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March 8, 2024 • 45 mins
For the final time this season, it's Longhorn Weekly with Texas men's basketball coach Rodney Terry.
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Episode Transcript

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(00:07):
We welcome you back here to theLong Warton Weekly alongside Long Worts head coach
Rodney Terry. I'm craigligh. Okay, So you were starting to talk about
how this gets to be that timeof year in March. We talked about
how important it is for teams tobe playing the best basketball, and we
talked about this even before the showduring the show last week before the game

(00:28):
of Oklahoma State, because we wereon the calendar going into March as well,
I wanted to give you a chanceto tell folks a little bit about
what the conversation is like with youand the coaching staff, with the team,
and what you strive to do inMarch, and how March is different
than other months, and the wayyou attack it and approach it and prepare
for it. Oh absolutely. Imean, you play February, you're trying

(00:51):
to get a little separation as separationmonth. You know, you're working hard
on you're getting better. You've alreadygone through January, which with the grind
starting conference playing that as you getin in March. Now it's really finishing
advance, you know, And it'sabout finishing possessions. It's about finishing halfs
it's about finishing cuts. Everything youdo is about finishing, and you know,
the teams that do that at avery high level in March, they

(01:12):
get a chance to advance. Theyget a chance to advance in postseason play,
whether it be postseason tournaments in termsof the conference tournament, and obviously
the big dance coming off the gameagainst Oklahoma State. It was a game.
And I know, like I said, coaches don't like to get into
the whole thing about what is amust win and what isn't and all that
other kind of stuff. But yourguys understood the importance of that game going

(01:34):
on the floor. It's a homegame. You wanted to play better at
home against the team that had beenplaying a lot better basketball in the second
half of the season. But allthe computer stuff said that you kind of
needed to win that game in orderto maintain in the eyes of the net
rankings and the Ken pum and allthat other kind of stuff, let alone
the bracketologist, that it was animportant game to win. Well, of

(01:57):
course, I mean this time youaim to try to win every ball game
and try to play your best.But uh again, I think there's been
times over the course of mid Februaryon uh, and into the early watcher
that you know, we've looked likea high level team. So we passed
the eye test in my opinion,in terms the way we look playing against
to the level of competition that we'replaying night in and night out, and

(02:20):
uh, I think we're playing ourbest basketball. I think again, can
this team still have a ceiling interms of uh, you know, playing
at an even higher level? Ithink so. And I think we're really
dangerous team. You put us ona neutral court somewhere, you know,
and and I think we could beWe we can beat anybody. What's the
biggest differences you see when you getto march on being a high level team

(02:43):
and then the team that just kindof finds its way into the tournament field
but may not be around for verylong. You had a team that went
four rounds deep last year and wasjust a minute away from one of the
final four. What's the difference whatseparates those teams that can make that jump
and can and find a way toget through to it? Well, yeah,
you have to have absolute buy inwith defense. I mean you hear

(03:07):
it all the time. Defense waschampionship and it does championships at any level,
any teams, what you play,you have to be able to put
consecutive stops together, and you haveto have a really good defense. We'll
figure out how we have to score. Things we need to do on offense,
but you have to be able tostop the other team and put consecud
stops together to advance. Yeah,and you were able to do that obviously

(03:28):
in the tournament. But even justgoing back to last Saturday against Oklahoma State,
you got out to a big leaguethey come back, They caught you
at fifty two. So it's afifty two to fifty two game, I
think with twelve twenty to go inthe game, and then you go on
a fourteen oh run. Now,folks look at the points and say,
hey, they knock down shots.You looked at it from a defensive perspective,
obviously, if you're holding them scorelessover a span of like six minutes

(03:52):
plus during that thing, and whatwere the things that you saw that made
the difference during that time? Well, I think, again, basketball is
a game of runs, and again, how do you stop runs? You
stop it with your defense. Wewere able to get the separation and have
a lead to begin with, youknow, everything was predicated on our defense.
And then so again it's like guys, you know, in ought to
get this lead back up and hegets separation. We kind of put some

(04:13):
stuffs together and then we have tocome down on offense. We've got XQ.
Yeah, and then obviously you hadit, you got to certainly your
key score is involved. But thenthere are other players. We talked about
Kendall Weaver and Kendall having a Texascareer high of sixteen points in the ball
game. He's he's a guy thatyou mentioned does just about whatever you're asking
him to do. Anything would itbe? And and you know when when

(04:35):
almost anybody talks to students, media, whoever, he's like he kind of
structs the solders and says, hey, what's whatever coach needs me to do?
And it's hard to find players likethat that are the multi tool what
do is? They say, Swissarmy knife kind of player that could do
a lot of different things for you. Sure, he's one of those guys
that just plays the right way.He plays extremely hard. He's a very
humble kid, very coachable kid.And again he's played his role this year.

(05:00):
You're at an incredible level for usand doing whatever it takes for us
to win the basketball basketball game.If you need me to come in and
defending, coach all defending a highlevel, you need me to crash the
glass and get extra possessions, I'lldo that as well. You need me
to drive the basketball, I'll drivethe basketball as well. He's done all
those things at a very high level. And he's an embrace He's embraced it
with the level of joy playing thegame, you know, and uh,

(05:21):
he plays all out in practice.He does it in games. I know.
You said you saw him at theUIL State Basketball turn them down in
Santa Too, which is going onthis week, by the way. And
did you see that from him,that kind of joy that in tous I
mean, he was dominating some gamesfrom Mansfield, tim review. Did you
see it from him even back then? Even though, as you said,

(05:42):
being on coach Beararce staff, youweren't in a position to take a guy
like that right out of the gate, but you kind of had your eye
on Did you see it from himas far back as then? We did.
We saw his energy, we sawhis athleticism, We saw him having
an impact on the game without havingto run places for him. You know,
he's a guy that you know couldget in the passing lane, run
the ball down. You know,he can make a competitive play at the
rim and block a shot. Youknow, we saw that in the state

(06:05):
championship game. And you know he'sone of those guys. Again, this
is an impactful player. But Ialways get back to it again, he's
bought into his role and he playsthe right way. Yeah, I want
to give you a chance to tellfolks a little bit about this because I'm
sure there's a lot of curiosity aboutthe process with respect to the portal.
The transfer portal has altered and changedthe face of college basketball as we know

(06:28):
what now because the players coming inand out, you're among your seniors that
you're honoring. You've got two portalguys on Saturday, Max Asmis and Ifil
Horton. You've got two guys therewho have made a difference in an impact
for you, who have come in. So when you see a guy,
and again we'll stick with Kenda Weaveras the example, when you see a
guy like Kendall, who you knowyou're not in a position to all from

(06:53):
a scholarship, when he comes rightout of high school, he goes to
UTA and he's playing there, andthen you come back around at the end
of the year. You see hisname in the portal, and you see
lots of names in the portal.Talks a little bit about how that process
works with you and the staff onhow you evaluate what you're seeing the portal.
Obviously, you're having to go backand look at a lot of digital

(07:15):
a lot of cut ups, alot of video games of guys like that
before you have to make the harddecisions on who you really want to pursue
an offer a scholarship. I mean, it's an organized process, it really
is. You know, we havea database that we have ongoing of you
know, teams and players and andand a lot of times you've already seen
some of these kids and recruited someof these teams these kids prior, so,
so you know them already. You'refamiliar with them already, and you

(07:38):
track kind of what they've done inother places, and you see their name
going to the portal, so youknow you're already familiar with them, but
you have a database that that's organizinga way to where they're wants. There's
needs, uh, and there thenthey're at the end of the they're great
fits in terms of who fits yourculture, uh, in terms of what
you really need and and and alot of times you've got to be spot

(07:59):
on. We use a lot ofanalytical things that come into play, you
know, in terms of breaking downif this kid can really shoot the basketball?
You know this guy you know,you know, does he passed the
ball really well? You know?Is he a great defender? You know,
so we look at all those things. What kind of kid is he
is he? Is he a kidthat's going to have a kind of a
dog mentality? Does he want tocome in? Does he have a work
at that you know, all thoseteams come into play in terms of they've

(08:22):
got to fit your culture. Youknow. The other thing and it's going
to sound like an odd question,but but I know this also rolls through
folks minds when you are evaluating theportal. Are there ones that you look
at and say, I think hewould be a good player for us.
I think he would be a goodfit, but you're not sure what his

(08:43):
interest is in you? And sois there a separate category in guys that
you feel real confident that if youoffer a scholarship to that they'll accept or
is that just a trial and errorthing until you get in touch with the
kid, until you meet with himto understand what whther or not it's even
worth it to offer him something basedon his interest level. Well, I

(09:03):
think again, I'm not gonna soundreal arrogant, but Texas, it's gonna
be a lot of as that havea lot should be in text R.
You bring up Texas and they're famiwith the way we play and how we
play, and they watched us throughoutthe course of the year, and so
there's a lot of interest level.When guys going to Portal that they're here
from Texas, they get super excitedabout it. You know, no doubt

(09:24):
about that. Okay, So thewin happened on Saturday in home against Oklahoma.
Stake very quick turnaround up to waycould to take on a really good
Baylor team. You get out ofthe blocks really good and go up fourteen
in the first half, a hardfought battle in the second alvenue are a
couple of things that obviously changed thecourse of the game. One of those

(09:45):
obviously we knew going into the gamethat Dylan Desue was going to be a
game time decision for you because ofa stomach virus. He went out and
gave it the best that he couldand then and then banged up the knee
and got a springy in the secondhalf. And take us through the battle,
what your guy he's had to dealwith and what they were fighting up
against. And by the way,a really good Baylor team playing on their
own home floor on their senior night. Uh, the levels ring team in

(10:07):
the country on their home court.You know. We we find out early
in breakfast that the Sioux had beenhaving some issues except you know as early
as six and six and six thirtywhere he wasn't feeling well and low energy
stomach virus. So I mean,you know, the night before he was
fine, you know, but butyou wake up that next morning. You're
always gonna have curve balls. They'realways gonna absolutely no doubt about it.

(10:30):
So you have to be able toagain. And we always try to have
a next man mentality, you knowwhat. We love to have to sue
he is the leading scorer in theleague. Uh, but we may not
have in the night guys, Sonext man has to step up and be
ready to play and play at ahigh level. For us because we're playing
really well right now. But butmy but but now, no means does
does our mindset change in terms ofus going with the intent to win the

(10:52):
game. We're gonna figure out howto win the game. And again,
I thought, I guys, youknow, got off to a great start,
you know, to Sue wasn't surehe was gonna play. Ou say,
if you could just give us twominutes at a time, we'll see
how it goes a little bit.And you know, he was in really
bad shape. I mean, givehim a lot of props to even getting
out and trying to play in theball game, because it was it was
a bad situation. He didn't cometo shoot around, he didn't do any

(11:13):
of our things brought to the game. We just kind of gave him rest
and he was away from the team. Uh. But but again, you
know, our mindset didn't change interms of going there and expected to win.
And then I was watching you asyou were watching him in warm ups
because you told me, you said, it'll be a game time decision.
And we would see him walk downand he had the hood on the hoodie

(11:35):
overhead and you could tell he wasn'thimself. But he would put up a
few shots and then walk back andthen get and come back. And so
what's going through your mind and thatof your coaching staff as you're watching him
go through warm ups? Are you'rethinking, I don't think, I don't
see any way we're gonna have himor or or you're going to just continue
to watch him. What was goingthrough your mind at that time? Well,
you know, I like to goover and just be very you know,

(11:56):
honest with my guys and on thesame pay verb trans parent, you
know, and if it's something youcan't overcome and work through, no problem,
I said. But you know,he and I had a really good
conversation about it, and uh,you know, you don't get these opportunities
back. And he's in a positionright now where he's never gonna play and
wake go again and not gonna playBaylor again over there. So you know,

(12:16):
sometimes you have some of your bestgames when you're not feeling well as
well. And then I said,hey, you know what, if it's
not meant to be for you tonight, no problem, we get it.
But if you want to give ita go, you know, you just
know you don't get these opportunities back. Again, so you want to try
it and see how you feel alittle bit. Man, we'll give it
a go a little bit, Okay. So then he got out there and

(12:37):
he gave you what he could.Then unfortunately the knee injury happens. You
mentioned in the postgame news conference,you said he's gonna be fine, He's
gonna be okay. It was encouragingto see him be able to walk back
out to the huddle after gone onthe locker room, bring everybody up to
day and on how you feel abouthis availability for Saturday. Well, again,
we're very cautiously optimistic that he's gonnabe you know, have an opportunity.

(13:00):
You know, come game time,it'll be a game down to town
decision again in terms of, uh, whether or not he plays this Sunday,
but but I mean Saturday, butuh, he uh, you know,
Warren Corey and I are our staff. They've done a great job and
trying to put him in the bestposition, uh to have an opportunity and
everything. And and I think thebest thing about it is is his mental
space is and is in a reallygood place. Sometimes if you you know,

(13:22):
you could have an injury and he'shad He's had this injury and dealt
with this injury before. Uh.But but a lot of it has to
do with your mental mental makeup,you know. And uh, this year,
he's overcome a lot this year andhe I've seen his maturity over last
year, even the season the firstseason he got here in terms of when
he's been injured or he's going throughsomething in that regards, and in terms

(13:43):
of adversity, he's a lot stronger, you know. And a year ago,
even two years ago, he wouldhave never touched the court the other
night. He would have just shutit down and said, I'm not even
gonna give it a go, youknow. And uh, you know again,
he came back in the k Stategame and at the same time of
injury that he went through there andcame back and played that game, you

(14:03):
know. So he's really grown upin that regards and been able to push
through a lot this season. Allright, coming up, our special guest,
Corty's Lessinger, the log Oorn's Strengthcoach, will join us. We've
got a lot to get to hereon the program, so stay with us.
Log Worn Weekly the coach Rodney Terryfrom here Pluckers the West Campus location
here in Austin, continues in amoment, we welcome you back here to
Long Worn Weekly as we continue fromPluckers the West Campus location here in Austin,

(14:26):
how about a nice round of applausefor a long Warns. Assistant coach
and director of Basketball Health and Performance, Corty's Lessinger is with us. Thank
you for coming out here, andI appreciate that absolutely. I tell everybody
what's to do. What exactly isthe best way to describe what a strength
coach does? Oh man? Imean, the ultimate goal is to optimize

(14:48):
physical development so that they can bethe best version of the sales on the
court. And there's multiple ways wedo that. Like there's the mental side,
obviously we were trying to get guysresilient. Of course, there's the
physical side that allow them to expressthemselves and their skill sets that allows them
to have success on the course.Well, one thing that went through the

(15:09):
process when you join coach Terry Staff, what was going through your mind?
Of course for folks who didn't know, of course, you were with the
Phoenix Suns Ye and when you wereapproached about this, what was what were
the things that you thought about aboutthe direction for your life and your career
on this. I mean, forme it was a no brainer. I
mean, Texas's brand is unbelievable firstand foremost, and then this is professional

(15:31):
basketball. It's just done at adifferent level. So for me, it
was a continuation. But at thesame time, the thing that I want
to do more than anything is helpeddevelop young men, and having prior college
experience is fantastic. And then spendingthat time in the NBA not a lot,
but taking what I learned from theNBA and seeing how the best of
the best to do it and howthey do it day in and day out.

(15:52):
Bringing that back to the college andseeing how I can help guys not
only be better men but help producepros. Got you interested in this business
in being a stringer? That?How did tell us some of your biography
does? How does that a guychoose to get involved with this and to
and to do what you've done?For sure? Yeah, So I played

(16:14):
college basketball. Now, don't golook at my status. It was the
lowest level of college basketball, butthat was the area that I was lacking.
I was very tiny. I wasone hundred and forty eight pounds as
a freshman in college and by thetime I left, I was about one
hundred ninety six. So for me, it changed in how I was able
to compete on the court, andI was obsessed with the human body.

(16:34):
I mean I was going to godown the physical therapist route, but just
too boring of a setting. Andthen being able to take great athletes and
help make them better, it isjust a no brainer. How do you
is it? Berea College college andthen Bria Kentucky there and so on the
side, you were doing things onthe side really to kind of spiked your

(16:55):
interest and piqued your interest in gettinginvolved in this business. Oh, for
sure. Ships at a very veryyoung age. I mean I was eighteen
years old when I was playing Borea. And then my first experience was at
wake Forest University. So I waseighteen years old Wake Forest University men's basketball
and the next two years after thatspent summers with Carolina with the men's basketball

(17:15):
team, and so I got toexperience high level college basketball, not as
a player, but helping on theside as a strength coach. And so
by the time I even graduated,I had great experience. You also worked
at Campbell University Impact that was mygraduate assistantships Bouie Creek, North Carolina.
Quite a little place, isn't itquite quiet? You also worked at Santa

(17:41):
Clara and spent some time at theUS Olympic Training Center, and for you
soccer enthusiasts, with the San Joseearthquakes as well, Right, So I
was a nutritionist actually for the SanJose earthquakes. So that was pretty I
got to dabble in a lot ofdifferent areas that all involve human performance.
And so because you've got a chanceto really experience a wide array of that,

(18:04):
what was it about the strength partof it that appealed to you the
most out of that? Because yougot to do a lot of different things.
Oh for sure. I mean,who doesn't want muscles? Right?
So for me, and it wasa way of selfishly getting my free gym
membership for the rest of my life, okay, all right, yeah,
yeah, absolutely, all right.For folks who don't know, obviously,

(18:25):
with your time with the Phoenix Sun, you got a chance to work with
Kevin Durant, absolutely, And Iknow that Roddy talked about how highly recommended
you came from KAD when he talkedto him. But how was he to
deal with him. What was yourrelationship like with Kevin when you worked with
him? It was actually quite surprising. I had zero expectations going into it

(18:47):
because I didn't actually think I wouldbe his guy. You know, usually
someone of that caliber they have theirown team around them. And then I
was very fortunate. Day one hewalks in, knew my name, asked
what we're doing, and I said, all right, here we go,
and so it was. It wasquite fascinating. We developed a quick relationship
or professional relationship that led to moreof a personal one because we both have

(19:07):
the idea of being the best atwhat we do. And I've never seen
such a dedicated individual in their craft, and luckily you saw the same in
me. How do you also workyour craft and your job with an individual
as opposed to the collective when you'reworking with a team. Discuss the differences

(19:29):
on that a little bit, forsure. I mean everybody needs, you
know, bigger, faster, stronger, But everyone is very, very different,
just like our thumb print. Everyonehas a different movement signature, everyone
has a different physiology. So asmuch as we all do very general things
bigger, stronger, faster, everyonehas a more optimal way of doing it,
and that is my job is tooptimize how each individual will get to

(19:52):
that goal. Now, are thereguys who are vastly different in how you
have to approach what you need themto do for them to reach their optimal
goal? And how do you balanceall of that? Absolutely? I mean
it comes down to structure types.You know, you got certain guys that
are really long and lean, andthen you got certain guys like myself that
are more short in compact. Guysthat are short compact love lifting weights.

(20:14):
There's a reason because we're good atit. The longer, leaner guys,
they need something very very special,and you got to you got to operate
with a scalpel with those individuals becausethe one thing we don't want to do
is compromise their ability to get betterat the sport of basketball. And I
think that's where a lot of stringcoaches make a lot of failures. They
just try to use traditional means andget them quote unquote bigger, faster,

(20:36):
stronger, But then they lose theirability to move, they lose their ability
to express themselves in ways that makethem unique. And when I found my
time in the NBA, I founda lot of guys that didn't back squat
heavy. I found a lot ofguys I didn't deadlift heavy. There's a
reason why they are the best andthe best at what they do. So
I took a lot of that observationsand experience and brought it to Texes In

(20:59):
one you work in workouts, sayworkouts here in town, or say in
pregame warrants, or or say ifwe're on the road night before game practice.
The things that you have and gothrough. What I see is a
lot of flexibility. I see alot of range things going on to keep
guys loose. Are there certain tenetsthat are big? Because I've seen a

(21:22):
lot of different things from a lotof different strength coaches, a lot of
different sports, basketball, baseball,football, whatever, And they're different things
that apply to different athletes clearly,But how do you find the best in
that kind of situation one size fitsall while keeping it individualized for what each
individual guy needs in terms of looseningup for their next opponent, their next

(21:42):
game, their next outing. Yeah, I mean everyone still adapts differently no
matter what vessel they're being exposed to. But for me, it's more of
how can we get them to beto learn how to move better. So
we go through this ideology called motorlearning strategies, and for them that's where
you see the water balls and yousee the perturbations, and these things make

(22:03):
them learn underload with themselves. Sofor example, the water ball will shake
you, then you have to selforganize underneath it, and that is creating
athleticism through long range And don't wrong, we can still get guys bigger,
faster, stronger, but the realkey ingredient. We can work on the
hardware all day, but if thatsoftware isn't updating with it. So that's

(22:23):
really probably the easiest and simplest wayto put it to the answer. We're
constantly updating software. So is therealso a lot of give and take amongst
strength coaches and how active are youin conversations with other ones about trying to
build the better mouse trap? Oh? Absolutely, I mean strength coaches love
talking about what they do right.But the reality is, in the terms

(22:45):
of physics, we all do thesame thing. We do progressive overload.
We find the best ways to loadour guys to get them to be the
biggest, fastest, strongest version ofthemselves. It's just there's multiple ways to
get it done. Some find moreoptimal ways than others. That might be
the best stuff with the best stuffin your life is sitting right over here
right absolutely for your wife and babythere. So I know, I know

(23:08):
you're you're excited about that, right, Oh absolutely. I mean the NBA
schedule versus the college schedule. Iget to go home a lot more nights,
so that's a good thing. Cory, thanks for dropping by absolutely.
Corry slas Longhorns assistant coach for Strengthand Performance. We'll get to some questions
for Coach Terry coming up when wecontinue on the Long Warn Network and the
Long Run Radio Network from Therapea.We welcome you back to Longhorn Weekly with

(23:33):
Coach Rodney Cherry from neire Fucker's theWest Campus location here in Austin. Let's
get some of your questions for youfrom Mike, who wants to know what
part does character play in recruiting astudent athlete. That's a great question.
It's the number one thing for us. I mean, as we get to
that, may be a talented playerthat just used the portal as example,

(23:56):
come goes into the portal and we'refor me with the player, he's super
talented, and but but he doesn'thave really good high character. We're never
going to take a guy that has, you know, super talent over the
character piece. I mean, thecharacter pieces is about your culture. It's
about the fit, you know,so it's it's the number one deal for
us. I mean, we lookat the character piece, we'll get to

(24:18):
does he fit for us? Anddoes the basketball piece meet our needs and
wants? All right, our friendCelia and Nancy here here and pointed out
this is something you and I talkeda little bit about on the postgame show
the other night, said, along warn opponent's almost always seem to have
more free throw attempts than the Hornsdo how do you coach your guys to

(24:40):
deal with this? And and beforeyou even answer this, we mentioned I
mentioned on the postgame show the othernight that Baylor had forty two free throw
attempts, Texas had a total oftwenty one, and Baylor had thirty four
makes as opposed to he said,thirteen more makes than the long Wrens had
attempts the game. And I evenin asking you a question, I asked

(25:03):
about does it make it more challengingwhen you play a team that is good
at being able to put themselves ina position through the regressive style to be
able to perhaps sell a call,be able to get that kind of call.
Now, there were some Baylor fansthat took umbrage with that. They
thought I was saying trying to baitthe officials. That wasn't the point at
all. In fact, it wascomplimenting Baylor for what they do with their

(25:26):
with their athleticism and how they playon that. But the point is,
when those things are happening, howdo you keep your guys settled? Because
you did talk about that on thepost game, even when those calls are
not going your way. Well,I think the thing that we try to
do is to always have a mindsetthat we're going to go in games and
we're gonna play really hard on defense. We're gonna move our feet, we're

(25:47):
gonna try to play without fouling,play without failing. Our goal all the
time is to try to, youknow, no more than fifteen free throw
attempts, fourteen and then we wanttwenty plus ourselves in terms of being aggressed
and attacking the paint. But again, you know, calls are gonna be
made. You're not gonna have madeit change the calls. We always try
to say, keep a stone face, no matter if you know things are

(26:10):
going out going our way not goingour way. Just keep working the game,
be the same person, and don'tshow any emotion towards the officials as
a player, don't you know,don't talk to the officials. Let me
communicate with them and hoping that theycan communicate with me on how I can
bess you know, help you guysplay the way the games are being officiated.
I've heard you say this, I'veheard Sark say it as well.

(26:32):
You want your guys to play withemotion, but you don't want your guys
to play emotional that there is adifference. You want them to have the
emotion generated from within, but notlet them drive what they're supposed to be
thinking and executing. I think thatgets back to it again, just having
a stone face. You never gettoo high, you never get too low.
You're the same guy. You knowif there's a call that doesn't go
your way, if you're making shotsnot making shots, you don't know if

(26:53):
Max is having a thirty point gameand not having a thirty point game because
he has the same demeanor. Yeah, all right, our friend mouman Oh,
who wants to know as we headtowards senior day, do you have
a favorite memory with this particular groupof seniors? Favorite moment? I think
there are individual moments, yeah,you know, And I think when you

(27:15):
talk about our two guys that webrought on board, you know, you
talk about Max, you know,and the minute Max hit the portal,
you know, we were right thereJohnny on the spot, you know,
because we knew he was a totalpackage in terms of, you know,
being a guy that could be theface of our program with just being an
incredible kid and incredible player. ButI think in that recruiting process, you

(27:36):
know, I think, you know, we had a chance to have some
really good meetings and and some memorableones. In terms of where we met.
We met him at a Starbucks onetime, and it was kind of
on his terms where he wanted tomeet in terms of proximity to where he
was staying. But but but Ihad a great visit there, and uh,
Ethio Harden, you know, wemade one call and Ethel Harden was

(27:57):
just about ready to commit on thefirst call, and uh, and then
Kansas gets involved and they kind ofget his head all twisted up a little
bit, and and then and thenwe got to start talking again about our
situation. So you know, thoseare unique. The recruiting situations are always
the unique. And in really goodsituations that you have a lot of memories

(28:17):
with, now, those are thethose are the portal guys. What about
your other guys, Long and Tooth, How about Rock cutting him? Yeah,
Rock cutting him. I'll tell youwhat you know. I said it
the other day on the on theLong One UH Network show that Rock's an
emotional player on an emotional coach.And uh, sometimes when you have that
fire and fire together a little bit, you know you're gonna have some some
moments where you gotta take a deepbreath. He's got to take a deep

(28:41):
breath and uh, but just know, at the end of the day,
we're we're all trying to get thesame common goal and we love each other
in terms of the competition and thecompetitiveness that we both have. And so,
uh, you know, sometimes yougotta say, Rock, will you
just keep it quiet for saying andmaybe in some different terms that he would
rest make with him. And thenyou talk about the suit to suit.

(29:02):
You know, both guys decided tocome back. Were big pieces to come
back. They didn't have to comeback, but they chose to come back.
And uh, you know, thesuit was coming off a great run
in a tournament as well. Anduh you know, both of those guys
love being at the University of Texas. They're gonna be incredible a bastards when
they're done playing. And uh uhand they both have had really good careers

(29:22):
here. All right, we haveanother special guests coming up next with log
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back to Longbard Weekly from here Plucker'sthe West Campus location here in Austin.

(31:56):
We always like to visit with thestudent, so have about a nice round
of applause for the senior from Lostonmajoring in psychology. Archer signs is with
us. Archer is a corral ambassador. So how would you say your direction
as a psychology major helps you asa corral ambassador to put a lot of

(32:19):
pressure on the opponent. Well,I'd say it's pretty helpful. Last season,
I sat behind our home bench andlove cheering them on, giving them
lots of positive reinforcement. But nowthis season I'm sitting behind the opposing bench
and so doing little tricks to getunder their skin is kind of what I
like to do during the game.Try to practice the negative reinforcement on that
end. Okay, So are thosethings that also go into your course of

(32:42):
study? Absolutely? Yeah, yeah. I love my psychology classes. Get
to learn a lot about people andyou know, interacting with folks. It's
a lot of fun. You've attendedArcher's Corral, Ambassador. You attended Texas
basketball games for twenty of the twentytwo years of your life, I'm told.
Is that correct? It's absolutely correct, yes, sir. So you

(33:02):
started going when you were like twoyears old. I was two years old
yet my grandparents had season tickets atthe time in the Franco Win Center,
so I spent a lot of timethere. Got to grow up watching games,
meeting players. I remember meeting ajAbrams and Alexi Wagmeni when I was
a little kid. That was reallycool. And it's been particularly awesome this
season because I get to see playersthat I idolized growing up, like Throe

(33:24):
about Bay Jonathan Holmes coming back tothe team this season. A lot of
fun seeing them. Obviously, wegot guys like Aggie and Rtie who have
been with us for a little bitnow. So yeah, super special thing
to be a part of. Where'dyou go to high school? Went to
Los A Lbja High School? Okay, all right, the Language, Arts
and Science Academy, which by theway, has one of the best mascot
names called the Loss of Raptors.You should know that what keeps you bringing

(33:51):
you back to Texas Basketball, whatwas and is and continues to be the
hook for you. Well, Ijust love the Long Orange. Grew up
living here and awesome, my wholefamily's from Austin. We all live here,
been here for a long time now. Austin is just something that's super
important to me. It's a greatcommunity to be a part of. And
you really feel that when you walkinto Texas basketball game. It's just the

(34:13):
camaraderie and lots of love in there. So love to be a part of
it. Okay, So you're asenior. So when you first started at
Texas, the Long Orange were stillin the Erwin Center. So when you
saw the Corral start to come together, what clicked inside you said, Hey,
I got to be a part ofthat. Deal. It was a
dream come true. Dream come true. Yeah, because again, growing up

(34:35):
going to the game as a kid, urban centers a lot of fun to
be in, but the student sectionwasn't as accessible as it is now.
In the Corral you get the firstten rows all around the stadium two hundred
and seventy degrees. So being ableto take advantage of that as a student
in the first couple of years wasI'm just very glad to be very glad
and lucky to be in the positionI'm in. What do you like best
about studying psychology? Like I said, it's the class. Yes, as

(35:00):
I take I feel like I learnedvaluable stuff about how to work in the
world and just again interacting with people, which I'm a big people person.
Love doing that. Okay, Sowith that in mind, what do you
see yourself doing? Could you seeyourself being a psychologist, a sports psychologist
even or do you do you seeyourself even in that field or doing something
different that is I did think aboutsports psychology for a little bit, but

(35:21):
right now I'm thinking about using I'mgetting a business miner as well, so
I'm thinking of combining the two andgetting into sales industry, particularly tech sales.
Excuse lots of opportunity for that inAustin. So hopefully I get to
stick around and keep offking some morelong on games. All right, So
wearing the orange lay, is thatpart of your attire when you're in the
Corral, it's not. This issomething that we're getting in the mood for

(35:45):
spring break coming up right for thisnext Saturday game, kicking off spring breaks,
So getting in the mood for that. That's gonna be the theme for
the Corral. Also, students thatare going to be able to get in
without the big ticket, which issuper exciting, so we'll be able to
fill it out. Gets Spring raykicked off, right. Do you think
you'll be kind of emotional your finalgame as a senior home basketball game comes

(36:08):
Saturday. It'll be It'll be agood experience, but I don't itticipate this
is gonna be my last game everin the Moody Center. I'll be back,
all right. That's good. Archersigns with us here. We've got
more coming up as we continue withlog Worn Weekly here on the Long Worn
Network and the Long Worn Radio Networkfrom lear Peal. We'll coming back here
the Longhorn Weekly from Pluckers the WestCampus location here in Austin. Now we've

(36:29):
had ambassadors from the Corral, justlike we we had with Archer a few
moments ago. But for the pasttwo years, this young man Reagan Huggins
has been the leader and the organizerof the Corral. He was obviously the
lead ambassador last year in the firstseason of the program. You've worked tiresily
to move the program forward. Sowhy how did you How did you did

(36:53):
you get what what what appealed toyou and what and what kept you driving
and moving forward with the Corral?Uh? Well, actually, real quick,
last year I was a vice president. Yeah. It was started by
Replunket and Lauren Pinner. Yeah,so those two big shout outs to them,
But it's really just been it's awe not me thing. So it's

(37:14):
just been like wanting to help outas much as I can, and it
really just has. As Archer said, it's been a dream come true.
Were you surprised at how how welland how big it took off with everybody?
I don't think surprise is the correctword. I would say more like,
like we envisioned it. It wasit was impressive. Yes, we
envisioned it because a lot of timesyou got on Twitter and you see people

(37:37):
were like, oh, well thestudent section is student section that, and
like we felt like we had alot of untapped potential and so the minute
that we were like okay, usfifteen or so people, we want to
do this, and as soon aswe started doing it, it just grew
legs and ran on its own,all right, So we want to let
folks know that all ut students areinvited to come to Saturday's game. Is

(38:00):
we heard Archer say, the bigticket has been lifted for this one game
since it's the first day of springbreak. So the first twelve hundred students
in line for the corral will receivea special Senior T shirt. Look at
he's even were there, And thefirst five hundred students are going to get
a Senior Day poster, and thefirst five hundred students in line will get

(38:23):
a free waterburger honey butter chicken biscuit, and to coincide with the start of
spring break, there will be freelegs like the one that Archer was wearing
for all students. You got theCowboy hat making session section going on in
the student tunnel sponsored by American CampusCommunities. You have the Senior Day pregame

(38:43):
ceremony at twelve forty five and RedPanda halftime too, So you that you
got all of that going on.So what do you envision for since the
big ticket's not involved. Anybody cancome that's a student and get in that
section on Saturday. Yeah, Ithink it's going to be a great turnout.
It's a lot of fun. Imean, it's the last regular season

(39:04):
Big twelve game, so that's anotherthing that's also there. I think the
cool thing is is that, sayyou don't have the big ticket and you
do want to go, You'll getto experience what it's like, and then
instantly you're hooked and you're like,next year, I gotta do it,
I gotta buy the big ticket.So I really I think it's a great
idea that it's lifted. And ifyou if you don't have the big ticket,
or even if you do, comeout, that's gonna be a blast.

(39:24):
Are you a senior resisting in thefor you? I am, indeed
hopefully grad school so hey win doubtgrad school can hear if they can listen
right now, But God's planned yesthere, all right, Reagan, thanks
for Reagan. Huggins coach Terry'll beback. We'll talk about this Saturday's opponent,
the Oklahoma Sooners, with long ortonweekly from here Pluckers. The West

(39:45):
Campus location in Austin continues in amoment, we welcome you back here the
long Orton Weekly with coach Trotty Terryfrom here Pluckers the West Campus location.
We talked about him the other nightand the post came. One of the
guys who has been able to giveyou a little more and a little more
and a little more as he's felthealthy and not healthier has been Kate Chedderick,

(40:06):
and he was able to do thatfor you the other night as well.
No, Kate has been playing reallyphysical over the last six seven ball
games as he's gotten healthier, andI think it's a mindset has been really
good in terms of going into ballgames, and he's in back games on
both ends of the floor offensively,defensively, and you know he's playing at
a regular level right now. Beforewe talk about Oklahoma, I know you
wanted to thank Reagan Huggins and thankArcher Science and all of the Kraal for

(40:30):
everything they've done, and the TexasDarlings and everybody who's been a part of
the student support of your programs.They have been tremendous. I mean Reagan
organizing this thing from the very beginningground level up and then taking it to
another level this season. We lostLauren and you know, he spearheaded the
whole deal and he's been a bigreason why we've had the success that we've

(40:51):
had, you know, in theMoody Center. I mean, they create
the energy, they bring it andthey do an awesome job. And Reagan,
we appreciate you, man, Welove you. Guys love what the
Corral does at an incredible level,no doubt about that. Thanks to them.
Uh, it's a rematch with Oklahoma. You did very well against them
the last time a little over amonth ago, one up in Norman.
He won six in a row andseven of the last eight. But take

(41:14):
nothing away. You know, thisis a really good team. Your numbers
between the two programs are very verysimilar, both overall and the conference record
things like that. There's a verytight similarities between the two programs. Well,
a lot of respect for porter Hisyou know, Porter's teams don't beat
themselves. Uh. They they defendreally well, they run, they run

(41:34):
really good offense, and they're hardteams to deal with. You have to
actually beat those guys to win gamesagainst Oklahoma because they're so well coached.
And uh, you know, wehad a wee in the first half up
there. You know, they gotafter us pretty good, and we came
out and I thought we defended reallywell in the second half. But a
lot of respect for Oklahoma and theprogram. I mean, anytime you talk
about rival games, you know youget throw out the records. It's gonna

(41:58):
be an incredible, uh game betweenthe two of us, well and both
of you. I won't say,quote unquote need the win. In terms
of NCAA. I think you laidit out pretty good. I think most
folks that look at the projections seeBoa Texas and Oklahoma both in the tournament
field right now. But it's anice thing for momentum. Going in to
Kansas City next week for the tournament, well, you have to have a

(42:21):
watch mentality in terms of this timeof year. You know, you you
want to be playing your best basketballon both ends of the floor. And
again you playing a highly competitive team, a really good basketball team in Oklahoma
coming here on Saturday. So it'san NCAA tournament game. It's a game
in the same level that you're gonnahave in the NCAA tournament, same type

(42:42):
of team you're gonna play the NCAATournament. Really well coached good ball club.
Two guys who I thought were prettyimpressive the last time when you went
up against the Sooners in the gameup in the Norm Milos, who's in
we talked about, and I thinkRavaldo Sorius also played really well for them.
Sores is playing great for him rightnow. He's shooting the ball me
well, he's a three level score. He can drive the ball. He
can rebound as well. And Milotsis a six four guard that can really

(43:06):
just kind of control the pace ofthe game if you allow him to be
able to do that. And uh, you know, Moore is a big
problem. Now. Moore is reallygood. Moore's fourteen to seven. Yeah,
I mean he's a guy that canscore the basketball, and he can
shoot it, he can drive it, he can rebound. He's a problem.
And again, but they've got agreat roster. Mccollen's a good player.
You know, it's a really goodteam. Yeah, you mentioned Jalen

(43:28):
Moore. That's one of those twentyguys that you talk about that it becomes
difficult to defend and difficult to attack. Right He's a he's a player that
plays with a lot of energy andin motion and uh, you know,
he's he's a mismatched problem. Hecan switch off you, he'll guard Max.
You know, he can move hisfeet. But both of those guys.
He is source of plan at avery high level. You know,
Rodnie, this is the weird Thisis a little bit of a strange question,

(43:51):
but the weirdness of what happens sometimeswith tournaments. You play Oklhum on
Saturday, the way the math isworking, you could wind up playing him,
turn around playing them next Wednesday aswell. In the conference tournaments as
well. I know, you leaveit all on the floor on Saturday.
You don't hold anything back if theteams know each other very very well anyway,
But it is a little strange ifyou turn around and play them four
days later, isn't it. Yeah? I mean for sure. I mean

(44:13):
you wouldn't be overly excited about that. But I mean we have the business
at hand on Saturday to deal withagain, with a really good team that
we've got to try to out competefor forty minutes at a high level,
and you know, then we'll getto get the postseason play shortly thereafter.
I like to say one thing too, I've got coach Jones and my assistant
coach and Cory's you. Obviously,my staff has done an incredible job.
All you know, those guys atwork extremely hard and they really helped our

(44:37):
team get better this season. It'sbeen a lot of fun. I appreciate
you doing this. Thank you ifyou buddy Hey all right, Logwarts head
coach Rodney Cherry all right, Hey, want to remind you one o'clock Senior
Day. Senior Day ceremonies start attwelve forty five. We'll be on the
air on the log Hort Radio Networkfrom lear Field at twelve thirty, the
Tip office at one o'clock. Andthen next week the Logharts we'll play in

(44:59):
the Big twelve Conference from their firstgame will be next Wednesday. Don't look
yet know the start time yet becauseit depends on how the conference standings finished.
But we'll look forward to bringing youthe postseason right here on the log
Horn Radio Network from Learfield. Ourhead coach Rodney's Harry. We thank Pluckers,
we thank all of you all seasonlong. Thank you for coming out.
We'll look forward to seeing you nexttime. The next Texas Longhorn game.

(45:22):
So long from Austin and holcome
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