December 14, 2023 - Featuring the Bulldogs Men’s Basketball Team With Paul Loeffler, Coach Hutson & Donavan Yap

The Voice of The Bulldogs Paul Loeffler spoke with Fresno State Head Baketball Coach Justin Hutson to discuss this week's game and also the break out gaem against the University of Pacific.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
On the Bulldogs Sports Network from Learfield. Welcome to the Bulldog Basketball Hour with
Coach hudd and Coach White. Broughtto you by Table Mountain Casino Resort,
where every day is lucky and everynight is of it. Bud Light,
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the Dogs, and by Pepsi Grabof Pepsi zero sugar and cheer on the

(00:25):
Bulldogs live from crowin Wolf tamp Roomin Clovis. Here's your host, the
Voice of the Bulldogs, Paul Leffler. Well good evening. Two weeks in
a row, we get to hangout here at Crow and Wolf and talk
basketball with Coach Justin Hudson of theFresno State men's basketball team. It's working
a two game win streak and continuesa four game homestand tomorrow night seven o'clock

(00:50):
tip Tomorrow night at the Savemart Center. Hope you're gonna be there. In
fact, if you don't have yourtickets, not only can you get them
at go Bulldogs dot com or twoseven eight Dogs, you can get in
free tomorrow night just by bringing astuffed animal for a child in need in
our community. And of course,at halftime, you get to throw those
stuffed animals onto the court. Makesure that's a new stuffed animal, not

(01:10):
a used one. But if youbring a new stuffed animal to the game
tomorrow night, you can participate inthat Teddy Bear toss at halftime and you
can get in free, and somechildren in our community will have a happier
Christmas as a result. So that'stomorrow night at seven o'clock in the Save
Mart Center. Tonight, we're hereat Crow and Wolf. That's right off
a Herndon and one sixty eight.Anything you want to drink inside and outside.
They've got three food trucks tonight.They have Tacos Lost Salsas. They

(01:36):
have Get Baked five five nine,which has the biggest baked potatoes I've ever
seen, loaded with whatever you want? Is that what you're eating? Their
tim You almost made it disappear,okay. And then there's also one called
Where's the Food, which has somevery interesting combinations of French fries, including
the flaming hot Asada fries they caughtmy eye. So there's a lot to
eat, a lot to drink,and a lot to talk about here with

(01:57):
coach Hut and coach, let's talkabout it out Saturday before we look ahead
to tomorrow night. In this matchupwith your alma mater this past Saturday,
you had a bigger crowd at theSave Mart Center. You had a guy
whose number is retired just happened toshow up and surprise the players, Paul
George. And then your team playedtwo really good halves. And I say
it that way because a lot oftimes you play a good game, but

(02:20):
the halves are kind of asymmetrical.I was really struck by how consistent you
were across those two halves of basketballSaturday. Very observant. You know.
We've been trying to be more consistent. Everybody is, really you know,
but if you have returners, andthe better players you have, and the
more returners you have, then you'regoing to be more consistent. But our
guys were very consistent on both endsof the floor on Saturday, So we're

(02:42):
hoping to continue to build on that. I mean, you made eight out
of fifteen threes in the first half, and I'm sure a lot of people
said, oh, they probably won'tshoot him that well in the second half.
Then he made eight out of thirteenthrees in the second half shot him
even better. Sixteen to three ballsshared the ball. Well, your assister
turnover ratio was the best we've seenall season. And you know, Pacific
isn't having the greatest year. Butit's not about the opponent so much as

(03:05):
how you're playing. What do youthink created that kind of consistency through forty
minutes? The guys are working hardin practice and we got more time in
it save Mark to shoot the ballin there. And the guys they're really
working hard to get better, youknow, and we have to try different
strategies. You know, watch film, you know, hold them accountable,

(03:28):
you know, teach you know,as a coach, you're doing all those
things, but you're only as goodas what they can absorb. And I'll
tell you this is a great groupsthat's trying to get better, and we
can shoot the ball. I thinkdifferent teams have different strategies. You know.
Some people are really protecting the paintand making you driving kick. I
think the previous game they did,Idaho State was not going to give you

(03:52):
a three, right, So thenwhen you say, hey, well you
guys didn't shoot as many threes,Well, they were giving us lay us
and they were giving us drives andfouls. They weren't helping as much.
That was their strategy, and Idon't think that was specific strategy. They
were going to help and make surethey speak, stayed out of the paint.
And I thought we shared it andmade shots. Absolutely, you sure
did. You had six threes fromone player, Xavier d Sell, five

(04:15):
from another Isaiah Hill. The Donovanyaps out there making threes and penetrating and
kicking. And I think my favoritemoment of that big win over Pacific,
and it was, as we said, a consistent win, a dominating win.
But when you get a walk onthe floor and the team wants to
get him a shot, and hegets a shot and then he makes the
shot from three point land, noless, to see the rest of the

(04:38):
team celebrating a three ball for StephenVasquez, I think that made my day.
How about you? Yeah, theyget excited, They get excited on
this stuff, you know, andwe all I love Steven, I don't
get as more excited for Steven andI do for Isaiah. Sure sure,
it's kind of how I am.I know Steven can play. He actually
Steven actually would have gotten the gameone time last year, but he hurt
himself in warm ups. I rememberthat, and we got down to six

(04:58):
guys against air Force. I said, Steven, you're gonna play, buddy,
because he could shoot the bar andhe said okay, And he came
in and the warm ups and saidI can't go. And that was a
tough one. We ended up playinga very little bit. Yeah, there
have been some doozies, some situationsyou found yourself in, but it sure
came up Roses on Saturday at theSave Mart Center, and as I said,
the crowd was better, and youcan help make it a bigger crowd

(05:20):
Tomorrow night at seven o'clock tip againstthe road Runners of CSU Bakersfield. The
Highway ninety nine rivalry and a roadRunner team that we'll talk about a little
more in depth. It's a teamthat's played a really tough schedule. But
let's talk a little bit about thissurprise that your team experienced on Saturday.
I know this isn't what it's allabout, but I think it's a pretty

(05:42):
big deal because you can't take thingslike this for granted, and it doesn't
happen everywhere. And that's the factthat one of your all time greats,
a guy who spent some time withyour team. This Paul George decided to
stroll up right at tip off andsit down a few feet away from the
team bench. Was that a hardsecret for you to keep, Coach,
No, not really. I knewhe was coming, but I didn't really

(06:06):
say much. It just kind ofyou know, Paul is a great guy,
and if you know him, you'regonna love him. And that's all
I can say. I mean,he's you know, I think I talked
to Cleve the other day and hetalked about him, and I talked to
somebody else that was talking about Paul, and everybody says the same thing.
When you know him, you're gonnalove him. And he he's very sincere,

(06:26):
he's very genuine, and he's aheck of a basketball player, a
good ambassador, ambassador for the FresleState bull adults. He's a phenomenal basketball
player and a guy that would yourplayers would do well to emulate in terms
of how he attacks both ends ofthe floor and how versatile his game is.
And we saw hints of that whenhe was a Bulldog here playing for
coach Cleve. He was a littleshorter then and he was a whole lot

(06:47):
skinnier then. I mean, hedidn't have the muscularity that we see in
a Clipper uniform now. But whenyou talk about the kind of guy he
is, that's what I wanted tohit on and what it meant to your
team. And we're gonna call thisthe Bulldog Briefing presented by Proper Defense a
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(07:10):
alarms at Proper Defense make sure youhave all you need to win your case.
The case against Paul George being areally good guy is pretty strong,
and that's what I was struck by. I hadn't spent too much time around
him since his jersey had been retired. I think that was the last time
I saw him in person and wentover and talked to him a little bit
at halftime, and he's the sameguy, and it was great to hear
that his parents are doing well andthey love having him and his three kids

(07:33):
down in southern California. But thenhe said he felt a little old at
thirty four, and that's when Istarted scratching my head a little bit because
when you see him play, hedoesn't look old, that's for sure.
He sure does it. He played, boy, he can really play.
I enjoyed watching him play. Wehad just saw him play the night before,
so I think they were in Utah, I believe the night before.
Uh huh. And he flies down, Oh, watches us play, gets

(07:57):
in the locker room, takes pictures, talks great guy. What about big
O'? How about Orlando twelve?The other night? Moved him up.
He's I think he's been up playingfive or six straight games in a row
with the Miami Heat. And anothergood guy, another hard worker, another
guy that hasn't changed. And youknow, again, I don't want to

(08:18):
belabor the point or oversell it.It's clear that having him around means something
for your players. I'm curious whatthat means to you personally. To have
a guy that, I mean,you know, but you didn't coach here,
right, he played for coach Cleve. As you said, you didn't
recruit him, but he's gotten toknow you, and he's invested in you
and your staff and your players becauseof this bulldog connection you have. What

(08:41):
does that mean to you personally?I did recruit him. I was at
San Diego State, so I've beenin his house. I was in his
house when he was a high schoolplayer, uh huh. And we had
two seniors that were coming back andhe said, hey, coach, you
know, aren't you going to playthose two senior wings? And I said,
yeah, but coach will play threeof them, so he'll rote And
he says, hey, I cango there and start, coach, And

(09:03):
I say, well, more powerto you. You know. So I
did know him in high school,and uh, it means a lot to
me. I mean, it reallydoes. It's not about me though,
you know, it's about the players. I just try to stay out his
way. You know. We takesome pictures, we talk basketball. Yeah,
he'll sit in there and talk hoopfor you. It's not it's not
on the surface relationship. We canactually chat text him, talk hoop chat,

(09:26):
what do you need. But it'sabout the guys. I try to
make it more about the guys thanabout the coaching staff. And I know
some of our basketball aficionado's in thehouse here at Crowl and Wolf. I
see former Kansas Jayhawks sitting over there, and a few other people that know
this game. I'm sure some ofthem are putting two and two together and

(09:46):
saying, so, if you hadbeen able to pull Paul George to San
Diego State back then, he andKawhi would have played together a long time
before the Clippers. Yeah, younever know how those things work, you
know, because the same reason whyPaul didn't come was probably one of the
big reasons why Kawhi came the followingyear. Uh huh, was you were
losing those two senior wings Lorenzo Wadeand Kyle Spain were both six six sixty

(10:09):
seven and they were good and theyso now you have a chance to come
in and start right away. Soif so, you never know how those
things work. But what that wasa long time ago. Time flies,
I'm all getting old, I know. That's what hit me. And you
know, we know that you're coachingthese guys up every single day and there
are things that you're you know,trying to imprint on their memories. And

(10:31):
we see them, We see itclicking, We see them playing a little
faster, we see them, aswe said, more consistent. But could
you get a feel for what itmeant to them to have PG in the
house, to have them hanging outwith them in the locker room afterwards and
all that. A couple of themtext me, you know how nice that
was. We say, they're hardlyever texting their coach late at night,

(10:52):
you know, when he goes home, and you know they but a couple
of them said, hey, thatwas cool and text But no, they're
just like you would imagine, justlike anybody else would imagine. They weren't
cool about it. They were veryexcited and they are very appreciative, and
there were smiles all around. Theyweren't they weren't playing it cool. They
love to have him here, andthe fans did too. And one thing

(11:15):
I was struck by is I waspacking up and leaving at the end of
that night. Last Saturday, thebig blowout win for the Bulldogs over Pacific
and again their home again tomorrow nightagainst CSU Bakersfield, seven o'clock tip at
the Saint Mart Center. If youbring a stuffed animal for a child the
need in our community, you'll gethim free. I was leaving and some
young Fresno State staffers were taking somepictures on the court. It was because

(11:37):
this intern who had been here forfive weeks from France. This was her
last day and she was leaving andthey made the comment she was here for
five weeks and she got to seeAaron Judge and Paul George. I was
like, you know, where elsecould that happen? That's kind of cool.
I mean we sometimes we take itfor granted because we've been here and
we know these people. But thereare a lot of schools that would love

(12:00):
to be able to say something likethat. I have no idea, And
excuse me, but I'd have noidea why those three guys aren't plastered or
four guys aren't plastered all over Fresno, Davante, Paul, Derek and Aaron.
I mean, they should be plasteredall over Shaw and Cedar, because
that's just not gonna happen all thetime unless we're gonna go get a whole

(12:22):
bunch of money. And in today'sworld, because guys are gonna cost a
lot of money in the Nio world. That's a good point. All those
guys played before this era of thename, image and likeness. It's time
for a break. But we're outhere at Crowing Wolf. You can come
join us. The food trucks arein the parking lot. We're hanging out
inside. We've got the Time OutClub in the house. We've got some

(12:43):
Bulldog fans. Hey, I puta link up there on Twitter or the
xAPP where you can enter to wintickets to Bulldog basketball again. If you
bring a stuffed animal tomorrow night atSave Mart Center, you can get in
free. Come join us at CrowingWolf the rest of the Bulldog Basketball Hour,
including Donovan yapp Seen your Guard comingto join us as well. Keep
it on the Bulldog Sports Network fromtheir field here in the heart of California.
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(16:02):
dot com. Welcome back to theBulldog Basketball Hour, coming to you live
from Crow and Wolf that's just offmy Herndon in one sixty eight. Just
follow the line of cars on everylittle side street to to make your way
in here. You'll see the foodtrucks in the parking lot. There's tonight

(16:22):
Tacos los Salsas is here. What'sup? Get Baked five five nine,
which is all about baked potatoes incase you're curious. And there's also one
called Where's the Food with all kindsof different fry combinations, So some real
intriguing food combos out in the parkinglot. Anything you want to drink inside
and we're talking bulldog basketball. Wedo have tickets to give away. You

(16:44):
can enter to win online. Iput up a link on Twitter. We
have coach Hudson here and a littlewhile Donovan yapp seen your Guard, will
join us as well. Tomorrow night, the Save Mart Center is the place
to be. Seven o'clock tip againstcoach Hudson's Alma Manter the road Runners CSU
Bakersfield. How many years has itbeen now coached since you won a national
championship with the Roadrunners. It wasninety four. It's a long time ago,

(17:07):
is that going on thirty years?Yeah? Coming up? Oh my
goodness, getting old. You rememberthat guy bes to alternative coach? You
remember young Justin Hudson thirty years ago, like it was yesterday. Yeah,
just like these young guys were coachingnow, hardheaded, stubborn, don't you
do it? All right? That'sjust how it was, you know.

(17:29):
But I had some really good coachesand some really good teammates, and we
had a lot of success there init. But it's doesn't seem like thirty
years ago. And it's been funwatching you coach against your alma mater.
You've had some doozy ball games againstRod Barnes and his Roadrunners down there up
here. So they're coming here tomorrownight. And one thing we know about
the road Runners, they're not goingto be intimidated playing in the Save Art

(17:52):
Center. Look at where they've alreadybeen this year. They've been to usc
to play the Trojans, They've beento cal to play the Bears. They
went to Spokane and played Gonzaga andonly lost by fifteen points. That was
the one that got my attention themost. What are you up against tomorrow
night with these roadrunners? Rod's teamsalways are very physical, They're always very
aggressive on defense, they always aregoing to really rebound the ball, and

(18:17):
they're just very well coached. Youknow, he was National Coach of the
Year at oh Miss back back awhile back, and he has some success
at CSUB for a nice stretch there, and so you know, his teams
are always never going to get outplayed or you're never going to play harder
than them, and they're going tobe very physical, you know, so
you got to be prepared for that. We're here at Crowing Wolf just off

(18:38):
a herndon of one sixty eight forthe Bulldog Basketball Hour. We'll have some
ladies shows in the weeks ahead here. The next men's basketball show here will
be January eighteenth, in the newyear, so you can mark that on
your calendar. The Timeout Club's alwaysshowing up for us. We've got some
Time Out Club stalwarts two tonight arealways the best. And one member of
the Time Out Club who couldn't behere, Christy said in her question on

(19:02):
Twitter. She used that hashtag askfs she wants to know about Leo Cola
Mario and what she described as moreaggressive offensive play from Leo, and she
wanted to know where that's coming fromand why we're seeing it start to emerge.
What's up, Christy? Uh,those things are hard, They're hard

(19:22):
to come by. Boy, himand Donno, they're two of the best
friends and they hang out and Uh, I talked to them a lot about
you know, Isaiah Hill was prettyeasy. You know, he's just getting
better and better and better. ButLeo and Dono was kind of like,
you can't be the same guy youwere and you can't keep doing the same
thing. And boy, in lifeis that's a tough message. Nobody likes

(19:47):
hearing that. I had to.I had deliver a lot of tough messages,
you know, and hey, youdid this last year and you were
able to play, but we weren'table to win. So just because you
were playing, you know, andthey're probably and I'm not saying they point
fingers, but they look at itas is it your job to get better
for us to win or if itwas the other person's fault, whether it

(20:08):
was the other player or the coach, and it was not easy to tell
you the truth. It's not aboutthe work ethic, because he'll stay in
the gym and so will Donno.But it's about saying, hey, what
got you here is not going toget you there, and showing them the
film talking to them about it.Then when you ask more from them in
practice and they're looking at you withtheir palms up and saying, yeah,

(20:30):
I know you've always done this,but this is what we need you to
do. We need you to bebetter in this situation. Be in the
right spots, be more aggressive,make a quicker decision, and they're getting
better. And what they're what Ido and enjoy now is they're not resenting
that message. They're understanding that we'rejust trying to ask more from you instead
of blaming you. Well, andLeo's a guy that when he's doing those

(20:56):
kind of things and doing what youask of him, he makes your team
more of a doesn't he. Imean, because we've seen you play them
inside, we've seen him on theperimeter, we see him get out in
space, and even his offensive repertoirehas grown a little bit. Yeah,
I mean, and he's and thenwhen you get him is when they really
start to work on that on theirown, because you're going to put them
through those things in practice and wherethey're going to be in their strengths and

(21:18):
tell them how they fit in anoffense and defense. But when they start
to feel that that confidence, thatrole definition on their own and they start
to work on your own, that'swhen they're going to be truly theirs.
And I expect Leo to not gobackwards, and we're going to continue to
ask more from him and Donal tosay, hey, you got to continue
to get better. And Donno,Donovan Yapp's going to be with us here

(21:42):
in a little bit here at Crowand Wolf just off one hundred and one
sixty eight. It's the Bulldog BasketballHour. We're talking about Leo Plamerio,
who had a thirteen point first halfagainst Pacific on Saturday to really energize the
Save Mart Center in front of PaulGeorge and a bigger crowd there at the
arena. Tomorrow night at seven o'clockagainst CSU Bakersfield, you can catch the
Dogs at home and then the homestand concludes. A fourth straight home game

(22:04):
will be Monday night against a bigphysical Portland State Viking team at the Save
Mart Center, So you can getyour tickets for that right now as well
at go Bulldogs dot com. WithLeo, the last couple games were a
little different because his parents were actuallyhere. They'd never seen him play in
a Bulldog uniform until the Idaho Stategame. Now two games in a row,
they've been there in the building towatch their son. We've seen his

(22:26):
dad wearing Leo's twenty three jersey andgetting pumped up on some dunks. Did
you get a chance to talk tohis parents at all? I did?
That was beautiful. You know,I hadn't had a chance to meet Leo's
parents. Leo has a some ofhis parents' family live in sam Bernardino and
they've came and saw him play.And then you know his coaches from Wassatch
in Utah. We know, right, but I haven't been to Brazil and

(22:49):
it was great to get a chanceto meet him. Did not to put
you on the spot, but Leowas talking about his mom making some of
his favorite dish, the fejawata.Did you get a chance to sample?
I did not. He always talksabout beans and rice stocks. Yeah,
yeah, sure, that's what itmeans. Whenever you asked him, he
says, beans are right. Oh, well, there's going to be more

(23:11):
than well, there is more thanthat on the menu Heart Crowing Wolf Tonight
Man, there's three different food tracksto choose from. Out in the parking
lot, it's the Bulldog Basketball Hour. I see Donovan Yapp walking in.
We're going to hear from him aswell. If you've got a question for
Coach Hutt or for Donovan Yap,you can set it our way on Twitter
or what they call the x app. Now, just use that hashtag ask
FS and we'll be right back fromCrowing Wolf the Bulldog Basketball Hour on the

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(26:44):
Bulldog Basketball Hour coming to you livefrom Crowing Wolf. If you've never been
to Crowing Wolf before, man,you're missing out. It's such a great
space. You know, during theweek they have trivia knights here, they
have karaoke knights. We're here tonight. Our next men's show here is going
to be January eighteenth. There'll besome women shows year in between as well.
The guys play at home Tomorrow night, the ladies are there the next
day, and then on Monday nightthe guys are back in action. So

(27:08):
tomorrow night at CSU Bakersfield, coachHudson's alma mater taking on the Bulldogs again.
If you bring a new stuffed animal, doesn't have to be a Teddy
Bear, any stuffed animal, youcan throw it on the court at halftime.
It'll go to a child in needin our community and you'll get in
free. There at Save Mart Centerfor Fresno State and CSU Bakersfield. That's
a seven o'clock tip. You'll hearit here on the radio. We won't

(27:30):
have a basketball pregame show tomorrow becausewe're gonna be talking football. We'll have
a New Mexico New Mexico Bowl previewshow from Albuquerque Tomorrow night from six to
seven, leading into Bulldog basketball.Of course, Saturday, the game kicks
off three forty five Fresno State againstNew Mexico State and or three forty five
Mountain. It'll be two forty fiveour time. Twelve thirty is when our
pregame coverage will start on Saturday.Tim Schiller was gonna set me straight if

(27:55):
I didn't set myself straight. Thereso a lot going on in Bulldog Land.
And again two more games on thehomestand Tomorrow night and Monday night for
the Bulldog basketball team, which ispicking up some momentum and coach, you
hope that would happen on this homestandtwo more home games before you go back
on a road stretch that'll keep youaway from home for a few weeks.

(28:15):
What's the next thing you're looking for? Because we talked about that game against
specific how consistent, you were toreally steady haves, shot the ball incredibly
well, both halves defended well,shared the ball. What's next in the
development of this team? That,again, for people who don't know,
is about half returners and half brandnew guys. You know, it's when

(28:37):
you're not great at anything. Butif you look at our offensive numbers,
they're really good for besides having acouple of good games a bad games.
You had a couple of those gameswhere you just really turned the ball over
in Ohio and up in Utah.Now you have one game where you just
missed a whole bunch of open shotsin Santa Barbara. Correct. Yeah,
but even if you add those in, I think we're shooting for seven percent

(29:00):
from the field and high thirties fromthree a lot better, you know,
And that's what having a couple ofbad games. So the simple sizes there.
You know, our defense is notvery good, We're very inconsistent,
and that's now we always play itto a certain extent, you know,
it's it's you're talking about a highstandard. But it's all about defensive decisions.

(29:22):
With these teams. If they canif we can play defense as a
unit and with some more toughness andmake good decisions on the offensive end of
the floor. We got a chanceto be good because you know, we
can play some defense and we canshoot the ball. We have a lot
of better decision makers that you cansee. I think we're also top thirty

(29:42):
and fast break. So we doget out and run because we can make
quicker decisions, you know, andwe have multiple ball handlers. It's not
just going through day correct and sowe have a chance. You can see
how you could be good if youcan get stops and get out and run.
We just got to be consistent,and the guys got that they bought
in. It's not about they're notbought in, but they got to believe

(30:04):
in how we're gonna win. Andyou can beat it down them. You
can talk to them, you canteach them. At the end of the
day. They got to go outthere and experience and believe that this is
how we're going to win the games. And you can start to see some
of the stages of that progression takingshape. And certainly the win over Pacific
in front of Paul George and aboutthirty six hundred at Save Mart Center on

(30:26):
Saturday was a piece of that puzzle. You can be there tomorrow night,
seven o'clock tip against CSU Bakersfield tosee the Bulldogs try to extend that win
streak to three. And I'd liketo ask you real quick about the conference.
I know you've got your alma materon the brain, and this is
a tough game tomorrow night against theteam that's got to play physical, as
you said, and really make youwork. But the Mountain West is turning

(30:48):
a few heads too. I mean, even last night, UNLV gets a
big win over Creighton. Utah State'sgot one loss all year with a new
coach. I think what you mentionedthere that really sticks out to me is
thirty six hundred. That ain't gonnahappen too many places in the Mountain West.
It's gonna be a few more thanthat, absolutely, And that's what
you mentioned there. And being heresix years, you know that's that's important.

(31:10):
I mean, I think what youmentioned there was thirty six hundred.
And you know, we had successagainst Utah State, We've had success against
New Mexico, We've had success againstyou n V quite a bit. Yeah,
you know, we haven't had successin San Diego except for the first
year. But you know, I'mbeen in this conference sixteen seventeen years now,

(31:33):
and if that thirty six hundred isit's ten thousand, six hundred.
Now you're talking about a home corneradvantage. Now you're going to have more
success. It's just the bottom line. If we win more, maybe it
could be if they show up more, maybe we could win more. That's
just kind of how it is,and that's it's a challenge. It's exciting
because I love this city, Ilove this valley, but there's gonna be

(31:56):
a lot of people there when yougo to those conference games. Then we
try to get better home games,bigger names, but it's not easy to
get to Fresno. So they gotto have a reason why, because that's
always the first thing you try todo. We thought we had Cincinnati at
home this year and they backed outus on the last second. So it's
usually a lot of neutral site gamesor different stuff. So, you know,

(32:20):
but I think that sticks out.When that thirty six becomes ten thousand,
six hundred, then we got something. Well maybe by the end of
the year we'll see something like that, and maybe we'll see the students have
a chance to get out and reallymake that part of the arena, a
lively atmosphere. Tomorrow night is yourchance to see the Bulldogs in action again.
Bring a brand new stuffed animal andyou get in free, and then

(32:43):
at halftime you get to show offyour arm and see if you can get
that animal onto the floor from whereyou're standing. You might want to walk
down close, otherwise you might hurtsomebody or you know, spill something on
one of those stuffed animals. Wedon't want to do that. Hey,
before we let you enjoy the restof your tacos, here coach and segue
over to Donovan. Yeah, let'sask you about him and his development,
because he's a young man who's shownflashes and showed promise through the years,

(33:07):
and obviously something is clicked to wherenow he's starting ball games and getting consistent
extended playing time for you being veryefficient and effective. Is there a roadmap
that some other young players who arelooking to earn more minutes can follow when
it comes to where Donno was andwhere he is now, he just matured.

(33:28):
It sounds a cliche, and Ithink you can ask him about that.
He'll probably say he can probably articulatewhy and how he feels more comfortable.
Okay, you know, he hasto feel more comfortable, but it's
a stretch. You know, there'sa process to feel more comfortable. There's
also some responsibility and accountability for youto be out there, you know,
and we all want to be comfortable, but you got to be able to

(33:50):
do some things that you're supposed todo out there. And he's always had
the talent and he's starting to.I can see him game by game starting
to feel more comfortable. And thenwhen he doesn't have a good stretch,
I can see him not going intoa hole. So he's developing some real
confidence. And they say it startswith the coach. Sometimes the players think,
well, the coach needs to haveconfidence. It's nah, that's not

(34:12):
real confidence. You got to haveit. And then coaches can't take it
away. You know, that's ourjob not to take it away. If
you have it, we can't giveanything to you like that. You've got
to come with that, you know. And I'm excited to see him out
there, playing aggressive, offensively andletting it fly when he's supposed to.
And then I'm also excited to beable to tell him how your decision making
is good or it has to bebetter and your defense is good or it

(34:35):
has to be better, and himbe able to look at you and eye
and say, okay, I gotyour coach and work and go back to
work at it. Well, Ithink now we know what to ask him
when he segues right back over herein a minute. Anything else you want
to share with the Red Wave aheadof that game tomorrow night against your alma
mater, No, sir, Iappreciate you having me, Paul. It's
always my pleasure, and Crowing Wolfis great. These tacos are good.

(34:55):
I don't know where we got themfrom, but they're really good tacos.
Lost sauce. I appreciate the timeout club always being here. What friendly
faces, people that really care andthank you again. Well, and I'll
miss you tomorrow night. I'll bein Albuquerque, but Coach Q and Matt
Normal will be there with you,and I'll look forward to listening from down
in New Mexico. He's coach justinHudson. We're here at Crow and Wolf.

(35:17):
When we come back, Donovan,Yeah, Bulldog, senior guard will
join us here till seven o'clock.And if you want to win tickets for
that game, get online. Geton Twitter. Clicking on that link you
can edit a whin. There aresome pretty good prizes there, not just
tickets to tomorrow night. So checkit out and come join us. We're
here at Crowing Wolf till seven o'clock, just off a one hundred and one
sixty eight on the Bulldog Sports Networkfrom their field. The All News z

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(38:37):
Athletics. Welcome back. It's theBulldog Basketball Hour live from crowin Wolf,
just off a Herndon of one sixtyeight. If you've never been here,
it's quite the space. A lotof people here tonight, great crowd of

(38:59):
the more watching the Raiders destroy theChargers right now? Wow, thirty five
nothing And speaking of Las Vegas,we've got a young man from Las Vegas
joining us now. He started outhis career with the Running Rebels and then
he figured a little different shade ofred was gonna be better for him and
became a Fresno State Bulldog, thatis a senior guard. Donovan yapp Donald,
thanks for hanging out. You everbeen here before, Cronwolf, No,

(39:22):
I haven't. This is my firsttime. Actually moved that mic a
little closer to your mouth there forso all the time out club? Can
hear you here? Yep? Yeah, there's a lot going on here.
Huh, No, it is.It's definitely nice. There's a lot of
people over here. I didn't evennotice, butot existed. Actually, it's
kind of tucked away. You haveto know where to find it. And
boy, I guess if it weremore out in the open then you wouldn't

(39:43):
be able to find a seat outhere if you come here in the summertime.
By the way, they have thoseroll up doors open, and they've
got a little corn hole going outthere in the parking lot. How's your
cornhole game? You ever play?It's pretty good? Yeah? Good.
Yeah, there's been a minute sinceI played, but I think I still
got it. Well, I havea theory. If you're a good free
throw shooter, you're probably a prettygood cornhole player. Okay, why is

(40:05):
that? Well, I mean it'sa similar thing. It's about consistency,
right, No, for sure,And you've been an incredible free throw shooter
this year, one of the bestof the nation. So where did that
come from? Just confidence? Shootingprobably one hundred free throws every day after
practice, just making sure that Ihave that set so that when game time
comes it's easier for me. Wasthere something that triggered a desire to improve

(40:30):
that specific part of your game?Yeah, it definitely was. I feel
like since I've been in college,people haven't respected me to be a shooter.
So I made sure in the summerI was getting up a lot of
shots, whether it be catching shootthrees off the dribble, threes, free
throws, just really making sure Ifound my shot. And you know,
the first time I saw you infall practice this year, I could see

(40:52):
that confidence, and I could seethe consistency and see it just not missing.
I'm trying to pull up the statshere, I don't short change you
here and make sure I get itstraight. So so far this year,
and Fresno State will be looking forits third straight win tomorrow night battle in
the road runners of CSU Bakersfield atseven o'clock at the same Mart Center.

(41:15):
So do you know what your freethrow shooting percentage is right now? Donald?
It's like ninety two percent, right, what do y'all think? I
mean, that sounds pretty high,doesn't that twenty four out of twenty six
ninety two point three percent will thankyou? And what I like about it,
too, is you got a coupleof teammates who are almost right there

(41:36):
with you, So you guys couldduke this out all year long. Xavier
du Sell is eleven out of twelveninety two percent and Isaiah Hill is twenty
five out of twenty eight eighty ninepercent. So if the three of you
guys are on the floor at theend of the game. Who are they
gonna fail? They can't. Imean, that's what I'm saying. And
you know I was doing years ago. I was looking up some old games.

(42:00):
Do you know in the early daysof Fresno State basketball, back in
like the nineteen thirties, that therewas a local businessman who sponsored every year
a trophy that went to the playerwho was the best free throw shooter on
the team. Wow, I didn'tknow that. That's cool. You think
they should bring that back? Imean, for sure, I'd be interested
in that, for sure, Butlike the guys were too for sure.

(42:23):
What I wonder what it should be? Like? What should the trophy look
like? I don't know, whatdo you think? I don't know.
I hadn't thought about it until justnow. But you know what I'm gonna
do. I'm gonna go dig upthat article. I'll get all the information
and I'll let you guys on oneof those road trips. You guys can
play around with it on the busor something. A couple of you got
some artistic guys on your team,we do Who do you think is the

(42:45):
most creative among your teammates? Like, who's got the most active imagination?
Or the most creative brain. Uh, I probably have to say me honestly,
Yeah, I feel like I'm verycreative. Yeah, so you want
that task of design the trophy?All for sure? Like that? All
right? Look this guy meeting thechallenge coach. I talked about his confidence

(43:07):
and let's get real for a secondhere, Donald, because I mean,
as I was talking with him,you've shown us some of your ability and
your athleticism, your ability to getto the hoop. You know, your
your length, your defensive ability,your hops. Now we're seeing the shooting
come on stronger. But it soundedfrom what he was describing that you guys
had a pretty blunt and frank discussionabout what you needed to do if you

(43:32):
wanted to be who you want tobe. So we heard it from his
perspective. How is that on thereceiving end? And do you have some
advice for players who are trying todo what you've done, which is earn
more time and be relied upon moreheavily by your team. Only thing I
could say is put God first.I feel like that was the biggest transition
for me. I was putting Godfirst and then just really believing in yourself,

(43:57):
like you know, it's definitely hardto continue to have confidence and believing
yourself when you're not getting an outcomeyou want. So a lot of kids
they choose to give up. ButI just chose to keep my head down,
keep working, let my game dothe talking, and just stay confident
through it all. And I weatheredthe storm. Thank God, Thankful to
God. Well, all I cansay to that is amen, man,

(44:17):
And you know that's the way Itry to live my life. But I
never want to project that onto somebodyelse. So you brought it up,
So I'm gonna ask you a littlemore about it because you said that that's
been the biggest transition. So wasthere something that that happened or somebody to
talk to that just mad made thata bigger priority in your life. He's
always been a priority on my life. I was always in church every Sunday

(44:38):
when I was little. My mommade sure to do that for me.
It was just over the summer,I want to say. I was just
in you know, dark times Ifelt like and I just was praying every
night, and I wanted to getcloser to him. So I actually took
the step to getting baptized. SoI got baptized, and then ever since

(44:59):
then, I'll just and more connected. Where'd you do that? Where'd you
get baptized? It was back inLas Vegas? Uh huh over the summer.
Summer in Las Vegas is a reallygood time to get baptized, by
the way, it's nice and cool. Yeah, saying you had like your
family there and everything. Everybody wasthere supporting me right on Man's that's so
great to hear. And so you'resaying that because I just asked you about

(45:23):
what's happened in basketball wise, butthat's the first thing that you went to.
So how does that work? Whatdoes that mean? Like when you
take the floor tomorrow night against CSUBakersfield, how is that component about who
you are make a difference for howyou play? Honestly, it's a confidence
boost, you know. Just knowingthat the men above is on my side

(45:43):
and I have that connection with him, I just feel way more confident in
myself and the work that I putin, and just knowing that whatever's meant
to happen is going to happen.So when I go out there, I
just give it my all and justlet him control what he controls. So
Saturday's game against specific everybody that wasthere had a lot of fun, including
PG and all way to ask youabout Paul till we come back from this

(46:05):
commercial break. But what I wantto ask you first is there are a
lot of plays made in that game. One thing that stood out from the
get go is you guys had anassist on almost every bucket right. It
wasn't anybody taking over one on one. You guys were sharing the ball and
doing it with some smarts and someyou know intelligence behind it. Your sist
turnover ratio was great. I justwant to know from you, from all

(46:27):
the plays that were made, whetherby you or somebody else, what was
your favorite moment of that game.Honestly, my favorite moment was just seeing
the guys having smiles on their faces. I feel like we haven't blew anybody
out like that this whole year.So just seeing how happy we were sharing
the ball, moving it, doingthe things we were supposed to do to
get the job done like it reallywas just, you know, it warned
my heart. Just seeing all myguys around me happy. I would say

(46:52):
that, Well, that's a goodanswer. I do have to ask unless
I'm computed. You know, sometimesthe games run Together. I think it
was that game against to pick theMan. It's been a few days,
but wasn't there a play where youpenetrate it. You're under the bucket kind
of on the right block and youkind of like, no, look behind
the back wrap around pass for alea. That was that was the game

(47:14):
before that, That was the IdahoState game. Yeah, yeah, I
knew you'd remember for sure. Andthe reason I want to ask you about
that play is that specific paths apass you've made before, or is that
something you just felt in the moment.