Previewing MLB Opening Day and the Sweet Sixteen with Gene Watson and Vic Schaefer

Craig Way and Cameron Parker discuss MLB Opening Day with Gene Watson, hear from Texas Women's Basketball coach Vic Schaefer as the Longhorns prepare for Tennessee, and catch up with Jim Schlossnagle postgame after Texas Baseball run ruled Sam Houston State.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good to be back in the studio.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
The producer, of course, is Cameron d Park of the
d On The birth certificate stands for Dallas as in
big name for his favorite pro football team. Who's been
kind of quiet of late, but when it comes to
free agency stuff, they're usually pretty quiet anyway. Do not
ask me when the last time I was in the studio.
I might be at a loss to be able to
remember the exact date that.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
I was in there.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
It's been a bit a while, a couple of weeks,
maybe a couple of weeks.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
At least, and the two of us in the studio together.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Maybe longer, maybe close to a month because of when
you were out when I was out on the road.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
But no matter, probably has to be early February. I
think early February.

Speaker 5 (00:45):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Really then yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Okay, Well, could be back in the house. Yeah, And
it's a yacht rock Wednesday, so we bring you some
yacht rock return cuts.

Speaker 5 (00:56):
We do that.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
We've got a lot of things to get to on
the program today.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Obviously, we spent a lot of time yesterday, even though
it was out of the ballpark at UFC, just farg
Field and previewing the Texas Sham Houston game, which was
run ruled.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
The Long Orange won that one thirteen to three.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
But we spent a lot of time talking about the
new hire for the University of Texas, Sean Millers, the
new men's basketball coach. There was some talk obviously about
the women Texas women's team, which leaves tomorrow, and again
we're one day here in the studio and then Cam
and I'll be out tomorrow back on the plane wing

(01:34):
to Birmingham. Do we have the zimbel hours tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Tomorrow, Friday, and then Craig. If they have a good
trip in Birmingham and win both games, you go straight
to Florida. I'll come back Tuesday or Wednesday. So this
could be our last show in the studio together for
a few days.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, that's what Cam is referring to when we were
told this yesterday that if the Texas women win their
two games Saturday afternoon at two thirty in the Sweet sixteen,
they play Tennessee, you can hear it right here on
thirteen under the zone. We'll bring you the women's game Saturday.

(02:14):
Because Long Worn Baseball will shift over to one oh
three point one FM. They'll flip flop spots. The reason
for that is because the long Horn Baseball game doesn't
start until four o'clock on Saturday, and this is the
first weekend for Round Rock Express Baseball. And then what
the Express played what six o'clock? I believe something like
that on Friday Saturday Saturday. I think it's about six

(02:38):
fifty okay, okay, so it would be an overlap.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
So the point is at all this so it's it's
going to be a switch.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
And so the Texas women's games in Birmingham Sweet sixteen
Saturday afternoon against Tennessee and if they advance to the
Elite eight on Monday night at six o'clock, both of
those games would be here on thirteen under the zone
long Worn Baseball. Throughout the course of the weekend Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, all three of those games in Columbia

(03:09):
will be on one of three point ONEFM and CAM.
I do want and mean to call it to your attention.
There is some discussion about a possible Saturday doubleheader. They're
very worried about rain on Sunday in Columbia. We've had
a couple of times with Startville with no game Saturday

(03:29):
in a doubleheader Sunday.

Speaker 4 (03:30):
And then the home opener was canceled against Houston. Yeah,
I remember whether having this big of an impact. I mean,
of course, you probably no better than I do, but
it was like, man, the war can't get a three
D game weekend to save alive.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
The worst I can remember of all of these types
of things was it was either the last year that
Augie Gurta was the coach or the year before it.
It was either twenty fifteen or twenty sixteen. They were
playing a weekend series at Kansas and we got let's see,

(04:05):
I'm trying to think if they got some of the
game in on Friday and we got the whole game
in on Friday, I guess it was. And then they
were going to do a doubleheader on Saturday because they
were worried about the rain.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
And then they said.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
We got to the ballpark and they were getting ready
to go and then they went no, we're not playing.
We're like what, And then we'll go back to the
hotel and then we get word no, no, no, we are playing.
Came back and then played the game Saturday and played
against It was crazy and it was off and on
rain and things like that, so it does happen, but
in any event, so they have the Long Worn Baseball

(04:42):
team has games scheduled for Columbia, Missouri to play Miszoo
on Friday evening at six, Saturday afternoon at four, Sunday
afternoon at one, and however the configuration ultimately turns out
if they do out of concern for the possibility of

(05:03):
a rain out on Sunday, go ahead and decide to
play a Saturday doublehead or whatever the configuration is. You'll
hear those games on one oh three point one FM,
and then of course you can connect to it through
the iHeartRadio app. And you know it's on the Texas
long Wrns app, so you'll be able to hear it
through through apps and online at Texas Longhorns dot com,

(05:26):
so you'll be able to get the games. But for
radio purposes it'll be on one of three point one FM.
The Texas Women will be Saturday and then Monday off
of that Round Rock Express Friday night, Saturday night, and
then on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Now here's the other thing.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
If if the Texas Women do win their Sweet sixteen
game on Saturday afternoon, they would play in the Elite
eight against either Notre Dame or TCU on Monday evening
at six if they should win both games, when the
Saturday game over Tennessee and then the Monday game against
the TCU Notre Dame winner. If they win both of

(06:07):
those games, they qualify for the Final Four. The NCAA
has mandated that all of their teams have to be
in by Tuesday night. So Texas, instead of coming home
after the game Monday night, has been told by the NCAAA,

(06:27):
just go on to Tampa, so it would stay Monday
night in Birmingham and then just go down to Tampa
on Tuesday and then have some practices down there before
they have the game, which in the Final Four would
be on Friday night. So that's what Cameron was referring
to about saying that it might be gone for ten

(06:48):
to eleven days if it turns out that way.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
Makes it difficult for packing.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
Purposes, Yeah, no doubt for you. I mean, yeah, I mean,
and do you bring a swimsuit like I mean, you're
to be in Tampa. It's gon't be good weather. I
hadn't even thought about that kind of stuff, but who knows.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Anyway, All right, coming up on the program this afternoon,
we'll recap the long run baseball game from last name.
We're closing in on Sweet sixteen for men. Starting tomorrow,
we'll talk about that. We have inconceivable this hour that
that will come your way. Three o'clock hour, we'll talk

(07:27):
major League Baseball. Opening Day is tomorrow, and since we're
traveling tomorrow, I couldn't wear a Dodger shirt tomorrow, so.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
I'm wearing it. You can wear a Dodger shirt.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (07:38):
I just feel like a better repetic girls and the
team where are like in their pajamas that they were
all kinds of but it's burn are a lot of that.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
It's true. So if you wear your Dodger jersey, I'll
wear my Cory cigaretus.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Actually, what I should have worn.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
I should have worn the Dodger jersey today and then
just wear the polo tomorrow. That's what it should have done.
I didn't think it threw. I just grabbed his shirt anyway.
So Opening day is tomorrow. Geene Watson from the Chicago
White Sox front office joins us as he does every week,
to talk Major League Baseball. He'll join us in the
three o'clock hour. Here we are on the verge of
the real opening down. I know the Dodgers and Gumps

(08:17):
played two games in Japan, and you know the Dodgers
won both those games. They got Mookie Betts back in
the lineup last night after he had all that intestinalation.
He says he feels fine now. He lost fifteen pounds,
just could not keep any food down. And that was
before the team went to Japan. It wasn't like, oh
I got a hold of some bad sushi or something. No,

(08:37):
it was before they even left the US when that happened.
So he went over there with him at first and
was so sick they just sent him home.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
But he did play last night.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
I think he went out for three in the exhibition
finale against the Angels, and it was good to see
Dustin May on the mound, big old ging out there
throwing again, coming off Tommy John surgery. So we'll talk
major League Baseball with Jeene Watson in the three o'clock
out four o'clock hour, we shift college baseball and talk
about that with Ty Harrington, our contributor and broadcast compadre.

(09:08):
So we'll talk from college baseball. But as always, we're
responsive to your text, your questions, your thoughts, your comments,
and you can avail yourself of us in either of
two ways. One, we have the text line that's always
open for you. All you have to do is you
text the word Texas followed by your question or comment

(09:29):
to eight one five three zero, So you text the
word Texas and then hey, I thought they were going
to dolah blah blah or whatever to eight one five
three zero. Standard messaging and data rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
So there's that.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
The other way you can do it is through a
talk back feature if you have the iHeartRadio, the brand
new iHeartRadio app downloaded on your phone. Really easy to do,
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(10:04):
push that button and you can leave us a voice
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is a family program of sorts, but we'll even put
it on the air so you can avail yourselves of
this program. And us either of two ways, either the
text line or also on the talk back feature. All right,

(10:26):
coming up a recap of the long Horn baseball and
we'll talk a little bit about it at first. Where
the long Oarns are in the grand scheme of all that.
But we've got a lot to get to. There is
after all football spring practice going on. There was pro
timing day yesterday, there's basketball to get to the floor.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Is yours as well?

Speaker 2 (10:46):
To contact us with your questions here on Wednesday afternoon
on thirteen under the zone. Long Horns were not fools
last night They won run ruled Sam Houston thirteen to
three was the final. They hit three home runs in
the game. Two went into the Yetti yard, won by
Jalen Flores to give him the four to one league.
When they scored four runs in the third inning. Then

(11:07):
uh Adrian Rodriguez hit his fifth home run. The magic
number was five last night. Jalen Flors hit his fifth,
Adrian Rodriguez hit his fifth, Will Gasparino hit his fifth.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
All hit their fifth home runs of the season last night.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
A designated start for Kate Being who went four innings
and got the win, and Jason Flores and Aiden Moffatt
got out there and got a chance to show what
he could do. You got to strike out on five pitches,
which was good because Moffitt had only had one other
appearance at the transfer and he had given up a

(11:47):
run without getting an out. And you know what that means,
cam when you give up run or runs and you
don't record it out and you leave the game. You
know what your eer is?

Speaker 4 (11:59):
Ninety nine?

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, well they put ninety nine, but it's infinity really
because there's no way to measure it because you didn't
record it out. So they put ninety nine on there.
But he dropped it from infinity to twenty seven.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, So it was a big jomb that's good for
for Aiden Moffatt last night. So the Long Words got
to win there now twenty and three and after the game,
our Keith Mortal was down on the field first with
head coach Jim Schlasnagel ended.

Speaker 6 (12:26):
Up stands three and two of the homestand he had
to come back in the two days.

Speaker 7 (12:30):
But it was nice to see guys come out today.

Speaker 6 (12:32):
I thought they were really good quality at bats early
in the game.

Speaker 7 (12:35):
Start to set the tone of the ball games.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, it really did.

Speaker 8 (12:38):
Flora's's homer, you know, stretched the lead, Bang was stowing strikes.
They're super aggressive at home play. He was, he was
throwing strikes. They were getting some hits. But I thought
Flora's homer was really good. And again we did we
put together bats, but a good hit and run ended
up being a triples. A lot of good things tonight.
Flora's were getting him in the game. Aiden Moffitt was outstanding.

(12:59):
He's been he's he's been doing that in practice. He's
been throwing strikes, so we wanted to get him in
the game. That was kind of the perfect scenario. And
and then to get Matt Scott and and showing their
first college at bats.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
It's always great.

Speaker 7 (13:10):
Yeah, that is always fun. But that's where I was
gonna go.

Speaker 6 (13:13):
I thought, being you, you said in pregame, seas, I'd
love the game two four.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
See what he looks like.

Speaker 8 (13:17):
I thought he was really good in the strike zone. Yeah,
I mean, he's just what you want on Tuesday, right.
I mean, you hope that at some point the stuff
takes a little bit of a jump. But the first
game of the season, we're excited about him throwing ninety
four but he's doing right and the guys we're in
on the first bit, so you can't right now, you
can't have your cake and eat it.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Too, I guess.

Speaker 6 (13:35):
But he's he he did exactly what we.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Needed him to do tonight.

Speaker 6 (13:38):
Now I'm gonna go on the road again the second
time in the SEC.

Speaker 7 (13:41):
Doesn't matter what the records is. When you go on
the on the road to the SEC.

Speaker 5 (13:45):
No.

Speaker 8 (13:45):
And there's a lot of challenges, you know in Columbia.
I've never been there personally, but I've watched the games
and I've heard all the stories about you know there
the weather and uh, you know this's you're it's a
it's a mental challenge in the opposite direction in terms
of you're playing a good team, you're playing an SEC team. Crowd,
atmosphere different than what we're used to, so we're going

(14:06):
to have to create kind of our own energy and
do well. The weather's not supposed to be great. I
don't think we could be playing two saturdays. So we
got a couple good days of practice and you ready
to go.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, So there it is from Jim Schlastnagle. That's Keith
and I were both a little bit surprised he never
He never took a team to Columbia, Missouri, and of
course when he was coaching, when he started coaching the
Big Twelve, then they didn't have a trip to Columbia
before Missouri left the league for the for the SEC,

(14:35):
and he never took one of his UNLV teams there,
so he hadn't been to Columbia before. That's how I
was saying to Keith. Well, Keith was saying, it's it's
a home run hitters ballpark. It's a friendly, at least
it was the last time Texas played there, and I
said yes. And they still have the indoor football practice
facility beyond the right field wall and even have a
four to twenty sign up well up elevated up on

(14:59):
the roof right near where the dome part of the
roof meets the side wall. Beyond the right filled wall
in bright yellow. There's a four to twenty side there.
Some logorns have not hit that side exactly. They've hit
that facility before in the past, you know, launching one there.
It's I remember Dustin Maeski hitting one up there. Left

(15:21):
handed hitters with power. I mean, this has Max Blue
written all over it. If there's one in on him
and he turns on one like that. He could crush
one out there like that, so they'll be there now.
Speaking of home runs, I mentioned it was the fifth
home un of the year, both for Adrian Rodriguez and
also for will Gasparino uh and the fifth home run

(15:44):
of the season for Jalen Flores. Ethan Mendoza did not
have a home run, but he had a couple of hits.
And remember Mendoza had a fourteen game hitting streak snapped
in the Friday night loss to LSU, and he came
back when he hit Saturday a couple of hit Sunday.
He had two hits last night, so he's, you know, uh,

(16:07):
back on the wagon again and visiting. Would keep Morland
after the game about it so many times.

Speaker 6 (16:12):
It's mentally to come back out when you, you know, have
such an emotional weekend like against LSU, you start to
stepping tone in.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
This game early.

Speaker 9 (16:21):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, we don't really talk about
the weekend anymore. It's already over. In the past, we
tried to take it one day at a time and
one game at a time. Every day's opening day, So
that's what's my mindsett of coming in every day all right.

Speaker 6 (16:31):
Now, you personally brush at the fourteen games in history,
but you jump right back on the wagon.

Speaker 9 (16:36):
Now, Yeah, I mean the hitting streak was cool whatever,
But I mean I'm sorry new one.

Speaker 10 (16:41):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
I mean I didn't really.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Keep up with it.

Speaker 7 (16:43):
I was just trying to get.

Speaker 9 (16:46):
Yeah, I was just trying to get on base anyway
I could.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
And I just I mean, yeah, that's basically it.

Speaker 6 (16:51):
Now, talk to just about the infield defense. I know
y'all been working parking and every day watching you see
him pretty game.

Speaker 7 (16:57):
Just talk about that cohesiveness of what's going on.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
In the infield.

Speaker 9 (17:00):
Now, Yeah, I think we I mean, our mindset is
just like one pitch at the time, so I mean
every single pitch we're trying to lock in. I think
we do a good job of talking in thenfield, and
then that keeps us loose and just like uh, I guess,
attentive to the game.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
So I mean too, we also do great work for Chilowitzki.
He's also helps us a lot.

Speaker 9 (17:19):
I mean, it's just, hey, we're doing great right now
and we're trying to keep on going.

Speaker 7 (17:23):
Congratulation some of the victory.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Thanks for visiting you, all right, So there. It is
Ethan Mendoza who's been a really really nice addition with
what he's done the transfer from Arizona State or Native
Texan from South Llaite Carol and he is hitting close
to four hundred right now for the team. So the
Long Orange will head for Columbia Missouri this weekend. Missouri

(17:45):
has lost six straight conference games to open conference play,
so oh and six to start off conference play. They
did win last night their border battle with Illinois over
in the Minor League Ballpark in Illinois. They won that
one eleven and nine, and Texas A and M, which

(18:05):
is also win six in the league, got healthy at
Houston Christian's expense, seven to two. The other to six
team in the league is Florida and they had been
ranked until Georgia swept them in Gainesville and put forty
runs on the board in the process. They scored eight
runs Friday, seventeen, Saturday, and fifteen Sunday.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
They run ruled the Gators.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
On Sunday, Florida got up on Florida State played a
Tuesday night non conference game and it was a walk
off grand Slam for the Seminoles. So Florida is kind
of struggling right now, trying to find their way to it.
Same with Kentucky, Whi's lost a Xavier I mentioned on
the air last night, Cam Xavier may have lost its
basketball coach, but they didn't lose the baseball game to Kentucky.

(18:50):
They won in Lexington last night by a score of
nine to three. How does this sit with you? You grew
up in Charlotte. You Remembering's College now Queen's University there
in Charlotte, right.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
I had some buddies that played soccer and across the
Queens And.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, they're transitional Division one and they got some lessons learned.

Speaker 4 (19:16):
They played Tennessee last night and lost fourteen to.

Speaker 5 (19:18):
Three, but.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
They're transitional Division one. Oklahoma wanted or Robert handily and
LSU run Louisiana Lafayette. So those things happened. But Texas,
we head for Columbia to take on the Missouri Tigers
this weekend. Now I wanted to Oh, there was one

(19:41):
other game I wanted to mention. Let's just say say
that you had either not migrated to Texas to go
to college, or having gone to college in Texas and
a tanger degree from the Versity of Texas then decided

(20:02):
to pursue your professional interest back in your home state.
And let's say you were back in Charlotte and you
were working a regular daytime job and not traveling out
of town, and say you had like a regular day shift,
that sort of thing. If all of that had been
in play, would you have been at Do they still

(20:25):
call it Knight's No, No, it's called it's called Truest
Field in Charlotte now used to be Knight's Castle, the
minor league ballpark there, or they got a new one downtown.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
Yeah, BB and T. I think it might be now Truest.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Will you think you would have been there last night
to watch North Carolina play South Carolina in the Border Battle?

Speaker 4 (20:45):
I had a friend who was there. Was he last night?
The top twenty five baseball team? Heck of a ballgame,
heck of a ball ballpark? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (20:53):
North Carolina beat South Carolina in Charlotte thirteen to eight
in the Battle of the Carolinas. They said, But you
got me thinking about you last night. I thought, if
you were settled there in the Charlotte area and work
in a regular day job, or work at a job
that had that evening open, would you've gone out to
watch that ball game.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
If I was living downtown. Possibly, yeah, possibly because it
is a downtown ballpark. Yeah, yeah, it's a great place
to catch a ball game. Yeah, the White Sox triplay affiliate.
But yeah, absolutely. I mean Gino probably spend some time.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
He has spent some time there. We'll ask him about
that coming up. All right, Up next, we bring in
Conceivable here on this Wednesday afternoon on AM thirteen under
the zone. Glad to field your questions if you want
to reach us via the text line. We just rattled
off a few of those, and you do that simply
by texting the word Texas followed by your question or

(21:44):
comment to eight one five three zero. Again the word Texas,
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Like the guy that just went, he went Texas, and
then went Cocaine Sea Lions, and he texted that day
won five three zero, and it came out like that.
Standard messaging and data rates may apply even for cocaine.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
Sea Lions, Texas, Cocaine and Sea Lions.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
So I didn't know if he was talking about a
teen name or something like that, or whatever you name,
you know.

Speaker 4 (22:13):
Cocaine Sea Lions.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, exactly. You can also reach us on the talkback feature.
All you have to do is you have the brand
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(22:36):
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Speaker 4 (22:56):
So anyway, that's that's available to you there.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
All right, we're going to visit with Gene Watson, the
Chicago White Sox front office man. With opening day of
Major League Baseball tomorrow. However, tomorrow, the Texas women's basketball
team least for Birmingham, Alabama to set their sights on
the Sweet sixteen opponents, the Tennessee Lady Valls, who they
beat by four points two months ago, back on January

(23:19):
twenty third. Well, here's some of this right now, and
then we'll hear some more coming up next hour. Comments
from Loghorn's head coach Vick Shaffer.

Speaker 11 (23:27):
Well versus, it's just a great week to be along. Man,
it's really exciting time. I'm excited for our players coming
off of a great weekend. Appreciate all our fans. Really
proud of nine thousand showing up at a one o'clock
game on a Monday afternoon. I thought we were going
to have to have a businessman luncheon or have a

(23:48):
couple of kegs out front for students, but man, everybody
just was so special, and obviously our kids were really
special as well. Proud of them back to back years
now where they've been able to win thirty three games
and get through some injury. So excited about our opportunity

(24:09):
coming up this weekend. This is why we do what
we do right. We want to We want to get
to this weekend and these games coming up, and obviously
everybody's really good this time of year that's left. Obviously
our league is so well represented. Iron sharpens iron, y'all,
and uh man, this this group, uh these teams. Alabama

(24:30):
could easily be in this group. Losing in double overtime
at Maryland. We've just got a tremendous league, and I
want to wish everybody in our league the very best
as well. But man, I am super excited about our
team and our kids, and so we'll have I'm sure
we'll have a really good day today. We have lots
of film. Uh you know, Blair had the scout the

(24:52):
first time we played them. Everybody's kind of got their
marching orders for the next three teams and uh, She's like,
how many how many hours have I got? Like how
much time do I have for film today? How much
time tomorrow? I'm like, well, we got all week really,
so whatever we need to show. But you know it's
everybody gets better and throughout the course of the season,

(25:13):
and uh, you know again, I think we do a
good job as anybody with our team continue to improve.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
Just like Tennessee.

Speaker 11 (25:20):
So again, just really excited about our team, excited about
this week and the opportunity.

Speaker 5 (25:28):
Having Rory back this year. You didn't have answer is
it for her to be able.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
To come back?

Speaker 5 (25:33):
Well, I can tell you when you wake up in
the morning.

Speaker 11 (25:34):
Another Rory Harmon and Madison Booker, those two are where
we're starting at guard.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
You know, it's you'd have to ask and I have
to ask myself sometimes you have to coach, what are
you worried about?

Speaker 11 (25:47):
Like, there's got to be some comfort in that, and
there absolutely is. But you're so excited for her because
she did miss this time last year, and uh, it
just pained her, you know, to to have to sit
there and watch it.

Speaker 5 (25:59):
But yeah, she was like she is.

Speaker 11 (26:02):
She was so selfless and giving of herself to Madison
and and helping her, you know, obviously understand and performing
her new role. And but it just really having both
those kids again with Rory, when you go into a
game like this where Tennessee really wants to speed you
up and try to turn you over, man, it's great

(26:22):
to have two ball handlers like those two out there
on the floor and you can throw in a brewn
of preston with them. There's really some comfort in that.
So excited for Rory. You know, she's she's y'all see it.
I mean, you look at her playing right now. You
never know a year ago she had a devastating injury.

(26:43):
And the more and more that I look into this, y'all,
and I don't mean to diminish any capacity of what
happens when you have.

Speaker 5 (26:53):
A kid get hurt.

Speaker 11 (26:54):
But the more and more I look into it, it's
the rehab, it's the kid, and it's the people that's.

Speaker 5 (27:01):
Doing the rehab.

Speaker 11 (27:02):
And Rory, I asked her, yes, she came by the off.
I said, does your need even bother you? She goes, no,
doesn't bother me at all, have no pain nothing. It's
it's her And if you would have seen her how
committed she was and every day and people have to
tell her, hey, you need to back off, you need
to take a day off.

Speaker 5 (27:23):
But that's the commitment of this kid.

Speaker 11 (27:25):
We were joking because you know, we scrimmaged USC back
in October, and she actually scrimmaged in that game at
seven and a half, eight months you know, post surgery,
and she.

Speaker 5 (27:36):
Was we were talking to you. We were joking, said,
you know, I was probably a step slow.

Speaker 11 (27:40):
Coach, I go, yeah, And that was still a step
faster than almost everybody on the floor. And but there
was some heartache that day because people were at USC
where you know, really they have really good guards and
so and you know, we talked about okay, flash forward
from October whatever that was thirty first to where we
are are now in March, five months between that, and

(28:04):
you just look at the kid and you're just like
I look at her every day and go whow. I mean,
it's just amazing, So really happy for her. And again,
kid works. She deserves everything where she is right now
because of her work ethic.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
When did you think Rory was Rory?

Speaker 12 (28:22):
I mean she may not have pain or anything like that,
but you have to trust the knee and everything. Did
she and you feel like there's about ten games in
and she was the old roarer?

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Or was that instantaneously?

Speaker 11 (28:33):
You know when I'd watch her, I'd take videos over
out here even in the summer, late in the summer
and send them to doctor Ellens and go, here's your girl.

Speaker 5 (28:43):
You know, she looks like a million dollars to me.

Speaker 11 (28:46):
And it's you know, July and August, and then we
came out in September and you know, she's not cleared.
But I always wanted him to see what I was seeing,
and you know, we'd take her in every month. He'd
put her hands, he put his hands on her knee
just to you know, those guys want to touch that
knee and they know.

Speaker 5 (29:07):
What they're doing.

Speaker 11 (29:07):
Like doctor Ellens is so good and he can feel
and so, and I go. You know, I go to
most of those appointments. I want to be and I
don't want to hear it some third hand information from
a trainer that might or might not have heard it right.
So I always want to be able to convey that
to the parents. And so, you know, I was there
most visits listening and paying attention. But I would see

(29:30):
it in the summer. I'm like, this kid is like
Sidney Colson. You know, Colson came back in four months
two days, my point guard on our national championship team
at A and M.

Speaker 5 (29:40):
Now that ain't never gonna happen again, y'all.

Speaker 11 (29:42):
She came back in four months two days with no
brace and had I think she had thirteen and thirteen
points in like twenty two minutes, you know, in the
State Farm tip Off Classic, that first game that year,
and she hurt hers in late July was so much
similar to that. And I was seeing that early on

(30:03):
that this kid is special. How much how much do
you look at the last Tennessee game versus maybe the
last two weeks.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
For them, I think you look at all of it.

Speaker 11 (30:13):
Yeah, I'm in there right now, and I've already been
through it, you know, And and so I think you
have to look at it all.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
You have to look at what we did back.

Speaker 11 (30:24):
Then, and then what what teams have done since then
with them, what they've done to teams, And you know.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
You have to give them credit.

Speaker 11 (30:31):
They go into Ohio State and went on the road
in a big game, second round game, and really dominated.
They had one stretch where Ohio State made that run
to get back in it, and then they put their
foot on the pedal and it was over in a heartbeat.
And that's how they are.

Speaker 5 (30:46):
You you get.

Speaker 11 (30:47):
Into their tempo, start throwing the ball of them, and
it's lay up after layup after layup. It's bad, you know,
And that's something it's hard to stop. And so so
you have to give Tennessee a lot of I mean,
they went in there and went on somebody's home floor,
and and but you look at it all. I mean,
I'm will have looked at everything from our game to

(31:10):
the last, you know, every game in between, you know,
just to make sure we get all our bases covered.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
Speaking.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, so there's some comments from Victation for we hear
more from coming up a little bit later on this
how we're going to shift to baseball, Major League Baseball,
and talk some Opening day baseball with Geene Watson from
the Chicago White Sox front office. Coming up on thirteen
under the zone. So major League Baseball again. Tomorrow the
opening day for everybody else. I mean, I know, the

(31:37):
the Dodgers and the Cubs played two games in Japan,
but now everybody, including those two teams, gets going tomorrow.
It's opening Day, and it's not Opening Day unless we
take the opportunity to talk baseball with a good friend.

Speaker 4 (31:52):
Jean watching from the Chicago White Sox front office, who's.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
About to get on the plane and go up to
Chicago for Opening Day tomorrow.

Speaker 13 (32:00):
Off of the socks. Forty two. Forty two and clear
is what they're calling for. That's a good day, roping day.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
What's the worst weather you've been around on an opig day?

Speaker 13 (32:11):
Oh, my gosh, I've been. I've been in a few
snow games. I was in Detroit one year. We actually
stopped and had lunch at Fishbone in Greek Town and
the kitchen caught on fire, and that that was quite
a day, really wow.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
That two two thousand and three somewhere around there. But yeah,
we've had a few snow days.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Yeah, Okay, well, I know that you're excited about this
when we talked about this last week, that while the
White Sox themselves are still going to be in a
building mode and a rebuilding mode and and in some
ways to be a long season because of the record,
in other ways, you're expecting in the front office, expecting

(32:52):
to see progress made from last year to this year
and another step forward.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Correct. Yeah, and it's really nothing different than last season.

Speaker 13 (33:00):
We knew it was going to be a long season
from a personnel standpoint.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
You know, we had traded our.

Speaker 13 (33:06):
Number one started during spring training, Dylan Ceas, and now
we've traded our number one start away again and Garrett Crochet,
and you know, there's a pretty good probability that, you know,
Louis Robert, our number one position player, will be traded
at some point this season.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
So you just you go with the ups and downs.

Speaker 13 (33:22):
You focus on the things that you can control, and
we're certainly excited about you know, where our minor league
system is now just in a year and you put
your head down and go to work on another year
for it.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
And you know, it was fun.

Speaker 13 (33:32):
To watch what the Royals did last year in the
playoffs because that we were a big part of that
before we came to Chicago, and so you just you
apply the same work and just keep grinding.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
Away day by day.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
I want to ask you about something else, and because
I know you've been around these types of scenes before.
It made Sports Center and there was a lot made
of showing that locker room, that clubhouse video of Cam
Smith who got picked.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Up by the Astros.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
As part of that, Kyle Tucker Tray made the opening
day roster and there was a video shared by the
team and you see Joe Espotta address the players and
then brought out his mother and told him and it
was very emotional.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
There was tears involved.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
You've been involved in some of those where you've seen
some guys get really excited about that, haven't you, Craig.

Speaker 13 (34:20):
It's really it's one of the more enjoyable things to see.
It brings so much joy when you see something like that,
because it doesn't matter if you're the first pick in
the first round or the last pick in the twentieth round.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
There's no guarantee you're getting the big leagues.

Speaker 13 (34:35):
It is a miracle to play in the big leagues
one day and you have a forty time greater chance
of graduating from Harvard than playing a day in the
big leagues and injuries and setbacks, some performance and being
asked to do things mechanically with your swing or on
the mound or defensively. Everything has to go absolutely perfect

(34:56):
for you to play a day in the big leagues.
And it's such such a great celebration for for players
and their families and all the hard work that goes
into everybody, the entire village that it takes to raise
a player. And so when you ever get to see
special moments like that, it's certainly great and never gets old.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Well, and here's another example what you're talking about. There's
there's that, and then the opposite the end, and this
is I would imagine, you know, this is even more
of a unicorn moment where the Angels second round or
Ryan Johnson made the Angels opening day roster drafted in
the second round last year, coming out of Dallas Baptist,

(35:39):
signed for one point seventy five million, didn't pitch after
throwing one hundred and six years innings in that junior season,
he made the roster, and he will be on the
roster without having played a day in the minor leagues.
That is truly a unicorn moment, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
It's unbelievable.

Speaker 13 (35:54):
And the thing of it is is Perry you know
who I'll see tomorrow and we're having to Saturday night,
Perryman asking the general manager just isn't afraid to put
his twenty six best players on the field. You saw
it with Logan o' hoppy. You saw it with Shan
Well at first base. You saw it with Zach Nato
as shortstop. He's going to be ultra aggressive when it

(36:15):
comes to putting his best players at the major league level.
And the system is kind of taken, you know, a shot,
you know, being ranked so low, but they ranked so
low because he.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
Moves his players of the big league so fast.

Speaker 13 (36:28):
And I think to have one of the higher wars
of drafted players in the last five six years. And
he's just not afraid. He's super aggressive to give these
guys an opportunity. And Ryan Johnson went into camp and
he earned the spot and it's great for him.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
By the way, I think, I do find it interesting. Also,
he's the first player to skip the minor leagues entirely
since the aforementioned Garrett Crochet, who did it in twenty twenty,
and of course the minor league season was canceled due
to the pandemic, but Johnson's only the third player since
two thousand and one to play in the big leagues
without a minor league appearance. Crochet Mike Leak, who long

(37:03):
warn fans remember when was pitching for Arizona State when
Texas beat Leak and Arizona State in the College World
Series in Omaha in two thousand and nine.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
The Leak moved in in twenty ten and Geno.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Since the implementation of the draft in nineteen sixty five,
only twenty three players before Johnson have been moved straight
to the big leagues. That's how unreal it is, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
It really is.

Speaker 13 (37:29):
And in today's climates where last year, you know, the
average roster use per team was fifty players, the average
pitchers used per team was thirty plus. I think the
average starters used.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Was like eleven, somewhere in that range.

Speaker 13 (37:46):
You know that they explained to him in the meeting, Look,
you earned a spot, You're going to be here, but
by no means it's this. I mean you're here all
season and there's a lot of especially with all the
injuries taking place to pitching right now, there's a lot
of manipulating the roster to try to sustain your depths
of your pitching, and so that certainly went into it.

(38:07):
But but he is one of the thirteen most talented
pitchers on the roster for now.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
And until he proves otherwise, he's going to be in
the big leagues.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Talking Major League Baseball here, Regene Watson from the Chicago
White Socks. We we mentioned this geno back a few
weeks ago when this happened, when Alex Bregman went over
from the Astros to the Red Sox, and there was
a lot of this conversation about what was going to
happen with Raephael Devers, who was going to play third
And today, a guy you know very very well, Alex Cora,

(38:37):
the manager, said today that Devers is going to serve
as the primary DH with Bregman at third base. And
I believe that's what you said, that you saw Bregman
probably playing over at third base, and here's Devers going
to the DH troll.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
I think when you.

Speaker 13 (38:55):
Get out of the emotion of the moment and the
acquisition at the time of the act position. You know,
players have so much pride in their ability that you
know there can be a strong stance as to I'm.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
Not going to do this or or I'm going to
do this, and.

Speaker 13 (39:10):
Then as the conversations begin to take place, and really
in between the white lines is the ultimate evaluator. And
I'm sure Raphael looked over and saw gold glove infield.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
And he wants to win. And so if you if you,
if you.

Speaker 13 (39:24):
Put it in the in the hands of the players,
it's a players game. And if you put it in
the hands of the players and you let them see
the true evaluation of what's around them, most of the
time the players are going to come to their senses
and say, you know what, I want to win and
this is what makes our team better.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
That's certainly what Raphaeld Nevers did well.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
And to your point, Alex Pregman won the gold Glove
last season at third base. Devers has led the American
League or been tied for the lead and errors three
times over the past seven season, So there's some common
sense involved there. And then this also opens up the
second base job to Christian Campbell. Tell everybody about this guy,

(40:03):
their top prospect who was announced he's going to be
on the Red Sox opening day roster.

Speaker 13 (40:09):
Yeah, Christian Campbell was kind of the hold up in
a Garrett Crochet deal. We were very adamant that either
Kyle Tile or Christian Campbell was going to be a
part of the deal, and we were really getting nowhere
with either one of them until about two o'clock in
the morning in the winter meetings when Craig Breslo called
Chris Katch and said, Okay, we'll make Kill a part
of the deal.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
But this is a.

Speaker 13 (40:30):
Ultra dynamic, tremendous athlete plus defender can really really run.
He just makes them so athletic when you talk about
him and former Texas Longhorn David Hamilton up the middle,
they've got a lot of versatility and speed and athleticism.
But again, one hundred and sixty two games is a
long season. You don't know if the bat is going

(40:50):
to produce at the level that it should. But at
the time they felt like that this is the best
ball to fire to start the season, and that's what
they're doing.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
All right, So Gino, you know, I'm really really good
at this and that is going to be asking you
for your thoughts on who will be the teams to
beat in each division race.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Let me start with the America League.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
We start in the East with the Rays, the Jays,
the Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Orioles.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Who do you like in the East.

Speaker 13 (41:20):
Well, I think it's a three team race personally between Baltimore, Boston,
and the Yankees. The Yankees injuries to their rotation have
been huge. At some point, they're going to have to
go get some pitching. Boston is the team that has
done the most to improve their team, and they've got
the best system, so they can either pull from their
system to make the team even more talented than already is,

(41:43):
or they can trade from their system to improve the team.
In July, Baltimore is the team to me that it's
kind of time to go. Michael Olias has done such
an unbelievable job of building up that minor league system.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
They've gone back.

Speaker 13 (41:55):
And forth with the ballpark, with the high wall the
low wall. They've put a lot of inference on they're pitching.
But it's time to go, and I think they know it.
And so those three teams jumping out and how they
get out of the gate is going to be really
reflective of the moves that they make.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
And and because you know, the.

Speaker 13 (42:14):
Central has two three very good teams, I think that
that the teams are going to be very very aggressive
in the East. I do think that all three teams
that come out of the two wild cards in the
winner will all make the playoffs. But I certainly think
that the Yankees, Boston and Baltimore are the class.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
And I'm going to call for an upset and give
it to the Red Sox.

Speaker 4 (42:34):
Wow, okay, there you go, all right to the Central.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
You mentioned them a division you know very very well
since you spent time with the Royals and building that
world championship team back for twenty fifteen. All right, so
you have Royals, Twins, Tigers, Guardians, and your ball club,
the White Sox.

Speaker 13 (42:51):
I remember having breakfast with aj Hinch in Chicago in September,
and you know they were kind of, you know, running
out of gas and saying to him, you know, for
all all the injuries and everything that took place this year,
next year is going to be two steps forward. They
swept us that weekend, and they went on an absolute
historic tear to get as far as they did the playoffs.

(43:12):
And trust me when I say aj Hinch knows what
it takes to win in October and he's got.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
The roster to do it.

Speaker 13 (43:20):
Jackson Job is arguably going to be the Rookie of
the Year front runner, one of the best young arms
in the game of baseball, and so I look for
the Tigers to really really up the ani this year.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
And take that division.

Speaker 13 (43:32):
Kansas City is going to be very, very talented, but
health to that rotation and health to any Pascatino and
Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Junior are going to be
really really important to their success this year. But I
just feel like with the momentum that the Tigers had
last year and the injection of Jackson Job to that
rotation and the system they have to go do more.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
I think they'll win the Central all right.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
In the West Astros, Rangers, Mariners, and what's listed as
just as because we know what's happening there with them
playing in Sacramento and the.

Speaker 13 (44:04):
Angels, this division is going to play a lot tighter
than people thinking of Oakland. The Athletics are a very young,
talented team and they had one of the better second
halves of anybody in baseball last year, and they've made
some nice free agent additions to the team. I really
really think that the most underrated team in the American

(44:24):
League is the Texas Rangers. Bruce Bochie has always been
in every other year guy. They had a bunch of
underperformance last year. They took a bunch of injuries, and
adding Kumar Rocker and lighter to in any role to
the thirteen man staff in pitching is going to be huge,
and I think that this is a team that's going
to be driven very, very good this year.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
They're one of my.

Speaker 13 (44:46):
Sleepers to be in the World Series. I think they've
got a great team. And Seattle obviously with their great
pitching staff, they have to perform offensively. But with Oakland
kind of narrowing the gap in that division and the
Angels playing better baseball, it's going to be a very
very tight or tougher division, but I.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
Think the Rangers pull away with it.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Were you surprised to see the Rangers have Evan Carter
start in Round.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
Rock I mean not really.

Speaker 13 (45:11):
I mean sometimes sometimes when guys get such a fast
pace to the major leagues that that you know that
adjustment period can come sooner or later. And it obviously
came for him a little bit later. But it's nothing
to be for him to be concerned about or Ranger
fans to be concerned about. He's an ultra talented player
and he's going to be fine, and he'll he'll win.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
When it's time for those guys to win, he'll be
a part of it all right.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
To the National League East Marlins, Phillies, Mets, Nationals, and Braves.

Speaker 13 (45:38):
Well, the Phillies, Braves, and Mets are the three classes
of the division.

Speaker 14 (45:44):
Uh.

Speaker 13 (45:45):
I struggle a little bit with the Mets bullpen. I
don't think it's as proven as people would think. Love
the everyday lineup, they're really going to score a lot
of runs. They've got great pitching, They've got very good
prospects to do what they need to do. So I
think the Mets are going to stay in at the
Phillies kind of just do what they do. They're social
well managed team by Robbie Thompson, and they're super talented

(46:05):
that you certainly think that they'll they'll be in the
mix and win that division. And then Spencer, Strider and
Acuna coming back for the Braves is going to be huge,
and I think that they're probably the class of the division.
But I look for the Braves and Phillies to come
out of the division either as the winner or the
wild card, and then the Mets are going to have
to really work to improve that team. Maybe go get

(46:26):
a bat, maybe get some pin or a starter, because
in the West, there's a team that we'll talk about
soon that's going to push for that other wildcard spot.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
All right in the Central Cardinals, Pirates, Reds, Brewers, and Cubs.

Speaker 13 (46:40):
Well, the Brewers play the best baseball. The Brewers play
the best baseball in all of baseball, even without the
most talented. Without the most talent, Pat Murphy does an
unbelievable job. Their player development system is just incredible. They
focus on all the little things. They play to the
scoreboard at every level, at every game, they just do
the little things. They run the base as well, they

(47:03):
throw the cutoffs well, they do.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
All the little things well to win ball games.

Speaker 13 (47:06):
And that's a margin for me, and I think that
they're certainly the class of the division. The Cubs with
Ben Brown and Kate Foster, they're certainly gonna have a
chance to impact that rotation with young arms, and they've
got some offensive players.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
So to me, it's the Brewers and the Cubs and
a dog fight for that division.

Speaker 13 (47:26):
And the Reds have a very very good minor league
system if they're willing to trade some of their prospects
to improve the major league team. And I just don't
believe Tito Francona went to Cincinnati to sit back and
a way for prospects to get to the major leagues.
I think that the Reds will eventually very aggressive in
improving that team.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
And finally in the West you have Arizona, Colorado, San Diego,
San Francisco, and the defending world champion Dodgers.

Speaker 13 (47:51):
Well, I mean, I know you love this, but the
Dodgers are just I mean, they're gonna wish away every
day of the season just to it's October, and it's
so very hard, and we went through it in fourteen
and fifteen. You know, when you know you're an October
team and you know you're arguably the best team in baseball,
you just try to be creative, to stay motivated with

(48:13):
each other, play for each other throughout the season, and
stay healthy because you know you're in October and you
want to be playing your best baseball and the most
healthy the last week of September into October.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
But this divisions a little tougher than people think.

Speaker 13 (48:27):
The Padres, I mean, they were a team to be
reckoned with last year and aj Hinch is going to
do what he has to do to stay in this thing.
And the Diamondbacks with their starting rotation, they're going to
be very, very tough as well. And the Giants. If
you ask Buster Posey and Zach I'm Anascian, you know
they'll tell you that they're going to hang into it.
But I still think that the Dodgers are the class

(48:48):
of the division. They're the class of the league and
in the end that they'll win that division. But the
Diamondbacks and the Padres are the two teams that could
make it interesting. And I look for the Diamondbacks, Padres,
and Mets to kind of be battling for that last
wild wildcard spot the last week of the season.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
Yeah, and I guess the Diamondbacks got the bad news
today about Jordan Montgomery having to do Tommy John That
takes him out of that, so they'll have to find someone.
But they've had a good minor league system ringing guys up.

Speaker 13 (49:17):
There's never been a season that I can remember where
the health of a ball club is going to matter more,
because there's just been just the underbelly of teams, pitching depths,
the underbelly of their systems. There have been so many
injuries that there are very few teams that can take

(49:38):
on many more injuries. And you look around, you know
the guys that are coming back from Tommy John. Now
you've got a whole other wave that are gonna have
Tommy John surgery. And there's just only so much the
industry can take from an injury standpoint, And so inasmuch
as anything player personnel wise on the field, health to
a ball club is going to be super super important

(49:58):
to try to get to October, especially the summer months.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
G know, I appreciate the time save travels up to
the Windy City and hope for good enough weather tomorrow
for that opener against the Angels, and appreciate all the time.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
All right, Greg, thanks so much. All right, travels.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Say that's Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox for
an office. White Sox opening home tomorrow against the Angels.
Rangers and Astros both have home openers tomorrow, Rangers against
the Red Sox at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon and the
Astros at two o'clock against the Mets tomorrow afternoon.

Speaker 4 (50:32):
That's the openers on that.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
All right, We'll have more coming up, more from Vick
Schaeffer when we continue on thirteen under the Zone.

Speaker 13 (50:39):
Very very good this year. They're one of my sleepers
to be in the World Series. I think they've got
a great team, and Seattle obviously with their great pitching staff,
they have to perform offensively. But with Oakland kind of
narrowing the gap in that division and the Angels playing
better baseball, it's going to be a very very tight
or tougher division, but I think the Rangers pull away
with it.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Were you surprised to see the Rangers have Evan Carter
start in Round Rock?

Speaker 1 (51:06):
I mean not really.

Speaker 13 (51:07):
I mean sometimes sometimes when guys get such a fast
pace to the major leagues that that you know that
adjustment period can come sooner or later. And it obviously
came for him a little bit later. But it's nothing
to be for him to be concerned about or Ranger
fans to be concerned about. He's an ultra talented player
and he's gonna be fine and he'll he'll win the
when it's time for those guys to win, he'll be

(51:27):
a part of all.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Right to the National League East Marlins, Phillies, Mets, Nationals,
and Braves.

Speaker 13 (51:33):
Well, the Phillies, Braves, and Mets are the three classes
of the division.

Speaker 5 (51:39):
Uh.

Speaker 13 (51:40):
I struggle a little bit with the Mets bullpen. I
don't think it's as proven as people would think. Love
the everyday lineup. They're really going to score a lot
of runs. They've got great pitching, They've got very good
prospects to do what they need to do. So I
think the Mets are going to stay in at the
Phillies kind of just do what they do. They're they're social,
well managed team by Robbie Thompson, and they're super talented

(52:00):
that you certainly think that they'll they'll be in the
mix and win that division. And then Spencer, Strider and
Acuna coming back for the Braves is going to be huge,
and I think that they're probably the class of the division.
But I look for the Braves and Phillies to come
out of the division either as the winner or the
wild card, and then the Mets are going to have
to really work to improve that team, Maybe go get

(52:21):
a bat, maybe get some pin or a starter. Because
in the West, there's a team that we'll talk about
soon that's going to push for that other wildcard spot.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
All right in the Central Cardinals, Pirates, Reds, Brewers, and Cubs.

Speaker 13 (52:35):
Well, the Brewers play the best baseball. The Brewers play
the best baseball in all of baseball, even without the
most talented. Without the most talent, Pat Murphy does an
unbelievable job. Their player development system is just incredible. They
focus on all the little things. They play to the
scoreboard at every level, at every game, and they just
do the little things. They run the base as well,

(52:58):
they throw the cutoffs well, they do all the little
things well to win ball games. And that's a margin
for me, and I think that they're certainly the class
of the division. The Cubs with Ben Brown and Kate Foster,
they're certainly gonna have a chance to impact that rotation
with young arms, and they've got some offensive players. So

(53:18):
to me, it's the Brewers and the Cubs and a
dog fight for that division. And the Reds have a
very very good minor league system. If they're willing to
trade some of their prospects to improve the major league team.
And I just don't believe Tito Francona went to Cincinnati
to sit back and wait for prospects to get to
the major leagues. I think that the Reds will eventually
very aggressive in improving that team.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
And finally in the West, you have Arizona, Colorado, San Diego,
San Francisco, and the defending world champion Dodgers.

Speaker 13 (53:46):
Well, I mean, I know you love this, but the
Dodgers are just I mean, they're gonna wish away every
day of the season just to get to October. And
it's so very hard, and we went through it in
fourteen and fifteen. You know, when you know you're an
October team and you know you're arguably the best team
in baseball, you just try to be creative, to stay

(54:07):
motivated with each other, play for each other throughout the season,
and stay healthy because you know you're in October and
you want to be playing your best baseball and the
most healthy the last week of September into October.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
But this divisions a little tougher than people think. The Padres.

Speaker 13 (54:23):
I mean, they were a team to be reckoned with
last year, and aj Hinch is going to do what
he has to do to stay in this thing. And
the Diamondbacks with their starting rotation, they're going to be very,
very tough as well. And the Giants, if you ask
Buster Posey and Zach I'm Anascian, you know.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
They'll tell you that they're going to hang into it.

Speaker 13 (54:40):
But I still think that the Dodgers are the class
of the division.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
They're the class of the league and in the end
that they'll win that division.

Speaker 13 (54:48):
But the Diamondbacks and the Padres are the two teams
that could make it interesting. And I look for the Diamondbacks, Padres,
and Mets to kind of be battling for that last
while while part spot the last week of the season.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Yeah, and I guess the Diamondbacks got the bad news
today about Jordan Montgomery having to do Tommy John That
takes him out of that, so they'll have to find someone.
But they've had a good minor league system ringing guys up.

Speaker 13 (55:12):
There's never been a season that I can remember where
the health of a ball club is going to matter
more because there's just been just the underbelly of teams,
pitching depths, the underbelly of their systems. There have been
so many injuries that there are very few teams that

(55:32):
can take on many more injuries. And you look around,
you know the guys that are coming back from Tommy John.
Now you've got a whole nother wave that are gonna
have Tommy John surgery. And there's just only so much
the industry can take from an injury standpoint, And so
inasmuch as anything player personnel wise on the field, health
to a ball club is going to be super super

(55:52):
important to try to get to October, especially through the
summer months.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
G you know, I appreciate the time safe travels up
to the Windy City and hope for good enough weather
tomorrow for that opener against the Angels, and appreciate all
the time.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
All right, thank you so much. All right, travels.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
Say that's Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox for
an office White Sox opening home tomorrow against the Angels.
Rangers and Astros both have home openers tomorrow, Rangers against
the Red Sox at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon and the
Astros at two o'clock against the Mets tomorrow afternoon. That's

(56:28):
the openers on that. All right, We'll have more coming up.
More from Vic Shaeffer. When we continue on thirteen under
the Zone, here's some more with Longworts head coach Vick Shaffer.

Speaker 12 (56:38):
Speaking of that as somebody really right now the last
few games for them, and maybe somebody's cooled doll.

Speaker 11 (56:45):
Yeah, I mean, I think you look at their team
and you got all those kids are still playing at
a high, high level, whether it's Jewel Spear Spencer or
you know, any of those kids, they're just they're all Tlaysia.
You know, those kids are all so special, and I
just think they're relentless, you know.

Speaker 5 (57:03):
And uh again, they play that style that they love.

Speaker 11 (57:08):
They've embraced that their coaches you know, really brought on
to them and and they they've all bought into that.
And so you know, I think you have to just
again for us.

Speaker 5 (57:19):
People want to make a big deal out of the
line change and all that.

Speaker 11 (57:22):
Like we're fine with it. Like it's it's the horn sounds.
You look over there and go, Okay, did my girl
check out or not? I mean, that's just what you
got to do. And then my staffle well they'll all
be over all over it, going, hey, you got her,
you got her, you got her. So it's just a
it's really not that big a deal, but it likes
people like to make that the topic of the day

(57:42):
when you play them, But at the end of the day,
they've been doing it all year, and when you've had
experience dealing with it, you know, a lot of times y'all,
even in transition, you don't typically get matched up with
who your garden.

Speaker 5 (57:54):
You just sometimes you're in scramble mode.

Speaker 11 (57:56):
So I think the biggest pick, the biggest thing in
the biggest picture, is knowing what number you're looking at
and knowing the scout. It ain't just about who you
were supposed to guard. It's about everybody on that roster
and who can and who can't.

Speaker 8 (58:11):
For this time around, what is it like to play
head coach Kim Caldwell.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
You know, earlier in the season, she wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
I think she's having a baby.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
What'd you like to play her in a tournament?

Speaker 11 (58:21):
Now?

Speaker 5 (58:23):
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 11 (58:23):
I think that was the same team. She just wasn't
on the bench. She had her trusted assistant that's been
with her a long time calling the shots that night,
as well as the rest of the staff. So you know,
I don't I don't think it'll be any different. I
think when you go back and look at the game,
they played the same way they've played all year long.

(58:45):
So for us, it's it's who's on the floor. Like
I don't play, she doesn't play. It's the kids on
the floor and your kids who've got to make plays.
And so I think for us, we've got to go
out and do the exact same, you know, try to
duplicate what we did.

Speaker 5 (59:01):
We didn't turn the ball over. We had twelve turnovers total,
and so if.

Speaker 11 (59:04):
You can limit that, and then we've got to cut
down on a couple other things that we need to
clean up. But other than that, we've just we've got
to go be who we are and I think at
the end of the day, that'll give us a chance.

Speaker 3 (59:15):
I think I think.

Speaker 15 (59:16):
Last year, at this time of year, probably the biggest
problem with your teammate has just been depth.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
Together it was heard which had three guards.

Speaker 5 (59:22):
Yeah, a year later, how do you feel about.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Your depth and just the amount of players are going.

Speaker 15 (59:26):
To be able to play it needed?

Speaker 5 (59:27):
Yeah, I love my depth.

Speaker 11 (59:28):
Obviously, our depth at guard has been something that's been
real positive for us all year. Obviously, our two headed monster,
the depth there has been special, you know. Uh, so
we're we're I think in a much better place. You know,
this time last year, I think we were playing four
guards at three positions, you know, and uh and so,

(59:50):
but we had a lot of size. And but then
Taylor was in and out. She was concussed for the
first game and then came back and played in the
Elite eight game. But when you it out all week
and then you don't play in that first game you
get back in, you're rusty. And so you know, it's
been good to have a healthy tailor. I told her,
you know last year in our exit means the biggest

(01:00:11):
thing for you is we got to keep you healthy,
get you healthy, keep you healthy. And we got it
tough enough. And boy, she's embraced that. You have to
really tip your hat to Taylor because she's way different.
She's a different kid, and she's matured, she's toughened up,
and that's why she's going to have a chance to
play at the next level. I mean, she's somebody that's
on a lot of people's radar and she's up for

(01:00:33):
the Lisa Leslie Award. That says enough right there that
she's looked at as one of the five best five
players in the country. And I expect the very same
thing for Kyla next year. She's going to be looked
at in the very same way. So those two have
been really special for us. And again the depth at
five and the depth at guard really has really I
think made us special.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
If you had over.

Speaker 11 (01:00:53):
Depth in this team, probably had as much depth. But
this seems you know, again, that's why I'm excited about them.
We've I think the biggest thing is we've just had
to piece together that four position, you know, whether we
play a four guard lineup or jockeling has had to
go from the three to the four, and and you know,
trying to bring justice along as fast as we can

(01:01:14):
and and so it's just been a you know, we
kind of hamn't egged it, you know, all year and
uh so, uh again, if if you if you can,
if we can continue to develop that position and everybody
else does their job, again, you've got a chance.

Speaker 5 (01:01:31):
The thing about this time.

Speaker 11 (01:01:32):
Of year, you you cannot afford to have that one
bad night because everybody's good. And again not to take
anything from NC State a year ago, but if you
remember in that game last year, we we missed a
ton of shots we have made all year long early
in that game, and we kind of got behind the
hate ball. So we got to continue to be us
do what we do. We took care of the ball

(01:01:54):
this past weekend. We've got to continue to take care
of the ball. This is I said this before. It's
one of my better shooting teams. It seems to be
a topic of conversation, but we have shooting drills that
the standard is way higher than it's ever been for
any other team, and so you know, we don't turn
the ball over, we're going to have a chance to
make shots. Going back to the mass Ups conversation, I know,

(01:02:17):
talking to the growth in the locker room after the game,
they mentioned how that if they want to emphasis against Tennessee,
knowing who live the court one, what they can do.
You feel like Ry kind of mentioned they may have
struggled with that in the first game a little bit.

Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
So how have y'all kind of emphasize that throughout this
weekend and knowing disc out like that.

Speaker 11 (01:02:33):
Yeah, so that'll be a point of emphasis for us again.
We'll we'll have some line changes to mimic games, you know,
in practice, and we'll have the right numbers on the
right jerseys on for guys and practice players, and so
we'll have to be able to identify, Hey, that's so,
and so, that's so, and so that's so, and so
she can she can't, she does this, she does that,

(01:02:53):
and so again, when you go to film with us,
the kids all have notebooks. We take notes before we
ever start film. It's a note taking thing. And I
kind of I have explained this to them early on.
I'm a note taker. I go to a business I
go to a head coach's meeting, or a meeting with

(01:03:13):
administrators or any meeting.

Speaker 5 (01:03:15):
I have my style.

Speaker 11 (01:03:17):
I'm a note taker, and I try to convey that
to them because if you write it down, it just
seems like you have a better chance to retain it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:25):
And so we take notes. And so I got a
whole tablet full of notes that will.

Speaker 11 (01:03:29):
Start film with today, and they'll take them down, write
them down, you know. And I think our kids have
learned over the course of time.

Speaker 5 (01:03:38):
If he says it, write it down. And so we.

Speaker 11 (01:03:40):
Talk about that and then we'll go to the film
and we'll show them exactly boom boom, boom boom what
we're talking about and why we're talking about it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
All right, So there is Longworns head coach Vic Schaeffer
talking about his team getting ready to take on Tennessee
for the second time this year. You eat me here
back on January twenty third, is the Thursday night that was.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
The deal where.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
The game time got pulled forward by an hour. It
was supposed to be an eight o'clock tip. Is the
back end of a doubleheader with South Carolina and LSU
the front in, but they had all kinds of snow
in Louisiana and they had to push back the South
Carolina LSU game to the weekend, So for television, they
pulled forward the start time of that Texas Tennessee game

(01:04:25):
from eight o'clock to seven o'clock. In the long Warns
won that game maybe to seventy six. All right, we'll
be back to wrap up hour number two here on
thirteen under the zone. Craig Way and the producer Cameron
Parker alongside. We're happy to be here today. Tomorrow back
on the road flying with the Texas women's basketball team
at Birmingham, Alabama. They will be in action on Saturday

(01:04:46):
afternoon against Tennessee and you'll be able to hear that
game here on the zone Saturday afternoon. It'll be a
little bit of switching because this is the weekend we
start bringing you also Round Rock Express Baseball and they
have a game Friday night, and so Friday nights Texas
Long Horn Baseball game against Missouri six o'clock first pitch
can be heard on one of three point one FM,

(01:05:07):
as well as on all the app connections we've talked about,
connecting through the iHeartRadio app and then of course obviously
Texas Longhorns app and Longern Network app those as well
and online at Texas Long Runs dot com. That's where
other ways to be able to hear the baseball broadcast
throughout the weekend This weekend will be on one of

(01:05:28):
three point one FM. The women's game Saturday afternoon and
so therefore it will be cleared and out of the
way before the Round Rock Express game. It takes place
on Saturday evening in Tacoma, and that's why the switch
for this weekend. And then on Monday, the Texas women
if they reached the championship, the Elite eight game, it

(01:05:51):
would be at six o'clock and you would hear that
game here on the Zone as well, because Triple A
Baseball takes Mondays off, so the Express would not be
an actual Monday. So there's that, and we're going to
hear more from Vick Schaefer, but also coming up in
a few minutes, we're going to visit with Ty Harrington
to talk from college baseball with him.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
Long run baseball looking good.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Twenty and three rated as high as number three in
the national polls by I think It's Baseball America that
has Texas number three, Perfect Game As Texas number five,
and then D one Baseball, the National Collegiate Baseball Riders Association,
and the ESPN USA Today Coaches poll has Texas at
number seven, so then in the top ten all the

(01:06:32):
way around, and they go to Columbia to play Missouri
this weekend. Of course, they swept that conference series in
Starkville against Mississippi State, then took two out of three
at home against LSU. They dropped the first game to LSU,
and remember that happened after they dropped the midweek game
to UTSA, so they dropped too in a row, and
since then they won three straight, so they're twenty and

(01:06:53):
three going into that series. Beginning on Friday night on
the text liner NCB, he says that nineteen fifty nine
song you just played was used in the movie La
Bamba during the Richie Vallens funeral scene. Yet, because that's
when Richie Vallens and the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly
all went down in the plane crash Stormlake, Iowa. I
believe it was in nineteen fifty nine. On that Okay,

(01:07:17):
we had a question from someone on the text line
who asked if there was He said, how many colleges
still had both the men's and women's teams in the
postseason and he ends it with GMG, which means Goman Green.
So it's obviously a North Texas fan in North Texas
did win its n IT game on the road quarterfinal

(01:07:41):
win at Oklahoma State last night sixteen one to fifty nine.
So they're going to the semifinal. Remember they won the
n IT two years ago and that title came in
twenty twenty three. That was in Las Vegas. Now the
tournament has shifted to Indianapolis, Craig, and they won that
game and still watered. Yeah, it was supposed to be
played at North Texas. Did you hear the story about

(01:08:03):
why they played at Oklahoma State. Wasn't it an on
campus thing that the administrative staff had booked for the
super pit and they didn't change it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:14):
They had a staff luncheon, that's it, and they could
not move it. Yeah, a staff luncheon. That was silly.
Fortunately the ME and Green won the game. So then
going on to there.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
Okay, So to address the question, somebody asked how many
programs I still have both their men's and women's basketball
teams playing? So here we are to count them off.
First of all, we'll go to the NCAA men's side.
I see Duke, I see ole Miss, I see Florida

(01:08:54):
Texas Tech, because they have their women's teams in the WBIT.

Speaker 4 (01:08:59):
Tennessee and I think that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:03):
All right, there's five there, But just to be sure,
let me check the women's both the w B I
T and the w n I T. There's two women's
postseason tournaments.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
There's the UH.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
Women's inn I T and the men's n I T,
and the the w B I T, which is really
kind of the more recognized tournament is the w B
I T one.

Speaker 5 (01:09:30):
So UH on the.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Women's side of mentioned ole Miss uh, and I think
that's the and Duke are the only women's out of
the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
So then if you.

Speaker 2 (01:09:45):
Go further down the w b i T down on
its quarterfinals, Texas Tech Florida is one because they're playing
Texas Tech tomorrow night in the quarterfinals. Let's see Gonzaga, Minnesota, Belmont, Jan's, Madison, Villain.

Speaker 4 (01:10:00):
Neva Portland. So that's it for the wb I T.

Speaker 2 (01:10:03):
And then for the women's w n I T, they're
still at their I guess they're at their round of
sixteen playing tonight. Washington State and North Dakota State. North
Texas is in the wn IT as well as the
men's in IT T. Aveline Christy, Illinois State is in

(01:10:23):
the CBI Championship game tonight. Lynden Wood, Louisiana Tech, Southern Indiana, Buffalo,
Rutgers College at Charleston, Dukene, Clee, Cleveland State is playing
Illinois State in the CBI.

Speaker 4 (01:10:36):
Championship game tonight, and then there's Butler and Pretty Fort Wayne.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
So both Cleveland State and Illinois State are still in
the Women's in IT and they play in the CBI
Championship tonight. So there's there's that men's in it. North
Texas will play the winner of UC Irvine and UA B.
If they play UA B will be the fourth time
they will have played this year twice in the regular

(01:10:59):
season and they split those. UAD beat North Texas in
the American Conference Tournament semifinals, and they're playing UC r Ryan.
The other side of that bracket, Chattanooga will play the
winner of Kent State in Loyola Chicago. So right now
I'm looking at six teams. That are six schools that
have both their men's and women's teams still alive. And

(01:11:20):
then there's that other tournament. I wanted that one other
men's tournament, which is called what's it called the Crown
College GM The Crown, right, the College Basketball Crown, That's
what it's called. And it doesn't even start until Monday.
They say, how can that be? They wanted to wait

(01:11:42):
until it got through the Sweet sixteen. Fox is really
the big money behind this and it's at the MGM
Grant in Vegas. So the teams that are in this
is men's tournament. The teams that are in it are
Utah is playing Butler. There's another team Butler, So you
can count that that's seven teams. George Washington's playing State,
Nebraska's playing Arizona State, Georgetown is playing Washington State on

(01:12:06):
one side of the brack on the other side, to
Paul against Cincinnati, Oregon State against UCF, Colorado against Villanova,
and Tulane against sc SC men and women are So
that's eight eight.

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
That's the answer to the question.

Speaker 2 (01:12:20):
There are eight schools that still have two teams, both
a men's team and women's team playing post season basketball
of some sort. Not all in the NCAAA, not even
all in the NITS, but with all of the postseason
basketball going on, I bet a lot of people don't
know there was still that much postseason basketball going on
all Right, coming up, we're going to talk some college

(01:12:41):
baseball with Ty Harrington when we continue on thirteen under
the Zone. He's Ty Harrington, of course, twenty years a
college baseball head coach at Texas State, former Longhorn assistant
coach lifetime. Longhorn now is worked his way nicely into
the radio and television realm, but he always had a
good appreciation for music. Even though Ty, you been you
kind of had a harder rock edge to you. I

(01:13:02):
was surprised to discover in your formative days and your
misspent youth there uh at Midway High in the Greater
Waco area and country music.

Speaker 1 (01:13:11):
But have you developed an appreciation for your rock?

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (01:13:17):
Like I have moments, I have moods and moments that
would dictate that I would and sing along moments like
everybody else.

Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
And I still think that.

Speaker 10 (01:13:26):
I'm a you know, professional singer of some sort of
at least to me.

Speaker 3 (01:13:31):
But yeah, I mean jan's a great description.

Speaker 14 (01:13:35):
Yes, I'm a country boy, good old boy that does
love country music.

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
But do you have.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
A love for rock or all music?

Speaker 10 (01:13:45):
And to be honest with you, uh, yeah, play a
little more anti rock than most people.

Speaker 3 (01:13:50):
Probably would think.

Speaker 5 (01:13:52):
Uh you know again, I.

Speaker 10 (01:13:55):
Go people offening out the like if somebody ask young
Glory is Ascue was your favorite band?

Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
Favorite? This and that?

Speaker 14 (01:14:01):
And outside of you know, you know several you know,
local country artists and you know you get to listen
to often enough.

Speaker 16 (01:14:08):
But you know, led Zeppelin if I went back to
my lifestyle and time was my favorite band.

Speaker 5 (01:14:14):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:14:14):
See that always amazes me.

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
I mean it does mean too, it does mean to
it once.

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
So I mean that's just how you roll it. I
sort of say that's how you roll in Woodway, But
did you live in Woodway or Hewitt when you went
to Midway?

Speaker 5 (01:14:28):
I did?

Speaker 1 (01:14:29):
I lived in Woodway. I did.

Speaker 5 (01:14:30):
I lived in Woodway.

Speaker 14 (01:14:32):
We were one of the newer additions way back in
seventy five and ninth that'd be.

Speaker 3 (01:14:38):
Nineteen seventy five.

Speaker 10 (01:14:40):
And in our house. Find our house and you can
walk all the way into the lake. Looked was several
miles through the woods.

Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
If you try to do it now, you'll be jumping
for rooftop to rooftop.

Speaker 5 (01:14:52):
Wow.

Speaker 10 (01:14:53):
Yeah, yeah, but yeah, wood Way was in the stage drive.

Speaker 3 (01:14:58):
Now, that's not to say that we and go to.

Speaker 10 (01:15:00):
Waco and drive up and down Valley Mills Drive like
everybody else did.

Speaker 1 (01:15:04):
Yeah, you were cruising, all right. So so.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
Would it be safe to say that wood Way is
a lot different now that Chip and Jojo have sunk
their palls into it.

Speaker 10 (01:15:15):
It's it's it's easy to say that Waco in general
is different.

Speaker 1 (01:15:19):
Uh, And would will be too?

Speaker 10 (01:15:21):
I mean yeah, I mean with the with the growth
of what they brought to the table.

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
You know, then there was that explosion of Baylor.

Speaker 10 (01:15:28):
Athletics chewing football, and it had an impact it did.

Speaker 3 (01:15:34):
On Waco as well.

Speaker 10 (01:15:35):
Kind of combined chipping and football took on for Baylor,
you know, and then there was you know that was there.

Speaker 3 (01:15:41):
And there, and I think I had a big background.
Now it's it's Waco has continued to grow.

Speaker 2 (01:15:48):
All right, let me uh, let me have you jump
in uh with your thoughts first of all on uh,
I'm gonna go to the mid of major route to
start with.

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
First of all, and.

Speaker 4 (01:16:03):
Ask you how good do you see?

Speaker 1 (01:16:08):
Uh? UTSA right now?

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
They got obviously they had a big performance against Texas
State and they had the twelve inning win against Longhorns.
They beat Texas A and m give let me give
me give get your thoughts on UTSA and also Texas
State right now.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
Okay, let's start with.

Speaker 16 (01:16:29):
Yeah, Tetcha State and then and it's look, they've been struggling.
I know people sometimes going in here and they can
always say it's an excuse, but the reality is they've
been They've got they've had four players out and it
is I mean, you know, look, I tell people this.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
This is a fair statement. I don't expect everybody to
understand it. I know you understand it when I say.

Speaker 10 (01:16:48):
This, but you know, some people will use to stay well,
next man up, right, well, the next man up often enough,
there's a reason.

Speaker 3 (01:16:54):
Why he was the next man up, and uh. And
so they've been injured a little bit. They played better
last weekend.

Speaker 10 (01:17:01):
They threw the ball better last weekend against Arkansas State, and.

Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
Then the UTSA game last night. Actually, believe it or not,
they were on the verge of b and beat.

Speaker 10 (01:17:13):
In seven innings and then they battled back and did
the tying run come on at the night. So hopefully
they're getting some I know they're getting some of those
injury guys back, So that is going to help and
they need it now with Coastal Carolina coming in this weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:17:29):
Coastal is the top twenty five teen.

Speaker 10 (01:17:31):
Have been up and down, but the Coastal is better
on the madle this year than.

Speaker 16 (01:17:34):
What they've been offensively, and they're usually.

Speaker 10 (01:17:37):
Historically in the opposite. Now let's move switch gears and
move the UTSA.

Speaker 16 (01:17:42):
You know, pet Homer is a tremendous coach, by the way,
and has been.

Speaker 3 (01:17:46):
For a long time.

Speaker 16 (01:17:47):
He was with Wayne Graham for a long time as
an assistant coach.

Speaker 10 (01:17:52):
He's one of those coaches that does.

Speaker 3 (01:17:54):
What comes to his mind, whatever he feels like is
going to work in that moment. It does not matter
to him.

Speaker 16 (01:17:59):
If he feels like that, it's not it goes against
the book, goes.

Speaker 14 (01:18:02):
Against the green, whatever that book is or whoever wrote
that book.

Speaker 3 (01:18:07):
He's willing to.

Speaker 10 (01:18:08):
Do whatever it takes, and in his mind he runs
his offense and it's pitching that way. What I mean
by that, he's leveled to pull a picture out in
the middle of the cow, he's leveled to put a hitter.

Speaker 3 (01:18:17):
I mean, it's a lot of different things. So he's
a really really good coach. I think there.

Speaker 10 (01:18:21):
When I saw them against Texans, I watched the Ale
team of that night, they were really physical.

Speaker 3 (01:18:29):
My recollection f them when you go through their lineup,
and then they kept bringing arms.

Speaker 10 (01:18:33):
And now against Texas, they brought their starters back, some
of their weekend starters back, right, You reported that and
you saw that. But they also were able to finish
with guys that you know, if you go in there
and compare what you know, the velostity looks like there
are a lot of Power five schools. It's at ninety two
to ninety seven range, right, Well, they kept rolling guys
out there, one right after another, and there was probably

(01:18:55):
a little bit of a juice and the energy involved
it too, if they were fired up. But everything looked
it was ninety three to ninety five as well, and
what commanded the breakers.

Speaker 3 (01:19:04):
And so I do think they're good. They've played. They
played well on the road as well.

Speaker 10 (01:19:10):
And oftentimes, like it is for a lot of people,
if they stay healthy, I think they're a team to continue.
I do they show me enough offensively, And it doesn't
mean again.

Speaker 3 (01:19:19):
That somebody doesn't get hurt.

Speaker 14 (01:19:20):
You know, who knows what happens.

Speaker 3 (01:19:22):
But I thought they handled the ball well.

Speaker 10 (01:19:24):
Obviously I know them to be well coach, and I
thought they were physical on the offensive part of the game.

Speaker 3 (01:19:30):
That they can score from home plate and they can.

Speaker 10 (01:19:33):
Score with two outs because they have enough balance to
create offense.

Speaker 2 (01:19:37):
One alta talking college baseball with high Herington here on
thirteen hundreds, All right, ty long WRN fans understandably excited,
and rightly so. They're twenty and three and they're tied
the top the conference stag standings at five and one.
Now I throw this in not to throw cold water
on anything, but it's simply as a reminder of the

(01:19:57):
new world that they are in h They are five
and one in the league and they're twenty and three overall.
Arkansas is five and one in the league and twenty
three and three overall. Tennessee is five and one in
the league and twenty three and two overall, and Georgia's
five and one in the league and twenty five and
two coming off a weekend where they went to a
nationally ranked Florida team in Gainesville, swept all three games,

(01:20:21):
scored forty runs in the process eight runs Friday, seventeen,
Saturday fifteen Sunday. They run rule the Gators on their
own home field on Sunday. So the only reason why
I bring this up, and there's a one two, three, four,
five six way tie one game back of them with Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Auburn, Vanderbilt,

(01:20:42):
and Ole Miss is just as Jim Schlasnek would say,
this is the deepest waters Texas has ever collectively swam
in in a conference baseball season.

Speaker 4 (01:20:53):
Agree, yes, one hundred percent.

Speaker 14 (01:20:57):
I thought so when you say into deeper waters, I
mean I thought last weekend was a great representation of
you know, how the water starts to look and feel
and then when you start talking about all those teams
and those programs and how good they are, and it's
not it's not bad scheduling.

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
I mean, it's it's reality. That's who they are. And
it's almost like saying thing.

Speaker 16 (01:21:24):
If the coach and go through your schedule, I'll try
out to shift too many heres here.

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
But when you're the coach, you start to schedule and go, hey, look,
I feel like we.

Speaker 16 (01:21:31):
Got a chance to win two out of three here
on the road.

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
We do that, that's great. If we do.

Speaker 14 (01:21:35):
When you start looking at the weekends and.

Speaker 3 (01:21:39):
In the sec and what that represents, man, I mean,
you play.

Speaker 17 (01:21:44):
Bad, you got a chance to get those two favor
gets slopped if.

Speaker 3 (01:21:49):
You play bad. And and the other piece of that
is if you do go through a blicken are one
and ever you get injured or something like that, you're
gonna you're gonna have some rough moments. If you don't,
you know, watch out or if you don't came great down,
what if makes you do? And it's says we're I'm
wild be surprised.

Speaker 16 (01:22:07):
If if if it you know, if if PLEXI fees
a different direction with this, if they stay injury free,
is that it requires you to play your best.

Speaker 14 (01:22:17):
It required, it demands that if you want to be
successful in this league and you want to get to
that you know, you.

Speaker 3 (01:22:23):
Know you're here Kirch Flack's talking about. You got to
get to that fifteen.

Speaker 14 (01:22:26):
Win mark in the SEC, and then you run the risk,
then you run the ability to be able to host
and you know, and be you know, on national scene
and do some other things right in this league in
the SEC.

Speaker 1 (01:22:36):
And and and when more in that cheer than you
really are.

Speaker 3 (01:22:39):
But the reality is you have to play your bet
and that's it. I mean, ain't got to be good enough,
which which Texas is, but you got.

Speaker 16 (01:22:47):
And you got to stay healthy, which they are right now.
And you have to play your best when you line up.

Speaker 3 (01:22:54):
If you don't make, you gonn not do sock zones.

Speaker 1 (01:22:56):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
Uh And the only other reason to bring this up
is to let you give a little bit of perspective
on who else's contender.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
Here's where I'm going with this.

Speaker 2 (01:23:06):
If you look at the D one pole and the
other poles, and there's a bunch of them in college baseball.
For whatever reason, there's more poles in college baseball than
any other sport.

Speaker 1 (01:23:13):
But I don't know why that is, but it is.

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
But in the D one Baseball poll, which many followed
pretty closely, the top three teams are SEC teams Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia.
Then you have Florida State and Oregon State and Clemson.
Then the next three are SEC teams Texas, LSU and Oklahoma.

(01:23:37):
So six of the top nine are SEC teams. Oregon
is tenth, Auburn is eleventh, Alabama is twelve, So eight
of the top twelve are SEC. Southern Mississippi is thirteen,
Vanderbilt is fourteen, and Ole Miss is fifteen. Ten of
the top fifteen are from the Southeastern Conference. So with

(01:23:59):
all that factored in, with everything you talked about, who
else do you see as being really really good and
would be if people were saying you take the SEC,
any team from the SEC or the field to win
in Omaha in June.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
If you just looked at.

Speaker 2 (01:24:16):
The rankings right now, maybe the top tendants would be
Florida State, Oregon State, Clemson, Oregon, Southern miss Wait Forest
is sixteen, Dallas Baptist is seventeen. Then you have Louisville,
U See, Irvine, Stanford, North Carolina, Troy, Arizona, UCLA, and
Georgia Tech and Coastal Carolina you just mentioned it just

(01:24:38):
dropped out of the poll, but they're in the others
receiving votes.

Speaker 7 (01:24:44):
So you're asking me where, see, what would be.

Speaker 2 (01:24:47):
The big if you were to pick a school or
two today to be the biggest threat, to be better
than than when all the smoke clears, than any of
those ten of the top fifteen schools that are SEC
schools that are ranked right now, which school or schools
really leap off the page to you?

Speaker 3 (01:25:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 14 (01:25:08):
Yeah, okay, Well to me, it's going to follow in
a lot of Tennessee, it's going to fall in line with.

Speaker 3 (01:25:18):
Believe it or not, I think Florida State is really good.
The chance to watch them on TV, I do. I
think they're really good.

Speaker 2 (01:25:26):
Walk off Grand Slam, Yeah, walk off Grand Slam. So,
if it was going to be someone other than an
SEC school other than in Tennessee or Arkansas or Georgia,
who looks really good right now? If you were to pick,
and again, like I said, Florida State is fourth in
the pole, Oregon State is five, Clemson is six, Oregon
is ten, Southern miss is thirteen. Wait, for sixteen Dallas

(01:25:50):
Patricks cent Anyway, those are some of the other ones
outside of those ten of the top fifteen, who are
SEC schools?

Speaker 1 (01:25:56):
What school or schools do you think it all?

Speaker 16 (01:26:00):
Yeah, it's gonna have to be.

Speaker 3 (01:26:05):
It's gonna have to be. I saw Oregon State three
times early in the year. They really physical. I don't
know that they had the bullpen that through enough strikes
for me right now, but to me, it would be
it would have to be. You know, the Ford State.

Speaker 10 (01:26:21):
I saw Clinicon too, and you know you I think
he made assault Clenters will do that open wekend.

Speaker 1 (01:26:27):
I'm not sure they were up there, uh huh, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:26:30):
I think they're they're there.

Speaker 5 (01:26:32):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:26:32):
He felt like it was the best team that they'd
ever assemble.

Speaker 16 (01:26:35):
He felt like they were going to be a topping team.
Outside of that, I don't I mean, it really takes one.

Speaker 3 (01:26:43):
I mean you're asking, you're asking question.

Speaker 4 (01:26:46):
That's my point exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:26:49):
No, No, I mean I got at you know, my
brain right now.

Speaker 16 (01:26:55):
And just I mean, man, and the last statement you
made before you background to mean was Georgia is playing good.

Speaker 3 (01:27:07):
Yeah, man, I just don't know. I mean, it would
have to be a Florida State or it'd have to be.

Speaker 10 (01:27:14):
Yeah, And I've seen limited, limited of Florida State.

Speaker 3 (01:27:18):
Except from TV.

Speaker 1 (01:27:20):
Clinson I did see in person.

Speaker 2 (01:27:22):
Yeah, Florida State won on a walk off Grand Slam
to beat Florida last night.

Speaker 4 (01:27:26):
Meeting them in a midweek are there? Uh to do
it all?

Speaker 5 (01:27:29):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:27:29):
Hey, I appreciate the time.

Speaker 17 (01:27:31):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:27:32):
I know you've got busy things going on both in
San Marcos with baseball with the long words up here,
but I know I'll see you around the corner here
pretty soon, right.

Speaker 3 (01:27:41):
You will.

Speaker 10 (01:27:42):
Good luck with your travels, yes, and everything you've got
going on with my women's basketball and your coaches and
you know they traveling.

Speaker 3 (01:27:51):
Baseball as well, and I.

Speaker 17 (01:27:53):
Would sell you what you know, I think what is
going to happen now, I think you probably when you
would going to run in baseball, right, I think people
would kind of listen and they would.

Speaker 16 (01:28:05):
Listening to you, and they would, you know, watch some
they would do their best to keep I think this
last weekend.

Speaker 14 (01:28:12):
And everything everybody you see and the momentum that.

Speaker 17 (01:28:14):
They had, Uh, you're gonna have a large audience again,
and uh, it's it's exciting, It really is and I
think you would agree with me.

Speaker 14 (01:28:24):
Last weekend was really exciting, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
I have two blue woods like LSU and Texans were up.

Speaker 16 (01:28:31):
It was a heavy weight fine on Saturday that was
an absolute heavyweight and.

Speaker 14 (01:28:37):
Both teams just absolutely going at each other. And then
a thought Sunday and I think he's alcohol. Sunday was
just an incredibly fun, great college baseball game, and uh,
three weekend is going.

Speaker 3 (01:28:51):
To be exciting. It is what it is. The SEC
is exactly what it's going to be, and they.

Speaker 2 (01:28:56):
Are, Yeah, it's gonna be great. Hey, Todd, thanks for
the time. I appreciate it.

Speaker 10 (01:29:02):
You got it.

Speaker 1 (01:29:02):
You moa, thank you. That's Ty Herrington. He's right.

Speaker 2 (01:29:06):
I mean it's going to be very difficult for one
of those SEC teams to be unseated, you know, and
it'll be interesting to see how many teams get TOMA.
I know there was a lot made of fourteen SEC
teams making the NCAA basketball tournament. You know, ten of
the top fifteen ranked teams, just ranked teams or SEC

(01:29:27):
teams in baseball. That postseason and tournament in Hoover ought
to be interesting because it's single elimination, sixteen teams just
like the Big twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:29:35):
All right, we'll be back here. More from Vic Shafer
when we continue on thirteen under the Zone.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
Let's hear some more as the Texas when we're prepared
to leave town tomorrow. More on this matchup with Tennessee
and going to the Sweet sixteen with head coach Vick Shaffer.

Speaker 11 (01:29:50):
You know, Rory is really good, Shay is outstanding. Rory
and Shay sitting next to each other, Booker's good about it,
and those three are right there and they really do
it a job in that front row. Taylor's over there
as a veteran, she does a good job.

Speaker 5 (01:30:05):
Those are the ones I kind of noticed because I'm close.

Speaker 11 (01:30:08):
To them when we're sitting in there. But you know,
they've they've come to understand the importance of taking notes.

Speaker 15 (01:30:15):
Yes, she how has she kind of been mentally these
past couple of games?

Speaker 5 (01:30:19):
Not shooting the ball?

Speaker 11 (01:30:21):
Wall?

Speaker 15 (01:30:21):
But how have you seen her just kind of respond
to that adversity and practices.

Speaker 11 (01:30:24):
And stem She's been great? You know, you don't she's unflappable.
I mean, she's just she's as solid as any kid
I've ever had.

Speaker 5 (01:30:34):
And you don't see that. It's you know, it's not.

Speaker 11 (01:30:37):
Like she's walking around going oh my god, oh my god,
oh my god.

Speaker 5 (01:30:39):
I you know this, and that she shot fifty percent
in the game the other day.

Speaker 11 (01:30:44):
And again the athleticism, how hard she plays, you know,
she just she's really somebody again that brings so much
to the table. You can't get tied up with one
thing that maybe she might not be as good at
as some of the other things she does. And again
she's shooting and in practice and making everything she looks at,

(01:31:05):
trust me, and so you know it'll fall.

Speaker 5 (01:31:08):
You know.

Speaker 11 (01:31:08):
She obviously had a big game at Missippi State late
in the year, made four out of six from three
Kit can make shots, like I think the other night
she took.

Speaker 5 (01:31:16):
One, she rushed one from the left side on the wing.

Speaker 11 (01:31:20):
Again, she just trying, you know, she wants to wants
to help us, and she's trying to make a shot.
But that one was probably hotly contested. But other than that,
she is she understands what a good shot is in
time and place. That's the biggest thing with young kids
is time and place.

Speaker 5 (01:31:38):
And so you know, Jock took.

Speaker 11 (01:31:41):
One from the perimeter the other night early in the
clock out there at the three point line.

Speaker 5 (01:31:45):
I'm like, that's not time and place.

Speaker 11 (01:31:47):
And this is something that my staff continues to impart
on our kids, is just trying to educate them on
time and place. And so again, Shay is again she's unflappable.
She's as solid as anybody, and from a mental capacity,
she's as tough as males.

Speaker 1 (01:32:05):
You ever shot.

Speaker 5 (01:32:08):
I mean, I live with it. I live and die
with it during the game.

Speaker 11 (01:32:10):
If y'all pay attention, I mean, I'm over there agonizing
with every turnover, every shot, I mean everything, I'm I'm
I'm you know, and to a fault. Really, I I uh,
you know, I have to kind of watch myself a
little bit because that can affect you know, who's on
the floor, and I don't want to do that. I'm
not there to do that, but I'm just you know,

(01:32:31):
uh Rory and I joke about it all the time.
I live and die with every movement that kid makes
because she's an extension of me.

Speaker 5 (01:32:38):
And you know, when.

Speaker 11 (01:32:40):
She makes a great play or or might have a turnover,
like I just I agonize with all of that. And again,
it's you know, it's not like it's just something that
I have to kind of evaluate myself on sometimes.

Speaker 5 (01:32:57):
But it's not just her.

Speaker 11 (01:32:58):
I do it with all of them, you know, Taylor,
missus a bunny. I'm I'm over there probably having a
conniption in your eyes. But you know, when you work
so hard to get those looks and get those shots,
you gotta cash them. And the other night, you know,
we I think you know, we had a chance to
feed the post. We turned it down. We had two

(01:33:20):
in the lane, gave them our numbers and we turned
it down. Well, that's the mentality of a post player, y'all.
You go down there, you lay on people, you're rubbing
shoulders and exchanging sweat. You get a tough rebound, you
throw it, you run the floor. You go down there
and post and some guard don't.

Speaker 5 (01:33:36):
Throw you the ball.

Speaker 11 (01:33:37):
That's how tough mentally that your bigs have to be,
because you just did all the dirty work, ran down
the floor, and they don't reward you. And then so
now you've got to go back down there and do
that again, and then hope that you run the floor
again and they reward you. And and so you know,
I'm living and dying with that too. So I see
it all, and I live and die with it all.

(01:33:59):
But as I've told my team, part of my part
of my living with this team is that I know
how good they are. I know what the opportunity is
in front of them, and they're good enough, and I
want it badly for them. Again, as somebody you know,
I was talking to SEC Radio this morning and they

(01:34:20):
were talking about do you talk to your kids about
taking things for granted? You know, when you see something
like what happened with ju Ju, which your heart goes
out to her and the whole team, do you talk
about that. I'm like, guys, I talk about it three
four times a week, Like we circle up before practice
every day and I'm telling them or after practice, and

(01:34:43):
I'm telling them, you don't you think this is what
we do because it is what we've done, but you
don't take it for granted, Like these times are fleeting.
I know we've done this now a bunch and you think, well,
it's just what we do, and it is what we do,
but you just can't take it for granted because you
never know when the next hiccup's going to be. And

(01:35:06):
the same as true injury wise. You know, when I
tell them, don't take this for granted, y'all. This team
is special, This opportunity is special, This time in your
life is special.

Speaker 5 (01:35:18):
Don't take it for granted.

Speaker 11 (01:35:20):
In Royal Go yep, don't you know, because you know
she's been through it, Amogo yep.

Speaker 5 (01:35:25):
Don't you know. Jordana yep, don't you know?

Speaker 11 (01:35:30):
Because you just you hope that day never happens, but
you never know.

Speaker 5 (01:35:36):
So man live.

Speaker 11 (01:35:37):
It each and every day because you just don't know
when this opportunity comes again.

Speaker 5 (01:35:44):
Again. We've done it.

Speaker 11 (01:35:46):
We've been in this position for out the five years
we've been here. We did it at Mississippi State, have
me straight years.

Speaker 5 (01:35:53):
But you can't take it for granted.

Speaker 11 (01:35:57):
I would say that to this group standing here, you
young people, you don't take this time in your life
for granted because unfortunately, in life, things happen, and they
happen to good people. And so you when that happens again,
remember it's not it's how you respond that defines you.

(01:36:19):
You look at Rory Harmon to me, how she's responded
to this definds who she is. It says everything you
need to know about Rory Harmon. And again you've got
to give her a ton of credit.

Speaker 15 (01:36:34):
Get this a little off topic, but in the past,
you've had a pretty good working relationship with Chris and Rodney,
and I'm kind of wondering a Sean coming in. You
know your thoughts on that and how important is it
tend to be synonymous with the coaches on the other side.

Speaker 5 (01:36:46):
Of this facility.

Speaker 11 (01:36:47):
Yeah, I mean I've always had great relationships everywhere I've
been with the men's head coach, and again, they have
their life and their things going on, and we certainly
do ours as well. But again, you know, Rodney was
someone that I have deep respect and admiration for, and
I know Sean is a great coach, and I haven't

(01:37:08):
had a chance to meet him, but I know he's
asked our administration about me, and and so there'll be
a chance when we have a chance to meet each
other and visit. I know he's going to have to
hit the ground running, and he knows I'm involved with
what I'm doing right now. But it is really important
to answer your question. You know, we need to work together,
whether it's on practice times or gain. You know, we

(01:37:32):
get this calendar, y'all, and most places it's just hey,
what days do you.

Speaker 5 (01:37:37):
Want to play? What day does you want to play.

Speaker 11 (01:37:38):
Well, it's what days you want to play, what do
you want to play and what day is it available,
you know, and so we really have to work closely
on all that.

Speaker 5 (01:37:46):
So you know, I'm i'm i'm i'm.

Speaker 11 (01:37:49):
I'm confident that Sewan will be great and be great
to work with, and again excited for for them and
their opportunity, and I'm here to help any way I can.

Speaker 2 (01:38:00):
There it is Vic Schaffer with some wards there of
excitement and encouragement for the new men's head coach Sean
Miller coming in to lead the Texas men's program. We'll
be back to wrap up today's edition of the program
here on thirteen Out of the Zone