Opening Day Special From UFCU Disch-Falk Field!

Opening Day is here, and Craig has you covered from the broadcast booth at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, where the Longhorns host UC Davis this evening. 

Keith Moreland joins at the end of the show to help celebrate the occasion and talk Texas Baseball and more!

Hear soundbites from Longhorns second-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle and shortstop Adrian Rodriguez, as well as UT Men's Basketball coach Sean Miller and guard Tramon Mark.

Plus, after a deflating loss at Vanderbilt for Texas Women's Basketball, coach Vic Schaefer did not mince words in his postgame press conference.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Happy Opening day, everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
It is it is opening day at you FCU dishfalk Field.
Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the program here on
sports Medio AM thirteen hundred the zone. As we come
your way from UFCU dishfalk Field.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
My name is Craig Way. I thank you very much
for joining us.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Tonight is the opening game of the twenty twenty six
college baseball season for the third rank Texas Loghorns. And
just to be completely accurate, they are number three in
D one Baseball. They are number three in the USA

(00:53):
Today Coaches Poll. They are number eight in Perfect Game
and number eight in Baseball America Consensus Top ten. The
Longhorns come off last year's forty four and fourteen season
and Southeastern Conference regular season championship, and now they head
on into twenty twenty six, the second season under.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Head coach Jim Slasnaigle.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Glad to have you with us as we bring you
the game from the ballpark tonight. At six point thirty,
we'll be on the air with the pregame at six fifteen.
Keith Morlan will join me for the call of that.
Keith will be with us on the vast majority of
our game broadcast this season. So Keith and I will
bring you tonight's game between the Texas Longhorns and the Aggies,
not those Aggies and not the New Mexico State Aggies

(01:41):
or the North Carolina A and t Aggies. No, the
Aggies of UC Davis, the University of California Davis from
the Big West Conference.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
There.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
So that'll be game one of the three game weekend series.
So we look forward to bringing you that contest tonight.
Joining us in the studio as our producer, as always
is Jake Carmon here on this Friday afternoon. Jake will
be busy this weekend too, in addition to myself and

(02:10):
Cameron Parker, as I'm looking across the street at Red
and Charlie McCombs Field, early action going on in the
Bevo Classic. And then later today there will be a
doubleheader scheduled for a five o'clock first pitch Texas against
Ohio State and then they play Syracuse.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Is that right, Jake?

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Is it Ohio State first and then Syracuse today or
is it the other way around?

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Nope, You've got the order right. You've got the order right.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Texas will see Ohio State first, and then Syracuse. Ohio
State is the team that if you squinted over there,
you could see the Scarlet and Gray in action already
against NIU. Last I checked, they were ahead six to
two in that one. Ohio State was over Northern Illinois.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Okay, all right, so that's going on right now that game.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
But at five o'clock, Ohio State will play Texas, then
Texas will play Syracuse and again approximately when you have
tournament or classic play, it's always wise to say approximate
time start time, So it would be approximant start time
at five o'clock for the Texas Ohio State game at

(03:19):
Macomb's and approximate seven thirty start time for Texas and Syracuse.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Cameron Parker will call both of those games.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Our man Andrew Haynes, who normally calls Texas softball, the
voice of Long Worn Softball, did last night's game record
setting night, and we'll tell you about that coming up.
But he did the run rule win of Rambling Christian.
But he was off to California this morning in celebration

(03:47):
of his grandfather's ninetieth birthday this weekend, so Cameron will
have the doubleheader today. Jake will have the doubleheader tomorrow,
same times, Jake five and seven thirty again.

Speaker 4 (04:00):
Two thirty and five for tomorrow's games, have same order
though right the same order, You're right.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Okay, all right, two thirty and five tomorrow for Texas
Ohio State and Texas Eyracuse, and then a single game
Sunay against Northern Illinois.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
So and Cam will be back for that.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Cameron'll be here in the booth that UFCU Dish fog
Field stepping in for me tomorrow to work with keep
Mornland on tomorrow's second game of the weekend series between
Texas and UC Davis. I'll be up in Columbia, Missouri
to call the men's basketball game tomorrow night at the
Missouri Arena between Texas and Missouri. And that is a

(04:41):
seven o'clock airtime with a seven thirty first pitch, not
first pitch seven thirty tip off.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
See this is.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
The overlap baseball and basketball, and so a seven o'clock airtime,
a seven thirty tip off from Columbia, Texas and Missouri.
And you can hear it here on thirteen under the
Zone as well as on ninety eight point one FM
Cavett tomorrow night with that seven point thirty tip off,
so that's kind of setting a table for it. A

(05:09):
little bit later on in the program, Keith Morland will.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Hop on with us a bit.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
As I mentioned, Keith will be working with us again
on the Long Run Baseball broadcast, and we'll get some
thoughts from him about this Texas team and about some
other teams and other items to take note of with
his college baseball season. Also, major League training camps are
open now, so those are those are underway and coming up.

(05:41):
We'll have usual on Friday, we'll have Inconceivable, which on
Friday means Florida man and Florida woman in this case
too on this particular Friday, so we'll have Inconceivable coming up.
We are also going to hear coming up here in
a few minutes, we're gonna hear from Texas women's head

(06:05):
coach Vick Schaeffer. Vic was not pleased with what happened
last night. In case you did not hear t Texas
not only lost, but by and large they were dominated
by Vanderbilt. It was a matchup of number four in
the country against number five in the country, but it
didn't look like number four and number five. It looked

(06:25):
like sometimes when we've talked about this before, where you
have with some of those Super Bowl matchups where one team,
two good teams, one team is really on and the
other team is not on, and the team that's really
on turns it into a lopsided affair.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
And that is what is happening. That's what's happened last night.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
If you knew and heard also what happened in the
game between Vanderbilt and Oklahoma the other night, the Vanderbilt
women in the Oklahoma and the other night, then you
know that that's kind of the game that it was.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
In fact, that we're very very similar.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Vanderbilt jumped to a big, a quick lead, expanded it
to twenty six points, and settled for sixteen point victory.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
That was against Oklahoma last night.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Vanderbilt jumped to a quick lead, expanded it to as
many as twenty six points, and settled for a sixteen
point victory.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
So they're very similar in that.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Texas did make a run in the fourth quarter to
get it down to.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Eleven, but that was as close as they could get.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
So we're gonna hear from Vic Shiver because he was
not happy at all with the emotional and mental effort
that his players put into the game, and you'll hear
him talking about that. We're also gonna hear from Sean Miller.
Long Worn basketball team was leaving today for Columbia, so

(07:56):
we had Long Worn Weekly last night with coach Miller
here on the Zone, and we're gonna bring you a
couple of excerpts from that show. Sean talking about his
team's preparedness coming off of the win last Saturday against
ole Miss when they extended their winning streak to three
straight in conference play, something they'd not done since a

(08:20):
minute the SEC and we'll hear from them a little
later on about what to expect from ole Miss.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
So we'll hear that as well.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
But let's hear some Longhorn baseball since we do have
a baseball opener coming up tonight. First of all from
head coach Jim Slasnagel. He announced a couple of days
ago his starting rotation and Ruger Riojas is going to
get the start tonight for the Longhorns. Ruger last season
was nine and three with a five to six to

(08:50):
one ERA, and he had some rough spots in the season,
and that included in the game against Florida and it
was kind of the low point of for him as
he described it, and really and truly also uh Schloss
referred to it that way, as did Max Wiener, the
Long Worns pitching coach as well. So how has it

(09:12):
been about Ruger earning back the trust since that low
point against Florida a year ago?

Speaker 5 (09:18):
Yeah, just just he's just being who he is away
from the field. He's he's super consistent as a human being.
You've got a great combination of humility and confidence. So
he has the humility to recognize that or be self
aware enough to know that there are things he has
to get better at, and and he goes to work
on him like he did all summer with his body

(09:39):
and then the fall of his pitches with Max uh
and he has but he still has the confidence to
know that won one game or one stretch doesn't define.

Speaker 6 (09:47):
His career and that he's also getting better.

Speaker 5 (09:49):
We've got to remember these guys are still you know,
there's still even though he's been around a while, they're
still really young and they're still developing as as amateur players.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
It's an interesting point point because this weekend, two of
the three in the starting rotation Riojas and Luke Harrison,
plus Max Grubbs, who last year started a game for Texas,
was largely used out of the pen and was six
and two with a two eight four ERA and had
five saves. Grubbs is a guy who could wind up

(10:22):
being either the Tuesday starter or he could wind up
being the closer as well. But those three guys Riojas,
Harrison and Grubs were all draft eligible and yet chose
to return for one more season. So Jim slasn Angles
has how much convincing did it take to get Riojas, Harrison,

(10:43):
and Grubs back in a Texas uniform for this season?

Speaker 6 (10:47):
I mean, I think just some good conversations over the
course of time. Coach Wiener does a really good job
of that.

Speaker 5 (10:54):
Just he develops such a great relationship, developed such great
relationship with the players that area of trust, and I
think his experience in professional baseball really helps to where
he'll give them a true.

Speaker 6 (11:07):
Idea of what that would look like if they.

Speaker 5 (11:08):
Were to sign at a certain point in their career,
and what that life looks like. And of course, when
you're playing at Texas, it's always it's always attractive to
come back here.

Speaker 7 (11:18):
You know.

Speaker 5 (11:18):
I can tell you that the pro players that have
been working out with us for the last two or
three months, they're excited and sad to go to spring training,
you know, because it.

Speaker 6 (11:28):
Doesn't get much better than this. So so, yes.

Speaker 5 (11:31):
Some conversations, and certainly, you know, the finances of it
are what they are, and you have to, I think,
meet the threshold to make that happen in today's world.

Speaker 6 (11:39):
But it wasn't It wasn't tough.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Those guys wanted to be here, all right, So that's
good to hear.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
We'll hear some more from Slots as the program goes
on this and even of course I'll have my pregame
conversation with him prior to tonight's contest, the season opener
for Texas against UC Davis. All right, up next, Yes,
you'll hear from Vick Schaeffer some pretty strong words about
how he feels about his basketball team coming out of

(12:05):
that loss, that decisive loss at Vanderbilt last night in Nashville.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
You'll hear that, and.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
We got a lot more to come on a Friday
afternoon here on sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone
of the iHeartRadio app. We're here at the UFC at
his frog field. Let's see if I can remember my
nineties rock correctly. Is that the outfield?

Speaker 3 (12:27):
That's the group?

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, okay, And the song is called Your Love, isn't.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
It it is? I remember them playing this on the
organ at National's Park. Looked it up. Oh that's why.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Okay. Well, and of course the outfield.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
I'm looking at the outfield right now here at the
UFC his frog field.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
Your Love. Hey, it is a Valentine's weekend, right, so.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
A little double entendre there.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
I like it.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, just make sure you're taking care of that special
someone in your life, whoever that might be. One of
the cool things about baseball in college baseball is what
I have seen at the high school level, even youth

(13:15):
league level. Haven't had two sons who played it up
through it, and I did all the way up through
like Pony League and then up to the college level,
is how much the players really enjoy the pastoral element
of it. Now, you know, when you get to the
big leagues, it's pretty much a business at that point.

(13:37):
But I'm saying this because I'm looking out of the
field right now, and right now, sitting behind the mound
in that area, an area I like to describe as
no man's land. If a ball should hop and slow
in that area, get beyond the pitcher, and then it's
just kind of where it's really difficult for you the

(13:57):
second basement of the shortstop to get to the ball,
and invariably what happens is it's an infield hit.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
But sitting back in that area right now are to.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
The longhorns expected to be very important contributors. One of
those longhorns is Max Grubs. I mentioned him, and the
other is Adrian Rodriguez, who was the long one and
second lead the hitter last year and then of course
had the hand injury, but healthy now and it'll be
interesting to see.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
How those guys contribute.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Okay, contributions is something that all coaches expect their teams
to deliver. Starters, backup players, all of that stuff they
expect them to deliver. If you watch the Texas women's
basketball game last night, by and large, when the game

(14:59):
I say when the game in the balance, it was
in the balance in the first quarter, and then after
that they were up twelve in a car for attacks
to make a run after that.

Speaker 8 (15:04):
But.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Early on and then even when they were trying to
make runs. Almost nobody made a consistent contribution.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Part of it was they had just a rash, and I.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Do mean a rash of misshots right at the basket
from like three feet in for whatever reason. Sometimes they
might have been rushed, or they might have been off balance,
or they just flat missed it. But there were a
lot of mishots, and the problem became compounded because they
were beaten back in transition the other way.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
MICHAELA.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Blake's had her fourth consecutive thirty point games.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
She scored thirty three.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
They had a lot of trouble with the freshman point
guard Aubrey Galvan. They just had trouble all the way around,
and they wind up losing by sixteen points. They trailed
by his penny as twenty six. Vick Schaeffer called timeouts,
multiple timeouts. The same thing happened in the fourth quarter

(16:01):
of this road loss. That happened in the fourth quarter
of the road loss in Baton Rouge to LSU. He
made a change to put Breonna Preston at the point
and Rory Harmon did not play in the fourth quarter.
Now it's become popular vernacular for not only reporters, but
fans and other people to say in that situation, Shaeffer

(16:23):
would have quote unquote benched Rory, You're gonna find out
that as you hear this news conference. This is the
chunk of the news conference. This is his postgame press conference.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
He does not.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
Agree with that term, but he didn't agree with a
lot of things that happened and he was really upset
with it.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
Here it is.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Here's this is the actual postgame press conference, including all
of the questions there for long One's head coach Vick Shaeffer.

Speaker 9 (16:51):
Yeah, versus just congratulations to Vanderbilt. I thought they were
who they are. They're very special. Tonight played extremely hard,
way harder than us. You know, it's I've had my
butt beat before when you've done it as long as
I have. It's not the first time. It's the first
time at Texas. I feel like where you know, my

(17:12):
team was out tough. Uh, the other team played harder
and just quite frankly, we had no heart. You know,
you want to ask me what does it take to
win at this level? What's it gonna take for my team?
You got to have heart. We got no heart, and
I just thought they were tougher. They were more physical,
more aggressive, We whine, we complain. You just have no heart.

(17:39):
I mean, at the end of the day, that's that's
what is evident to me, is we have no we
have no heart. We're not tough. And you know, it's
it's really you know, my staff and I were just
really frustrated that we're coaching that, you know, effort and
energy focused. That's a given, man. That comes with you know,

(18:00):
used to say it used to come with a scholarship.
Right now it comes with a hundred hundreds of thousands
of dollars and man, that I'm fixing go call my
ad and telling man, I'm I'm embarrassed. I'm sorry, you know,
because I am. And that's that's not the way you
represent the University of Texas. And I wear it. I'm accountable.

(18:24):
That's my team. But it's it's so disappointing. It's probably
the softest team I've had in years, you know, And
I think that's what's hard. When you come to a
place like Texas, and you come to a program like Texas,
you come and you want to be a part of that,
but you have to be an active participant in that.

(18:45):
You can't come ride the code tails. We lost some
critical seniors, critical seniors that were tough, that were competitive,
that played with heart every night. You know, everybody wants
to judge andriticize and critique, but those kids brought it
every I could count on them every night. So when

(19:07):
you come you have to be an active participant. I
didn't have too many active participants till I put that
group in in the second half. That kid, those two
those kids played well, they played hard. They came in
down twenty six. We cut it really to ten. We
filed them for their last six points, if I'm not mistaken.
So it just takes heart, y'all. You know, And again

(19:29):
not taking anything from Vanderbilt man, I thought they were special.
I thought those kids played hard. We just I had
a coach spent two weeks on a scout and we
go out there and absolutely kicked it on the on
execute it. We can't get the simplest thing done in
a scout, but yet we walk around, we whine, we complain.

(19:52):
It's just embarrassing. I can't remember when I've been this
embarrassed over the lack of heart. And again, I'm responsible,
I am, absolutely I have. You're either coaching it or
allowing it. You're either coaching it or allowing it. And

(20:13):
I'm responsible for it. So my job is to get
it fixed. We got two days to get it fixed
before we go to Tennessee. But man, it is it's
a lonely feeling, especially in that gym when you're down there.
I bon't buy yourself on the sideline there. There's no
bench down there with you to at least turn around
and have a conversation with you. Won't fit talk about

(20:34):
a lonely feeling down there with a team that's not
playing well and in your mind, not playing hard. But
you know, I wasn't gonna I wasn't gonna certainly wasn't
gonna quit. And I thought that group that played in
the second half after I made the first round of substitutions,
those kids played hard. And those kids are going to
play on Sunday. So we'll get back. We'll practice tomorrow,

(20:55):
we'll practice Saturday, and we'll go there Sunday and see
if we can find a way to play a little better.
But we're gonna have to bring our hearts with us.
Some of us left our heart back in Austin, Texas.
You mentioned it a little bit, but coaching in this gym,
having to stand out there on the sideline, How does
that change you know, your your mental experience throughout the game. Well,

(21:16):
you know, I've coached in that gym when you could,
you had to stay on the baseline. They didn't give
us the freedom to get down there where you can
in normal gyms, right, so to me, at least they
made that adjustment and got that approved. But you know,
it didn't affect It had no effect on the game whatsoever.
And again, if your team's playing good, you know, no
big deal. But there's times down there you're standing up

(21:37):
there like a statue of liberty and it's all you.
And when your team's not playing well, it's it's a
lovely feeling. But again, I'm a big boy. I can
handle it. Can you give us any insight into the
decision to ben try for those city games? Well, first
of all, y'all, you got to stop saying benching. This
is a game, and it's basketball. You make substitute, so

(22:01):
it's not benching. I've had this brought up before when
I subbed Inbri for Rory at LSU. It's not benching
if she doesn't play on Sunday you can come at
me with benching. I'm not going at you. I'm just
I've had this before and I don't understand as a
sportsperson sports writers. It's not benching. It's giving another kid

(22:24):
an opportunity. And by the way, she had seven assists,
two turnovers, played her guts out. So once you put
somebody in in there playing well, you don't take them out.
And it happened at LSU. It happened again tonight and
again I will do it from here. I will change
the starting lineup to find some heart in our team.

(22:45):
And I'm not talking specifically about that particular substitution. I'm
just talking about my team. I will find five people
that will play like this, not like this, and that's
what it takes in this league. So it's not benching.
Bre Preston played, she played her guts out, played really hard,

(23:06):
ran my team seven assists, two turnovers in twenty one minutes.
Rory played eighteen had to assist two turnovers.

Speaker 10 (23:19):
I played.

Speaker 9 (23:19):
Bre Preston next.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
Said, this is something either coach or you allow.

Speaker 10 (23:25):
Yeah, which one? Do you think you've done this? Since
you're setting up your film.

Speaker 9 (23:29):
Like this, Yeah, I think that it's it's for me.
I love those kids, I enjoy being around them. I
get the proof is in the pudding, and I need
to remind myself of that. I get to listening to
too many people who think they know instead of just

(23:53):
doing it my way. You know, if they're not going
to get in the cold tub and get rehab okay,
then you're gonna be tired the next day. If you're
not gonna get and cry, oh, then you're gonna be tired.
But me taking it easy, Me not practicing hard because
somebody else does that or everybody else does that. I've

(24:13):
never done that. Never, And my teams are always better
in February and March always, But we're not tough. We
have no toughness. This team is as soft as it's
the softest team I've ever had. They have no toughness. Again,
that translates from practices. My fault, my fault. So again

(24:40):
it's a little probably a little bit of both. And
again I'll wear it, no problem, my fault. I'll wear
all of it. But it's gonna stop now. I don't
want to hear. I've told my staf I don't hear
about anybody being tired, sore, whatever, it's time to go
to work.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
That's it.

Speaker 9 (25:03):
That's how you fix that. You just go to work.
But to sit around and think that it's not this
fault or this fault that, you know what, we all
need to be accountable. And when I say that again,
I've had teams. All they got was a scholarship and
they laid it on the line every time. I never

(25:25):
had to coach their heart. Never I'm out there coaching
heart tonight, y'all. That ain't it not at Texas?

Speaker 5 (25:37):
And I guess, just from Vanderbilt standpoint, what was so
difficult about their cards signed, in particular trying to slid
on the candle Blake's we.

Speaker 9 (25:44):
Probably had the same problem everybody else has had with
her baby. You know, it'd be different if this was
the first night she's had thirty, but I'm pretty sure
that's four in a row for her. So, you know, again,
disappointed in that. And figure out with a veteran group
what the things are she likes to do and couldn't

(26:05):
take it away. That's what I'm disappointed about. Just it
ain't that hard, you know. I told my staff with
about five minutes to go in the game, we play
them again. Our focus needs to be this, this, and this,
and we obviously didn't have the focus tonight. I had
a coach that spent two weeks on this scout. You'd
never know it, never know it, But y'all can tell

(26:29):
I am pissed, I'm disappointed. I'm hurt and taking nothing
from Vanderbilt, nothing from Mi Caleb Blake's, nothing from that
point guard that's freaking good, Nothing from them. Their fives
were better than us, tougher in us. We can't make
a drop step lay up tonight. It's just disappointing. But

(26:52):
that's all tough to y'all. They were tougher. They were
just flat tougher. And we've had this issue before the
se but the old coach just goes in there and
has the coach speak and doesn't really say anything about it.
But I'm tired of it, as you can tell, I
am war out. I am sick of it. So we

(27:14):
better fix it or you know what, it's going to continue.
The butt whipping will continue, will continue to lose if
we don't fix it. That's my job. I bet you
at the forty one years, I bet you I fix it.

Speaker 10 (27:31):
Than y'all have a great.

Speaker 9 (27:33):
Day thanks for your coverage. Banderbilt was special.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
That when he was laughing it but you could tell
the emotion, the determination his voice, the unhappiness with what
he said. And again I know that some especially media members,
look at what he decided to do with his lineup
in the fourth quarter view it as he that he

(28:01):
benched Rory Harmon. He was not having at He's saying,
you make lineup change to get an effective lineup on
the floor.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Doesn't mean your quote unquote.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
Benji benching carries that negative connotation to it, I think,
and that's what probably bothers him about that. Bottom line
is she wasn't on the floor in the fourth quarter
because he uh, you know, uh Rihanna Preston was helping
with the assists and played pretty well on defense, especially
against michaeleb Blake's. Now, obviously when she's on the floor,

(28:30):
you don't have quite the offensive threat that you would
have with Rory uh, not only with assists but also
with points. All right, coming up next, we have Inconceivable
on a Friday right here on Sports Video AM thirteen
under the zone of the iHeartRadio app. Second hour of

(29:01):
the program here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred of
the Zone. Craig Away with you from u FCU, Deshaunt Field,
Jay Carman, the producer back at the station Longhorns on
the field, going through.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Some early early warm up things.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
In a few minutes, I'm gonna head downstairs with Keith
Moreland also with camera. Parker Kim will sit in for
me tomorrow working with Keith on the game. We're gonna
visit with Jim Shlasnaigle and get his thoughts on this
and have our pregame conversation with him. And during that time,
Jake will guide you through some of this here in
the three o'clock hour, and we will also hear from

(29:37):
Sean Miller segment of Longhorn Weekly from last night talking
about this basketball team that's looking for four in a
row and really and truly after Missouri wanted Texas A
and M on Wednesday night, kind of important. It's even
more important because Missouri is a bubble team going into that,

(29:57):
and that really helped them on the side of the bubble.
It's not as if Texas is just going up against
missoo as, Like you know, one of these is a
bubble team and whoever loses is out it's not so
much that, but it.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Is another bubble team.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
It is a team that they would have to be
uh in contention with among others to get into.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
The field of sixty eight.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
As of today, Joe Lenardi has Texas in the field,
but he's got him in the he's got him as
the top team in the last four. In what that
means is they'd still be in Dayton, Ohio for the
first four, but a win of Missouri would go. And
of course Joe's is not the final word. But I

(30:41):
will tell you the recent history shows he has about
a ninety seven percent correct rate on getting the field,
at least getting all sixty eight teams in the field.
He is usually I think in the set an the
something percentile on where the seed.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Line is for those schools.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
And then it's a little less than that, probably in
the forty something on where they actually wind up. Because
that's that's really kind of an inexact science because a
lot of times the tournament selection committee is just trying
to balance the bracket, and it's less important whether Texas
is sent to Buffalo or Tampa or Greenville or any

(31:28):
of the other first round sites, as opposed to say
in a baseball regional where if a team is hosting,
then other teams that the original initiative was to try
to keep them within what they said, it was a
fourner and fifty mile radius. That's kind of gone by
the wayside because again it's been in the interest of

(31:49):
balancing the bracket. Where they're talking about balancing with two seeds,
three seats, and even four seats. Four seeds are usually
the most well traveled. They're the ones that, say, from
the SWACK or the MEAC could be sent across the country.
But quite often, if say LSU is hosting a regional,
then maybe the SWACK champion might be sent there. The

(32:10):
MEAC champion might wind up playing in say a regional
in Chapel Hill or Raleigh or Greenville or one of
those kinds of places. But a lot of the other
four seeds out of those one bid leagues, like Fairfield
came here one year, Central Connecticut State came here one year,
Bucknell came out. Those were all from the northeast. And

(32:30):
so it works differently with baseball than with men's basketball.
With men's basketball and women's basketball, and women's basketball is
a little bit different too because it's closer, more skewed
toward like baseball is, because the top four seeds in
each region wind up hosting first and second round action,

(32:52):
and so that happens in the first and second round
for those top four seeds they wind up hosting. They again,
they try to keep it geographically close to it whenever possible,
but it's certainly not necessarily a definite off of that.
But the main thing, and rolling it back to the
point about this is when you are on either side

(33:15):
of but kind of astride the bubble.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
If you're on it.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Or just on the plus side or just on the
minus side, all the games in February become crucial. It
becomes heightened if you're on the road, even more heightened
if you're playing a ranked opponent on the road.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
Texas gonna have to deal with that when they go
to Arkansas.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
And also heightened if you're playing another team that's kind
of in the same boat with you. And that's going
to be the situation with Missouri. Missouri got a big
win to help boost their chances. Now do they slide
back down or do they continue their momentum? Do the
long ones continue their momentum? It would be four in

(33:55):
a row in sec play if that were to happen.
So we'll see, we'll see how ultimately that rolls down
for the Longhorns. And it's a big game tomorrow night
against Missouri. We'll have it for you seven o'clock pregame
starting time, the first pitch seven thirty. Of course, tonight
Long Worn Baseball right here at UFCU dish fak Field,
Texas to take on UC Davis and our coverage begins

(34:17):
at six fifteen and the first pitch at six thirty.
Texas Saftball across the street scheduled scheduled for a five
o'clock first pitch against Ohio State with a seven thirty
follow up. Scheduled follow up game against Syracuse. Cameron Parker
of the call of that sawtball doubleheader, and you can
hear that on the iHeartRadio app and also on our

(34:39):
HD two signal ninety seven point five FM. All right,
so that kind of sets the table for that coming up.
Jay Herman will take you through this next portion of
the program, which includes hearing from the head coach of
Long Worn Basketball, Sean Miller. I'll be back up in
a little bit. Keep more and little join us in
the four o'clock hour talk some my long orn baseball.

(35:01):
For those of you missed the Vick Schaeffer Ratt, don't worry,
we'll re err it for you in the four o'clock
hour as well. It's a Friday here from the ballpark
on opening day of college baseball, and tonight we have
the opening night matchup Texas and UC Davis right here
on sports Radio AM thirteen hunder the zone of the
iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 11 (35:24):
Job.

Speaker 4 (35:40):
Yes here it goes again with another baseball season underway.
A little later in the show, we'll dive in on
Texas's season opening series again. Coverage of that begins at
six fifteen to night six thirty first pitch here on
AM thirteen hundred to zone. Like you heard a moment ago,

(36:00):
we always make the text line available for you. You can
text the word Texas followed by your question or comment
to eight one five three zero. We've got a couple
of questions that have come in on the text line
throughout the show today.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Let's get to a couple of those.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
While Craig is down in the dugout at dish falk
Field interviewing Jim Schwasnagel. First, Ryan as what channel the
basketball game will be on on Sunday. I assume Ryan,
you're talking about the Texas women when they travel to
take on Tennessee. That game will air on ABC on
the TV side of things, and of course you can

(36:37):
hear every Texas women's basketball game right here on AM
thirteen hundred. Zone Coverage of that will start at one
forty five on Sunday. The Texas men will take on Missouri.
That's a seven thirty tip off tomorrow night. On the
TV side, you can hear that on ESPN two. But
of course that's also available for you here on our

(36:59):
iHeart family of networks. So with Texas taken on Missouri,
we're going to hear them. Just a moment from Sean Miller.
You can hear that game, by the way, on the
Zone Saturday night. A couple other comments coming in. First,
Seapals says, it's inconceivable for the Texas women to lose
like that. We were all mad, very disappointed. The SEC
is hard on the road and the Texas women have

(37:19):
had trouble on it. I think VIC was a little
hard on them, at least publicly. And you look at
the three losses for Texas this season, right on the
road at LSU, at South Carolina, at Vanderbilt. Those are
all teams that have been inside the top five at
some point and teams that are likely to stay up
near those one or two seed lines come tournament time.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
And while those.

Speaker 4 (37:41):
Are difficult places to win, right for Texas, a team
fighting for seeding in that NCAA tournament, in that SEC tournament, Yeah,
you'd like to see some better results on the road,
and you know Vic Shaffer will have them ready to
come back out in Knoxville on Sunday. And then during Inconceivable,
somebody commented hashtag meth teeth. Yeah, that was about one
of our Florida man stories. So on the flip side,

(38:04):
the Texas men's basketball team has been trying to stack
wins and stack momentum.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
It's what Sean Miller's Xavior team day.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
To remember, that same Xavior team that knocked the Texas
Longhorns out of the tournament in Dayton, Ohio a season ago.
Texas hoping to see a similar kind of late surge,
hoping their best basketball is still in front of them,
and that was among the topics of conversation during this
segment of Longhorn Weekly, which aired last night. We'll bring
you a segment of that right here in case you

(38:35):
missed it. As Texas looks for its fourth consecutive win
on Saturday against Missouri.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
Take a listen.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
I want to get into something a term that not
only you use with your team, but you really introduced
it to the Longhorn fan base as well. And that's
the deflections and kills. And we've talked about that and
what they mean. And the kill was getting the three
consecutive stops. Well, now you have an Sea seakill with
three consecutive wins, and the improvement apparently really appears in

(39:06):
the last four to eight minutes when you close out
those games. If you've done not just for this season,
but more for the overall building of the program. Why
is this mindset of stacking the consecutive wins, as we
mentioned at the top of your guy's not that familiar
with it, so important in the building of what you
want to do with this program.

Speaker 11 (39:26):
Meaning the using the reference of a kill towards winning.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
Yes, so exactly.

Speaker 11 (39:31):
You know, I think just for us just being as
creative as we can of just you know, keeping the
focus on team's success, you know, because it's it's difficult.
It doesn't mean a player selfish when he has his
own goals and aspirations. But I think so much of
team sports. You pick the sport, I think they'll share
what I'm about ready to say as being true, and

(39:53):
that is that you know, if you're in college football,
especially at the highest level, it's about can I play
on Sunday in the NFL? How quickly can I get there?
And you know, and how long can I stay when
them there? And I'm sure baseball is the same. Can
I become a Major League Baseball player?

Speaker 9 (40:08):
Et cetera.

Speaker 11 (40:08):
Basketball is maybe even more so because we only have
five players that are on the court at one time,
and you know, it's it's a player that plays both
offense and defense, and how can I become a part
of the NBA. So, you know, with team success comes
these individual accolades and respect. You see it even in
the last week and a half inside of our program,

(40:29):
where I think the SEC and the people around college
basketball are taking more notice of Dalen Swain's individual season
because the team that he's on has had some recent success.
You know, Diddle for Tremon Tremont's you know, close to
hitting some major milestones as an individual player that very
few have ever done in this game when you consider

(40:51):
the years that he's played, the games that he's played,
and what he's accomplished. You know, scoring, rebounding, assists, et cetera.
But you don't get a lot of respect even though
those numbers are really impressive unless the team you're on wins.
So for us, I think being able to climb in
the sec and being able to keep the focus on
you know, what can I do as an individual player

(41:14):
to help my team win the next game to be
the best that we can be as a team, because
with team success it will allow me to also achieve
my individual goals. So I think anything creatively we can
do to kind of burn that fire, to build that fire,
to make it bigger and brighter, that's something that will
be healthy for us, not just this year, but moving

(41:35):
forward as well.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
Well.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
To your player's credit, whenever we visit with them after
a win on the postgame show, the first thing they're
always doing is giving credit to their teammates. They're saying
or in visiting with modesty the other night and talking
about how his teammates put him in good position to
score twenty seven points or to be in that, and

(41:56):
so Tremon talks about it. I think all the guys
we were just talking about Cam Heidi during the break
and he's really playing at a high level for you
right now. And Cam talks about how teammates are giving
him opportunities. It's all within that framework, isn't it. Even
as individual stars rise above with their individual.

Speaker 11 (42:15):
Performances, no question, and Cam Heidie embodies all of those qualities.
If you think about even his track record at Purdue
before he came to us, you know, Cam has played
in the National Championship game Purdue against Yukon. Cam has
played in multiple NCUBA tournaments and has had nc DOUBA
tournament's success. You can make the argument last year two

(42:36):
of his best games as a player happened in last
year's nc DOUBLEA tournament. But you know, he's been in
the locker room and a part of a program, and
he continues to be so as part of our program,
where he understands the value of being a great teammate,
being able to bounce back from a tough loss or
a bad game individually, and then also not losing your

(42:58):
mind when things are too good, both for you as
a player and for us as a team. So like
it's that balanced process that I think we're all after you.
This week is a great test of our process because
we only have one game and it came I think
at an ideal time for our team here in mid February.
But you know, this week isn't just about recuperation and

(43:19):
rest and hey, we don't get to play a game,
so therefore we'll be better on Saturday. No, it's it's
actually the balance of yes, we want to get both
feet under our ground and experience not traveling for a
day or a week and maybe having an opportunity to
take one extra day off.

Speaker 9 (43:35):
But the practices this week.

Speaker 11 (43:37):
Are really important so that when we come out on
Saturday that we're ready, we're sharp, we're not flat. And then,
most importantly, like you had mentioned earlier, Craig, the stretch
run is here and we want to be at our
best towards the end of February.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
And at February schedule for the Texas Longhorns will be very,
very busy. You look at games ahead against Missouri, then
back home Tuesday night to take on LSU before another
trip next Saturday to Georgia. Closing with Florida, Texas A
and m Arkansas and Oklahoma. Before we go to break,

(44:13):
I want to let you hear a couple of sound
bites from yesterday's conversation the media members had with Tremon,
Mark Longhorn's senior guard, and he talked a little bit
about this matchup with Missouri, what it's going to take
to match up with their leading scorer, Mark Mitchell, in general,
his philosophy on guarding bigger guards, which is an assignment

(44:34):
he's often drawn this season.

Speaker 10 (44:36):
Mark Mitchell is a great player.

Speaker 8 (44:39):
Really been playing against him since since he was at
Duke and stuff, So you know he's a good player.
No his skills, know his weaknesses, but yeah he's just
if I'm messed up on my wuld just say just
just be tough with him. I know he wants to
get to the room, especially if a smaller guy's garden him,
so I know he wants to get to the room.
Not really gonna bait him to shoot, but just kind
of like lean on nassign to lean on Saigh a

(45:00):
little bit, but just just being tough overall.

Speaker 10 (45:02):
That's the main factor.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
How about the level of intensity and focus that it's
going to take coming down the stretch. If anyone would
know about it, it's somebody with as much basketball experience
as Tremont Mark.

Speaker 8 (45:14):
For me personally, you know, everything everything is in play
right now for me, you know, just the level I
have to be at mentally and physically is it has
to be at a tremendous level, especially going into my
last year, these last last games of my class career.

Speaker 10 (45:31):
So just but also just enjoying it. And that's what
That's what I'm doing right now.

Speaker 8 (45:35):
I'm just enjoying the process that I go through every day, treatment, shooting.

Speaker 10 (45:40):
Practice, stuff, stuff we do after practice.

Speaker 8 (45:43):
I'm just enjoying it all, and that's where the main
factor and everything else will take care of it.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
So how about the leadership role on this team that
Tramon Mark has not just assumed himself, but has helped
his younger teammates kind of take on as well.

Speaker 10 (45:56):
I enjoyed is just as much of my other teammates
as you.

Speaker 8 (45:59):
You know, we all all in this together. You know,
I can't do this without them. They can't do this
without me. So we all have to have each other's backs.
We all have to make sure each one of us
is you know, enthused and ready to go where we're
playing or not playing. We all have to just do
our job and do it at a high level for
us to be successful as a team, especially going into March.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
You know, if you paid attention throughout the season to
Sean Miller the way he talks about Tremon Mark, he's
mentioned this learning process coming in late in the spring,
having to put this team together, and Mark obviously one
of those players that Miller inherited from Rodney Terry's team
a season to goo, what was the learning process like

(46:44):
from Tremon's perspective, as those two kind of figured one
another out and figured out the best ways to sort
of play off of one another's strengths.

Speaker 8 (46:54):
That to happy, you know, because when he got here,
I had showlder surgery, so you know, all the summer
workouts and stuff, he didn't get to see me in
the practices of the workouts. I was always on the sidelines,
just watching, sharing my teammates on. But you know, of course,
once I actually got on the court, he started to
learn and learn and learn. But even that took some time.

(47:14):
You know, all all this stuff takes time. So when
I finally got on the court and we started getting
into like you know, official practices and stuff. It's still
I wouldn't was I wouldn't say it was there, but
you know, just learning process. And now that we're deep
into the season, we both have a much better feel
of you know, each other, half of him as a coach,

(47:35):
he has me as a player. So it's just just
learning stuff and it's gonna play a major factor in
this last month especially you know, SEC SEC Tournament March.

Speaker 10 (47:47):
All that stuff is gonna matter.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
So how about with that shoulder recovery you heard Tremon mentioned,
was there a specific moment or a game where he
felt like things started to get more comfortable.

Speaker 8 (47:57):
I wouldn't necessarily say comfortable, because for me, being comfortable
can be a good thing and a bad thing.

Speaker 10 (48:06):
So I try to I try not to be comfortable.

Speaker 8 (48:08):
I try to try to always just like be lerial,
like I have to work, I have to do this,
I have to do that.

Speaker 10 (48:14):
And so I.

Speaker 8 (48:16):
Would say I would feel a little bit more relaxed
in a sense, but comfortable. I don't know, but we
have a good understanding of each other, So I would
say that kind.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
Of an interesting look into his mindset there, if you
pick that up Trema. Mark has this philosophy right about
not wanting to get too comfortable. Where does that philosophy
come from? Why is it something that he feels is
so important and helpful to him?

Speaker 8 (48:39):
Because I feel like if you're in a constant state
of comfort, you're not really getting better.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
You know.

Speaker 10 (48:45):
It's let me rephrase that too.

Speaker 8 (48:47):
Sometimes I am comfortable, you know, but just not always
being comfortable, you know, it's not really it's not really
good for me personally, you know, because I feel like
I'm not really getting better growing, you know, so especially
playing basketball. You know, playing basketball, you have to do
certain things that are not going to be comfortable. But
the more you do them and the more you're doing

(49:09):
they will become more comfortable, you know. So just doing
things that being being uncomfortable with the with the being
comfortable with the uncomfortable, I would say, just stuff like that.

Speaker 10 (49:21):
That's the phrase I got from my dad.

Speaker 8 (49:22):
So just doing that stuff and it's really helped me,
you know, especially since I was a freshman in college
playing for a coach sell you know, playing for coach Sampson,
you know, where I was uncomfortable a lot, especially as
a freshman, you know, so it was just hard, but
I got through.

Speaker 10 (49:39):
Them and I bounced back.

Speaker 8 (49:40):
I persevered through that stuff, and it's made me a
great player.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
Neat little look behind the curtain.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
There last SoundBite from Tremont Mark here, and that is
having to do with the mid range. Those who have
watched a lot of Texas basketball this year noticed that
Tramon Mark it's not afraid of taking and making tough twos.
It's an area that he's improved move in quite a
bit this season, both in volume and efficiency. From that perspective,
He's shooting nearly sixty percent from two point range, and

(50:07):
that's what's kept his scoring numbers up and raised his
offensive efficiency. Despite kind of a down year from three,
tro Mark's only shooting twenty eight percent from the outside
after shooting thirty three, thirty four, thirty six percent each
of the last three seasons. So as for that mid range,
when did he kind of develop that into a strength

(50:28):
and why does you think it works so well for
his game?

Speaker 8 (50:31):
Junior high, that's when I started working on my mee
range shot, like a turn with my dad.

Speaker 10 (50:36):
Just mee rains after met rings, after me rangs, just
because it's.

Speaker 8 (50:40):
Always a shot you can get off just in case
you're in trouble. You know, get to his spot, pull
up and rise over a certain defense, especially if you
have a smaller defender on you.

Speaker 10 (50:50):
That's what I mean. That's why I watched Kobe Bryant
do a lot growing up.

Speaker 8 (50:53):
They just get to their spot, rise over defenders, and
it is what it is.

Speaker 10 (50:57):
You really can't stop it.

Speaker 8 (50:59):
So that's why accumulated into my game and has done
it has been a tremendous factor for him, especially late
in games. You know, getting the spots and just defriend
is not knowing what to do.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
So so the Texas men get ready to take on Missouri.

Speaker 4 (51:14):
Hopefully they used that midweek by to their advantage to
rest stop get themselves fully healthy. I know the scene,
and Troyory has been working through something with his knee.
He was not able to play against Ole miss in
the win last Saturday, but Sean Miller seemed to hint
that had there been kind of an emergency situation, Troyory
could have given it a tried. So with him getting

(51:36):
the benefit of that extra rest, the Longhorns hopefully a
little bit healthier going into a big time matchup with
Missouri in Columbia, that one could really go either way
and could go a long way towards Texas' NCAA tournament hopes.
Like Craig and I discussed in the last segment, he
talked about Joel Lonari and where he has the Longhorn
sitting right now, one of the last teams in to

(51:58):
the NCAAA field. There's still there's some variety and a
lack of consensus on that, part of that being that
we're still a month away from selection Sunday. Looking across
some of the different bracket predictions, a lot of them
have Texas in that number ten or eleven seed range,
some playing in the first four, some earning a bye,
a couple have Texas as highest number nine or eight

(52:19):
seed at the moment, and a couple of Texas out
of the field altogether. You don't want to leave it
into the committee's hands, at least not that tight, and
so Texas wanting to stack wins looking for their fourth
consecutive SEC victory on Saturday night. Okay, much more to
come on The Craigway Show when we come back. More
baseball discussion with the Texas Longhorns getting set to open

(52:41):
up the twenty twenty sixth season at home against UC
Davis tonight. Plus, if you missed Vic Schaefer's rant following
the disappointing defeat for the Texas Women in Nashville last night,
we'll air that for you again coming up in the
four o'clock hour. This is the Craig Way Show on
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
Okay, I think that's a rather odd lyric. But who
am I to say?

Speaker 10 (53:07):
Right?

Speaker 1 (53:09):
You look like you love me? Okay?

Speaker 2 (53:14):
Is that Ela Langley we're hearing from there?

Speaker 4 (53:16):
That's Ella Langley, This is Riley Green, and that's the
song lyric you Look Like You Love Me in the time.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Okay, Oh that's nice. Okay.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
So it's directly tied to the amount of alcohol consumption
I can see now.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
Anyway, I hear a lot of people now kind of
imitating this style of just kind of talking through a
verse and it naturally segues into your hook.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
It works well for Ella.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
And let me tell you what we're gonna do is
give away a pair of tickets to see Ella Langley
on Thursday, August thirteenth at Moody Center. Now, we've been
doing this all week long, where we give you a
key ward on the show and you enter the contest
to get into the drawing by downloading the free iHeartRadio app.

(54:13):
So you do that to begin with, and then once
you download the iHeartRadio app, you do a search for
AM thirteen under the zone. It pops right up and
then you we'll see two buttons. One's a little white
triangular button that's to listen to what's going on the air.
But the one that's important for our contesting is the
little red button with the white microphone in it. That's

(54:36):
the key to the microphone because that's our talk back feature.
And what you do is you just leave us a
message up to thirty seconds. You don't even need thirty
seconds to tell us, hey, let's listen to Craigway Show.
I'd like to be in the drawing for the yellow
Langley tickets with the keyword Today's keyword easy Texas. And
some of that is because what's the song Jake.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
Choosing Texas is choosing Mexas.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
We have the Texas Long Horns getting ready to play
baseball tonight. We have the Texas Long Worn men's basketball
team on their way to Columbia Missouri as we speak
right now. And of course the Texas women coming off
the loss of Vanderbilt, and they have a big game
on Sunday at at Tennessee. And then you have Texas Softball,

(55:21):
which is due to play at five o'clock this afternoon,
first of a couple of games. They'll play Ohio State
and the Tennise Syracuse. Today, Cameron Parker Bey on the
call of those and then Jake will call the two
games tomorrow two thirty scheduled and five o'clock scheduled for
the same two teams, Ohio State and Syracuse. So again

(55:41):
the keyword today is Texas. So if you want to
be in the drawing for the tickets to see Ella Langley,
all you have to do is download the iHeartRadio app.
It's free. And then once you download the iHeart Radio app,
you do a search for AM thirteen under the zone
it'll pop right up.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
And then when it.

Speaker 2 (55:59):
Does pop up, then you press the red button with
a white microphone leave us a message on our talkback microphone.
The talkback feature no more than thirty seconds. Just tell
us you like to be in the drawing for the
tickets and.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
The keyword is Texas.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
And I'll even tell you the keyword Monday was ella.
The keyword Tuesday was dand the line. The keyword Wednesday
was jack. The keyword yesterday Thursday was August, and the
keyword today is Texas.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
So there it is.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
All you have to do is follow the directions on
that and then you'll be just fine with regard to that. Okay,
let's hear some more from baseball. Keith Mortland join me
here in the four o'clock hour, and we're also gonna
hear if you didn't hear Vic Schaefer's postgame press conference,

(56:52):
don't worry, we're gonna throw it at you again because
he pulls no punches about how he feels where his
team has at right now after their loss. And so
we'll hear him coming up at the four o'clock But
keep will join me in the four o'clock hour as well.
But as we talk some long horn baseball, we just

(57:15):
got a chance to go down and visit with Jim
Schlasnagg and we'll talk more about our conversation with him
coming up in that four o'clock hour.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
But also Jim of course had his.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Media session this week and visited with everybody, and one
of the points that he talked about was does he
have his top four set in his order, meaning his
lineup and does as he dialed in on who his
top four guys in the batting order in the lineup

(57:53):
will be.

Speaker 6 (57:55):
Top four. I have an idea. I'm still trying to
figure out what would be the best fit.

Speaker 7 (58:01):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (58:01):
You know, you you go back and forth between you know,
you want to get the best hitters up the most.

Speaker 6 (58:08):
You also want to have some depth in the lineup.
I like lineup ballants.

Speaker 5 (58:14):
So I'm constantly going back and forth, and I think
you find it out over time about, you know, what
is the best combination for the team. You know, obviously
Robin's titty a Rod are going to be in the
top I would have to think those guys are certainly
they're going to be in the top four. Three three
of those guys. Mendoza more than likely would be in that.
But you know, when Jon is going well, he brings

(58:36):
a mentality that's it's so cool, you know, and it's, uh,
it kind of sets a tone and so I'm not I'm.

Speaker 6 (58:43):
Not sure we're ready to go there yet.

Speaker 5 (58:45):
But when he's healthy and in the right space.

Speaker 6 (58:51):
He brings something to the table that not many of
our players bring.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Okay, so the keywords there are when he's healthy, and
we'll get more on that in a moment. But first
of all, elaborating on his lineup, and he talked about
trying to you heard him mention balance, balance in the
lineup and also the importance of the balance of seeing
what he has in some of these young guys and
yet putting the best lineup on the field.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
It gives them the best chance to win.

Speaker 6 (59:17):
Yeah, that's that's a constant.

Speaker 9 (59:18):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (59:19):
You know again, the beauty of having those older pitchers back,
it's super helpful.

Speaker 6 (59:23):
Guy like Evan Walker. You know what you're gonna get Grubbs.

Speaker 5 (59:26):
Obviously, cal Higgins hasn't pitched the Texas using for him,
but he certainly competed at a very high level Division
run baseball. And then you have those young bucks that
are that are chalking at the bit to run, to
come running out of that bullpen, like mccurrnin and Brody
Walls and Crossland, Michael Winter at some point cos Art

(59:46):
more than likely as a starting pitcher.

Speaker 6 (59:49):
So it's it's kind of.

Speaker 5 (59:50):
A it's my job with my experience in Max is
to pick and choose those times, right and if it's
a if it's a tight moment early, you may lean
towards experience, but at some point you got to get
him in there, you know.

Speaker 6 (01:00:04):
And so I if there's a tight moment on Friday,
probably an older player.

Speaker 5 (01:00:09):
But if that older player gets used on Friday and
there's another one on Saturday, well then the young guys.

Speaker 6 (01:00:13):
Are gonna have to go out there.

Speaker 5 (01:00:14):
So the only way to get these guys better is
to pitch them, and that's going to maybe come with
some lumps, but they've also faced all of our players,
and we pitched him in the alumni game. We had
a decent crowd that day, so we're as prepared as
we're going to be.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
We just have to go play, all right. Let me
go back to.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
What he has his thoughts on Joan Williams and of
course Jonah. Of course, the two sport athletes played down
the stretch in the football season, played in the bowl game.
In fact, I banged up in bowl practice as well.
But first of all, his thoughts on where Jonah Williams
might have the best opportunity to play.

Speaker 6 (01:00:53):
We'll see how the next couple of days go.

Speaker 5 (01:00:55):
But you know, right now, Jonah, you know, we put
him out in right field, which is a new position
for him.

Speaker 6 (01:01:02):
Right field here is very very hard to play.

Speaker 5 (01:01:04):
I mean, this is the outfield here is the toughest
outfield that I've ever coached at to play.

Speaker 6 (01:01:10):
It's really hard centerfield and centerfield's tough.

Speaker 5 (01:01:13):
With the sun, right field's a nightmare, and so you
better be athletic if you be able to adjust on
the fly. Obviously with Max out there last year we
had some experience. But the wind plays a big role
here in right field. That corner down there is a
little crazy. The sun is tough, and the fact that
there's really not a field difference in your feet between

(01:01:34):
the green part of the turf and the brown part
of the turf. So you see a lot of outfielders,
usually the visiting team and sometimes our team says a
flat run and the fence because it's tough to tell
where you are. We work on it all the time.
But Jonah, you know, Jonah has played well up there,
packs played well out there, Robbins has played well out there.
So we could do a lot of different things in

(01:01:55):
right field. It first starts with the bat you know,
the old saying if you want to become a better
outfield or go to the batting case, you know, I
mean if you hit and you will.

Speaker 6 (01:02:03):
Find a spot for you.

Speaker 5 (01:02:04):
But outfield defense in this park, as coach Gurrito and
Coach Pierce always did such a great job of Coach
gust two, I'm sure, but those are the ones I
remember with the guys that can really run and cover
some ground. So Jonah will get if he plays, you know,
if he starts the game will Friday, he'll he'll probably
can't ride and go okay.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
He was also to elaborate on what Jonah Williams brings
to the table for his team.

Speaker 6 (01:02:29):
Jonah, it's you know, definitely.

Speaker 5 (01:02:31):
The swag, you know, different things, but that's he's so
much more than that. Like if you don't if you
see watch on social media, you know him in the
batter's box, different things. That way, your perception, the perception
is not reality. He is a million percent about the team.
He from the second he gets here. You know, he
goes through his moods too like anybody, like we all do,

(01:02:52):
but he from the second it's about the team.

Speaker 6 (01:02:55):
And when he doesn't do well.

Speaker 5 (01:02:56):
He's going to show it kind of emotionally, but it's
not self is because I didn't do well it selfish
because he feels like he let the team down. And honestly,
we have to talk even back from that a little bit.
So he's truly trying to win fish and fish. If
you hear him in the dugout, he's always behind his teammates.
He's not afraid to call somebody out, regardless of your age, and.

Speaker 6 (01:03:15):
He's not afraid to be called out. So I call
it competitive intelligence.

Speaker 5 (01:03:19):
Last year he has that, and he's truly you know,
all about the team and and you know it's just
when he when he's in the building, we're a different team.
I know it's I know it's refreshing to me to
see him every day.

Speaker 6 (01:03:34):
So I think it will.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
Help uh okay uh. In just a few moments ago,
I'm visiting which loss. He said he's not sure if
Jonah we'll be ready to go tonight because of when
he got banged up in the bowl game and bowl practice.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
But he said, we'll see, We'll see how it goes.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
And how things lay out, and if not tonight, he
probably should be fine to go. Tomorrow, but he's being
cautious right now. He said, they'll see with regard tonight
whether John Williams could play. We'll be back to wrap
up hour number two here on thirteen under the Zone,

(01:04:12):
third and final hour of the program here on Sports
Radio Am thirteen hunderd the Zone. Greg, wait with you
here at UFCU Di justh falk Field Tonight. It's the
season opener for twenty twenty six Texas Long Orange take
on the agis of the University of California Davis. You
see Davis six point thirty, first pitch, six fifteen pregame
start time and joining me once again. And I'm thinking

(01:04:37):
you correct me if I'm wrong, because this is my
twenty fifth year in what you like to call the
left chair in the lead play by play chair. It's
our twenty second season because you had the three year
hiatus in Chicago as part of the Cubs broadcast.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
Keith Morland. Of course, I'm talking about.

Speaker 7 (01:04:55):
Well in my first ever you started back in the
nineties with Bill Shooney. Yeah, I mean on another radio
station here in town, and we didn't do Fridays because
Rush Blue Ball was such a big, big program, So
you got to.

Speaker 12 (01:05:09):
You got the Saturday double hitters. That's before we went
to Sundays.

Speaker 7 (01:05:13):
So I've been doing this so long that it but
I love it. It's just like Christmas Day. Uh, there's
there's not another day. The Big League opener is a
special special day as well. But there's so many young
kids that are gonna across the country. We already have
games going on. Oklahoma's already beat Texas Tech up in Arlington.

Speaker 12 (01:05:31):
Yeah, so early.

Speaker 7 (01:05:32):
So you're gonna have young freshmen that are no longer
gonna be young. They're gonna be playing college baseball and
it's starting across the country.

Speaker 12 (01:05:39):
We're gonna get to see some of those guys here.

Speaker 7 (01:05:41):
I'm excited about this team and excited about year two
for a head baseball coach that you know, it's not comfortable.

Speaker 12 (01:05:49):
I know, I know you asking. I mean, we'll hear
it in the pregame show.

Speaker 7 (01:05:53):
It's it's very important that that second year that you're
at anything. Yeah, your more awareness of what's going on.
Your coach is more aware of what's going on, also
understand the field and the dynamics of being at the
University of Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
And in recent years, in recent years I've had more
practice at asking that question because for the first several
years when I was in the play by play chair,
I mean, you think about it, we have Mac Brown, oh,
he had Rick Barnes, You had Jody Conrad and Augie Garito,
and for several years. It was five years in before
Jody retired, and so it was five years before I

(01:06:28):
had to deal with a different coach on that, and
even Connie Clark when we were doing softball games as well,
we did some of those, so I wasn't having to
ask that coach, you know, about.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
The difference between year one and year two.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
And then it started with the changes made obviously with
football well, and also with women's basketball when Gail Guestencorz
left and then it was Karen Aston and then obviously
Vick Schaeffer, and so for women's basketball, then men's basketball
after Rick Barnes left after twenty fifteen, Mac Brown leaving
after twenty thirteen, and then we had two other head

(01:07:00):
coaches before Sark came in. So yeah, it's started to
get more practice after.

Speaker 7 (01:07:05):
Yeah, and and but it's unusual, because it's unusual for us.
We're always feeling that now you and I both now
have a great relationship with coach Suck. It's coach Shark
and coach Slash and and and you just you look
at that and that becomes more easy and free to
get them no more information. But it's also fun where

(01:07:25):
it's unusual that we have a I would call a
mid May day here at the ballpark. The ball is
gonna travel, it's gonna go out of the ballpark. It'd
be interesting because I really believe this is gonna be
a very slug oriented baseball team for Texas, and I
don't see that very often.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
No, we haven't really seen it in full measure, like
what you're thinking.

Speaker 7 (01:07:46):
Yeah, I think you're gonna have guys up and down
the line up that they can hit the ball the ball.
But I mean, Casey Borba playing first base is just
coming in his own. He's got tremendous power and I
would think he's probably number three or number four as
the power numbers going this club. So you just look
at it. It's going to be a different style. I
think this pitching is going to be great. It's going
to be the same style. I think the team will

(01:08:07):
play good defense. But I think this team brings me
back to the teams of Melndez and those kind of
things where the ball really jumps out of the ballpark.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
Interesting and what Keith is referring to with this being
more like may Win's coming out of the south, we
normally see that in the second half of the season.
Keith Mortland is famous for saying that Dishfarnk Field singularly
can be the coldest place on the planet and the
hottest place on the planet in a three month span
in the same season, because in February normally we've got

(01:08:38):
that north wind blowing in, we might have some drizzle
and it could be pretty miserable here to.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
Get games in.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
In fact, our first game together as the broadcast team,
remember it was supposed to be a series against Georgia.
It got rained out before Georgia didn't even come in
and they managed to get Concordia. It was up the
street to come in and play a double header, and
it was just a constant drizzle that time. So you know,
the cold winds blowing out of the north is which

(01:09:05):
you normally see in February and into March and about
the time we start to get to the backside of April,
and then obviously in May and then when it's really
hot for regionals and postseason in June, we see what
we have now, a brisk southerly breeze.

Speaker 13 (01:09:19):
Yeah it is.

Speaker 7 (01:09:20):
It is so different to see that, and it's great.
I mean you just look at it. I know we'll
talk about this during the broadcast tonight, but you've got
eight ball games here at home before you hit the road.
Get an opportunity to get the home crowd to get
to know the team a little bit, team gets to
know each other. And I'll go back to coach Currito
and I always lean back on what he's saying. Whether
there are five seasons in college baseball, and you'd say, Keith,

(01:09:44):
what are you talking about? You have the before conference
play where you're trying to find out about everybody.

Speaker 12 (01:09:50):
Then you have conference play.

Speaker 7 (01:09:52):
Which is the second season of thirty ball games now
used to be twenty four in the Big twelve. Now
in the SEC they played thirty games. Then you have
the tournament that you're trying to win. Then you have
a regional that you're trying to win. Then you have
a super regional that you're trying to win. Oh, by
the way, that's all to get to Amaha Nebraska to
play in the College World Series. Well, then you had

(01:10:14):
to win a bracket to get to the championship.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
Yeah, A Longie used to separate it into he used
to say, we were playing he used to say for
five championships. And he goes, and I remember his last
couple of years, he said, I've amended that. I said,
how soon? He goes, well, we're playing for six championships.
I said six. He goes, regular season championship, regional championship,
Super Regional championship, bracket, championship, and then and then the

(01:10:43):
national championship. They had one morning there, No, it was
the five. Those were the five that he said. He
had five championships there. So you had the regular season,
postseason tournament, regional, super regional bracket, and national championship. Six
championship seasons for that. Because he would say, the bracket
is its own tournament, just like a regional.

Speaker 7 (01:11:01):
It's just like you're gonna play the other side until
you win and eliminate your two guys in the bracket.

Speaker 12 (01:11:06):
So it is, it's an interesting time.

Speaker 7 (01:11:10):
College baseball is a long season, but it's always that
first part you want to find out who you are,
how you're gonna go about things how teams gel and
especially now you're gonna play teams that are just like Texas.
They're gonna have people from everywhere else. Now you've had
a fall, but you've played very few games. If somebody
didn't have a different color jersey right now, all of
a sudden, the lights are gonna come on and you're

(01:11:31):
gonna play somebody it's got a different jersey on.

Speaker 1 (01:11:33):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:11:33):
They did have two fall ball games against Texas, TACK
and Lamar, a win over Tech lost to Lamar.

Speaker 1 (01:11:40):
Those don't count on the record.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
They do count against your schedule, so they have fifty
four game schedules instead of fifty six because and that's
also do the things that we've learned about Jim Slasnagel. Now,
you and I have known Slas a long time. In fact,
I used to tell people a year ago he's the
only coach that I've ever worked with the University of
Texas where I had his cell phone number before.

Speaker 1 (01:12:03):
He was a coach at Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:12:05):
It was when he was at TCU, and he even
periodically text me listening to a football game today it
sounds great or blah blah, blah or whatever or text me.
So I've known him a long time as you had,
and you've done regionals and super regionals where his team's
at TCU played in it. And he has his own

(01:12:25):
preferences for things and among those, and he told us
this last year. He said he wasn't crazy about opening
the season in one of those big tournament style events.
You mentioned Oklahoma's winever Texas Tech that's in the event
in Arlington, and that was the eleven AM game today.

Speaker 1 (01:12:42):
And in fact, in.

Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
Talking I was talking to Toby Rowland. The Sooners played
by Playboys a couple of weeks ago. When we talked
about that, he said, we're He said, we're doing the
the Big twelve schedule as an SEC school, And I said,
what do you mean. He goes, we go to Arlington,
we played Texas Tech, we play Arizona I think or
Arizona State. They played one of those, and then then
and then they play another Big.

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
Twelve school, maybe Baylor Baylor.

Speaker 10 (01:13:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
So, and of course the Long Words will play Baylor
down in Houston in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:13:10):
But Schloss said.

Speaker 2 (01:13:13):
Last year that he prefers not to open with an
event like that. Even though Texas looked good in that event,
they lost the extra ending game Friday night to Louisville
and then dominated the next two games.

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
But he said, I'd like.

Speaker 2 (01:13:25):
To play two series at home before I even take
a team on the road. And that's exactly what's gonna
happen here. You've got this weekend series against UC Davis.
Michigan State comes in next week. Then it's off to
you know, it used to be called min at May Park.
I've forgotten the name of it.

Speaker 9 (01:13:42):
Now it's in Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:13:44):
Yeah, it's j Jake, It's Park Dyking, It's dyk in Park.
Miss that up? Yeah, Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
Uh So they'll play and they're playing Coastal Carolina National
runner up last year. They'll Baylor on Saturday night and
then they'll play Ohio State on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
So they've got those.

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
Three games, then they come back home for one more
non conference series against USC Upstate. Quick trivia, Do you
know where USC Upstate is?

Speaker 12 (01:14:13):
You have told me this before, and I should know this.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
You played a minor league baseball game in this city before.

Speaker 13 (01:14:19):
Well, I played in Greenville, Spartanburg's USC Upstate is in
Spartanburg because that's the region of the state that's known
as Upstate Clems.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
It's up that way, okay, and that's known as Upstate
SO and their Division one, they're in the Big South Conference.

Speaker 1 (01:14:36):
Yeah, it's been a good program.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
So, uh they'll play USC Upstate here all of that
before they open SEC play the following week and that's
against Ole Miss so.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
Uh, so they'll have that and that'll be at home.

Speaker 2 (01:14:50):
Whereas last year, remember we were over in Startville when
they opened up conference played with that sweep of the Bulldogs.
But that's the way he likes, likes to build up
to that starting off at home.

Speaker 7 (01:15:01):
Yeah, and you're gonna have in the SEC, and it's
going far to if you're just going to be the
same way, you're gonna have four weekends that you can
play ball. I would think that listening to coach slosson
just what he said to you and I both, I
think we're going to see three of those four at
home over the next foreseeable the way he wants it
to be. I mean, because you know, we great facility.

(01:15:22):
It's it's a really nice ballpark to play and we
usually have better weather than certain parts of the country.
Now you can go to California, but we've also been
to California in February and were struggled with the weather.

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
Too, So affair at Stanford, oh Man and and even
Forwards and Forwardson wasn't no outside.

Speaker 1 (01:15:41):
In the rain.

Speaker 2 (01:15:43):
And a few years ago, I remember Roger went out
with the late Bill Little out of the UCLA and
it rained when they were playing out at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
So yes, it can be a mixed blessing or a
mixed bag going out there. Thirty four of the fifty
four games will be played here at UFCUD.

Speaker 7 (01:15:59):
Yeah, I think that's the right when Coach got opened
this facility, and I can get and I can go
back to that time too, because I was here when
the I played in the first ball game ever played
in this facility, and I can tell you he said,
why are we going to go any place else?

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
I mean teams would come here.

Speaker 7 (01:16:14):
Yeah, you know, teams want to come here, especially teams
who at Michigan State wants to get out of the North.
And supposedly what we've seen so far in next week's
early forecast is going.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
To be warm next weekend as well. YEP, yep, absolutely
all right.