CFP Conversations, MLB Season Wrap-up, WBB Prepares for Richmond

Craig Way and Jake Herman discuss local sports topics including Texas' place in the CFP picture, the Texas Women's Basketball team's prep for No. 24 Richmond on Friday, and the beginning of MLB's offseason.

Roger Wallace from KXAN and Gene Watson from the White Sox front office join the show!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
We moved to Thursday, getting toward the end of the week,
and glad to have you with us this afternoon on
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred of the Zone. Welcome to
the Craig wait Show. That is my name. My name
is not Craig Waits Show, which just Craig White. You
get the idea. Glad to have you with us this afternoon,
and we're with you each and every weekday afternoon, Monday

(00:24):
through Friday from two to five. We of course includes
the producer of the program, Jay Carman, who will step
in for me. I'll be out tomorrow and Jake will
step in tomorrow with plenty of things on his table
as well. You're already kind of planning in your mind
what you want to do tomorrow with the program.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, we've got a couple of exciting guests that we'll
share for a little later on today.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Oh good, okay, all right, we have one coming up
here in just a few minutes. Roger Wallace, my broadcast
partner a long one football and who also is a
broadcast partner on baseball and steps in for me on basketball,
women's basketball games and some baseball games on occasion. We'll
join us here in just a few minutes. We'll talk

(01:06):
about the Longhorns, we'll talk about the fact there is
an open date on the schedule, and then this crazy
final week of the regular season of high school football
in the state of Texas. There are some district races
and playoff spots up for grabs going into this final weekend,
and Roger and Keith Morland and I will be calling

(01:28):
game on KPVO that could be pretty impactful. The Anderson
Trojans and the Weiss Wolves. And Anderson trying to finish
ten and oh in the regular season, both are headed
for the playoffs. The positioning for Weiss could be impacted
one way or the other, so he'll visit with us
to talk about that. We'll talk about some other topics

(01:51):
as well. We do have inconceivable. A little bit later
on this hour, we're gonna hear more from Vic Shavery.
We heard a little bit from Vicky yesterday, but we're
gonna hear more from the Longruns head coach because the
Texas women have their second game of the season, fourth
rank Longhorns hosting Richmond the twenty fourth rank Richmond Spiders
tomorrow night at Moody Center. This'll be a good game,

(02:11):
good enough for of us to give away pairs of tickets.
And this is how we're going to do it. I'm
not going to waste any time. I'm going to jump
right in and tell you that merely for the asking
you can get a pair of tickets for it. But
this is how it works. As you know, we do
our contesting through our talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app.

(02:34):
Worked out really really well when we had the cow
Bell contest and gave away a pair of tickets for
the Texas Vanderbilt game. We did it that way. We
had a lot of people enter. It's really easy to do.
What you do is if you don't already have the
iHeartRadio app downloaded on your smartphone, just do that. You
can find it. It's easy and it's free, so there's

(02:56):
no cost to it. It's very easy. You just download it.
Then in your little search bar window or search magnifying
glass however you on your smartphone that it pops up.
You search AM thirteen hundred the zone, it'll pop right up.
And when it does two things. One we suggest you
make it a preset because that does make things a
little bit easier for you and the contesting side of

(03:19):
things might be able to circumvent some of the traffic
on that, but so that's one thing. And then when
it pops up on AM thirteen under the zone, you'll
see two buttons. One's a little white triangular button. That's
if you just want to listen to the programming, you
push that. But to be a part of the contesting,
there's a little red button with a white microphone. You

(03:42):
tap that button. That's our talk back microphone. You tap
that button, and immediately you're giving thirty seconds to leave
us a message up to thirty seconds. You don't even
need thirty seconds for this. What we're going to do
here is the first ten people who request a pair
of tickets to tomorrow night's Texas women's game against twenty

(04:05):
fourth rank Richmond on the talkback feature are going to
get them right and it shows the you know, kind
of barring a football technological term, route tree. It'll show
who who got in line, who queued up in line first.
So the first ten people to do it, all you
have to do download the iHeartRadio app, search AM thirteen

(04:28):
under the zone. It pops right up. Then hit the
little red button with a white microphone and say, yeah,
my name is John Smith or whatever, and I'd like
a pair of tickets to that women's basketball game tomorrow night.
That's all you have to do. Everything else is tracked
in there so that we can track in and reach
you and get you the tickets. So we're going to
do it right now, easy, yeah, right now. The first

(04:51):
ten people to ask for a pair of tickets, do
it by way of the talkback feature, and you'll get them.
It's that simple, all right. As I mentioned, three clock hour,
we'll hear more from Vic Schaeffer talking about the Texas
women's basketball team, and also we'll talk about long worn
men's hoops as well, coming off the loss to Duke
and getting ready for their home opener which is Saturday

(05:12):
afternoon against Lafayette. And by the way, this is a
good way to you know, getting into the queue to
get try to get a win. A pair of tickets
for the women's game is good practice for you, because
tomorrow Jake is going to give away five pair of
tickets for the men's home opener, and Mike Hardball Harge

(05:34):
will tomorrow morning on the morning kickoff with harje and
Mark Henry. So this is a good practice good warm up.
You can get tickets out of it by hopping into
the queue as you will for women's basketball tickets. But
we'll talk some women's basketball, men's basketball three o'clock hour
as well four o'clock hour. Gene Watson our MLB inside

(05:57):
from the Chicago White Sox front office. He's been out
at fall instructional meetings and stuff like that, organizational meetings
going on for his ball club. But we want to
like we do every year with him, and I've been
doing this with Gino for twenty years right around there.
I want to get his take on not only the

(06:20):
World Series, but the end of the season in baseball
and what we might be looking forward to in the
off season, what might happen. So we'll have an end
of season conversation with Geene Watson coming up in the
four o'clock hour, so we'll look forward to that. Really
tragic news today or learned about Cowboys defensive end Marshawn
Nehalan dying at the age of twenty four in an

(06:42):
apparent suicide, a self inflicted gunshot wound. And it happened
there was a igh speed chase on the Dallas North
Tollway between Dallas and Frisco and then he got on
the Dallas Parkway, which is really the the frontage road

(07:02):
there along the toll road. The vehicle crashed near Warren Parkway.
He fled the scene on foot. Officers were searching the
area with help from canine and drone units, and approximately
three hours later, Nelan was found dead with what appeared
to be a self inflicted gunshot wound. During the course
of the search, officers received information that Nelan had expressed

(07:23):
suicidal intentions and his agent described his death as a
pain that can hardly put into words. So they were
talking about having him having bounce with depression and things
of that nature. So there'll be more to come on that.

(07:44):
But it's sad and really sad, ironic, ironic, ironic thing.
He was the one who scored the touchdown for the
Cowboys on the block punt the other night, but tragic
circumstances there and more will be coming out on that,
and I'm sure probably in the coming days with regard

(08:05):
to Thursday night in fl Football, because there is a
game on this Thursday night the Raiders and Broncos that
hold any interest for you there, Jay.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, I'll be honest I'm probably skipping that one, are you.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Well, Well, I'm I'm gonna watch the highlights and you know,
discuss if anything's worth discussing tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Besides, it's worth watching Anderson and Weis tonight.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Right, that's a much better game, much less at stake.
But it's gonna piauk my interest a little more.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yep, I think. So we'll talk to NBA next hour two.
What a what a game that was in Los Angeles
last night between the Lakers and Spurs. We get to
that as well. All right, up next, we visit with
Roger Wallace from k XAM, their sports director and part
of our Longhorn Radio Network broadcasting. When we continue on
sports Radio Am thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio
app on in Hungry like the Wolf. My college days

(08:59):
are only slightly ahead of the college days of a
first guest, my broadcast partner on long worn football and baseball,
and also helps his aunt on men's basketball women's basketball.
Roger welds, you're a little bit younger than me, so
but early eighties, I would say, but eighty three were
you were probably still in school in Duran Durant Hit.

(09:20):
Weren't you? Oh?

Speaker 4 (09:22):
Yeah, yeah, I was sophomore junior year eighty three eighty four,
was my junior in college.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
So yeah, okay, all.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
Taking a little Daddy Bye Jack about Jack and Diane.
That's kind of a song I think of in college,
I guess because it's John Cougar Mellencamp back then, and
I was in Indiana, but that's the one that immediately
takes me to college.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Well that's because he's an Indiana guy, right.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
That's right, that's right exactly. Yeah, the combination there. But
of course I know Bill Duran Duran, right, the old
Furman nickname.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yeah, yeah, that's right, that's right. Did wasn't mellen Camps
Pink Houses about.

Speaker 5 (09:59):
In the.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
I'm not sure if it was. I mean he you know,
he didn't go to IU.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
He's right at the state. But about the oh, I.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
Believe, so, I believe.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
So yeah, growing up in the state and all that stuff, right, Yeah,
something like.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
That, Yeah for sure.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Okay, all right, Uh speaking of Indiana, I.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
Was a joke. I was joked because you know, I'm
a Buffet fan and a Springsteen fan. Yeah, and I
always say that that Mellencamp was kind of the Midwest
of those three Springsteen was the Northeast and Buffet was
the Tropics. That kind of all were tied into a
region of the country.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
I think that's a good comparison for a.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
Guy doesn't know much about music. That's my two cents.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
No, No, I think that, I think that kind of
fit in. I think that's I think that's correct.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
But we can make those happen.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Speaking of Indiana, as I was see, if you can
give everybody a just kind of a look or or
a vibe for what that state is experiencing with the
Hoosiers being number two in the college football Playoff rank
and then of course their appetite got wetted by last

(11:07):
year's entry into the playoff and all that, but now
being undefeated, being number two in the country, all that
kind of stuff. How crazy is the Hoosier state over
football right now?

Speaker 4 (11:20):
My guess from being afar but knowing their history, it's
almost got to be disbelief. There was no sign of
this coming. You know, this wasn't a slow build. This
was Kurt Signetti shows up, brings half of JMU with him,
and they kind of shock everybody by how good they are.
And then Lo and behold, they get better, and you've

(11:41):
got to understand that there's no there's no reason this logically,
this should be happening based on the last ten years.
It's not a slow build. It was a sudden build.
And I joke because my senior year they went zero
to eleven. Sam Whites was the head coach my June
your year, he gets one year in Indiana, it goes

(12:02):
three and eight and gets the Bengals job, and they
bring in They bring in a guy named Bill Mallory,
kind of a hard nosed guy that'd been around. He
was at Miami, Ohio when I was a kid. He
was in Colorado, Northern Olinia. They go zero and eleven,
but people saw, okay, we can see he's kind of
doing it the right way with toughness, and they went
on a pretty good run. And for them that means
going to bowl games. And they had Anthony Thompson, you know,

(12:24):
who was a Heisman file. So then he finished runner
up in the Heisman. But there's no reason to believe
that they were going to do this if you follow
this program in the last ten twenty years. I mean,
Tom Allen had some nice years and things like that,
but nothing like this, No.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
And I got to believe now that that, like you said,
maybe there's this belief. But the way Signetti talks is
that they should expect this and this is them and
they're not a flash in the pan. And it kind
of reminded me a little bit of John Schneider with
the Blue Jay saying this is you know, this is
not David and Goliath by any stretch or something like that.
That it's kind of getting that vibe from Signetty that hey,

(13:04):
this is where we're supposed to be.

Speaker 4 (13:06):
Yeah, and you know, simply looking at it. Can they
continue to hit on these transfer quarterbacks? I know, you
build a team from the inside out, on the lines,
et cetera, but you got to have a quarterback. And
they've hit two home runs with Rourke last year and
then obviously Fernando Mendoza this year. Now, they got really

(13:28):
good players around him that came from one place or another.
But I guess with the portal, you can always expect
that if you hit, you can get you know, the
biggest quarterback name in the portal. But it doesn't mean
he's going to hit the way these guys have. And
you're right, he's built the program kind of in his image.
I say, built a program two years but just kind

(13:48):
of why not us, no nonsense, not taking anything off anybody,
throw out all the cliches you want.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Wow, amazing to see and going to be interesting to
seeing on down the stretch, especially since now folks are
pointing to an Ohio state in Indiana Big ten championship
game is being you know, the fact though, who's going
to be number one? Even though Texas A and M.
There are those who say the Aggies may have something
to say about.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
That, right, And the big difference is as long as
they went out the winner, the loser will still undoubtedly
be a top four and get a first round by
because of the new format, I would think, so it's
not like you're playing for having to avoid that first
round game. But yeah, I can't wrap my head around

(14:35):
if people ask me what about your hoosiers, and I
just kind of go, oh, I don't. I don't want
to wake up because it just it just feels so
so odd. And that's why I say the Signetti deal,
and I know people saying why would you give him
that money? It kind of goes back to what I
was saying, there's no reason to believe that this program
is going to get here, and there's no reason to
believe that if he left, the program would stay there.

(14:57):
So in some respects, it's worth the gamble and the
absurd amount of money they've guaranteed them because they don't
know what it's like to have a program. Well, you
change coaches, you're still going to be good, maybe great.
This is just so far from what they know.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
And what I think is pretty intriguing about this. And
you and I have been around it enough around here
in these parts to see what the excitement means for
a football program in terms of those who have large
amounts of disposable income, and it leads into an increase

(15:34):
in substantial donations and those kinds of things. And I'm
kind of intrigued about how that may affect what is
commonly and I think accurately referred to as a basketball school.
Now Indiana may be changing that mindset complete, But are
these same people who are are giving a lot of

(15:54):
money to the Indiana basketball program. In other words, is
the Showt family giving a lot of money to football too?
Who knows how that dynamic is built now, because we
know programs are being built on the money that they
can pay out through in il and facilities and suites

(16:15):
and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
Yeah, no doubt. There's a company in Bloomington, Cook Company,
and that was one of the big places where nowadays,
I'm sure they're a big contributor, but it was where
you go to IU, you're an athlete, you get a degree,
you probably if you don't have any other options, they'll
probably find a place for you within the company. And
back in the eighties, that's a huge deal for athletes

(16:38):
that can't go on and that's why, you know, you
make contacts and do all that and you've got it
kind of a landing spot. And I'm sure that company
is involved heavily in NIL and like you said, some
other families, but for sure, I would think they never
dreamt that the money would go towards a top notch

(16:59):
football program. And I'm sure they're happy now. It's a
basketball school that hadn't that much basketball success, so you know,
it's kind of like, all right, when are you going
to be a basketball school again? As far as results
and not just the name and the you know, the history.

Speaker 6 (17:14):
Right right?

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Good point. Visiting with Roger Wilso a little more about
the College Football Playoff and about the rankings and the
big games this week College Game Day's going to Lubbock
this weekend. Tech of course to the week that we
were in Lexington for the game of Kentucky. Tech dropped
that game at Arizona State. This game this this Saturday

(17:37):
would be YU. I don't know if it's making or
break it for Texas Tech, but if they do lose
the game it's going to I would imagine it be
tough to get in, certainly to the Big Twelve Championship
and maybe even in the College Football Playoff if they
dropped this one, even though it would not be a
bad loss since it's a top ten school.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
That's what I was going to say, is if they
if they lose and they don't get to the Big Twelve,
well then you're gonna have a tough, uh tough ask
for them to uh to get into the twelve. Uh
they're still talking about the Big Twelve. Is you know
a lot of people think they're not a lot to
get multiple teams in the playoffs, especially you know if
b YU runs the table, who's that who's that second team?

(18:19):
So you know, Arizona State without Sam Levitt. Uh, they're
kind of patchworking it together and uh, we'll see. But yeah,
what a weekend it's gonna be. You know, we've been
part of those weekends in Lubbock and it is a
it's it's quite a production out there, and I can
only imagine what it's been like when they're getting in
they're getting in line on Monday for the game day,

(18:39):
not for the game, for game game day.

Speaker 7 (18:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:46):
So you know, oh, I know, well, you were part
of the most bizarre scene, and that was the bus
pulling in for practice the night before Chris Beard's return.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
I've often said that was that was like, uh, that
was like Mad Max Beyond thunder Dome where all the
people are looking down there to you, like that Thunderdome
scene where they're all cheering for your death, so to speak.

Speaker 4 (19:08):
If we say it's different to cheer against you and
to do what they do towards Texas, it's it's next level.

Speaker 6 (19:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah, absolutely, let's shift high school football. Roger wallis joining
us right now, and before I get to your game,
before I get to five A, let's talk about six A.
Because it seems like we do this every single year.
The mix up that is twenty five six A. Now

(19:36):
things are going to change a little bit next year
because Manor has five A numbers and they're probably going
to drop back down the five A. Hearing rumors that
could be the situation with Vandergrift as well. We'll find
out over time on that all the Rouse could be
moving up to six A. So who knows, but I
can't imagine it'll be a great seismic change in the

(19:57):
realignment that normally hares Leander I SD schools and round
Rock is SD schools. And it's the combination of those
two districts that really shakes everything up, isn't it. I mean,
Huddle's gonna get in obviously, But but the mere fact
that those Leander and round Rock is SD schools beat
up on one another sets up crazy scenarios like what

(20:19):
we may have this weekend.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yeah, and uh, fortunately you were nice enough to share
the uh the goodwill hunting equation with me.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
But and it's the emergence of McNeil, right, I mean,
the fact that they've turned that into a really good
program kind of is the is the fly and the
ointment of what you know, used to be four we're
competing for for maybe the order of the playoffs. But
now like this weekend, you go into the final weekend,
it's five for four and pretty good team's going to

(20:49):
get left out of the playoffs. Uh, in that district.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah, and then and then, uh, what I was telling
you before, You know, that great game you had last week,
Huddle and Vista Ridge huddo rallies back from down thirteen
and the four to win thirty five thirty four. That
one point, that one point could very well not guaranteed,
but could very well be the difference for Vista Ridge
if they get in between facing Booie and by District,

(21:14):
who they already beaten the non district game that you
and I I've worked with you on your telecast of it,
and playing Lake Travis in by District one point and
I've got a game tomorrow night on Victory Plus between
Dent and Ryan and Byrdville, and Ryan's going to be
in the playoffs. They are one point away from a
perfect season. The one point was a one point loss

(21:36):
to Alito, the annual Giant. So one point makes a difference. Done,
and especially when you're getting into tie breakers and all
that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (21:44):
Yeah, amazing, amazing, How you go through it all and
it comes down to that, and you know, you broke
it down. But bron Rocks certainly hoping that McNeil wins
tomorrow because that kind of keeps them in the conversation
even if they don't, don't be Vandergriff.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
True enough, All right, let's shift your game into five
A Division one. Uh in in twelve five A D
one Anderson at Weiss. The computer just so you'll know,
the computer is liking Weiss to win at home by
ten points. And and you know that we're talking about
you know, Wiss.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
That's that's that's amazing. I'm surprised. Yeah, yeah, three hundred
and forty four yards rushing last week, and Anderson's walking
in there with Caleb Crenshaw.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Yeah, and uh and and the computer likes it by
ten at home against an Anderson team, it's nine and zero. Now,
when you talk to Donald Hatcher, is there is there
a record of the last time the Trojans went ten
and oh in a regular season? Because I don't remember
that happened.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
I got a credit I got a credit card of
Yates from Dave Campbell's. He says, it's never happened.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
I didn't they think so.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
They won ten win season. I do remember that. I
believe Charlie Tanner was on that team up Longhorn offensive lineman.
But I don't think they went undefeated. I think that
was where the playoff win. And the other thing I
credit card Yates for is that was the only time
they won a playoff game more than you know, one
of what a game in the playoffs. So yeah, that

(23:18):
now they could be in. They want that outright too, Craig.
I mean, if it consolidated, they're gonna beat Lockhart yep.
So even though Anderson as the tiebreaker, they don't want
to share that that trophy.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah yeah, they want it out right. Even though they
beat A and M, they still want it out right.
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. So I imagine it does mean
a lot to that team. And they've already kind of
made their playoff arrangements for next week and all that
other kind of stuff, So I know there's a lot
of excitement about that. And uh and the four spots
already locked in with console, college station and wish, but

(23:53):
you know why still having things to play for as
well as they go into this game.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
Well yeah, and they're really young. I mean, first of all,
talking to Malcolm Hill. If you're if you're in a
bad mood, talk to that dude for fifteen minutes and
that'll change. The first year head coach at Weis. But
you know, they're so young, including a sophomore quarterback who's
already thrown for you know, nearly six thousand yards in
his career and he's playing game ten of his sophomore season.

(24:22):
But they're stacked with talent. They're stacked with D one
commits and or recruits, Trey More, their outstanding receivers going
to love it after the game to visit Tech this weekend,
and you know, up and down so Anderson the same way.
I mean, yahum Riley, I was. I was kind of curious, Craig,
you know, since it's an off week, and I know

(24:44):
coaches like to get out, and I know the head
coach doesn't like to get too far away if he
can avoid it. So wonder maybe if if Sark might
make an appearance at the feel between all the young
talent at Weiss and and one of his commits and
yahim Riley, he may be out of town. He maybe
on the on the chopper somewhere, but it kind of
crossed my mind on an off Thursday.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah. Absolutely. Uh, let me ask you this. This is
kind of like an offshoot of what I do with
Greg Tevor when I give him three games and tell
him the pick one. He could be up, but he
can only be at one. But I don't go that far.
But I would just tell you which one intrigues you more,
Dripping Springs at Westlake or bast Drop at Liberty Hill.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
Well, yes, I gotta go Basstrop Liberty Hill. First of all,
the contrasting style. Second of all, they're both undefeated in
district play, so an outright district titles on the line.
I'll go with that one.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
And you know the by the way, the computer likes
bass Drop by three, I thought that was I thought
that Liberty Hill.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
I guess I'm not surprised. I guess I'm not surprised.
I mean, Liberty Hill. They can't you know, until if
they run that offense, they probably can't afford to get
get a couple of quick ones against them and then
they're playing catch up.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, but.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
I have six a. I mean Vanderff Round Rock, Round Rock.
I just don't know how good they are this year,
even though they have that win over McNeil, but Huddle McNeil, uh,
hud tho's got a chance to share a district title.
How about that story? Yeah, with their their young head coach.
Let me out right, if round Rock surprises Vandergriff.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yeah, I started say, let me, let me, let me
present this scenario for you. Say round Rock wins at
Dragon Stadium tomorrow Daver tomorrow night over Vandergriff and uh
and McNeil beats Huddle.

Speaker 4 (26:31):
Uh and there you go the way.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yeah. Yeah, well, and then let's just say uh that
uh you know Westlake or Dripping Springs Beaks Westlake, you
get have a by district matchup between Vandergriff and Westlake
in the two.

Speaker 7 (26:48):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah, it's an old district game, right, Yeah, yeah, it
could happen. Yeah, that would be something else.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, it could definitely happen if those things happened. Because
the perhaps the more likely scenario is a by district
match up in a rematch of the season opener Vander
Rift at Dripping Springs. You could have that in the
by district round as well, or.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
We've had that before, I believe, right vant the better
of them in the regular season after a loss and
the postseason after a loss yep in the.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Regular season, yep, could be. I guess that's what makes.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
Uh George down.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
That's a good one tomorrow, Yeah it is. And uh,
like I said, you could have that. And then if
rals is somehow able to get in, but not likely,
because they it would it looks like what has to
happen there is Lake Belton would wind up having to
lose to Chaparral. And you saw Chaparral and so that
that probably doesn't look very likely.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
I don't think they're equipped.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yeah, yeah, it might be. It might in Yeah, and
and so uh, if it winds up happening that way,
then Belton Lake Belton winds up getting the fourth spot.
But uh, you know, but then, and as you you
and I were taxing about earlier, if Georgetown beat Cedar
Park and east View handles Leander, Eastview winds up as

(28:06):
the two seed, uh and Cedar Park last of three, So.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
Have back to back nights of playoff football at Berkele Blog.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Then this week it could be fun.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
Hey, I I love keeping an eye on what's out
there on the potential Thursday night playoff game.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Right before I let you go you'll you'll step in
for me tomorrow night on the on the women's game
as they played Richmond. A good Richmond. You saw it
a year ago because you went up there to do
that game, and vict been talkobnized. This is this is
all for early in the year to be playing a
ranked team. And I'm sitting there thinking, Sean Miller's thinking
hold my beer, you know, because of because of what
they had to deal with do But but his point

(28:42):
is made. I mean, it's a good Richmond team that'll
come into face Taxas tomorrow night.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
It is, and it's a team that was they were
ready to go last year at Richmond. Problem was the
crowd was ready, the team was, and Texas jumped on
them early. It was a noon start on a Sunday,
uh and Texas really jumped on him. And then Richmond
made a ballgame of it. It was eleven point game.
But They've got a couple of really good scores and

(29:06):
Maggie Dooley, who Texas did a nice job on and
turned it over a bunch of times. So yeah, I
think it's one of those good, really good non conference
games at home where you're not you know, it doesn't
jump off the page initially, and then you dig a
little deeper and go, wow, that's a that's a good opponent.
And then they'll you know, they'll probably cruise a little
bit until they get to Las Vegas, no doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Hey, I appreciate the time. Thanks, have fun tonight with
a call, and then fun tomorrow night.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
All right, thanks Craig.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
All right, that is Roger Wallace Sports Rectord k x
an my broadcast partner in Long Worn Football. Roger will
step in foring tomorrow night on the women's game as
they played Richmond. Roger will also step in for me
a week from Saturday on men's basketball at home against

(29:56):
Kansas City, the former university. Well they still are called
officially un Chirsty Missouri Kansas City, the ruse, that's it UMKC.
But they just go buy Kansas City like Memphis State
University goes by Memphis and U T Chattanooga goes by
Chattanooga UNC Charlotte goes by Charlotte, that kind of thing.
And uh so he'll step in on that as I'll
be in Athens, Georgia for the long Horn football game

(30:20):
at George and Keith Morland, who of course was my
broadcast partner in long Foreign Football for nine seasons and
still steps in and helps us on occasions like this.
We'll fill in for Roger on that football game, as
Roger will do the men's game against Kansas City. All right,
Coming up next, we have Inconceivable on Thursday afternoon here
on Sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the

(30:41):
iHeartRadio app second hour. The program here on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred zone. Craig Way with you alongside of

(31:03):
the producer Jay Carmon. Glad to have you with us
here on a Thursday afternoon. Normally I say this and
I still stand by it, although it's put a little
more pause into my thought I've said over the past
couple of years since I've been back on the station.

(31:24):
It's low over two years now I came back. I
think my first day back here was August twenty eighth
to twenty twenty three. So you know, I was here
for nineteen years from ninety seven before it was actually
part of the iHeart family, before iHeart was part of
the iheartfan before iHeart was even known Clear Channel Broadcast

(31:45):
Clear Channel Communications, but before that, even when it was
owned by Butler broadcasting the old Cave at AM thirteen
hundred for years and years named for the veterans far
orangsin We're and we had Veterans Recognition Day last Saturday
at the Long Worn football game, and there's a Veterans

(32:10):
date coming up. So there's all of that, and then
it became part of the was cap Star Broadcasting and
then ultimately then Clare Channel and then iHeart. So I
was there for nineteen years, left went across town when
the football and basketball and baseball broadcast went across town

(32:31):
as well, and was over there for about six and
a half years. And because I left at the end
of January and twenty seventeen and came back here when
the games came back and all this stuff, and they
asked him come back and host a program on this
station in starting like I said, at the end of

(32:52):
August of twenty twenty three. And it was at this
station before it was known as The Zone, when it
was THEE hundred, it was a news talk and we
went to all sports format in November. October October fifteen,
nineteen ninety eight, was when we took the step into
all sports radio and became known as the zone. So

(33:14):
many of your will tell I'll tell you all this
background to tell you that after the pandemic, what became
abundantly clear to me was that the busiest day for
travel the community of the week was Tuesday. A lot
of folks, because of what happened with COVID, with the pandemic,
elected not to work on Mondays and even Fridays, and

(33:38):
many have carried that out ever since. Some have returned
to the workplace five days weeks, five days a week.
Many others are doing three day weeks or four day weeks,
but usually it's bookended by an off day, either Monday
or Friday. Did you notice that about where you were
going on?

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Well?

Speaker 3 (33:56):
I did well.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
I mean I was, I was in college for the pandemic,
but I was just going to add that coming in
Fridays sometimes if it's just me in here without you know,
while you're out on the road with the Longhorns, you know,
I can get the whole place to myself.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Graveyard, it's quieted here, and it's like that even when
the long runs are in town. A lot of times
we're in here on Friday. So the point was is
that Tuesday, ever since the pandemic, and like I said,
I'll still stand by it. For the most part, is
the worst travel commute day of the week, especially going home,

(34:29):
but even coming in, because folks are going into the
office on Tuesdays that we're not going in on Mondays,
plus you're regular Tuesday. But I will tell you this,
making a firm bid to catch up to Tuesdays is Thursdays.
And maybe it's because people are trying to get out
of town the weekend or whatever, you get one last
day in the office or whatever. But those two days

(34:51):
Tuesday coming off of for many people a day away
from the office on Monday and Thursday the last day
going into a day when they would not be in
the office. The traffic's pretty ruthless around here. I mean
Wednesday's don't picnic either, but I mean Tuesdays and Thursdays
are are pretty hectic.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
I got stuck in some kind of lunch rush earlier
today just going up to the arts, just going up
to the Arboretum.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
And it's trying to come back down three to sixty.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
I had to get an extension corded at home depot,
and coming back down three sixty, I got stuck behind
a big work convoy laying barriers on the new you know,
the three sixty project.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
That's supposed to be a ten minute drive to get here.
It took me about twenty five.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
I will tell you this. Since I returned here on
like I said, full time status August twenty eighth, twenty
twenty three, three sixty has been torn up by construction
and showing no signs of being finished any time, not

(35:54):
only in the near future, but in the foreseeable future
like that because they're widening and all that other kind
of stuff.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
More time to listen to us if you're sitting in traffic.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Well, and if that's the case, we hope that everything's
okay for you and that uh and that it works
out okay for you there. So anyway, I just I
thought I would mention that. Uh. A couple other things
I need to mention. One, we've been uh. We made
the offer today to give out some tickets to tomorrow

(36:29):
evening's contest for Texas women's basketball Longhorns will play The Longhorns,
who are ranked fourth in the country, will play twenty
fourth ranked Richmond tomorrow night at Moody's Dinner. And I hope,
I hope it works. I hope you get a chance
to go and see the game. We're giving away tickets,

(36:50):
and I would say, while we still have a few
more payers, there are yours for the asking, but you
have to go through our talk back feature. Not it's
not complicated, but that it's just the path to do it.
If you don't already have the iHeartRadio app downloaded on
your phone, easy to do and it's free. You just
download it on your smartphone and once you have the

(37:10):
iHeartRadio app downloaded, you search on that app for AM
thirteen under the zone. It pops straight up. And when
it pops up, then you'll see a little red button
with a white microphone. You tap that. That's our talkback microphone.
You can leave us a message up to thirty seconds.
You don't even need That I have to do is
say hey, my name is so and so blah blah blah,
and I'd like a pair of tickets for the women's

(37:32):
game more night while we have them to give away.
So do that now if you want to, and Jake
when he's here tomorrow may have some tickets get away
for the men's game.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Right, Yeah, that's the that's the plan.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, yeah, so anyway.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Yeah, we've got we've given it.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
Well, we've got some people already in the queue, but
there's some tickets still out there.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Okay, all right, If you just want to text the
program and visit with us, we always give you that
opportunity as well. You have to do is text the
word Texas follow by your question or comment to eight
one five three zero. So you text the question followed
by your comment to eight one five three zero. Standard
messaging and data rates may.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Apply, and you can also talk to us via our
stream on x YouTube and Facebook. And Sally says, Yankees
bring DOWNNY Baseball home.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
H You know that would be good if they did
add him, if they got him back. It didn't work
for him in La, it didn't work in Florida. I mean,
he'd done a good job by all measurements in uh Toronto,
but I think he wants to manage again.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
Now.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
They're not going to get rid of Aaron Boone. He's
doing well enough. They've they've been in the World Series,
he got in the playoffs. They're beginning in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
Aaron Boone, Alex Cora and then two new hires now
Kurt Suzuki and Craig Stamon. Yeah, you've got of the Padres,
You've got new we got former Nationals all over the place.
Ye managing a major league baseball right now?

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah, there are something. Yeah. Then you got Tony Vitello
managing the Giants. See how that goes, See how that goes.
We'll see how that goes. Somebody mentioned that, you know,
we were talking about when we had Roger Wallace on
last hour and he's talking about the belief that has
been instilled into the Indiana football program and the Indiana

(39:29):
fan base about how this guy, Kurt Signetti has really
instilled belief and belief can go a long way. I
watch Sean Miller work with this basketball team and watching practice,
and I see how he teaches the game of this group.
And there's going to be games like the other night
where they're physically just outmatched, where they're going to have

(39:52):
a difficult time trying to be the team like Duke.
But there they were with them leading him at halftime
and we're down three with nine and a half to go,
and the war ethic and the belief can help in that.
Somebody put down Grant McCaslin, who's the basketball coach of
Texas Tech said, you have to believe you can win
every game you play, and if that's the case, you

(40:14):
have to believe you can win a national championship. He said,
I've always liked that coach speak. It might be some
coach speak, but you do try to impart it to
your players to get them to understand you have to
have the belief that you can win the game when
you go out there. That's one of the things that
we talked about in great measure about Vanderbilt and their

(40:35):
football program and how Diego Pavia, even more so than
the head coach Clark Lee, how Pavia become kind of
a pied piper with his teammates started last year even
more so this year, about they firmly believe can win
every football game. And they won seven other nine and

(40:56):
the two they lost. One was to Alabama that was
a fourth quarter. The other here in Austin were the
long runs dominated for better than three quarters and then
now and Vanderbilt made that furious push to come back
and cut it to three, and it came down to
an on side kick bouncing out of bounds to make
sure to ensure the Texas victory. So yeah, belief can

(41:20):
be a very very strong thing, and it can go
a long way toward helping you achieve your goals. Now,
you have to have coaching, and you have to have
more than anything, And all coaches will tell you this
great talent makes a coach that much better. I was
on a conference call this morning, a zoom with the

(41:41):
head coach of Denton, Ryan Dave Hennigan. He's had amazing
success there. He's won a state championship, He's been in
the finals several times. They've had a great deal and
he's got six players right now who are in the
National Football League. But he will tell you, he said,

(42:01):
I'd like to think I might have had something to
do with someone he goes. But I'm telling you a
lot of these guys are great, great athletes, And at
the top of his list is Anthony Hill, who plays
for Texas. Of course, his own son, Seth Hanigan was
a quarterback in Memphis and now on an NFL roster.
His younger son, Quinn Hennigan, is the quarterback now. But
coaches will tell you it's it's all about, you know,

(42:23):
having the players to help you get over the hump
and have it make a big difference for you. So
I agree with the text about Grant mccaly and mcaslyn
is a self built guy. He was from Irving at
Irving High. I remember when he was a walk on
at Baylor, it was just part of it. Became a
GA and he was very friendly and come over and

(42:45):
we visited him a lot. And then he got his
opportunity after being a Division one assistant, went and won
a JUCO national championship at Midland, and then after that
got an opportunity to North Texas, got him into the
NCAA tournament, pulled the upset of a Purdue, also won

(43:05):
an n I t and then he's gone to Texas
Tech and done great things. Other number eleven in the
country and in the preseason poll they're good.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
Yeah, if they stay healthy, they're gonna be a problem.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah, yep, absolutely, So I understand completely what the texter
are saying and totally agree with it. But I would
also tell you Grant Chasm will tell you this too,
because that helps when you got really good players, and
it goes hand in hand. If you're recruiting good players
and getting good players in your system, then you're recruiting
guys who will believe what you're teaching and what and

(43:37):
what you have to offer them, and they will follow you. Like,
you know, look at look, look at the fact what
the Longhorns have done with Sean Miller coming in. Not
only does Sean Miller come in, but he's got Dylan
Swain with him, who came with him from Xavier. In
addition to the holdovers there, he gets a guy like
Modus Pocatitis who transferred him from Florida Atlantic Cam Heidi

(44:01):
transferred in from Purdue Lsina Treori, and you'll get a
chance to hear from him mar he followed him in
from Xavier and and Jake will have some comments from
Lacina Treyori tomorrow. So there's different guys who can make
a difference there, and if they're believing in the head coach,
it helps a lot.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
I know he's not a not a holdover, but Denklin
Duru you mentioned being excited about watching practice. Yeah, we
chatted from Charlotte. I thought he flashed in that game.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Yeah for a guy. Guys like Duru and Vocatitis, they're
newbies and they're still learning the game and figuring out
some things, and like Sean Miller, told me in the
postgame show, he said, you know, he said, Modest looked
like a bull in a china shop in some measures,
but in other measures he was very very close to
a twenty and ten game. Twenty points, ten rebounds. He's

(44:51):
got skills. Yeah, and it's just gonna And this speaks
to what basically what Sean was saying. This is going
to take time, this will be process, but he's got
strong belief in his staff, in the guys he has,
and the guys he feels he can get in here
to make this program a national contender.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
That's like a glass half full thing. Your center's playing
in his first game with his teammates. You don't get
much out of a couple of your you know, senior guards,
and you hang with Duke for thirty minutes.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Yep, exactly now again, and we said this yesterday and
Shawn says the same thing, and his players say the
same thing. Nobody's in this for moral victories. But what
they are in it for it is progress. And if
you can see them take steps along the way, then
then it helps out and makes a difference. All Right,
coming up, we're gonna hear from the women's head coach

(45:43):
Vick Schaeffer talking about their matchup tomorrow night against twenty
fourth rank Richmond at Moody Center. When we continue on
thirteen under the Zone in the iHeartRadio app, You're on
a Thursday afternoon. Have you seen the Bruce Springsteen film yet?

Speaker 2 (46:05):
I haven't, And here's why. The man who got me
into Bruce springstea and my father said it was terrible.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Wow. I've heard great things about it.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
He didn't like it, so maybe I've got to go
see it myself. But it made me less eager.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
I wonder why he didn't like it.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
He said it was cheesy cheese. I don't think that
really is. He doesn't say that often, so that's why
it held weight.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Interesting, very interesting, Okay, all right, I've read great reviews
on it. It's the same guy who plays.

Speaker 3 (46:38):
One in the Bear Aunt, Jeremy Allen White.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
Yeah. Yeah, I already did a really good job. I'm excited.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
I was excited for it. I did see one battle
after another that was terrific.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
Yeah. And your dad is a big Springsteen fan, right, huge?
All right, So maybe it's a little too close forest
for the trees type thing. Maybe potentially, maybe he's looking for,
you know, it to be a little more authentic than
it would probably be. I I can understand that.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
And maybe he was wishing that they took a different
angle on it, you know, some some of like like
some of these other biopicks that have become such a
popular genre.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Right, Okay, all right, I don't know. It didn't work
for him, Okay. Vic Shaefer getting his team ready to
play Richmond tomorrow night. Of course, the Longbreck's went to
a final four last year, first one they've been to
in twenty two years. They went thirty five and four.
The players got the rings Final four rings the other night,

(47:36):
which was pretty cool. And then Vic was asked how
does he prevent the pressure that can come from having
played in the final four of the year ago as
he gets ready to get this team ready to try
to go get back to one.

Speaker 8 (47:54):
It's just what our said kids sign up for. It's
you know, we don't run from it. We don't run
from the expectations. They're all over our gym in here,
in in in graphics talking about our lead eates that
we've been to four of the five years we've been here,
our conference tournament championships that we've had two out of
the the five years our regular season championships that we've

(48:17):
had two out of the five years, three out of
the five years. Actually excuse me, so uh, you know,
we're uh, we're we just don't run from that. So
we our kids understand that. We try to preach to them,
you know, the processes, the prize. Don't get caught looking ahead.

(48:39):
We're not going to talk about what we're gonna do.
We're just gonna put our head down and do it.

Speaker 6 (48:43):
And so.

Speaker 8 (48:45):
Again, they got their rings the other night, Booker looks
at me and goes, man, there's a lot of hard
work that went into that little ring.

Speaker 6 (48:51):
I'm like, yep, that's exactly right.

Speaker 8 (48:54):
And they ain't giving them out for a finishing second, third,
or fourth. So you know, I think our kids understand
that when they come here, see expectation, when you have
Texas across your chest, and.

Speaker 6 (49:07):
So it's just what we do, right.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Yeah, it kind of is. You think about all those
elite eates went there, they were finally able to break
through and get to the final four. So you figure
it's three of the leit eights in a final four
in five years.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
It's not too shabby.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (49:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
The one year they consider to be just a colossal
shortcoming was the second round tournament loss in his second year.
Next well, he was asked about his freshman because he
has some freshmen, and of course, right at the top
of the list as a Leah crumpa McDonald's All Americans,
who was asked about how good his freshmen look right now.

Speaker 8 (49:49):
I've really been pleased with both my freshman, Grace and
Aaliyah Eliah's. Man, she's gonna be great, y'all. She's got
a presence about her. She plays with tremendous confidence, and uh,
I just you know, I think that kid's gonna be
really special. And she's already done some really special things here.

Speaker 6 (50:10):
She's a great kid, incredible young lady.

Speaker 8 (50:13):
And uh, you know, love her family, been raised right
the whole nine yards, and so she's she's been great.
Grace is still probably trying to figure it out a
little bit. She got here late. She didn't get to
go with us to Canada. She wasn't even here at
school yet, and so she's still learning plays and trying

(50:35):
to figure out speed of the game and those kinds
of things. But I like her competitiveness, and you know,
she's somebody that can shoot.

Speaker 6 (50:43):
The ball.

Speaker 8 (50:45):
Pretty well. Made of three of the other night in
the game. So both those kids have been great. They're
great kids. Uh, they work extremely hard, and again, really
excited about both of them and what they bring to
the table.

Speaker 6 (51:01):
Aliyah, she just man.

Speaker 8 (51:03):
I love her confidence, like the kid plays with a
little bit of a swag to her and she just
a freshman.

Speaker 6 (51:09):
So again, I think she gonna be really special.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
Brig Cunningham also presents that now she's not a freshman,
she's a transferm from Arizona. But Cunningham has looked impressive
so far, and Schaeffer was asked how she affects the
rim presence and also on the offensive end, they're pick
and roll.

Speaker 8 (51:30):
Well, we're still working on pick and roll coverages, that's
for sure. Between her and Kyla, both those kids are
are good helpers, and you know, I think they want
to be good helpers. They want to protect the rim,
but at the same time, they have to be very
agile and very specific in our pick and roll coverage.

(51:50):
So you know, I think that's a work in progress.
We've had thirty practices and I'm not so sure we've
worked thirty days on pick and roll defense. Probably should.
I know it's in today's workout, but I think that's
a work in progress for us. So I think what

(52:13):
I really love about Brea is just her toughness. She's
she's a physical kid. Shouldn't mind setting a good physical screen.
I got to get her to stop filling a little bit.
She's been in some foul trouble with me. But the
kid's been thrown into the fire because Kyle has been
hurt a lot since she's been since Brey has been here.

(52:34):
So Brey has had to and it's probably good for Brea.
It's probably why she's on the watch list. She's she's
had to really do a lot and play a lot,
and uh, you know, the kid's tough.

Speaker 6 (52:47):
I love her.

Speaker 8 (52:48):
She got some stuff to her and uh, you know,
I really like that about her.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
He mentioned Kyle Oldacre and the post player who had
the ankle injury when they played in those two games
in Toronto, those two international games back in August. But
she has come back from the injury and she's gone
through the process, and Shaefferd was asked how Kyla has
looked in this process of going through the rehab then

(53:15):
back into game action.

Speaker 6 (53:17):
Yeah, she's looked okay.

Speaker 8 (53:20):
You know again, I think, uh, she went seven for
seven the other night and I think she went made
some free throws and so you know, when I watched
the film, you know, on all our kids, there are
certain things that we've got to address. And you know,
for for her and Bray a lot, we're still working

(53:42):
on conditioning and playing hard and not staying when somebody
boxes you out, not standing there behind them, but trying
to work to get side by side. You might not
get in front of them, but if you can get
side by side, you've got a chance to go get it.

Speaker 6 (53:55):
But she is a great helper and wants to help
her teammates.

Speaker 8 (53:59):
Every question she ask in practice usually has to do
with she needs an answer for that.

Speaker 6 (54:04):
So she knows that what she can do helping her teammates.

Speaker 8 (54:07):
So, you know, just just trying to get her back
in the fold. Those you know, six weeks that she
missed in the summer were pretty critical, so she's playing
catch up already in any additional days that she misses
just puts her further behind the eight ball.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Well, another curiosity of this basketball team with regard to
the backcourt is the role of Brianna Preston. Now, brie
as we know, maybe the fastest player on the team.
She can scoot, she can get up and down the
floor quickly. She's improved on her defense and her drives

(54:47):
to the bucket. The shooting is something that it's still
a work in progress. But she does a great job
coming off the bench to spell Rory Harmon, and there
are times during games when she and Rory will be
on the floor together. It's kind of a twin point
guard alignment, and it worked really well in the Sweet
sixteen game against Tennessee last March and the Elite eight
win over TCU. So Vick Schaeffer was asked about bree

(55:10):
Preston's role and the shooting part of it and what
should be expected going forward.

Speaker 8 (55:15):
No, I think she's been very consistent from summer to now.
She's got a thumb, you know, she's she's we're protecting
her thumb right now, but I think we're on the
we're on the road to a pretty good recovery here
pretty quick. But she's had a little thumb issue and
we're really taking that thing, you know, significantly. I think

(55:36):
would be an easy word and so a correct word.
And so we're just trying to get her through, you know,
a week or two. But she's been shooting the ball
well in practice, even with her thumb taped, and the
other night she was really good. And again kid plays
with a lot of confidence. And y'all saw that kid's electric. Man,

(55:57):
I mean she is, She's gonna it's you know, I
have a saying I tell our kids all the time,
you can't run faster and the ball and be dribbled.

Speaker 6 (56:07):
That's a problem.

Speaker 8 (56:09):
Well, there's not too many people that can run faster
than Bree when she's dribbling the ball. I mean she
blew by people the other night, and a kid is.
I just keep saying that she's electric and you know,
really confident kid, and and excited about her, you know,

(56:30):
in her future here as well.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Yeah, I think common is a good way to describe
in visiting with her, she just kind of bubbles over
with her energy and accepts her role well. And it
does add to the depth for text. We're gonna hear.
What's some more from Vic shav some interesting things on
coming off that final four and getting ready to make
another run and getting ready for a good Richmond Spiders
team will continue right here on sports Radio AM thirteen

(56:54):
under the zone of the iHeartRadio app One of my
favorite bands of all time, Electric Light Orchestra. What a
great show ELO put on at Moody Center last year,
and it was sad what happened at the end of

(57:17):
their tour. It was the over and Out tour and
their final tour, and of course Jeff Lynn is the
brains behind all of it. In fact, the band was
created recreated as Jeff Lynn's ELO. But he had a
lot of the same session musicians and ones he'd used
in concert before working with him, and it was great

(57:38):
when they got down to two shows remaining on the
tour and both were in England, in his native England,
one I think in Hyde Park and another maybe at
the Royal Albert Hall or another. And he had an
accident getting out of a cab. I think he injured
his hand and they had to call it done. He
had two shows left, couldn't couldn't finish the tour because

(57:59):
of that. So hopefully he's all right. He's in his
mid seventies. He was learning at a very young age,
as a teenager sitting in the abbey road studios watching
the Beatles work. Wow. Yeah, so and and some of
his musical stuff is just genius. It's it's just tremendous.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
I don't know that much about Elo, but every time
I hear an old song of Theirs come on, I
seem to like it.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
So maybe I'll get more into him.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Read read about Jeff Lynn. He's the brains behind everything
with it and just tremendous. That's his voice obviously on
it as well. I just got a book in the
mail I ordered months ago from Barnes and Noble entitled Wings,
The Story of a Band on the Run, and it's
and and you know, it's all about McCartney and the

(58:47):
Wings and everything Paul McCartney and Wings coming out of
the Beatles thing. So anyway, there's there's a lot of
that stuff, those British groups. All right, Let's let's hear
some more from Vic Schaeffer in talking about his basketball team.
And one thing that I wanted to go to is

(59:09):
the non conference schedule, and and Vic talks about this
as well as the young players and the recruiting that
are all a part of this, because in non conference
scheduling it can get kind of snippy when you're trying
to set up non conference scheduling with certain programs, especially

(59:31):
if you think other programs might be targeting players of
your own trying to nudge them into the portal or
something like that. There's there's some given take that goes
on in this sort of thing. So Vic was asked,
is there a perfect non conference schedule to be crafted together?

Speaker 6 (59:49):
It is really challenging.

Speaker 8 (59:51):
I mean, I don't need any help with my schedule,
but you know, because we played this sec ACC Challenge game,
you're always either going to have a really good University
of non conference game, either at home or on the road.
And then because we've as I've told y'all, I'll play

(01:00:12):
the Boston Celtics the best out of seven if they're
going to give me a million dollars to give my
kids an nil. So we've signed up for that with
in Vegas for the next three years. So you know,
when you do that, you're you're you're you're putting yourself
out there and in UH. You know certainly those games

(01:00:34):
you know, UH will challenge you early, and so you've
got to be I think the thing, as you know,
for me as a coach, while we're We've talked about
developing toughness and competitive spirit and all that early, like
you got to get healthy, you got to stay healthy,
because you've got no chance in those games in November
if you're not healthy or early December. Uh, now you

(01:01:00):
flip that. My kids would much rather play those teams
in some three named directional school. But for me, when
you've got a bunch of young kids, a lot of times,
you know you're trying to develop your depth, and it's
hard to develop your depth if you know, if you're
playing some of these other teams or a lot of them,

(01:01:21):
if that makes sense. So it is a it's a
balance and act. It's really that's what it is. And
you know some years you'll have better teams, older teams
than others. I think where we are in recruiting, we
feel like every year we're going to be talented. Doesn't

(01:01:43):
matter if you're eighteen or twenty two. If you're good enough,
you're good enough. And I think that's where we really feel.
Like the freshmen that we've been recruiting the last few years,
they're all really good.

Speaker 6 (01:01:55):
You know, they're in the top ten. If they're not,
we went after them.

Speaker 8 (01:02:00):
They were a perfect fit for what we want to do,
and somebody may be misevaluating them, which happens all the time.

Speaker 6 (01:02:09):
And so these kids are all good enough, you know.
And so.

Speaker 8 (01:02:15):
I've always been a it doesn't matter if you're eighteen
or twenty two freshman or a fifth year senior.

Speaker 6 (01:02:21):
If you're good enough, you're good enough.

Speaker 8 (01:02:23):
And I think where we are right now in recruiting,
we're going after a bunch of really really good players
and they're all good enough, and they're all gonna play,
and they're gonna play a lot. And so there may
be some growing pains with that early, but that's okay.

Speaker 6 (01:02:38):
I have no problem with that.

Speaker 8 (01:02:40):
At all because I know those kids are going to
be our future. And when I say future, that's next month,
you know, that's this year down the line. So they
got to get experience. And so I think that's where
we are recruiting the freshman that we've been recruiting for
the last three or four years. They're all good enough.

(01:03:01):
They can all play, and they're gonna play. Some of
them are gonna start, some of them are gonna be
first off the bench, but they're all gonna play, and
they're gonna play a bunch of meaningful minutes, and that's
exciting for me. I love, I really love coaching these
young kids that come in hungry, like you know that
you've heard the old old saying. You know, when you're young,

(01:03:22):
it's what maybe what you don't know that doesn't hurt you,
you know, And so, uh, I'm excited about you know,
I'm excited about our future. I'm excited about our current group.
And I think it's it's it's fun for me because
I love playing these young kids, you know, It's it's really.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
Fun, all right. So then one thing that he thinks
is a problem with college basketball men's women's doesn't matter,
is coaches who are contacting recruiting recruits during visits, during
their own visits, And he was asked, does he call
out those coaches?

Speaker 6 (01:04:03):
It's not illegal, you know, it's it's usually an ethics thing.

Speaker 8 (01:04:07):
For me, it's you know, we just respect, we just
respect that time of the kid as well as our opponent,
and we just don't mess with them.

Speaker 6 (01:04:18):
But that's not the case around the country.

Speaker 8 (01:04:20):
But it's not illegal, So you know, there's really not
a lot you can do about it.

Speaker 6 (01:04:25):
But that's just today's world.

Speaker 8 (01:04:27):
And it goes in in hand with what's going on
across the country with every team, every player.

Speaker 6 (01:04:38):
It just it'll make you sick. Guys, I'm telling you,
this is a this is a this is not good.

Speaker 8 (01:04:47):
It's so toxic, it's so like our I just don't
think college athletics is in a great place. Anybody that
thinks it is is I think they're very naive. And
it's not just what we're talking about is what's going
on across the country with coaches.

Speaker 6 (01:05:05):
I mean, it's just it's just not good. So it's
but it is what it is.

Speaker 8 (01:05:12):
You either figure it out and you survive and you
you you continue to do what you do, or you
become a dinant. You do what the dinosaurs did and
they couldn't figure it out, and what happened to them
They became extinct, So you better figure it out.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
I love the dinosaur. They that's Steve Sarkeyson has done that, Sorry,
has talked about the dinosaurs went away because they couldn't adapt,
and that's kind of what Vick is saying there. All right,
next hour, we'll hear more from Vic about the Richmond
game in specific. Coming up, we'll be back to wrap
up hour number two right here on sports Radio AM
thirteen under the zone of the radio app. Third and

(01:05:54):
final hour of the program here on sports Radio AM
thirteen under the zone. Glad to have you with us
on a Thursday afternoon Craig Way, joined by the producer
Jay Carman. Glad to have your input as well. And also,
do we have any spots left to give any more?
Giveaway any more of those women's basketball tickets for tomorrow
night's game against Richmond.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Remind me, Craig, how many pairs did we have to
give away?

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
We had ten?

Speaker 6 (01:06:20):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
Yeah, we've got a few spots left.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
Okay, all right, if you want them, I want to
bet while we have them. Not many left, Okay. If
you're interested in a pair, go to you know, make
sure you have the iHeartRadio app downloaded, and then all
you have to do is search AM thirteen under the zone.
It pops right up. And then when it pops up,

(01:06:44):
hit that little red button that's got a white microphone
at that's our talkback microphone or talkback feature, and you
just tell us on that feature you can leave us
recording up to thirty seconds. You don't even need that long,
and just say Hey, I'm you know whatever, Joe Smith,
I like a pair of tickets for the women's game
tomorrow night, while we still have a few pair left.
If you get the Q ahead, they'd be you or

(01:07:05):
yours tomorrow. Jake will be in for me tomorrow in
the program, and they owe some men's basketball tickets go
away for their home opener against Lafayette Leopard's Saturday. Absolutely well,
here's some more from Vic Schaefer at the moment. But
there was something I wanted to get to, and also
coming up here just around the corner, Gene Watson, our
MLB Insider one final seasonal visit to wrap up the

(01:07:27):
World Series, to wrap up the season, and look at
what's to come around the corner. So that's coming up
in a few minutes. There was a couple of college
football notes I wanted to get to. But what were
the first college football playoff rankings released on Tuesday? Hither Dinnich,
who covers it like an's on a chocolate cake at

(01:07:48):
a picnic. She's all about that college football playoff and
she notes she says the ACC is already playing from
behind and it's only the first ranking of the season.
She said, you know, Virginia's number fourteen, but as far
as for number seventeen Georgia Tech number eighteen Miami not
even a head to head win against number ten Notre
Dame was enough to keep Miami within playoff range after

(01:08:11):
their loss at SMU, but they're still as she says,
it's far from over, but she kind of has her
breakdown what she does every week once the playoff rankings
start coming out on who would be in who still
has work to do. For example, in the SEC, who
would be in Alabama Georgia Ole miss Texas A and

(01:08:31):
m last team an Ole miss first team out Texas.
She said the long word's got a significant boost this
week and apartment caused three teams above them fell out Vanderbilt,
Georgia Tech, and Miami, but also because they earned another
CP top twenty five win against the Commodores. The head
to head win against Oklahoma could also help them in
the committee meeting room. If Texas is ranked eleven or

(01:08:53):
twelve by the committee, though, and the ACC and the
Group of five Champions are outside the Committee's top twelve,
which is res to suspect, then the long rune would
be elbowed out during the seating process to make room
for the fourth and fifth highest ranked conference champions, which
are guaranteed spots in the playoffs. He says, still in
the mix from the SEC are Missouri, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt

(01:09:16):
out forget about them. They're not getting in Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Arkansas, LSU,
Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Tennessee. So that's where that
is in terms of her view of the college football
playoff right now. I've said this before, I'll continue to
say it. It's really I see, it's not easy to

(01:09:36):
play these games. What it is easy to do is
to see the path. The path is clear. The task
is extremely difficult. Out of their four remaining games, the
Long Runs have three top ten ranks goals. First one
is coming gone. They played them, they beat them, Vanderbilt,

(01:09:57):
and for the season they already owned two top ten
wins because oklae I was number six when they beat them.
They have two top ten opponents remaining, Georgia next weekend
in Athens and then on Thanksgiving weekend on Black Friday
of Texas A and M, with Arkansas squeezed in. If
they run the table and win those games, far far
easier said than done. But if they do it, they're in.

(01:10:19):
They're in. The first of all, they're in the SEC Championship. Secondly,
even a loss in the SEC Championship, at that point
they'd be ten and three. They're in. They're in. They'd
have four top ten wins. So but the task is
what's mountainous, and that's you know, the task that Sark
and his staff have about getting those guys ready for it.

(01:10:39):
All right, that's the college football thoughts, all right. Back
to college basketball. The women have their game fourth rane
Texas against number twenty four of Richmond tomorrow night, and
head coach Vick Schaefer was asked about his team about

(01:11:00):
what is the next step to get to that national
championship game, getting over the hump from the semifinals and
getting to the finals.

Speaker 8 (01:11:11):
I just think it's all about developing the players that
we have here, retaining the players that we have here,
and recruiting the next class. I mean, it's you know,
it's to me, it's all about stacking classes and then
when you stack them, you know the secret of our

(01:11:33):
success of Mississippi State was real simple.

Speaker 6 (01:11:35):
People ask me that all the time.

Speaker 8 (01:11:37):
How in the world did you build Mississippi State into
what you were there when you were the worst team
in the SEC when you took over maybe the worst
team in Power five at the time.

Speaker 6 (01:11:48):
And it was real simple.

Speaker 8 (01:11:49):
We recruited to a fit, We retained our student athletes,
and we developed them.

Speaker 6 (01:11:55):
And I think that.

Speaker 8 (01:11:58):
It's getting harder to develop them because it's getting harder
to retain them.

Speaker 6 (01:12:02):
I mean, I'm sitting in here talking to.

Speaker 8 (01:12:04):
My coach coaches right now, and you're kidding yourself if
you don't think.

Speaker 6 (01:12:10):
Your players aren't.

Speaker 8 (01:12:12):
Being messed with on a daily basis, and it just,
you know, it's it's really disappointing. Even in recruiting. We
don't call, text, we don't mess with anybody when they're
on another visit somewhere else. Yet when we have people here,
you got head coaches, assistant coaches from other programs texting

(01:12:36):
these kids in the middle of dinner with me.

Speaker 6 (01:12:39):
We don't do that, you know, but it just it
is what it is. And so.

Speaker 8 (01:12:46):
Again for us, we're just really we continue to recruit, well,
we're recruiting the best players in the country.

Speaker 6 (01:12:56):
And trying to then retain them and develop them.

Speaker 8 (01:13:00):
And if we can do that, we'll continue to be
where we've been here.

Speaker 6 (01:13:07):
For the five years that we've been here going on six. Now.

Speaker 8 (01:13:11):
You know, last year my media first Media of the Year,
the first question one of my local media asked me
is are you sick of going to the Elite eight?

Speaker 6 (01:13:21):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 8 (01:13:23):
You know how hard it is to get to the
Elite eight, And so no, I'm not sick of going
to the Elite eight. I'd absolutely would love to get
to the final four in every one of those ventures,
but it's the hardest game to win in my opinion,
and so it's you know, we're going to continue to
work hard and develop kids and push the envelope to

(01:13:47):
get back to the Final four and win the first
one and then get to that championship game.

Speaker 6 (01:13:52):
And win that one.

Speaker 8 (01:13:54):
But winning is really hard, and people think it's easy
till it ain't. And you look across the country in football,
you can make about ten phone calls to some different
people and ask them what they think because they it's
really hard until it didn't. And so it's, you know,

(01:14:17):
we're just going to keep putting our head down and
going to work and doing the things that I mentioned.

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
All Right, I don't know what local media person was
to ask him that if I get tired of going
to the Elite I would hope that whoever asked that
was asking a tongue in cheek for that, because they
had the three appearances in the Elite Eight without breaking
through to get to the Final Four until they did
last year. So that's funny to hear that, all right.

(01:14:46):
Up next, Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front
office or MLB Insider with a recap not only of
the World Series, but the year overall and what's to
come when we talked baseball here on Sports Medio AM
thirteen under the zone of the iHeart here on this
Thursday afternoon. It has been our custom over the past

(01:15:06):
several years, I think like twenty years, to win the
baseball season ends following the World Series, to visit with
their good friend Jean Watson from the front office of
the Chicago White Sox, and to get a recap not
only of the World Series, but what's to come in
the offseason and what's to go for Gino. We've been
doing this long time, so long before you were with

(01:15:27):
the White Sox or the Angels, or the Royals or
the I mean, we could go back aways, couldn't we.

Speaker 9 (01:15:35):
It has been a long time, my friend, and a
lot of fun along the way.

Speaker 1 (01:15:39):
Speaking of a lot of fun, I want to get
your opinion on this now. First of all, I'm gonna
give Genas flowers. He predicted initially the Dodgers to win
the World Series in six games over Toronto. When Toronto
got up three to two, Gino doubled down. He dug
in his heels and he said, the Dodgers going to
find a way to win Game six, and they're going
to find a way to win Game seven and win
this World Series. I don't I think any more prophetic

(01:16:01):
words could have been said than to use the words
find a way, which is what they ultimately did. But
what I want to ask you about, our good friend.
Tim Kirchen with ESPN was referring to an article written
by Steve Rushing, the former writer from Sports Illustrated, describing
that ninety one World Series between the Twins and the Braves.

(01:16:24):
And he's at the end of him he's talking about
he said, let us call this World series what it
is now while at seven games to ring in our ears,
the greatest that us ever played, and then Tim Kirchin
comes back in and says, with apologies to nineteen ninety one,
the Los Angeles Dodgers in Toronto Blue Jays just finished
the greatest World Series. Not because all the games were great,

(01:16:44):
some weren't, all were flawed, but all were marvelously fun, interesting,
and entertaining. It was the greatest World Series because of
its compelling story lines, some of which were impossible to believe.
An eighteen inning game and a historic pitching performance by
a twenty two year old, the first pinch hit Grand
Slam in World Series history, the first World Series game

(01:17:05):
to begin with back to back home runs, the first
game ending seven to four double play in World Series history.
It featured a bizarre three pitch opera from a pitcher
who hadn't worked in relief in seven years, the final
Major League game for the greatest pitcher of this era,
and a game seven for the Ages for all ages,
a masterpiece featuring an unforgettable Iron Man pitching performance that

(01:17:28):
we might never see again. Tim Kirchin always had away
with words, But I'll ask you, gino, was this the
greatest World Series ever played?

Speaker 4 (01:17:35):
It's not even close.

Speaker 9 (01:17:37):
And really, when you start with the fact that it
was such a global series. I mean, the viewership around
the world was as high as it's ever been for
any series. When you talk about the Hall of famers,
you know, future and the ones that are just coming
into their career that will be Hall of famers, that

(01:17:58):
was a big part of it.

Speaker 7 (01:17:59):
But just you know, two.

Speaker 9 (01:18:01):
Teams, it was just a fifteen round heavyweight boxing match,
and truly, like just when you thought it was over,
something would happen and the games just kept going, and
it was truly I don't typically rewatch baseball games. I've
watched Game seven five or six times since it ended,

(01:18:23):
and it's just when you think about all the little
things that happened that could have swung that game either way.
It was truly one of the best games in the
best series we've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (01:18:32):
When we last visited it was after Game five, and
you talked about how great Treya Savage had been and
how great the Jays had been and jumping to that
three to two lead, and then that's when you said
you still believe the Dodgers would find them winning win
game six and seven. So let me get your thoughts
on a couple of things for those two games. Six
and seven. Let me start, first of all, a Yama Moto,

(01:18:55):
of course, thinking through ninety six pitches in that he
pitches really well in game six, but it took that
and Tim Kirchin mentioned it highly unusual seven to four
double play to end the game. And and sometimes games
are marked by great plays, and sometimes they're marked by mistakes.
And sometimes the answer both can be true. Addison Barger

(01:19:17):
a little too far away from the bag and got
back uh and and and and when you get to
those high pressure games, we tend to see some of both,
don't we Great performances, great uh plays made, and then
also some mistakes made.

Speaker 7 (01:19:32):
Well.

Speaker 9 (01:19:33):
I think I think it begins with ball off the bat.
I don't think there's a person in the world that
didn't think that that was a base hit. What Kiki
Hernandez did his first step, his jump on that baseball
was absolutely unbelievable, But not just catching the ball, but
but the momentum that he had moving forward to make
that accurate throw on the run.

Speaker 5 (01:19:55):
And Addison Barger's.

Speaker 9 (01:19:56):
Young player, and you know, young players are gonna make mistakes.
And you know, he probably felt like everybody else at
that ball was down and he wanted to make sure
he at least took a hard turn around third base,
but just a flawless effort by Kiki Hernandez to come
in and get that first step, make to catch and
make the throw on the run to secure the win.

Speaker 1 (01:20:16):
All right, let's go to Game seven now, you know,
and you know it had so much drama in what
was going on earlier. The only I think, the only
and you can correct me if I'm wrong on this,
but I think the only button pushing mistake that Dave
Roberts made the entire World Series was to walk Gerrera
intentionally and pitch to Bobachet, who hit the three run homer.

(01:20:38):
But then again, it's kind of like picking your poison.
There isn't it one.

Speaker 9 (01:20:42):
Hundred percent you're picking your poison. You're playing in percentages
on the fact. Also the fact, dude, that Bobashett was
coming off a leg injury, and you really, you know,
you see him running the bases and he's not moving well,
but you really don't have a good read on really
what his lower half feels like. It's incredibly hard to
hit when you don't have your lower half.

Speaker 7 (01:21:03):
But he's a money player.

Speaker 9 (01:21:05):
That was a big moment, and I've been in that
dome when big moments took place, and it's one of
the lot oft places you could ever be in in
your life. But I mean, Dave Roberts, what an unbelievable job.
And I'm out here in the Arizona Fall League and
I was with a lot of their front office today
and just the job that he did, the manner in
which he used his gut. I mean, Andy pa has

(01:21:28):
as the defensive replacement, you know, didn't have his cards,
defensive positioning cards in his back pocket. And he goes
out and makes that unbelievable play in left center field.
And Miggy Rojas hadn't played in two games. His wife
tells him he didn't hit a home run. He tells
her she's crazy because he's not even gonna play, and
he hits the home run. I mean, there were just

(01:21:48):
so many incredible storylines centered around Game seven in the
entire series.

Speaker 1 (01:21:54):
Let me ask you about that at matt For Miguel Rojas,
he had not even played much in the series at
all until he got the start in game six. And
there he was in Game seven and he's coming to
the plate and by the way, folks did't know he
was hurting too, is ribcage and things like that. And
he comes to bat and he and he said after,

(01:22:15):
I'm just trying to get on base. I'm just trying
to get on base because Otiny's on deck and there's
one out there in the ninth and then you Savage
throws him. No, it wasn't you, Savage. It was Hoppin
throws him a slider that just is just enough catching
the plate. I didn't think it was a bad pitch,

(01:22:38):
but Rojas turns on that thing and all of a sudden,
it's three hundred and sixty six feet away, and.

Speaker 4 (01:22:44):
It's the pitch that that before, Like one, I'm pinch
hitting there, and Dave Roberts didn't.

Speaker 7 (01:22:51):
Yeah, I mean, again, another.

Speaker 9 (01:22:53):
Great move, but it was the pitch before where he
got the breaking ball before off the plate. Yeah, And
I think he knew he was probably going to get
a breaking ball again.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:23:04):
And and I don't necessarily agree, especially in that moment
on that stage with a veteran player. You know, I'm
I'm going hard after him. I'm going I'm going velocity.
I'm going to try to throw the ball by him,
because you essentially speed his bat up, and when he
saw breaking ball, ball out of the hand, he knew

(01:23:27):
he was going to get a breaking ball again, and
he knew it was going to be a strikeout of
the hand, and he turned on it and and uh,
what a moment, What a moment for him.

Speaker 6 (01:23:35):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:23:35):
Now we go to the bottom of the ninth. You
mentioned Kei k Hernandez and the break he got on
the ball in Game six for the game ending double play.
There would be those who would say he was in
awful shallow on that on that fly ball to the left,
and Pie as of course, saves the day. Now, key
K has said, and I watched some of the parade

(01:23:55):
coverage some of the other things. He goes, I got it.
He goes, it's going to kind of be a willing
Mas type thing from the fifty four World Series. But
I got a beat on it. He goes, I'm going
to make a catch. And all of a sudden, he said,
I got post to rise. He got slammed, dunked, and
he lays on the warning track because he thought the
ball had not been caught him was over and Pius
goes over you all right, man, He goes, yeah, what

(01:24:16):
about the ball, He goes, I got it. Oh, let's
go that kind of that moment for a guy like
Andy pie Has, who was I believe four for fifty
three in the postseason before he got inserted defensively, But
he got inserted defensively during that interim when Yamamoto hits

(01:24:37):
Kirk to put him on base, to load the bases, Gino,
And in that moment, for a manager at that moment
to go, I got to make this defensive substitution. That
speaks to what you were talking about.

Speaker 7 (01:24:49):
It's unbelievable. And and Andy pie is is in.

Speaker 9 (01:24:53):
The scouting terms, he's a strong average player.

Speaker 7 (01:24:55):
Which is an All Star.

Speaker 5 (01:24:56):
And so you know, for Dave the like, even with
his offensive slumps, I've got.

Speaker 9 (01:25:02):
To do what I've got to do, uh, to win
these games. For him to have that moment is huge
for that player going in the next year and teaching
that young player, Hey, you can still help us win games, uh,
even if you're not hitting. And so that was a
big moment for him, but huge for Dave Roberts to
make that decision. I mean, it would be so simple

(01:25:22):
just to let it ride, and in that moment he
made that decision, and again Andy didn't even have his
his his positioning.

Speaker 7 (01:25:28):
Cards in the back.

Speaker 4 (01:25:29):
But but I got to tell you, I believe he
catches that ball.

Speaker 7 (01:25:34):
I really believe.

Speaker 9 (01:25:35):
I really believe catches that baseball, because I mean, I've
watched that kid play.

Speaker 7 (01:25:39):
Since he was an ay ball.

Speaker 9 (01:25:41):
He's ultra athletic, and just the way the look on
his face, I think he's I think he feels like
that he was going to catch that baseball.

Speaker 7 (01:25:49):
And on the positioning.

Speaker 9 (01:25:50):
Side, you know, you look at the you look at
the ball where he came in and Doubledolf in Game six,
they're playing shallow.

Speaker 7 (01:25:57):
I don't think you can. You can you can.

Speaker 9 (01:25:59):
Second guess that either way, and I would say he
was probably playing at the regular depth right then. And
and those positioning cards and were they positioning those are
based off of thousands of that bats by the hitter
and where they're going to hit the ball and how
far they're going to hit the ball based on the
matchup of the pitcher, And so that's a pretty precise
calculation on where they position him. But I got to

(01:26:22):
tell you, I thought the whole time Kiki was catching
that baseball.

Speaker 1 (01:26:25):
Well, and then we go to the bottom of the
ninth and and Guerrero has the double. I say it
kind of full left a bunch and the third hour,
people saying, why are they budding? Why they the IKF
is an excellent bunner, and and I thought that was
the right move. Get him to scoring position where you
have two shots to get home at least a tying run.
They pinch, they have him at first base, and get

(01:26:48):
him over at first base and then pinch run and
then you know, here's Yamamoto kind of on the non
plus buy it and and zeroing in on Alejandro Kirk
who had been and really hurting the Dodgers throughout that
World Series, but he got him to break his bat,
hit that ground or the mookie Bets and then he
makes the play. And there were some people saying that

(01:27:10):
the runners should have been in motion, but I if
you'd been in motion, I think Bets probably beats him
to the bag anyway, moving and then throwing the first
in time to end it.

Speaker 4 (01:27:19):
No question.

Speaker 9 (01:27:20):
And you know, Yamamoto the one thing that the Dodgers
have done so incredibly and and that was why I
felt like when it was three to two, you know
you're going Snell, You're going snow.

Speaker 4 (01:27:33):
Yamamoto Tani for eighteens.

Speaker 9 (01:27:35):
I just didn't see a pathway where Toronto was gonna
beat those three arms. I just I didn't see the pathway.
But you know, this is where the game has changed
so much. And you look at how deep Yamamoto got
with the two straight complete games, and then he pitches
the ninety six pitch start, and then he comes out
of the bullpen a day later, which most people tell

(01:27:56):
you is absolutely crazy. But this is what's changed up
about pitching it to make league level. There was a
time when there were thirty pitchers that pitched two hundred
and twenty five innings two hundred and twenty five. There
was a day when Burt Blylevin and Tom sever and
Nolan Ryan are throwing three hundred innings. Yoshi Ama motor
through one hundred and seventy two and two thirds innings

(01:28:17):
this year, and that, I mean, that's a true eighth.
And that's what it says about today's game. It's not
about any one start. It's about the length of the
season and your pitchers being their very best in October.
And that's what the Dodgers. They had to plan the
entire season, knowing the depth of their starting rotation, they

(01:28:37):
were not going to wear their starters down. And it
proved it to be just an extreme strength in October
and just truly an unbelievable performance by a true most
valuable player.

Speaker 7 (01:28:49):
And I got to.

Speaker 5 (01:28:50):
Tell you he's the best pitcher I've ever seen in
my life.

Speaker 9 (01:28:52):
It's it's six pitches, above average command, above average of pitchability.
I mean, it's everything you're looking for in the complete.

Speaker 1 (01:29:01):
Picture, Gino. One thing I heard Will Smith because he
was asked about his home run, obviously in the eleventh
and Will Smith said, and he's not normally you know,
Will Smith, He's not normally given over to great philosophical discussions.
He's a guy who falls in that category of the
triumph of the uncluttered mind. He's a guy that's a

(01:29:23):
pretty simple, you know, play as you go god. But
he said something I thought was interesting. He said, this
World Series had moments for everyone. Everyone had their moment
at some point in this postseason overall, everyone had their moment.
And you were thinking about Will Klein in that eighteen
inning game, a guy who hadn't thrown more than thirty

(01:29:44):
pitches in Anny Alley throws seventy two and it is
amazing Clayton Kershaw that one battery works. He had to
get the one battery, got the one batter, you know,
things like that. And then Rojas obviously with what with
what he did. But I guess that's when it has
to be the sum of the parts. Because Toronto out
hit the Dodgers, they outpitched the Dodgers and in many

(01:30:06):
ways outplayed them. But there were enough big play moments
that La made and maybe just a few mistakes here
and there for Toronto that flipped this thing. But I
guess it was a series for everybody.

Speaker 7 (01:30:19):
It really was.

Speaker 4 (01:30:20):
And where I take accepting as people everybody that says, well,
they're they're the highest salary, they're the highest pay role.
Go watch their spring training in the backfields and see
how their players work, and you go into their minor
league system during the season, and it's late in the
year when nobody's working, and their minor leaguers are still working.
Their six year free agents are still working, and what

(01:30:41):
they're a testimony? Did they spend one point two billion
dollars on their rotation?

Speaker 9 (01:30:46):
One hundred percent? Was that a big part of the
reason they won one hundred percent. But it's a lot
of the complimentary players. You know, Mickey Rojas wasn't even playing.
Will kleinb was a waiver claim. Those are the things.

Speaker 5 (01:30:59):
That they also do so incredibly well.

Speaker 9 (01:31:02):
And if you're gonna win in October, you know you
can have your ceiling, your roster as top heavy as
you want. If you don't have the integral parts to
make the moves you need to make to counter your opponent,
you don't have a chance of winning. And I've said
this before, people say, well, just get in anything can happen,
and I think that's ridiculous. I think that anything can

(01:31:24):
happen is going on right now with free agent. Anything
can happen happens on the waiver wire, and anything can
happen happens at the trade deadline. And you build that
roster and you trade those prospects, and you spend in
free agency to do everything you can for the winal
World Championship, because sustainability is not it's not where it's
at you.

Speaker 7 (01:31:44):
I was in Atlanta.

Speaker 9 (01:31:45):
We won fourteen straight division titles, we won won World championship.
We will be remembered for that one world championship, not
the fourteen division titles. And I just think as an industry,
we've got to get back to the competition level of that.
And that's what the Dodge continue to do so well.
And I gotta tell you they're gonna be right back
in there next year. They got another shot to do

(01:32:06):
what no team has done since the New York Yankees
ninety eight, ninety nine, two thousand. Have a chance to
do it in two thousand and one, But the Dodgers
are gonna be right back in there next year.

Speaker 1 (01:32:16):
Let me ask you, Chalco Baseball with Geam Watson here
on thirteen hundred zone, let me ask you about now,
let's everything moves in to the off season. We get
your thoughts on a couple of things. Craig Stammon gets
hired to manage the San Diego Padres. You have, you
have that. It looks like they're gonna have Paul D.
Podest to run the Rockies front office there for them.

(01:32:39):
The Dodgers today announced they picked up the ten million
dollar option on Max Munsey. There's a lot of the
stuff that's going on. How closely do we watch what's
coming up even before we get to the winter meetings
next month, you know about what's happening now with options
being picked up or declined.

Speaker 4 (01:32:58):
Well, the biggest thing I think it paid too, is
the amount of pitching.

Speaker 9 (01:33:02):
You're already seeing it with a lot of these pitchers
opting out of their mutual agreements because their agents and
them all know that the demand is so much greater
than the supply that everybody who has pitching available is
going to be able to move it for pretty good capital.
And these free agents are going to be highly coveted
and they're going to make a lot of money and
because there's just there's just not enough, and so that's

(01:33:25):
going to be the big story. But I think, you know,
you're going to see a lot of preparation as far
as like, you know, there's some concern about the CBA
at the end of twenty six and I think there's
going to be a lot of teams that could be
paying attention to that with their overall spending. And it's
going to be interesting to see, you know, where some
of these free agents that have taken their outs, you know,

(01:33:45):
end up Alex Bregman, Cody Bellinger, Kyle Tucker.

Speaker 5 (01:33:49):
It's going to be interesting to see where these guys end.

Speaker 9 (01:33:52):
Up, but make no mistake, next year from a competition standpoint,
there will be a few teams that make a decent
jump to maybe put their stamp on the twenty sixth
season to move into the playoffs. But for the most part,
you look at Seattle, you look at the Dodgers, you
look at the Phillies, you look at the Yankees, you look.

Speaker 4 (01:34:12):
At the Mets.

Speaker 9 (01:34:12):
The Mets have a chance to be extremely good next year.
And you look for young teams like the Miami Marlins,
who who have done a great job and they've got
a young team and a lot of fun to watch.
So it's going to be a very interesting offseason. We
had to Vegas on Monday for the general managers meetings.
There's been a number of conversations that have already taken place,

(01:34:33):
and there could be some things that move really really
quick early into this offseason.

Speaker 1 (01:34:36):
Gino, you mentioned the Phillies is the number one free
agent Kyle Schwarber, without a doubt not and forget the
on the field talent.

Speaker 9 (01:34:47):
This guy carries a city and he is He is
a marquee franchise type player. And there's so few left
handed bats within the industry. But you get a left
handed bat with the power that he's got and what
he brings not to the.

Speaker 7 (01:35:02):
Clubhouse, to the entire city.

Speaker 5 (01:35:04):
Uh, there's no question, I know that is an enormous story.

Speaker 4 (01:35:09):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (01:35:10):
And and I've watched this kid play since he was
at the University of Indiana, and what a what a
great story of a guy that you know, he was
a catcher, He had to really watch his body.

Speaker 7 (01:35:20):
He did a tremendous job of getting his body in shape.

Speaker 1 (01:35:23):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (01:35:24):
And he gets to the big leagues and just turns
into the one of the greater franchise players that there
is in the game right now.

Speaker 1 (01:35:29):
One final thing, Gino, we saw they had TV shots
of Don Mattingly on the on the Blue Jays bench.
He announced that he's not returning to the Blue Jays,
but his agent has said that doesn't mean he's retiring, Uh,
that he would look at options. Do you see him
continuing somewhere? Might there be a team that be interested
in having him manage them?

Speaker 7 (01:35:48):
There's there's no question. I don't know that it'll be manager.

Speaker 5 (01:35:51):
But and this is not this is.

Speaker 7 (01:35:54):
Not I mean, it's it's.

Speaker 9 (01:35:56):
Hard working in Toronto, you know, getting in and out
of the country. And and you know, Don is just
an unbelievable individual. I think he knows what his options
could be.

Speaker 7 (01:36:06):
It's not an.

Speaker 9 (01:36:06):
Easy place to work from a travel standpoint. You know,
it's not easy on your family, which kind of speaks to,
you know, the amazing job that that organization.

Speaker 4 (01:36:17):
Did this year.

Speaker 7 (01:36:17):
It's it's not easy.

Speaker 9 (01:36:18):
And they did an unbelievable job. And don't they will
be back. John Snyder is one of the best managers
in baseball. They've got really, I mean, Savage is going
to be back, Laddie's going to be back. They're going
to be a really nice ball club again next year
in a really tough division. But but but Don's going.

Speaker 5 (01:36:35):
To have his pick.

Speaker 9 (01:36:36):
You know, there's still major league staffs that are picking
out their their coaching staffs. And if Mattingly wanted to
go into the front office and be an advisor like
Bruce Boch he just did with the.

Speaker 7 (01:36:47):
Giants, he would certainly have those opportunities.

Speaker 1 (01:36:49):
All Right, Hey, Gino, it's great to visit with you
when we get to winter meetings, definitely, or other major
things that might happen between now and then, we'll call
on you again. If that's okay, all right, thanks appreciated, Geno.

Speaker 7 (01:37:02):
Okay, take care all right.

Speaker 1 (01:37:04):
That is Gene Watson, our MLB. Inside of their interesting
comments from him there. I think we will probably see
Don Mattingly with a ball club there and it'll be
interesting to watch to see which teams are interested in
Kyle Schwarber. All right, more coming up. We'll continue on
thirteen Under the Zone from Paul McCartney and a couple

(01:37:24):
of other session musicians on his first couple albums to
a Mega band, Band on the Run title cut from
that album, every cut on that album is amazing and
like I said, I just got the book about the
history of that man, how he formed that out of
what happened at the end of the Beatles. Thanks again

(01:37:46):
to our man Gene Watson joining us on the program
to talk some baseball. Let's hear some more from Long
Worn women's head coach Vick Schaeffer, and he was asked
what areas has he challenged his star players to improve
upon entering the season.

Speaker 8 (01:38:04):
This time last year, Rory was just trying to get
healthy so she could play. You know, a year ago summer,
she was just trying to get her knee right. Where
she could play, so her focus was on rehab versus
skill development. This summer she could focus more on her
skill development, and I then gets shown and then and

(01:38:25):
then you have a Madison who I really the only
thing I gave her over the summer from back in
our spring meeting was let's let's really work on the
three ball and get that in our repertoire and against
she shot forty percent last year from three, but maybe.

Speaker 6 (01:38:43):
You know, look at maybe we can shoot a few more.

Speaker 8 (01:38:45):
But at the same time, I wanted her from a
leadership position to really step up and be that verbal leader.

Speaker 6 (01:38:54):
And man, that kid has really stepped up. I mean,
she is.

Speaker 5 (01:38:58):
She is.

Speaker 6 (01:39:00):
She's amazing, she's all in.

Speaker 8 (01:39:05):
The kid is just an amazing young lady and obviously
a heck of a player.

Speaker 6 (01:39:10):
But she's even better kid.

Speaker 8 (01:39:13):
And that's saying a lot. She's an All American basketball player, so,
you know, just really asking her to really take that
leadership role. Boy, she's done that with our young kids.
She's really embraced you know, Eleiah Crump since a Lea
got here in the summer, just trying to show her
the ropes and encouraging her and so you know, That's

(01:39:38):
been something that.

Speaker 6 (01:39:41):
I've really been pleased with with her.

Speaker 8 (01:39:43):
So, you know, Jordan and Brie, those were the juice
players that we had last year. You know, they always
had the juice on the bench, and now they're you know,
Jordan started in her first game, Brie came off, played
twenty minutes, was electric as she always is. I'm excited
about our group, you know, those two, Rory and Maddie

(01:40:07):
from a leadership position, you know, really just wanting them
to try to really step up and be both vocal
as well as leading by example.

Speaker 1 (01:40:16):
All right now, wanting to get it ready for Richmond.
He was asked if he's leaning on anything from the
experience he had facing that team a year ago.

Speaker 8 (01:40:25):
I'll always watch it, you know, I'll always go back
and be very thorough in watching that game and in
the things that went on in that game. So I
certainly do watch those games. I watch them all. If
we play a repeat opponent, I always go back and
watch the previous year's game. So, you know, we'll see,

(01:40:47):
we'll see how it all shakes out. But one thing
that doesn't change. They got good players, and they got
a heck of a coach, and they are well coached
and they do a great job. So this is one
of those games that you know, a lot of power
fours won't schedule because they are so good. And you know,

(01:41:10):
we had our time filling our schedule last year. So
we had to go on the road and play them,
and we had to go in there and play really well,
and we did. But you know, we had a couple
of these. James Madison was.

Speaker 6 (01:41:21):
The other one.

Speaker 8 (01:41:22):
We had to go in there and play on the road.
We had to play South Dakota State. We happen to
get them at home. Now I'm gonna have to go
back to their place on the road this year. And
a lot of people signing up to do these things
that we're doing, but sometimes it just comes with the
territory and it's what we have to do because we're
here at Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:41:42):
All right there, it is Vick Schaeffer and they head
coach at Texas Women's basketball. It is tomorrow night, seven o'clock.
You'll hear it here on thirteen Under the Zone six
forty five pregame start time in the tip off at seven.
We'll be back to wrap up today's edition of the
program on thirteen Under the Zone