is a bridge that has been burned
and never to be repaired. Butyou know, he's obviously a talented player
who put up huge numbers here,you know, like Jedfish knows how to
get the best out of him us. He obviously did not I know how

(29:36):
to do that. So it wouldbe interesting to be sure. I don't
think it's likely to happen, butI don't think we can. No,
I agree with you. I mean, it's not just about Jeff, It's
about the rest of the team.Yeah, because you know they know they
saw a guy, a brother,Well he broke like I said, he
broke up with them, followed theswimsuit model over to USC and found out

(29:59):
she wasn't so great. You knowthat she was on ozempic. What are
you talking about, I've the gruppyguy. So this was the basketball with
Michael. Uh, what were yourthoughts? Well, you were you were
defending you know what, I willwe'll talk another time about defending ESPN with
the teamax stuff. But but basketball, what do you make of that one

(30:19):
off? I call it a oneoff with Stanford? Well, I am
definitely tempted to say it to oneoff because Stanford shot the ball so exceptionally
well in that game, made sixteento three pointers, made over fifty percent
of their three point attempts, justthe kind of thing that rarely, if

(30:41):
ever happens in basketball. So itfeels a little bit like a one off
in that regard. But then again, you know, they've lost what three
of their last five games, youknow, get some tough opponents, to
be sure, and you didn't expectthem to go unscathed through that of non
conference games. But it's definitely alittle bit worrisome to see that. And

(31:03):
then maybe you wonder a little bitlike, hey, did we overrate this
team? You know, are theynot as good as we thought that they
were when we saw them earlier inthe year tumbling Wisconsin or winning you know,
on the road at Duke. Soyou know, this next little stretch
here will provide a good measuring stick. I think Colorado and Utah both quality

(31:26):
opponents. Colorado might be a littledinged up heading into this game tonight,
but I think the upper echelon inthe league. Utah has been one of
the surprise teams in the league.And I think then they go to Washington
State, I want to say,for a one off road game following Saturday,

(31:48):
always toss to go up into thePacific Northwest, so an important time
here, I think for them tokind of re establish their footing and kind
of figure out who they are andwhat kind of team they want to be
moving forward. I'll also add this, like it is not unusual over the
course of a long basketball teas andfor teams to experience ups and downs,

(32:14):
abs and flows, you know,whatever you want to call it. And
what you want to do is,you know, do you want to improve
right over the course of the year. And sometimes it takes, you know,
taking a step back in order totake a couple of steps forward.
And maybe that's kind of what's happeningwith them right now. Well let me
ask you this, and again,you know you're you're not in the locker

(32:36):
room, so you know, youdon't you don't know, but you might
have an opinion. Is this teamfragile at all? And by that,
I mean, you know, let'ssay they fall behind, you know,
ten to two, twelve to two, you know, Colorado, you know,
punch them in the face at theat the start of the game.
You think, is that an issuewith this team at all? Do you
think, uh, you know,or are they at a point where if

(32:57):
that's something like that happens that youknow, they can going to the end
of the into the toilet again?I don't think so. I mean,
if you you act at the beginning, you know, was this last game
a one off? And if youwant to look at the score and the
way that the game played out,then, yes, because they were extremely
competitive against Purdue, kept kind ofbattling back and forth in that game and

(33:22):
against Fau as well. I mean, that was a heck and forth.
That was a double overtime one pointloss, you know. I mean,
I was not panicking at all afterthey lost that game, even though some
people were pointing out that Fau thestuff. We lost to a couple,
you know, not so great teamsthis year, but that they played that
was a veteran team that played reallywell. As the announcers said during the

(33:45):
game, it was probably the biggestregular season game in the history of the
program, you know, so itwas kind of the super Bowl for them.
The Stanford game was the only onewhere Arizona got down and stayed down
and couldn't catch up. And Ithink that that mostly had to do with
the fact that that Cardinals just couldn'tmiss. No, I'm not worried about

(34:07):
I'm not worried about the wildcatch.From a character standpoint, I think they
need to defend better, They needto communicate better on defense, and I
think, you know, a coupleof guys need to step up their games
a little bit, like Tylan Boswell. I think it's been a kind of
a disappointment in his second season,and Lumar Balo hasn't been quite as efficient

(34:29):
this year as he was last year. So those are a couple of guys
that they were really counting on thatto me need to take take a step
forward here for the team to dothe same. One last quick question because
we're running out of time. Didyou go to the press conwence yesterday with
Tommy? I was not there,No, okay, but you saw it.
I'm sure I'm familiar with what wassaid. Yeah, okay, okay,

(34:52):
I say more about the tone.So you didn't write about it today?
Okay? Yeah, So if youwould have written a story today,
how would it what would have been? I mean just kind of how feisty
and defensive he was. Yeah,look, I mean our Bruce Pasco was

(35:12):
up there at Stanford where you know, Tommy was like using the term kicked
our ass like a two minute span. You know, he's obviously frustrated and
that showed after that game, andI think yesterday was more like, hey,
you know, like everyone's bashing ateam and I need to step up

(35:34):
and defend them a little bit andtake some of the fire here. So
I think that's really what was goingon in terms of what he said and
how he said it yesterday. Morethan anything that was just that was just
a coach kind of taking responsibility,using himself as a shield to protect his
players from criticism. Yeah, okay, I like it. I like it.

(35:57):
Okay, Well, thank you,professor lev Philosopher Love. We'll see
at the game tonight if you're going, yeah, that's good stuff. Yeah,
interesting. Well, you know again, I love their you know,
their perspectives because they see they seethings we don't see. You know,
well, we all have different viewsof what we see. Yeah, absolutely,
all upbringing, man upbringing. Allright, we'll get we'll close it

(36:22):
out. If you want to giveus a call. Five two zero four
one six seventy four forty Your thoughtson this game with Colorado tonight. What
are you hoping for? What areyou hoping to not see tonight? Stick
around. You're an Arizona Man's basketballfan. You know it's been successful for

(36:45):
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(37:06):
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(40:36):
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today at the Arizona Bowl dot com. Steve Rabia and Jacob Salz they have
their eye on the ball on TucsonSports Stage Chef Fox Sports fourteen to fifteen.

(40:58):
Hey, welcome back to I'm theBall Hero Fox Sports Team fifty on.
Steve, He's Jay. He gotabout twelve minutes. If you want
to give us a quick call.We like to hear from you. Good
show today, a lot of funand a lot of fun, good discussion.
Yeah, yeah, we'll screwed uphere in two minutes. Yeah we
can mess. Yeah. Do youknow if someone asked me today on Facebook
if Nico has Facebook? Yeah,I don't know. Yeah, And I

(41:21):
said, I said, I don'tknow, because they won't go see who
his girlfriend? No, No,I probably wanted to just probably friend him
because they liked They like Nico.What's not to like him? On Nico?
We want to see an interesting character. Yeah, I think he would
caused me problems being a friend,but you know, kind of made a
name for himself from our lot ofpeople, you know, my paymid gamee.
Yeah, the people that you knowthat I hang with, Hey,

(41:43):
they love Nico anyway. So Steve, what do you think tonight? Man?
Oh, I think they're gonna comeout and play really well. They're
at home, right, they alwaysplay well at home. Twelve and a
half, Uh, yeah, itwas, it was. It was lower
than that. It was like tenand a half. They moved to twelve
and a half. Yeah. Ithink I think they'll cover I think they'll
cover. I still think there's acouple of things. Blow needs to hit.

(42:07):
Prie throws. He just does.He has been though more than the
more than usual, but not right. Let's take this call. Hi,
you're on the arm and one onthe ball. Hey, guys, what's
up this? Vic? Vic?What's going on? You win any participation
trophies lately? Days participated Bampa ofthe Year? Oh, they're that.

(42:30):
It's not easy to be totally oneyear old around Disneyland. I'll tell you
what. So what's going on?Still my mom My Mom's been gone about
ten years and I'm still a herofor carrying my nephew on my on my
on my uh shoulders for a wholeDisney Yeah, it's not easy, man,
It's not easy. So what's up? I wanted to chime in on

(42:52):
the coaching thing. Okay, Sobasically, you can't win without players,
guys. I mean, look atlook at isn't Pop regarded as one of
the greatest coaches in NBA history andthe guy can't even make the playoffs now
that he don't have uh Kim Duncanand that and that those guys around.

(43:14):
Okay, Bill Balichi, isn't heone of the greatest coaches, and now
he can't make the playoffs without Bradyand that crew. McHale is as one
of the greatest places to play becauseof all the players we've had, or
because a great coach, or what. There's a hell of a lot of

(43:35):
great players been through the last thirtyyears in that building. Yeah. No,
I said this before as part ofthe stories that I did for the
Loop book. Montgomery said, youknow how, I said, you know,
how was it coaching against Louton here? And he says, well,
they had some pretty good players.That's what makes it tough. And I
mean, look, mcale is tough, but the players made it even tougher.
So you're right to your point.So you guys asked about idea,

(43:59):
he was a I'm a good coachwhen she had airy. Oh okay,
that's where you're going with this.Yeah, so is she a good coach
or did she? You know?Years ago in nineteen eighty nine, one
of the greatest teams in Little Leaguehistory. We dis missed a Little World
Series, but I had two picturesthat I rolled the ball out and went

(44:20):
and folded my knee and Steve jThey once told me, you man,
you have such a great infield.Well, those two pitchers averaged fourteen strikeout
the game, and in the littleleague there's only eighteen outs. So how
good a defense that I have.Yeah, but people don't realize that they
you know, and like I said, look at look at Belichick. Can't

(44:42):
you make the playoffs? Now,I'm sure he didn't change drills or didn't
change his coaching philosophy. Yeah,I know, you're right. Well,
but at the college level, though, getting players is up to the coach
too. You know, you go, you you're talking NFL, NBA,
whatever, Major League Baseball. Youknow, you've got to have a general

(45:04):
manager who's got to spend money andgot to get players and stuff like that.
You know, and look, thereare great recruiters who aren't great coaches
who bring in great players. Andyou know, look Sean Miller, right,
he kept getting five star after fivestar after five star, but he
couldn't get those five stars to playand win him a championship. Luke did

(45:24):
it a different way. He gotguys that fit what he was trying to
do, won a national championship withhim, went to four final fours.
You know, he had to goget those guys then, he also had
to coach him. You know,Tommy Lloyd. You know, he's getting
guys again that fit his system,mixed in you know, five star here,
five star there, getting guys andhe you know, we're still finding

(45:45):
out how he's putting those guys together. So there, I think. I
think from a coaching standpoint, atthe college level, coaching is more than
the x's and o's on the court. And well, it's true, and
you do velop and you got toremember Luke changed philosophies a couple of times,
right, he ran, and thenhe had the big guys, the

(46:07):
the Brian Williams, Stokes and DonBrooks Gill and so he changed philosophies,
which I think made him even abetter coach, right, and then went
back to running again. Went yeah, exactly, Okay, exactly, Okay,
So I'm gonna write this down.What was your point? After all?
And you got that you got tohave players to be a good coach.

(46:30):
Okay, what is what is whatif you got if you got sucky
players, you're you're You're obviously not. Like I said, Pop is the
perfect example. Okay, So Ithought you're gonna go with basketball too,
So what does Tommy have Jerry's stillout man that that. You know,
you've got the Princeton lost in there, and you've got a couple of bad

(46:52):
uh and but in college you gotto develop those guys too, not like
the pros were they're already. Imean, so you think anybody coaches Lebron
nowadays? How though? So letme ask you something just with a minute
we have left for you, uhpull disclosure. Rick text me all the
time during games. He's a painin my ass. I'm okay with that.

(47:12):
So here's New Year's Eve, right, he's already, he's already.
I had to get him off theleads New Year's Eve to admit that,
mister Vick, I admit it.And Day said about ruining the day got
me ruined my Chris Year, andI believe it. Yeah, sorry,
Vick. You know there's another onecoming up in a few months. So

(47:37):
there you go, all right,Vick. Hey, thanks a bunch man,
you guys take care, Thanks forlistening. You know he's he texted
me all the time here and JohnMorrites all these guys. Oh come on,
let me watch the game. Guys. You know I appreciate them.
I get those two man I getthose two from a different group of people,

(47:57):
but I think they're kind of allsaying the same thing. Right,
what the hell? This is whatit is? I mean, you have
to if you're gonna be Oh,I was gonna say that level of fan
because I say this to you.If you're putting money into it and you're
you know, you're you're given tothe nil, You're given to the school.
I understand that passion, right,but if you have just emotional you
know, I was criticized for notbeing a fan. You know, I'm

(48:19):
a fan, but I'm not afan like you guys, right because I
don't I like to sleep at night. I like to sleep at night.
I don't want to work up Monday. You know, I make it.
I don't lose sleep over these Okay, so that's the level of fan.
But you're around a people who dolose sleepover. Okay. See, that's
kind of crazy to me. Ithink I overcame that when I was thirty.

(48:40):
But you know what I'm saying,it's I saw the purpose. Why
would you put invest your heart andyour stolen it because at the end of
the day, they're gonna break yourheart. They at the r remember I
said this yesterday. You've won onetitle in twenty seven years. Good luck
for the next twenty seven years.Full disclosure. I once Larry Smith's first

(49:02):
game. Let's take this. I'mgonna tell stories. Hi on the art
on the ball, my guy,this is Kim. Hey Jim, how
are you? I'm great? Howare you? We're good? What do
you have? What do you havefor us? I wanted to quickly give
Jay props for he was the onlyguy I heard that picked the U of

(49:22):
a football team to go ken andthree, and in fact they did well.
There's a caveat for that. There'sa for that. Jake was the
guy that kind of started this wholething, and then you came. But
I did say, but they weregoing and they were doing well. Yeah,
okay, thank you Jack. Allthe griefs that Jay has taken over

(49:45):
the years for his game pics.I'm gonna pat him on the That's okay.
He deserves that, man. Andwe're getting them glasses for the blind
Squirrel fort glasses for the That lastgame was very opportunistic. Uh Nubby there
it was, Yeah, it wasfun. It was yeah, I mean

(50:07):
it was You want to talk abouta roller coaster of a game for Arizona
fense. Absolutely absolutely well and fixedturnovers. I mean that the defense didn't
really hold up Verry into the bargain. Yeah, yeah, all right,
Jim. I do appreciate you takingthe time to pick up the phone and
call in and tell Steve how hemessed that up. Well, that's not

(50:30):
exactly what I said. Well,that's how I took it, That's how
I was writing the story. Yeah, I get it. Okay, Well,
one more quick thing, Jay,I take issue a little bit with
Vic that you can CoA jump alittle players once in a while. You
can't. You can't. You can't. Dick made a living off of that,
so absolutely you can't. All right, man, Hey, thanks a

(50:52):
bunch, Jim. Happy New hearto you, Happy New Year to you,
guys, Thank you, thank youfor listening. All right, Getting
back to your topic about people losetheir mind. Full disclosure. Larry Smith's
first game at Arizona. They're playing. They opened with Colorado nineteen eighty twoish
nineteen eighty nineteen eighty eighty Okay,yeah, okay, I think it was

(51:14):
eighty first game Colorado. Colorado Statecomes in here. They lose on a
last second field goal. I smasheda nice chest at the game the holders
one. Okay, okay, well, okay, there's some okay that you
know, but that was when youcould take little ice chests into the stadium,
little baby igloose, and I smashedit on the seats and busted into

(51:34):
pieces and left it there. Okay, Okay, that's where I was at
twenty one. Oh, thank god, you've matured. Yeah, I had,
I had, you know, andI would say probably mid eighties that's
when it kind of changed. Yeah. It took a few years where I'm
like, Okay, they lost,and you know, I hate that,
but let's go on to the nextyou know what solved it for me?
You know what I think when Arizonastarted beating in Arizona State, right,

(52:00):
because that was that was just athing that growing up that you have on
that you know, it was justyou hated the end of the football season,
and and you know, you startedfeeling better about being an Arizona fan
because they started being ACU and youweren't. You were no longer the you
know, the little brother that getsin the way. So okay, but

(52:22):
then and then comes two thousand andyou're in twenty twenty one, just loses
to NAU. I was passed,so I just smashed an. I said,
well, because you probably didn't haveone with you, But what level
of the pissed were you? Youknow, it was more of a resignation.
I was mad, Okay, I'mlike, you can't lose. I

(52:44):
don't care how bad you are.If you're Arizona, you can't lose to
AC. I was really I wasangry at that, but then pretty quickly,
I mean, now I'm gonna say, by the time I got to
my car, you know, parkingin the nailgator. By the time I
got to my car, I thought, holy hell, this is way worse
than anybody thought. Right and andand now I'm cussing at Kevin someone Yeah,

(53:05):
not it. Yeah, And wefound out that was the case.
Yeah, it's a bad group ofapples back then the case. All right,
Uh god, that's it's okay,man. We're headed to the Colorado
game. Yeah, uh seven thirtystart. Well, we'll be here to
talk about it tomorrow and we'll bringsomebody in who can give us some thoughts
on that as well. So besure to be back tomorrow. Have a
great night.