Zimmel Hour, Texas and TCU, Men's Final Four and New Bats

Craig Way Show on a Monday Edition. Reacting to the Men's Final Four and the New York Yankees changing baseball with the new bats. Gearing up for Texas and TCU in the Women's Elite Eight. Andrew Zimmel filling in for Craig. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Zimmel hanging out with you this afternoon as Craig Way
and company are in Birmingham, Alabama, as Texas plays the biggest.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Game since the last big game.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
That is what it's felt like this entire month of March,
is that every single time that we come on, we say, well,
we got a big game tonight. Now there's a big
Texas women's basketball game tonight. There's a big one tonight.
But this one feels really special. Tonight's matchup against TCU
five forty five air time, six pm tip right here
on the Zone. This one feels different because it's a

(00:47):
Texas two step because there's two teams, one team who
dominated the Big twelve last year and one team that
dominated the Big twelve this year in Texas and TCU
in the Texas then in your number one in the SEC.
There's a lot of conversation. There was a lot of
questions about what would happen, and in an Elite eight

(01:10):
matchup tonight against TCU, you can put a lot of
that to bet you have a team in Texas that
is regimated. And we'll hear from the players. They spoke
yesterday to media availability. We're here from Vick Schaeffer as well,
very regimented, very locked in, very Texas, and on the
TCU side of things, the old saying goes, act like
you've been there before, but this is the first time

(01:32):
that they have been here before. So we'll hear from
some of those players too, including including Haley Van Lyff,
Mark Campbell, and then of course tonight Prince the forward
for TCU, who's going to have a lot of attention
tonight in that matchup, of course, but a big weekend
of course across the forty acres. We'll start here with

(01:53):
the Texas women punching their ticket to get to this
point to play in the Elite A tonight, and that's
a win against Tennessee All On Saturday, Madison Booker and
Jordan Lee combined for thirty points. Taylor Jones added twelve
points and eight rebounds. Brianna Pressed him had a big
game twelve points career high. We heard from Craig wayhe

(02:13):
interviewed her earlier this weekend. Talk about it as we
get into this one. And this is now the seventh
time in eight seasons that Vick Shafer has led a
Texas basketball team to the Elite Eight. He started his
career four times in five years with the Longhorns, so

(02:34):
an absolutely incredible game. Texas led the entirety of the game.
I was giving scoreboard updates to some friends who weren't
paying super close attention. I was locked in, obviously. I
watched college basketball this entire weekend. I didn't move from
my couch. It felt like I was back in the
fall on a college football Saturday, where I'm watching game

(02:55):
after game after game. But that's how this NCAA tournament
has gone. That I'm watching every one of these games
back to back, back, and it helped out that the
women's games were a little earlier in the day and
the men's games a little later in the day. Will
give me a staggered let me get off the couch.
Maybe they ca a Peterbad and jail the sandwich in between.
But of course, big, big win for the Texas women

(03:16):
and then for baseball. Well, it went pretty much exactly
like we thought it would go. In Game number one
against Missouri, fifteen runs on Saturday the doubleheader, Texas combined
for fourteen runs in a sweep of the Missouri Tigers.
Another win in the SEC weekend slate. They're on a
six game win streak the start of the season. With

(03:37):
a seventeen game win streak, you wonder how many wins
in a row that you can get with this Texas team.
Texas State tomorrow obviously going to be a big one
at the Dish, and then Georgia coming up this weekend.
So again you don't want to get too ahead of yourself.
You only get too far ahead of your skis here.
But it feels like as the calendar flips from March

(03:59):
to April, it could not have gone any better for
Texas baseball and that includes SEC Player of the Week.
Will this goes on to a big wins obviously across
this weekend for the Texas baseball team. All right, so

(04:19):
a lot going on on the Longhorn side of things. Obviously,
we will hear from the players, we will hear from
the coaches. For tonight's matchup. Craig Way will be on
the call. He'll join us at four seventeen in the
third hour of the program. Mike Harball Hards joins us
in our number two of the program. Because baseball is
broken thanks to the New York Yankees and their torpedo bats.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yes, is the craze that is sweeping the nation.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
It seems that thankfully, an MIT scientist figured out, Hey,
the best way to hit home runs is to get
more battle on the ball, and that's exactly what the
Yankees have been doing, is getting more bat.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
On the ball.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
They've changed baseball. Is it for the better?

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Though? That is the question.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
We will talk to hard course about Texas baseball, and
then about what this means for the sport if everybody
can start hitting these home runs right, and then regional
conversations about the Super regionals. Kimmulki Gino from Yukon neither
happy about it. Finally, Vick Schaeffer has some power in

(05:23):
his corner after complaining about this last year, the super
regional setup. But let's go to the men's Final four,
which is set for San Antonio this weekend.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Saturday.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
We have tip offs between two of the powerhouses in
the SEC, Auburn the number one overall seed and Florida,
the champions of the SEC tournament. So this is a
big matchup SEC powerhouses dueling each other. Alburn looked good
in their win against Michigan State over the weekend, dominated

(05:55):
in that one, and then Florida comes back and wins
against Texas Tech, and I will take all the blame
here for any Tech fans who are disheartened this afternoon
about their team's performance on Saturday, I will take the
blame here because I was texting friends, I said, man,
this Texas Tech team looks like they could win a
national championship. This is a pretty good team. They had

(06:15):
a big lead going into the final minutes. The Gators
led seventy five sixty six with less than three minutes
to play a rally of shots for the ra For
the Gators, I should say Gators trail Gators Trail Raiders
aren't able to hold off the barrage of threes, including

(06:37):
Walter Clayton Junior, who rescued the Florida team too late
threes to put a rally down from down nine to
beat Texas Tech to now move on to the men's
Final four in San Antonio. Also, Houston beats Tennessee. We
almost had three of the four teams in the Final

(07:00):
four from the SEC, but Houston's able to hold on
win sixty nine fifty against Tennessee. And then the game
that I was locked in on the most was Duke
and Alabama. This was a matchup that I said, if
there's a one seed who could get upset, I like
the way that Alabama had played the previous night against BYU,

(07:21):
a barrage of threes, everybody looked great. Did not happen
for Alabama could not recapture the magic from downtown and
Duke Blue Devil's move on. This is the first time
since two thousand and eight, first time since two thousand
and eight that all the one seeds advanced. So if
you made fun of somebody before the tournament began saying like,

(07:42):
well you're picking all the favorites, huh, you did the
right thing. The first time in almost fifteen years. Though,
all the one seeds are moving on to play in
the final four. And ironically, the last time this happened
games were played in San Antonio. So this is John
Scheiser after the game talking about how tough it was
on the guys on Saturday night.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
They're all fans to hold him the sixty five points.
That's incredible, you know, obviously for us, just for this
group to come together this off season, how connected they are,
how tough they are, couldn't be more proud.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
There was so much attention on Cooper as there should
be this guy concept the tone early.

Speaker 4 (08:23):
This guy's a stud right here. He's the ultimate warrior competitor,
and he really carried us throughout tonight. Really, man, this
guy's been incredible.

Speaker 6 (08:32):
Man, he's been incredible.

Speaker 7 (08:33):
Since we're live to the house.

Speaker 8 (08:34):
What would you like to say to the Duke fans?

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh, we're live?

Speaker 7 (08:37):
Huh?

Speaker 4 (08:38):
Who's ready to go with San Antonio?

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (08:43):
The Duke Blue Devils move on to San Antonio after
a win against Alabama over the weekend, and Kan Kanupple,
you can hear there in the back end with his coach,
John Shister Knupple in this matchup against Alabama, it's not
gonna get talked about. It might get forgotten in the
college basketball history books. Twenty one points, five assists, five

(09:05):
rebounds in the win for the Blue Devils against Alabama.
Cooper Flagg has got a lot of the hype this season,
more probably for the right reasons, as he looks to
be the number one overall pick in this Springs draft.
In the NBA, Kan Kannupple played incredible and they asked

(09:25):
him afterwards how locked in and confident?

Speaker 9 (09:28):
He was, Yeah, I mean we're always pretty confident coming in.
We knew that they were a high powered offense, so
we had to bring our a game on defense and
on the boards, and I thought we.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Did just that.

Speaker 10 (09:38):
You have so much calm about you, and you attack
the basket and you read the defense like how slow
does the game scene to you?

Speaker 8 (09:43):
And how do you read it so well?

Speaker 9 (09:45):
I mean, I'm a slow guy, so I try to
make it slow. I tricked a couple, but I'm glad.

Speaker 6 (09:52):
Most of the one down.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
He might say he's a slow guy, but the shots
were going up quick. On Saturday night, Duke moves on.
They'll take on Houston in the final four. Those games
played Saturday in San Antonio.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
All right, when we come back.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Vick Schaeffer and his team spoke about their matchup tonight.
We will hear it next right here on The Craig
Way Show. Andrew Zimbile filling in for Craig Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred Zone Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
Andrew Zimmel filling in for Craig this Monday afternoon. Craig
will join the program at four around the four seventeen
mark talk to us about tonight's matchup against TCU So

(10:30):
University of Texas wins on Saturday move on to take
on TCU in the Elite eight. TCU, on the other hand,
had their work cut out for him. Seventy one sixty
two win against Notre Dame, and you went through we
heard from the experts, we heard from the people who
kind of expected to project who's winning these games, and

(10:51):
Notre Dame was a team then many people had moving
on not only past the Sweet sixteen, but all the
way into the Final four and then the National Championship
in some cases. So for TCU to get the job
done the way that they did it was big. There's
a big win on Saturday, and the Longhorns knew that
too because the way that the games were set up

(11:11):
in the Birmingham region. That was game number one on
the slate. Texas followed up, so you knew who your
opponent was going to be if you're the Longhorns, and
now we are in a Texas two step situation. Vick
Shaeffer and his team, Madison Booker and Roy Harmon, were
available for media availability yesterday. Vic Shaeffer started his opening

(11:31):
statements like this.

Speaker 11 (11:33):
You know, just going back to yesterday, just again, want
to commend Tennessee and coach Calwell and their team. They've
had a heck of a year and it was another
knockdown drag out, which when I shook her hand before
the game, I told her I knew it was going
to be one, and a lot of respect and admiration

(11:53):
for that program, the history of that program obviously being
around as long as I have, I know what that
program as well as my own is meant to women's basketball.
So to be a part of that game in the
NCAA Tournament was was really humbling and honor.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
You know, I can't I don't think there's enough time
in the day.

Speaker 11 (12:14):
There's not enough words that I can use to describe
my pride for my team. You know, we we we've lost,
we lost two starters are at the course of the season, Laylaphilia,
who's the first team All Big Ten player, really not
never got off the ground. And then to lose to
live Moore seven games into conference and this team just

(12:38):
keeps on rolling, and you know, you have to give
them credit. It's not always pretty. H We certainly have
plenty of faults, all my fault, but we we we
certainly find a way have that toughness about us and
and find a.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Way to get through get through it.

Speaker 11 (13:00):
And so I'm I'm really proud of my kids. You know,
win thirty four games is really hard, y'all, and it's
commendable on their part. As far as our game tomorrow,
obviously we're about three three and a half hours apart
from each other in our old conference, have a lot
of familiarity with each other.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
Coach has done a.

Speaker 11 (13:22):
Great job with them, and they've had a heck of
a heck of a year, so we're obviously going to
have to play well. They're on a hot streak themselves,
and you know, they have great players. So they have
players that can make plays, and I think that's the
thing you have to acknowledge when things break down.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
They have players that can go make a play.

Speaker 11 (13:46):
And that in and of itself is problematic. Sometimes you
can go through everybody's sets, which we do.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
My staff is so good and so thorough, but.

Speaker 11 (14:01):
You know, when you have to deal then with somebody
that can go make a play, that becomes problematic. And
so TCU can make plays, and so we're going to
have to be really really good and on point with
what we're doing and how we're doing it defensively and
then offensively. We've got to take care of the ball
as always. And again this is believe it or not,

(14:21):
this is one of my better shooting teams. I've said
this before, I'll say it again. I've a national championship
team in twenty eleven. We had a four minute drill
in ninety makes was the goal. This team makes. The
goal is one thirty five and we have it every day,
and we make it every day.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, University of Texas not known to shoot the three nationally.
They've they've not spoken of as a team that shoots
the deep ball. That's big Shafe for talking to the
media yesterday before today's matchup against TCU. Now, he hinted
to it a little earlier. But the big storyline in
this one is the fact that TCU in tex are

(15:01):
only a handful of minutes away. I have a handful
of miles away from each other. Right for worth to Austin,
you feel good about this contest. You feel good about
that being the storyline she ever got asked about the
magnitude of having two teams from Texas playing each other
in the Elite eight.

Speaker 11 (15:19):
Well, I'd like to say that, you know, it's that
we all have nothing but Texas kids, but that would
not be true.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
You know, he has kids from all over.

Speaker 11 (15:29):
I have kids from all over, but I think I
certainly have some really good Texas kids.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
But I think it.

Speaker 11 (15:35):
Speaks to really the the commitment of two institutions. And
you know, you know, it's unique for sure to have
two teams, but I'm sure it's happened before. But as
I said, they have really good players, and they have
a really good plan, and you.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
Know, he's done a great job coaching them.

Speaker 11 (15:59):
So it's you know, it's a game that obviously we're
gonna have to really do a good job defensively, We're
gonna have to do a great job executing offensively. And
again you've got to deal with veteran kids. I don't
know how many years Adela's been playing, but it seems
like a very long time. I know Haley's been around
five years, and so you're gonna have to deal with

(16:21):
and they have plenty of other players. You're gonna have
to deal with kids that can make plays, you know,
and that's that's problematic in and of itself.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
So Dona, this is I believe her seventh year of
college basketball Haley van Lyft, third team TCU being her
final stop before her going to probably the WNBA if
we're gonna bet or we're gonna talk about it, right,
But Mark Campbell, this is a year number two for
the head coach of the Horned Frogs and last year

(16:51):
in the Big Twelve six and twelve. This season sixteen
and two in Big twelve play, a one point eighty
turnaround for the tc women's basketball program. He gotta asked
the same question, how big is it there's two teams
playing in this type of game?

Speaker 3 (17:08):
It's awesome.

Speaker 5 (17:09):
I mean, uh, you got to it's the biggest stage
in our sport.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
Chance to go to the Final four.

Speaker 5 (17:16):
And to play Texas, who's you know, just down the
street from US one. It's just awesome for our state
because our state has some of the best women's basketball
high school players in the country, incredible coaches in Texas,
and it shows that you don't have to leave our
state to go compete at the highest level. And I

(17:40):
have nothing but great respect for coach Vic and his
program and what he's built and what he's done since
he's taken over there. So it's it's gonna be incredible
battle and excited to go tip off tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
A lot of respect between the two coaches and the
two coaching staff in the two players too. Rory Harmon
was asked yesterday about the matchup between two teams in
Texas and TCU, who have been honestly on the opposite
ends of the spectrum when it comes to the spotlight here.
Texas has done what they needed to do. They lost

(18:18):
to two teams all season, that being Notre Dame in
South Carolina. They've gone on and won thirty plus games,
and if you listen to Vic Shafer, he'll tell you
how difficult it is to win the amount of games
in the long courts have won. Tc on the other hand,
like I said, this is year number two of them
kind of shifting the program. If you listen to the
players in their media availability, they talked about how for

(18:40):
the longest time it was Baylor in Texas kind of
running the Big Twelve on the women's side of things
when it comes to basketball, and now TCU beats Baylor
three times this season and they feel like they are
the team now to beat out of the Big Twelve,
a game away from going to the Final four. Roy
Harmon got asked, how does this Texas squad match up

(19:01):
with TCU.

Speaker 12 (19:02):
Yes, TCU does have great players. They're in the lead
eight for a reason. They have great coaching and everything.
So I can say the same thing about my team though.
They have great players, great coaching, coaching, great preparation. But
when talent meets talent, talent doesn't matter anymore. So it's

(19:24):
going to come down to the tougher team, the team
that prepares the best, the team that's able to translate
that preparation. But yeah, this is a game of with
with some players that are very competitive, so it would
be a competitive basketball game.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
See And that's honestly the quote of the weekend for me,
for Roy Harmon. When talent meets talent, talent goes out
the way. It's all about preparation. How do you prepare
for this game?

Speaker 13 (19:50):
Now?

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Texas has been incredibly prepared team throughout the season, and
again Vick Schaefer is harped on it that this is
a team that is led by the their assistant coaches,
that this is a team that the assistant coaches put
a lot of work in the game film, the players
take a lot of work to prepare themselves for these
type of matchups, so you feel, if you're a long

(20:12):
Horn fan, that you're put in the best spot.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Ry Harmon feels something similar all right.

Speaker 7 (20:16):
Now.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Haley van Lyft spoke about the backcourt for Texas because
with Rory Harmon and Madison Booker two absolutely stud players,
how do you defend that? And what makes the Longhorn
backcourt so difficult?

Speaker 14 (20:32):
I think you know, they're again, they're elite defensively their backcourt.
They have a lot of athletic strong guards.

Speaker 8 (20:39):
Who can do different things.

Speaker 14 (20:41):
They're they're versatile, they have a lot of different personnel,
so scout like personnel and knowing the scout.

Speaker 8 (20:48):
Will be huge.

Speaker 14 (20:49):
And at the end of the day, the theme of
the NCAA tournament is toughness, and so they're gonna be tough.
We know they're gonna be tough. They have that DNA
in them, so you know we're gonna have to match now.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
Haley Van Lyft has been a almost like a reconciled
or a recovery story this season, not only from the
way that she got talked about last year after leaving LSU,
where she went from Louisville where she was the star
player to go to LSU with a team with Angel
Reese and Kim Molky. Being the personality that she is,

(21:23):
she kind of takes a back seat in a lot
of ways.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
That LSU team.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
Did not win at the level that people thought they
should have won coming off a national championship, and whether
that be injuries or game plan or running into a
better team, last year's LSU squad for a lot of
people was a disappointment. Hailey van Lyft took the run
of that going to TCU. She got asked her in
the press conference, what does she have to say to

(21:48):
the haters?

Speaker 14 (21:50):
It really doesn't matter. It never matters. A lot of
people have opinions, and social media has basically given a
lot of people who don't know what they're talking about
a platform to share their thoughts. And that's not It
just is what it is.

Speaker 7 (22:05):
It's it's real life.

Speaker 14 (22:07):
And I'm praying for her man hope their life is good.

Speaker 8 (22:12):
That's what I have to say.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
Van Lift is one of those players that has gotten
a lot of flak on social media obviously, and it's
good that she can kind of put that behind her
and just keep working forward to the ultimate goal of
cutting down the nets and moving on to the final four. Now,
finally I want to hear from Roy Harmon because she
brought up she gotta asked a question, what problems does
Haley van Lyft bring to the table as a basketball player.

Speaker 12 (22:36):
She's a great basketball player, Like I said, the eight
teams remaining in this tournament are here for a reason.
They have great basketball players on them. They have great
coaches and great coaching staffs that are preparing them for
these games. But yeah, she's going to bring that playmaking
ability obviously, Like she's going to be a focal point

(22:56):
in our scout and we're just going to do our
us to prepare and understand, Like we just need to
limit some of those things that she brings to the table.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
She brings to the table, scoring ability, she brings to
the table. Energy, she also brings the table, playmaking, all
things that helped TC beat Notre Dame on Saturday, and
all things that the Longhorns are going to have to
limit and cut down and prevent her from being that
type of impactful player. We'll hear more from all the players.
We'll hear more about the matchup that is going to be,

(23:25):
the front court that will be the big one tonight,
Taylor Jones versus Prince in the front court, and the
winner of that one, the winner of the glass will
be cutting down the nets all.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Right when we come back.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Inconceivable the craziest stories over the weekend, You know there
will be a ton of them all coming up next
right here on the Correig Way Show on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
The Zone. Is it inconceivable that the Phoenix Suns make
the playoffs? Well? Feeling that way breaking news out of
the league Phoenix Suns all star Kevin Durant expecting to

(23:57):
miss at least one week to the team's three road
trip with a left ankle. Spring Suns are a game
and a half out of the play in with the
toughest remaining schedule in the NBA, so it feels inconceivable
for them to make a playoff push and get to
the playoffs. And John Shister, with a win against Houston

(24:18):
in the Final four, he will have the most wins
in the first three seasons as a Division one head coach.
Feels inconceivable that a coach could come in after what
coach Kane did at Duke and have as successful as
a run that John sh Shier has had at Duke.

(24:41):
All right, Well, you might have seen last year the
hurricanes that just tore up Tampa Bay, tore up Florida,
and one of the casualties was Tropic Cannonfield. Tropic Cannonfield
was the home of the Tampa Bay Rays no longer
because of Hurricane Milton destroying the roof of Tropicana. They

(25:04):
have had to rent out Steinbrenner Field. Yeah, when the
Yankees spring training is held. The spring training headquarters to
the Yankees. Now they've played okay there. They beat the
Rockies three to two for the first with their rookie
Cameron Meiser hitting his first career home run. Tampa Bay

(25:26):
had to replace more than three thousand signs and images
in the ballpark and what was in one hundred and
twenty hour makeover after the Yankees' final home spring training game.
I understand what the Yankees were doing, right, You use
your place for spring training, that's understandable. But they could
have made an exception this year knowing that Tampa Bay

(25:48):
was going to play most of their home games, if
not all, their home games in the stadium, So from
Friday's first pitch, which was at four to ten pm.
The end of Sunday was the final home game. By
the time Friday's first pitch, it was about one hundred
and twenty hours between Sunday and Friday. Sellout crowd of

(26:08):
ten thousand saw the Rays play their first home game
in what was essentially Yankees' spring training season. Yeah, and
I'll tell you they did a pretty good job of it.
They were able to replace most of all of the
Yankee signage around the arena or around the stadium. I

(26:32):
should say, the interlocking NY chandelier in the Rays clubhouse
was covered by a square canvas highlighting raise yellow. Okay,
they have a Home of the Rays written on the
side of it. They were able to replace most of
the mats that say the Bronx and New York with
letters TB right for Tampa Bay. It truly does look

(26:56):
like the Ray's locker room. They did a good job
of making it look as much like Tampa Bay's home
of play or home stadium as possible.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
However, there still.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Is signs of Yankee stuff all over the place, including
outside where it says home of the New York Yankees.
So maybe they can work that out. Maybe they can
get it a little bit better as the season continues.
But talk about a quick turner one hundred and twenty
hours Friday to Sunday to essentially turn your inner division
rival and if not, just an interdivisional rival. It's not

(27:31):
like this is the Red Sox or the Baltimore Orioles.
This is the Yankees. They were able to turn it
all around. So congratulations to the Rays team because that's impressive.
All right, let's talk gators. You know how much I
love this. A gator managed to enter a Louisiana couple's
enclosed porch, which sparked a Reptilian royal rumble involving a

(27:53):
professional gator handler and living some pair of sheriff's deputies.
Bobby and Susan McKenzie, say they were at home Wednesday
when they heard an alarming sound.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
I heard some scratching and thought I was inside the
house right behind me in the corner. I went out
the door and saw the scream as torn, Bobby McKenzie's
told the local TV station. I walked to the edge
of the porch and I could see the gator's tail.
I ran back inside and saw him from the window.
So the couple did what any couple should do. When
you see a gator, you got to call the paar

(28:24):
of sheriff's office, the neighbors said, so the Sheriff's office
sharing the video on Facebook, showing the gator being captured
and handcuffed and then of course released into a local river.
The video has these guys trying to It looks like
it's about a six foot gater. The wrestling is what

(28:45):
impresses me the most. The body control of these reptiles have.
I'm very glad that we don't have any around here
that would cause me a lot of issue.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
All Right, you've heard of having dreams.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
I've had a couple dreams in my life where I
feel like something as big as going to be happening
to me. Okay, I'm visualizing and I'm feeling good. Good vibes, good,
positive vibes. Well, how about this. A New Jersey lottery
player says a dream inspired them to buy the ticket
that led to them winning the one point five million
dollar jackpot. Why do everybody have everybody has great dreams

(29:18):
except for me. It seems like I've always been told
that if you have a dream and it's a good dream.
You should play. So okay, the ticket matched all five numbers.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
This one.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
I can't explain. I didn't even pick my number, as
the winner said, so he just bought the ticket. Sight
unseen just said, randomize the numbers. I have a good
feeling about this. My dream told me to and it
worked out. So some people have all the luck. Maybe
you and I will get lucky next. It's not luck.
What's happening in New York though? We just talked about
how the Rays had to change the entire stadium to

(29:51):
make it look like theirs. Well, trust me when I
say this Yankee Stadium is one hundred percent the Yankees
with all the home runs they're hitting. We'll talk to
our corpedo blasts next. Yeah, new bats and baseball changing things.
We'll have it for you here. Craig Way Show continues.
Our one wraps up on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
The Zone. Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. As

(30:15):
we wrap up our number one in The Craigway Show
on a Monday edition, a lot of stuff happening across
UH Sports Today. Texas and TCU played at nine six pm.
Tipping here right here on the zone. Craigway, We'll be
on the call from Birmingham, the Elite eight. It's the
biggest game since the last biggest game for the Texas

(30:38):
Longhorn women. And Vic Shaffer continues to roll along and
get his teams to this spot. But can they get
over the hump and make it to the final four?
What we will find out tonight against TC. We'll hear
from Vic Schaeffer. We will also hear from Roy Harmon
and Madison Booker in our number two and we will
discuss the super Regional eight. GEO from Yukon, Kim Mulki

(31:04):
from LSU, and now Vick Schaeffer from Texas powerhouses when
it comes to college coaching. None of them like the
super Regional setup. We will get into it in the
next hour and then also hardball. Hardes joins us in
about well thirty minutes ish to talk baseball with us.
So let's talk a little baseball. The New York Yankees
broke baseball when they showed debuted new bats. Now people

(31:29):
are calling them bowling pin bats. Some people are calling
them torpedo bats, mostly because of the way they look,
but also because the ball is leaving the ballpark like
a torpedo. They are firing out now. Jeff Passon was
on Get Up this morning explaining how we got to
this point.

Speaker 15 (31:49):
Aaron Leonard, who was a coach with the New York
Yankees last season, also happens to be an MIT trained
physicist who taught at the University of Michigan. He was
asking players, Okay, what can we do to make our
offense better?

Speaker 3 (32:05):
And the answer was get the.

Speaker 6 (32:07):
Ball on the barrel of the bat more.

Speaker 15 (32:09):
And so he was trying to solve a problem using physics.
What they did was they took some of the weight
that was distributed toward the end of the bat, moved
it down and remained inside of Major League Baseballs regulations
and specs, and in doing so, and having a smooth
round bat whose barrel does not exceed two point sixty

(32:31):
one inches, stayed within those regulations while putting the fatter
part of the bat closer to where guys actually make
contact with the ball more often.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Now, the joke, of course, is that this is all
because of Lapie or Anti Vollup's inability to hit the
ball that he struggled so mightily last season to hit
for average, that the Yankee said, you know what, we
will find a way to make your infield your outfield

(33:05):
pop ups. Let's get them a little further out. Now,
another player using this is it's about five of the
nine hitters and the Yankee lineup use these torpedo style bats,
including Josh Chisholm, who put out a statement earlier today
on his x account. Quote, Okay, explanation, the barrel is
bigger and within MLB regulation. Now that's the most important part.

(33:29):
Baseball's very particular about the way that they do things.
The bats have to be a certain length, a certain way,
with a certain weight. You can't hollow them out. You
can't do anything. You can't trick your bat out, essentially.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
So what the.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yankees did is they put everything in regulation. They just
moved the barrel of the bat further down, closer to
the handle.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Okay, for the idiots.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
Quote this is from Josh Chism from the idiots that
said that it's moving to the label. You're an idiot.
Nobody's trying to get jammed. You just move the wood
from one part you don't use to the part that
you do.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
You're welcome.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
No more stress for y'all because the Yankees did this
and then broke over pretty much every conceivable record that
the Yankees have ever set for home runs, including nine
home runs on opening Day. This is a big deal
because baseball forever has been trying to find a way
to walk that thin line. Right, the best ratings that

(34:23):
baseball ever had was during that worst part, maybe the
darkest days of baseball, the steroid era. People like to
see the long ball, people like to see home runs,
They like to see the ball leave the park, and
baseball players and front offices in the league have been
trying to find a way to walk that line. Okay, well,
we don't want performance enhancing drugs, but we do want

(34:46):
the benefits of a home run race. Last season, show
Heyo Tani fifty to fifty season. Yeah, fifty home runs,
fifty stolen basis did really good numbers, Aaron Judge chasing
down Roger Marris's al home run record hitting sixty three
two seasons ago. Those help the ratings. How do you

(35:06):
make it? How do you work it? Right now? I
thought it was interesting because you could hear from Yankees players.
You could hear from Brewers players who play the Yankees.
We're not so thrilled with the bats. Okay, let's talk
to a player who wasn't involved in the matchup at all.
Let's Brightson Stott, who's a second basement for the Philadelphia Phillies.

(35:27):
He got asked about the torpedo bats.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
It's not a bat that they've been around.

Speaker 6 (35:33):
It's not a new thing.

Speaker 16 (35:34):
It's been around, and it's not a thing you could
just go in order. Maroochie and Victis have a hit
lab they call it, and connect all these wires to
you swing thousand bats and they kind of tell you
where you're hitting the ball mostly and things like that.
So if you're a guy who uses the whole bat,
if you get jammed and hit it on the end,
Dan hit the barrel, it's.

Speaker 6 (35:54):
Not for you.

Speaker 16 (35:55):
You've taken quote off the end of the bat and
franking that part. It's a lot of stuff that goes
into it. So I think with the torpedo you are
more like you get jammed more then hit it off
the end.

Speaker 14 (36:10):
And.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
Then it helps.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Obviously you're moving the barrel down a little bit.

Speaker 6 (36:15):
And yeah, but it's not one of.

Speaker 16 (36:17):
Those things you could just call and say, I want
this torpedo because it might not work for you. So
if you hit it off the end with that torpedo bat,
you're in trouble. So it's mostly where you hit it
and where all their computers and things are telling you
where you're hitting it and things like that.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
And I thought that was the most interesting part is that, Yeah,
there's a lot of technology. There's a lot of science
that goes into not only building the bat, but also
making sure that it swings properly. You also have to
consider this. It has to be weighted equally too. If
I'm working with a bat that isn't built like this
torpedo bat, I need the weight distribution to be the same.

(36:52):
Hardest thing to do is to hit a round ball
with a round bat, right, That's what we all talk
about as the hardest thing to do in sports. Okay, well,
you know it makes it a lot more difficult if
the bat weighs different or is weighted differently too. That's
something to consider as well. Is this going to ruin
the sport of baseball? I don't think so. I think
this is gonna help more than it's going to hurt.

(37:14):
But what baseball has to do is they have to
decide quickly and rob Manford's been known to make the
quickest of decisions. I say sarcastically, he's a slow poke.
He's not making any decisions quickly. They need to decide
if they're in or out, because if they're in, then
every single team in the league is going to be
using a bat like this. If he's out, well that
the Yankees need to figure it out so that they

(37:36):
can get the bats, normal bats, regular bats in the
hands of their players asap.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
You don't want to.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Be in a situation where you're the last one changing
last point, Aaron Judge does not use one of those
torpedo bats.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
All right.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
When we come back, Our two of the Craigway Show
rolls on Next Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Our number two of.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
The Craig Way Show rolls on on a Monday edition.
Andrews and will hang it out with you this Monday,
Craig in Birmingham, getting you up for TCU and Texas
tonight five forty five air times six pm. Tip right
here on the Zone. Huge game. Obviously, it's a Texas
two step between two of the best teams in women's hoops. Now,

(38:21):
we already have an idea of who will be basing
off or we already have an idea of who Texas
will be playing if they move past this one into
the Final four, and that would be a rematch against
South Carolina, who it is hard to beat a good
team twice. It's even harder to face that same team

(38:43):
three four times this season. Now Texas and South Carolina
is split during the regular season, lost to South Carolina
in the.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
SEC Championship game.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
There's a world where if Texas wins tonight, the Final
four matchup will be against number one South Carolina, number
one seed Texas, number one South Carolina, number one Ucla
got the job done yesterday against LSU. We'll hear from
Kim Mulki here in a bit as well. So we
have half of the final four set. The other game tonight,

(39:15):
USC and Yukon. Now Yukon with Page Beckers, feels like
the favorite in a lot of ways. It feels like
a lot of people are picking Yukon to move on
to win against a team in USC Without Juju Watkins.
I can tell you this, I wish Juju wasn't injured

(39:35):
because this game between USC and Yukon would be e electric.
Two of the best players in Beckers and Juju Watkins
tonight though, Massive Booker and Hailey van Lift another matchup
between two of the best players in college hoops. It's exciting.
I jokingly I texted Cameron Parker earlier today, not so

(39:57):
not fully joking, half joking, chung and tongue cheek. I
am a Texas State alum. Obviously I talk about Texa day.
I love Texas State. I'm more excited for TCU and
Texas than probably any game that Texas State has played,
which is saying something. I'm mister Bob kat and I'm
all in on this matchup in the elite ate.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
I'm over the moon.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
The other big news happening today, you should be mentioned
that Sam Ellinger did get a new deal done with
the Broncos. He is going to I think he signed
a one year deal to continue his career with the

(40:39):
Denver Broncos, which is exciting. That'll be That'll be a
fun one as well. Other big news coaches meetings are
happening today, which means coaches and media availability was today
and the big talk of the town is the Twust push.
Now tomorrow is the NFC coaches So Nick Sirianni the
defending Super Bowl champion head coach will be able to

(41:01):
speak on the topic. And I have a sneaking suspicion
that the play that has helped him win more games
in almost any other coach in the NFL over the
past two seasons, three seasons since going to the Super
Bowl in twenty twenty one, then winning at this or
twenty twenty two, and then winning it this year, there's
probably no other coach who is going to defend it

(41:22):
as much.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
But it was came as a.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Surprise to me that Sean McDermott, who is running a
very similar style of offense with Josh Allen, another big
bruising quarterback, very athletic quarterback and has been known to
run a tush push in his day, was so anti
tush push when asked about it today in his availability.

(41:46):
This is what he had to say about the banning
the potential banning of the play.

Speaker 17 (41:52):
What are you seeing with the helping champion of the player, since,
as you've said, there is really no dabt in to
say there's injuries, Like, what are you saying?

Speaker 18 (41:58):
I mean, I think anytime you get.

Speaker 7 (42:00):
In it's two things.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
It's it's force added force.

Speaker 18 (42:03):
Number one and then the posture of the players. You know,
be An asked execut that type of play. That's where
that's where my concern comes in.

Speaker 15 (42:14):
Do you think you'll continue to run the play if
it remains and you have concerns about the shape?

Speaker 3 (42:18):
Think you'll continue to run it? Because I think you
ran it quite a bit last year.

Speaker 18 (42:21):
A form of it, right, A form of it, So
I think that's a It's a loose term really in
terms of what what defines a push push soh you know,
so there's there's different forms of it out there. I
know we are one of the teams that people identify
that run it.

Speaker 7 (42:40):
That's fair.

Speaker 13 (42:41):
Uh, you know there's other teams as well.

Speaker 18 (42:43):
So I just look, we're gonna We're gonna always act
in a way that's best for the health and safety
of the players, and I think that's the responsible way
to go.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Which is very interesting.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
You see the reporter there almost try to get in
with a gotcha type of question, right, like, okay, well
you run it, Well why do you you get to
run it and the other teams don't. I will tell
you from the eyeball test, And I have this idea
that Sean McDermott and the other coaches are all going
from game by game, situation by situation on how this

(43:16):
play is run. I can tell you watching Josh Allen
run the Tousch push a lot different than Jalen Hurts
in that Josh Allen stands almost straight up when he
runs it, and Josh Jalen Hurts is a lot closer
to the center, a lot sharper downward.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
So I understand where.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
He's coming from when he talks about the angles other
coaches quoted. Mike Tomlin was asked about it. He's on
the committee for Player Safety. He said that he's gonna
have an open mind ahead of more conversations. Chief head
coach Andy Reid said, if it's putting players in a
bad position, then you probably have to do something about it.

(43:55):
But you could argue it either way. John Harball, which
is a football's guy, football guy, he said, let's a
football play. So if football players are down for it,
then he's okay.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
With it too, I imagine.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
So it's gonna be curious what goes on or how
this play is officiated going forward. Will the rules committee
decide to get rid of it completely? Also, like I said,
Nick Sirianni, the head coach of the Eagles, will speak
tomorrow when the NFC coaches are available to the media
at their coaches Clinic and Palm Beach. It'll be curious

(44:29):
what the head coach, Matt Laflora says. As the Green
Bay Packers were the ones that brought up banning in
the first place, I'm always curious, like, what do those
backdoor conversations look like. Do the Packers think that if
they were playing the Eagles without the tush push that
they would be in a better spot with Do they

(44:49):
think that they watched the Super Bowl this past February
and say that could have been us. I want to
know what's going on in their heads, because obviously player
safety is paramount, it's the most important thing. But it's
ironic that it would be coming from the NFL, who
historically has not really cared that much about player safety. Right,
they don't have the greatest of track records with that.

(45:12):
Speaking of bad track records, this is a good segue
into Kim Moulky. Now, if you've watched women's hoops over
the past decade, you know Kim Mulky. She is one
of the characters of the sport, and she's one of
the most important figures in women's athletics.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Point play, period does not matter.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
College of pro Kim Mulkey is one of the most
important players, one of the most important coaches. She is
an impactful figure. And you I want to juxtapose this
Kim Mulkey interview quote because it's getting a lot of
steam here. One to juxtapose it with the way that
Vick Schaeffer spoke with student media.

Speaker 17 (45:51):
Jaden Smith kale isstry sports coaches the second straight year,
You guys could eliminate it in the elite aid just
keep it.

Speaker 6 (45:58):
Yeah, terrible.

Speaker 8 (46:02):
How many found four as you play in?

Speaker 14 (46:06):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (46:06):
None, So it's probably pretty good.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Huh yeah.

Speaker 19 (46:09):
All right.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
So I understand where he's coming from. That young reporter
is from KLSU, which is the student radio station at LSU.
So they're making the trek to go cover this game
for their student publication. And I've been on the record.
I am a product of student media. I like student
media the Daily Text, and what they've done covering the

(46:31):
University of women's basketball program is outstanding. It does not
get better than what they did. But this is just
another step in a long laundry list of Kim mulkey
unforced errors. In my mind, this she didn't need to
be like this. The question was, uh, you can't get
past the lead dates second past year. Again, Kim Monkey's

(46:53):
won national championship with LSU. So that is the standard
for that program. You win national championship in year nomber one,
coaching the team, you put a target on your back.
This is a tough standard to live up to. You
can't capacity alleitiate two previous years.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
She asked. The question, is that terrible? Is that good?

Speaker 1 (47:11):
The reporter answers, Hey, if the options are it's good
that you lost or it's bad that you lost, I
want to pick.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
The bad one. I'm gonna say it's not good.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
And then to act like, well, you know, how many
have you played in listen, We've all been in a
spot before where obviously you're talking to somebody who's a
little bit more talented than you, who's had a little
bit more success than you, who's gone a couple.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
More vacations than you.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
And if you can't give them any critique, if you
can't ask them any questions, if you can't hold them
to any sort of standard, then you are at a
very tough spot. It does not matter if you're a
journalist or if you're just a manager, it does not matter.
You have to be able to question the people in
these positions. And for Kim Wlkey to do that to
a student reporter, it does not look good. It does

(47:56):
not shed any good light on all a coach who
carries a lot of weight in the sport. You gotta
treat your reporters. Got to treat student reporters, especially a
little bit better than that. All right, When we come back,
Mike Harball Haards from the Morning Kick my favorite Montreal Expo.
He's going to join us to talk yout baseball as
the Longhorns have won six in a row, continue to

(48:19):
dominate in SEC play, and also did the Yankees ruin
baseball with these torpedo bats? All coming up next to
the Craigway Show, Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone, Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred, the Zone and on the phone line.
He's half of the Morning Kickoff on the Zone. You
can hear him every morning from seven to nine am
right here on thirteen hundred Zone. It's Mike Carball Haarde. Mike,

(48:42):
how you today, buddy?

Speaker 13 (48:44):
I'm good Man. Beautiful day out here in Austin, Texas.
And obviously you know there's a lot going on with
Texas Athletics. New new coach baseball team is doing well,
new coach for basketball. Baseball team is doing well. Women
got a big game tonight, and you know Texas Swimming
and Diving men swimming and diving wins the national championship.

(49:06):
So it's a beautiful day in Austin, Texas.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
It doesn't get better than that.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Also doesn't get better than will Gasprino had a great
week this week, was the SEC Player of the Week.
Five home runs, thirteen RBIs boy, oh boy, talk about
being hot.

Speaker 13 (49:22):
Yeah, he was in fuego. I mean that's the literal
term of it. I mean when a guy can come
to the plate and see the ball so well, playing
in that jet stream in Columbia, Missouri. But everybody that
I talked to said every single ball that he was hit,
that he hit would have been out of any park
in America. So there's been nothing short of impressive to

(49:42):
see that guy get going for a team that is
playing some really really good baseball this week.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Let's talk about this because you mentioned all the new
head coaches and Jim Slowsnegle. He got hired actually when
you were on vacation last summer and we got to
talk about that. So where were your expectations? Were they
this hot that like this is going to be a
guy completely changes this program as a completely one to
eighty from last year at this time.

Speaker 13 (50:07):
Yeah, well, I mean it's the expectation, right, you come
to the University of Texas after being in the College
World Series with a team in Texas A and M.
You look at his history and what he's been able
to do throughout his time, and he's a Hall of Famer,
so you did expect some good things. Now, you know,
his biggest recruiting trip was to be able to keep
the players that he did and then get some different

(50:28):
transfers to come in and try to help, like even
on the pitching now. But I mean, everybody expected Texas
to be good in baseball, but at the top of
the sec, the tough SEC, it has been a really
pleasant surprise.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Well, I'll be honest with you, Mike, I was worried
when he comes to Texas and he doesn't bring a
ton of those A and M players with him. Hey,
turns out was the players who was the coaching Well.

Speaker 13 (50:52):
Not only that is the respect of the other university.
I know a lot of people want to look at
it and say, well they didn't. He left the university
of a bad spot, but he gets an opportunity to
go elsewhere, and he didn't take a lot of those guys.
He did take this staff, which is always tough, but
Texas needed that staff. You see what they've been able
to do with the pitching staff. You see what they're

(51:15):
doing at the plagues. He added Troy to Lewhiskey. They've
done some really amazing things with going out and using
Texas players but also getting a few here and there
in the transfer portal.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Well, you're talking about that coaching staff, and I'm going
to make a take here, and you might correct me.
I think Max Wieders is his best assistant coach in
baseball right now, Mike, I don't think that there's another
coach closer to what he's done with this pitching staff.

Speaker 13 (51:39):
Well, you can also, I mean no doubt what the
pitching staff, But then you also look at what Troy
two Lewhisky's than ever to do with the hitters. The
fielding is getting better. You can't underestimate those types of things,
but then you start to look at how things have
gone down. There's been nothing short of impressive. But I
do agree with you that amp Farm is doing really
really well right now and got all these guys pitching.

Speaker 17 (52:02):
Well.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Oh I love that Little and Farm take. I like
that all right.

Speaker 1 (52:05):
They have a big one tomorrow against Texas State, and
I know every rolls or eyes, mister bobcas say it's
a big win. I think Texastan's a OK ball club.
I think this is a good tune up weekday matchup.
And then they got Georgia coming this weekend.

Speaker 13 (52:20):
Oh, you're absolutely right. You know the series. I mean
at Texas versus Texas State, both of these teams really
compete against each other. The coaching staffs are really really good.
You brought it up and what they've been able to do.
So I've been appreciative of this series. The one thing
that I always try to really bring into it, it's
last week when they had the big series against LSU.

(52:43):
They came back out. They ended up getting that win
on Tuesday. To bounce back time, that's the most important
part of it. Are you going to be able to
bounce back and That is what a lot of folks
keep looking at.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Well, I like it too, because I think the Texas State,
Sam Houston State UTSA, they're going to throw their best
picture at you. They're bringing their A game, and it's
good to get that on a Tuesday because when you
go to SEC play, well, you're getting the best players
in the country against you.

Speaker 13 (53:09):
Oh yeah, it's always going to be a struggle. It's
always going to be a battle, and everybody wants to
knock off one of the top teams in the country
like Texas. You know, the new polls come out, they
continue to move up, they continue to handle their business,
and they've done some amazing things. So every week Texas
is being challenged and Texas is being challenged within themselves.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
All right, Week one of Major League Baseball comes and goes,
and the biggest storyline is the fact that the Yankees
broke baseball with these bats.

Speaker 13 (53:36):
Mike, what was your take, man, Look, here's the deal.
If they've been approved by Major League Baseball, they're not
doing anything that's not legal. And here's the other part
of it. If the Major League baseballs are being like that,
that's the thing that I continue to look like, Hey, listen,
y'all might need to go get new bats. Everybody just
order up, get that company going, and now you get

(53:56):
new baseball bats. If it's all within the rules. The
Major League Baseball understood that going in, there's no problem
with it. I wish I was playing so I could
get those torpedoes too well, because.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
That was my question.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
So I said that the biggest thing is the fact
that the weight is equalized. It does not matter if
it's a torpedo bat or a regular bat. The weight
has to be the same because you know, if you
pick up a bat that's just a couple of grands
heavier than your normal one, they'll throw off your swing.

Speaker 13 (54:23):
Absolutely, And not only that, you start looking at the
fact when I was playing, I'm telling to get off
my long guy, there was a regular Louisville slugger, and
then all of a sudden you started getting this ash back.
Then you look at the bomb back, then you look
at the different sand back. There's so many different varieties
that people have found a way to make them. And
it was a little bit harder, but it was still

(54:44):
regulated by Major League Baseball. So as long as the
regulations are what they are, that's all you can do well.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
The other part is too you still have to put
bat on ball, and I think the Yankees did a
good job last year putting down on ball. The ball
just happened to not leave the infield. Now these balls
are leaving the park.

Speaker 13 (55:02):
Well, they're a good hitting team. I said it earlier today,
if you listen to the Morning kicked Off on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone, I talked about the single
fact that all these guys have to be able to hit.
You look at Aaron Judge. You can't talk about the
fact that he's not able to hit the ball out
of the ballparks. He just got hot at the right
time and finding the barrel. Jass Chisselm. You start looking
at all of these guys in this lineup, their.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
Home run hitters.

Speaker 13 (55:26):
I mean, they're in the big league four reasons they've
had success, so it's not out of the ordinary. It's
just right now. They faced the pitchel staffs that was
giving it up well.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
And then you do the divisional rival. Rafael Devers can't
hit a ball to save his life. Ten strikeouts worth starting.
I think of any Red Sox player to start a
season like I mean, it's not the bad it's the.

Speaker 13 (55:48):
Hitter, no doubt about it. I mean, it ain't the
hair row is sandy and right. You got to be
able to go out there and do the things that
you're capable of. I think Raphael Devers is really trying
to do too much at this particular time, and now
we're just trying to see what's gonna happen. I don't
see him going through that long period of a slump
just because he's d h in the whole time. I

(56:09):
think it's gonna be a big chance for him, and
I think he's gonna be Okay.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Well, let me ask you that, because if were you
ever in a spot where you have your position, you're
gonna play third base, and then all of a sudden,
right before the season starts to say, actually, big boy,
you just got to hit.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Does that mess with your head as a hitter.

Speaker 13 (56:25):
It may a little bit. Not as a hitter, it
may it messes with your psyche as a player, that's
the biggest thing. Yeah, But going into it, he should
have known he's got the worst building percentage in Major
League Baseball. So it's not like it's a.

Speaker 6 (56:40):
Shot that he is that bad.

Speaker 13 (56:41):
But the reality of it all is. You still got
to put the ball in play. Hitting and defense are
two different things. No, you don't want to carry your
your defense to the plate and you don't want to
carry your plate to the defense.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
So got to make a ju just all right before
I let you go. Big matchups tonight Texas and TCU.
I heard you this, mort but give us to us again.
What is your prediction for tonight's matchup?

Speaker 13 (57:05):
No, I'm just kidding, I just was. I hope that
Technics can come out and play solid defense. That's been
there calling card all season along the things that they're
able to do defensively, the movement, being able to suffocate
other teams, that's their calling card. And of course you
got to make buffets. Texas doesn't shoot threes, and you
got to make sure that TCU doesn't shoot a bunch

(57:26):
of threes. If Texas can do that, I thinke the
Longhorns wins. The one thing that you don't want to
see either is your big time post players getting in
foul trouble. Sadanah Prince, former Texas Longhorn herself, you have
to make sure that she's not too physical, and you
don't try to be so physical with her either. If
they let them play, I think Texas wins.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
You can hear them every morning seventy nine right here
on The Zone the Morning Kickoff.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
With Mark Henry. He's hardball hard Thanks so much, Mike.

Speaker 13 (57:55):
Always a pleasure. Andrew keep holding it down, the best
six man in the business.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Hey, we like to hear all right when we come back.
None of the coaches seem happy with the Super regionals.
We'll hear from them next right here on the crag
Wat Show on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone,
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred, The Zone. You can follow
me on Twitter at Andrew Underscore Zimmel, or on Blue
Sky or on Instagram wherever you do your social media

(58:20):
as I am there.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
I'm addicted to it all right.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
So the debate is raging on currently in women's hoops,
and it is not who is the best team in
the country. It's not who has the best scheme. The
debate is between the superregionals and their locations. Now, the
two superregionals that occurred it is Spokane where they are
playing Region one in Region four, and Birmingham where they're

(58:46):
playing Region two in Region three. Now, the issue with
this is that the Final four is being played in
Tampa Bay, so it is a far trip for those
teams on the West coast to go to the East coast,
and little easier for the Birmingham teams, which would be
South Carolina and Texas. A little bit more difficult for
the UCLA's, the Yukons and the USC's of the world.

Speaker 14 (59:08):
Now.

Speaker 1 (59:09):
Geo uh is the coach of Yukon. Coachio is one
of the best coaches h He is a guy who's
won many national championships at Yukon. He is very very
upset about the way that the Super Regionals have been
set up, and he did not let anybody here. He

(59:30):
told everybody who would listen about it.

Speaker 20 (59:32):
In a normal world run by normal people, there would
only be four teams here, which means.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
There would be no games today.

Speaker 20 (59:43):
The games would be tomorrow, which means we wouldn't have
to get up at six am to have an eight
o'clock practice here this morning for an hour, which means
we wouldn't have to get up at five am to
have a seven thirty shoot around for half an hour.
Take us longer to get through security than to actually
be on the court. God bless whoever wins Monday night, okay,

(01:00:04):
and they've got to fly cross country, which is all
day Tuesday. Then they have two days Wednesday and Thursday
to play the biggest game of their life.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
The guys they finished Sunday.

Speaker 20 (01:00:16):
Then they have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and they
play Saturday. But there's a lot of people in the
w Onnes' basketball committee that think they're smarter than that.
So whoever came up with this super regional stuff, and
I know who they are, ruined the game.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
They did.

Speaker 20 (01:00:30):
They ruined the game. Half the country has no chance
to get to a game in person. But you're making
billions off of TV. Well, actually you're not. That would
be the men's tournament. So yeah, there's a lot of
issues that they need to fix.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
Gino ari Ima, the head coach of the Yukon women's
basketball program, very upset.

Speaker 16 (01:00:48):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
What's interesting, though, is he talks about the travel for
his team, all right, having to travel from one side
of the country to the other, but then he also
slips in there about the players or the fans, which, okay,
that tear my heartstrings a little bit more than the
team's traveling, because let's be honest. Here, they're not flying commercial.
They're going to be flying in pretty nice plans. Okay,

(01:01:08):
even though it's college athletics, it's still pretty nice charter
plans that we're flying around in. But you mentioned the fans,
and this is where Kim Moulky steps in. She got
asked about does she agree with Gino or does she not?

Speaker 21 (01:01:25):
I agree with Gino on everything he said about these
super regionals only being in two places.

Speaker 8 (01:01:31):
We sold our soul too early.

Speaker 21 (01:01:34):
This game has gotten better, and man, if you still
had four regionals, can.

Speaker 8 (01:01:39):
You imagine the attendants.

Speaker 21 (01:01:41):
I know our fan base they can't afford to come
to Spokane, but they could if it was a little
bit closer. It does matter. It matters a lot. Maybe
it doesn't win a game for you, but the reason
it matters is you build programs a lot of times

(01:02:01):
and you can sell to recruit your fan base, your attendance.
And I agree with Gino. We need to fix this.
We don't have to wait till the contracts up. Let
the two, let the people keep their super regionals, just.

Speaker 7 (01:02:17):
Go add too.

Speaker 8 (01:02:18):
Now.

Speaker 21 (01:02:18):
I've never ever been one to believe that you can't
work things out if it's better for the game.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
So I like where Kim Molkey's head is out with this. Okay, A,
this is for the fans. Our fans can't travel from
Baton Rouge to Spokane, Washington, but they might be able
to travel to Phoenix or San Antonio or Houston or Dallas.
We also do not need to wait around to solve
this problem. Yes, the contract is coming up for women's

(01:02:45):
hoops here in a couple of seasons. I think it's
like two seasons for that ESPN contract to come up.
But the game has grown, obviously, the call it the
cay the Clark effect if you want, or call it
that people are finally appreciating great basketball that's been played
women's college hoops for what almost fifteen years now, whatever
you want to say, is the reason that they're getting

(01:03:06):
the eyeballs. They're getting the eyeballs now, and you should
be able to, you know, capitalize on that. I understand
where Kim molk is coming from, and I also get
where Gino Arianna is coming from as well. The head coach,
would you cont So what's interesting though, or the thing
that may peak most long worn fans attention, is that
this is something that head coach Vick Schaeffer has been

(01:03:29):
arguing for for a while now, and he was asked
about it yesterday during his media availability.

Speaker 11 (01:03:35):
I was the lone ranger last year. I experienced what
they're complaining about now. I experienced it last year, and
you know, I was kind of the lone ranger.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
But I have to agree with him.

Speaker 11 (01:03:49):
I mean, it just you know, we're trying to have
a press conference right now and it sounds like there's
a dead gum party next door. Last year, I had
a press conference and they had some machine backing up
with the beat beat beat going on. I mean, there
just seems to me that there can be better organization
and better planning all around.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
And this is this is not it, as I would
tell my kids. But they're right.

Speaker 11 (01:04:16):
You got to get them up at seven in the
morning for a thirty minute shoot around at the most
important time of the year. You know, it's just there's
eight teams here. It's problematic, and so it's it's it's
just I would agree. I guess I probably just better
leave it at that. You know, I would agree with

(01:04:36):
what they said.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
I agree with both coaches as well as well as
Vic Schaeffer.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
He makes a great point.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
He says, Hey, we've gone from being essentially second class
citizens when it comes to the NCAA March madness, where
remember in twenty twenty where we were arguing about our
twenty nineteen I should say, when we were arguing about
the treatment of the women's teams and how they weren't
getting fed properly and they didn't have the proper locker
rooms or weight rooms or everything else like that. We've

(01:05:02):
gone from that to now. We deserve to have multiple
locations for these games to make the product a better product. Obviously,
with Gino talking about how we have to go from
one side of the country to the other, and the
national championship in the final four will not be as competitive,
will not be as exciting if the players are coming
off a plane and having to go to a hotel

(01:05:23):
and having to go to the practice facility, all within
a couple of hours of each other. We want to
have the best product available. The best way to do
that is to have multiple Super Region locations. Now, I
do think we might have to drop the name super
if we're having four different locations instead of just two. However,
I agree, I understand where they're coming from. I love

(01:05:45):
the fact that Vick Schaeffer also brought back to home
or ring home Ring true that Hey, I've been battling
this for a while. This is not the first time
I have brought up this problem with the NCAA. This
isn't the first time that I have kind of shined
light towards this issue. Why is it that when Gino

(01:06:08):
complains about it and Kim Moulk complains about it, that
it is getting the eyeballs. It's the same thing I've
been saying about the ACL injury. When Roy Harmon tore
her ACL, people in the forty Acres, people in Austin,
people in the Burnt Orange bubble agreed. We all were, Oh,
this is an awful thing and it's a hard road
back from an ACL injury. But when Juji Watkins does it,

(01:06:29):
it's a national news. And I'm not saying it shouldn't be.
She's an incredible player, maybe the best player in the country.
But it felt like, okay, well, now all of these
rehabilitation stories, all of this ACL talk is brought back
up because of Jiuji Watkins, not because and Roy Harmon
got asked about it again yesterday about recovering from an

(01:06:49):
ACL injury. Is it because we care about it now
all of a sudden, or is it because another player
has dealing with this as well. I'm glad that Vic
Shaffer brought it up. I'm glad that he agrees and
I agree with him that it makes the most sense
for us to have multiple locations for these games. All right,
when we come back, Craig Way talked to one of

(01:07:10):
the high one of the stars of a win against
the Lady Bowls on Saturday. We'll hear it next right
here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred of The Zone.
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. As we wrap
up our number two of the Craigway Show. It's only
fitting that we hear from Craig Way. He's going to

(01:07:30):
join us live at four seventeen. Preview this matchup tonight
between Texas and TCU, a Texas two step, if you will,
Between two of the best teams in the state. The
former Big twelve champion versus the current Big twelve champion,
Haley Van Lift, one of the most exciting players in

(01:07:52):
women's hoops versus Madison Booker, who's up next sophomore SEC
Player of the Year, and she will be the face
of college basketball next season. But we want to get
into this with Brianda Preston because craig Way sat down
with her for an interview. The freshman had a season
high twelve points in a win against Tennessee on Saturday.

(01:08:15):
Almost everybody knew she was going to be a star,
they didn't realize how quickly she was going to be.
The first ever Sweet Sixteen game she plays in, she's
a menace on both sides of the court ended up
with three steals as well. Here is Craigway's interview with
Brianna Preston.

Speaker 22 (01:08:31):
So yesterday on the post game, I asked Maddie about
the three of you being on the floor, and she goes,
three point guards on the floor. So when that dynamic
is going on, and obviously there's instruction coming to the
bench on who's running and things like that, this is.

Speaker 6 (01:08:44):
A real comfort level with the three of you on
how you make it work.

Speaker 23 (01:08:48):
Absolutely, like it doesn't matter who's ringing the ball up
the court. As long as we all know, you know,
we know to play, we know what we're doing, and
just execute, it really doesn't matter.

Speaker 8 (01:08:58):
Like and I love the fact that we're interchangeable.

Speaker 23 (01:09:01):
Well, not me at the four or nothing like that,
but like we're interchangeable at the point or the two guard,
you know, three guard, and that's really good for our
team because we can run different sets for different you know, positions,
and it all works out.

Speaker 6 (01:09:16):
For us well.

Speaker 22 (01:09:17):
And I guess Mattie's time playing the point last year
certainly helps in that interchangeability.

Speaker 23 (01:09:22):
But absolutely, for sure she knows, you know, what coach wants,
and we got us set a place when she's at
the point guard that'll work for us, and that experience
already just helps us.

Speaker 22 (01:09:35):
So yesterday you have your career high of twelve points,
and I know you're out there for a lot more discording.
So I was rolling back through to see when your
last career high was, and it was eleven.

Speaker 6 (01:09:45):
Do you remember when it was?

Speaker 8 (01:09:46):
Do I remember when? Probably early in the season.

Speaker 22 (01:09:49):
The season opener, Okay, Southeast Missouri State. So obviously you've
improved more than just one point since the season opener.
But where has your game I think regressed for you
from all the way to start of the year till now.

Speaker 23 (01:10:04):
I'd have to say defensively, I've really been taking pride
to my defense and I know that coach. That's something
that coach really wants and I know that to get
on the floor, to get minutes, I have to play defense.
But it just helps us as a team. I'm playing
ball pressure, not allowing the point guard to you know,
run their offense and stuff like that, getting stops in
big moments, you know, games like against Tennessee like those

(01:10:27):
a crucial moments and a big plays to help us
get the win.

Speaker 22 (01:10:31):
Well, and they obviously this team you're gonna play now
has really good guard play as well.

Speaker 6 (01:10:35):
So when you look at them, what do you what
do you see from TCU's guards.

Speaker 23 (01:10:39):
I see a great vet and they you know, Haley
van Lift high IQ, great player, very skilled shooter.

Speaker 8 (01:10:46):
I'm not sure what her name is, but I know
her number.

Speaker 7 (01:10:48):
She's number two.

Speaker 8 (01:10:50):
Common lights out shooter, like.

Speaker 23 (01:10:52):
Hands down, like she got the green green light, and
just like down in making sure we can't like we
don't allow her to get shots off, kind of disrupting
Haley a little bit from running the offense, taking care
of Sedona and the paint with our bigs.

Speaker 8 (01:11:06):
But I think they'll do a really great job.

Speaker 23 (01:11:09):
We work hard, compete against you know, our practice boys,
and stuff like that.

Speaker 8 (01:11:14):
But I think we'll be ready, especially like defensively.

Speaker 23 (01:11:17):
And we know we're always locked in defensively, and then
the offense just being aggressive, you know, running the floor,
just making good place.

Speaker 22 (01:11:25):
So you've had this everything is structured, scheduled practice, games,
press conference, all this other kind stuff. If you like
yourself on an opportunity to enjoy this, to enjoy this
right absolutely.

Speaker 23 (01:11:36):
Like sometimes I'll just sit back and I'll talk to
Jordan or you know, Rory, and we just kind of
just take it in just to enjoy like the blessing
of being here, you know, with team and then family
traveling and stuff like.

Speaker 8 (01:11:49):
It's great and overall for.

Speaker 23 (01:11:51):
Women's basketball, it's really good, and we just want to
keep the ball rolling.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
The Longhorns force eighteen turnovers in a win against the
Lady Bulls on Saturday, sixty seven to fifty nine win.
And in that matchup, yes, Rory Harmon also played good
defense forcing for or getting for a steel or what
a steal as well in that one and along with
four assists. So this is a matchup tonight between two

(01:12:18):
teams that I've been saying have feel like they match
up perfectly across the board right. TCU has Haley Van Lift,
the Longhorns have Madison Booker. TCU has Madison Connors, who's
a three point shooter. Texas has Ory Harmon defensive specialist.
So Donah Prince versus Taylor Jones. It just across the board.
There's so much talent on both of these rosters. They

(01:12:41):
match up perfectly. This is one of those games that
when you look back on in ten to fifteen years,
you're gonna remember it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
That's how excited I am.

Speaker 1 (01:12:49):
Tip off tonight six pm five to forty five pre
game right here on the Zone and Craig Way will
join us to preview the game here in about twenty
minutes to talk Texas and TCU. Now, Roy Harmon got
asked about the matchup and tonight and how she how
excited she is to show up for defense abilities against
a player like Hailey Van Lyft.

Speaker 13 (01:13:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:13:11):
I feel like I don't really have to prove much.
I've been doing this for a while.

Speaker 12 (01:13:16):
Ever since I was a freshman or even before college,
I've been playing defense the way I do.

Speaker 7 (01:13:22):
I just you know, I'm just more fundamentally sound at
it now.

Speaker 12 (01:13:25):
But I'm excited for that matchup. I'm excited for the competition.
I'm always gonna take on whoever their best player is.
I have best player.

Speaker 7 (01:13:34):
I love that. I take that with responsibility, and.

Speaker 12 (01:13:39):
Like my teammates say and my coach say, like how
I come out and attack and punch on defense, That's
basically how the team is going to play.

Speaker 7 (01:13:47):
So how hard I plays, how we're gonna play. And
I'm always gonna take that responsibility.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
To be able to limit Haley van Lyft will be
one of those exciting factors tonight. Obviously it's the battle
down low. The front court matchup between Prince and Jones
will be something that is obviously going to matter. Read
out of the basketball will matter, but Rory Harmon's ability
to slow down the guard play of TCU will matter

(01:14:12):
a ton and massive Booker, who after winning Big twelve
Player of the Year last year as a freshman, who
now wins SEC player as a sophomore and All American.
She got asked, do you look forward to matchups where
it is a situation like this, where it is star
versus star?

Speaker 17 (01:14:30):
I mean, well, for one, I think to see was
a great a great team that we saw in Big
Twelve last year, when we were when we were big
twelve and just seeing them now, how they're a completely
different team. I think, I think just one, like our
teammates are just like kind of like looking forward to
that matchup. You know, it's a new team, like a
different conference too.

Speaker 7 (01:14:50):
But for me, I was ready to play.

Speaker 3 (01:14:53):
I'm ready to win.

Speaker 17 (01:14:55):
I kind of look at accolades because I think everybody's
great for a reason here. I think that's why everybody's
on his team, and like the both teams are talented,
and I just think like we're about to look like
a great comment like when talent is talent, like like
what's there to breen? And But no, I'm I'm looking
forward to it. I feel like, you know, in high school,
like I kind of watched her too, like a Louisville

(01:15:17):
Mill issue and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
But yeah, I'm looking.

Speaker 7 (01:15:21):
Forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
A humble superstar in Madison book or somebody excited to
play tonight who immediately talks to or talks about her
teammates now much they bring to the table as well.
It's gonna be a whole team effort. If the Longhorns
want to cut down the nets and move on to
the final four. And a matchup against South Carolina. A
fourth matchup against South Carolina, but they got to get

(01:15:44):
the job done tonight first.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
That game tips off six pm. Right here on the Zone.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
Our number three on the Way or number one seeds
in men's basketball coming to San Antonio the first time
since two thousand and eight. We'll hear from some of
the coaches. Next Sports Radio, a third d the Zone,

(01:16:08):
our three of the Craig Waves show as we roll
on on a Monday edition of the program. Thank you
guys for hanging out with us. As we continue to
roll on, roll in, Roll and roll in. TCU in
Texas played tonight in the Elite on the women's side
of things. Craig Way will join us in about seventeen
minutes to Talk Texas to preview us for a matchup

(01:16:32):
for the Ages, the Texas Two Step. These two schools
used to play each other in the Southwest, used to
play each other in the Big Twelve, and it feels
like there's a power switch, a move towards TCU in
the Big twelve. Texas the new kids on the block
when it comes to the SEC. They potentially have a
matchup with the defending national champion South Carolina game Cocks

(01:16:55):
in the final four, but the guy get the job done.
Tonight first tip off six pm. Greig We will join
us in about fifteen minutes. All right, men's side of things.
We know the four teams traveling to San Antonio, one
of them being University of Houston, and Houston gets here
in a matchup with Cooper Flagg and the five time
national champion Duke Blue Devils, thanks in part to a

(01:17:18):
win against Tennessee, the number two seed in their region.
Houston wins sixty nine to fifty, and they look good
while doing it. The Cougars broke the school single season
record for wins, extending the nation's longest active winning streak
seventeen games and Calvin Sampson's third chance to reach his
first national championship. Houston has played in college basketball's biggest

(01:17:43):
stage twice, losing the title game in nineteen eighty three
to NC State and then nineteen eighty four to Georgetown
during the five Slamajama era. They're back, in part thanks
to the shooting of Emmanuel Sharp finished with fourteen of
his sixteen point in the second half, and the nation's
best defense gets them to the Final four. And gets

(01:18:06):
them a trip to San Antonio, about three hours away
from their home court.

Speaker 3 (01:18:12):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:18:12):
Calvin Samson spoke yesterday after the win about a subject
that college coaches have been talking about pretty much all year,
which is home court advantage and how much that means.

Speaker 3 (01:18:24):
We didn't really talk about that with our team.

Speaker 19 (01:18:26):
We just says two more road games that if Kentucky
had won today, that would be a road game because
their fans are going to quadruple our fans. Tennessee's fans
were awesome today. What's the attendance at this place? They
might know, what's his seat total?

Speaker 6 (01:18:43):
Eighteen?

Speaker 19 (01:18:44):
Well, we had eighteen today, coach eighteen thousand, so that's
probably what sixteen thousand Tennessee fans. That's awesome for Tennessee.
It's a jump on the interstate and get here. But
that's what we'll do next week. We'll jump on the
interstate and we'll hit to San Antonio. So that's why
you don't complain because it can flip the other way.

(01:19:04):
Proud of our guys for finding a way to win.
We'd be two outstanding programs, not just teams, great programs
here this week and Purdue in Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (01:19:13):
Now those games played yesterday where at Lucas Oil Stadium
in Indianapolis, Indiana for that matchup against Tennessee nook.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
He's right.

Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
This is something that we've talked about at length and
nauseum about where the SEC Women's tournament was, where it
was just a couple of miles away from South Carolina's campus,
and Vic Schaeffer was not so thrilled. Hey, it's in Greenville.
I would like this to be a little bit more
of a neutral site. Then we go to Birmingham. All right,

(01:19:42):
it's a little closer to Austin, but it's also a
little closer to Tennessee. Okay, so I understand what Calvin
Sampson's talking about. I will say, somebody who was on
the river walk last night walking around town, the conversation
in San Antonio is the excitement is about the FI
Final four played at the Almo Dome. It's big to

(01:20:03):
bring it back to San Antonio just down the road,
right big. I was walking downtown. Everybody tells me that
the people will start showing up around Thursday, Friday Sunday.
If your team's not playing in the National Championship, you're
out of here. Sunday is the worst day to try
to drive by the airport in San Antonio. Yesterday night,
I was already seeing two fan bases. I was already

(01:20:25):
seeing Duke fans. Now, maybe it's because they're a national brand.
It's easy to buy a Duke shirt. I saw Duke fans,
and I saw a ton of Houston Cougar fans already
in downtown San Antonio. So it will be a home environment.
I imagine when the Cougars and Duke play, this is

(01:20:46):
gonna be. It's not gonna be fifty to fifty. I'll
go sixty to forty Cougar's over Blue Devil fans in
the Alamodome. It's gonna be an electric atmosphere. That game
played on Saturday. It's a late game on Saturday as
well the early game on Saturday. In the Men's Final four,
one seed All Burn versus one seed Florida, Florida gets
to the Final four, thanks in part to the great

(01:21:09):
shooting of Walter Clayton Junior rallied scores late in the
fourth quarter. The Red Raiders led by nine with just
about two minutes left in that contest, and Yeah, Florida
moves on Tennis, dar Texas Tech goes home sad in

(01:21:32):
that one. But back to Calvin Sampson, the connection to
San Antonio. Obviously his team playing in the Final four
against Duke, but the legendary coach for the San Antonio Spurs,
Greg Popovic, actually wrote wrote to Calvin Sampson, and he
spoke to the media afterwards.

Speaker 3 (01:21:50):
I'm the happiest person of San Antonio the day. Not
as happy as you, Karen and the family in the
whole program built for good character. Bravo my pitch.

Speaker 19 (01:21:59):
Then from way back on our Waltz Skien, your of
San Francisco enjoyed the wind to night with a good grid.
It's just that pop right, He's not just a good friend,
is more than that, He's almost family.

Speaker 1 (01:22:14):
That was Greg Popovich texting Calvin Sampson after the win
to congratulate him. And what a classy move by Greg
Popovich to reach out and talk to the coach of
the Cougars. Heartfelt message obviously, and especially when you consider
that Popovich is recovering from a mild stroke he suffered

(01:22:36):
earlier this NBA season to have the ability the you
know where with all the thought to say, hey, enjoyed
the win.

Speaker 2 (01:22:44):
Great job.

Speaker 1 (01:22:45):
That's huge, and I would love to see Pop maybe
not on the sideline, but maybe in a box somewhere,
maybe near court side. Potentially he won't want to be
on camera, but he will be somebody, hopefully in the
building when the Cougars come to town and have a
chance to win the Kelvin Sampson's first national championship, in

(01:23:06):
Houston's first national championship for men's basketball. All Right, Craig
Wait joining the programing here in about ten minutes to
talk Texas and TCU tonight. And it's a big one obviously,
the Texas. Two Texas teams playing each other in the
Elite Eight with a chance to move on to the

(01:23:26):
Final four and take on South Carolina. Now we know
two of the or we know half of the final four.
We know it's going to be UCLA on one side
and South Carolina on the other. Texas takes on TCU
and Yukon taking on USC. The Yukon Huskies favored largely
in this contest. They feel very good, especially with USC

(01:23:48):
without their star Juji Watkins due to an ACL injury.
But if you watch the game against if you watch
the game of UCLA, play or a usc I should
say play. The other night, they had a cute little
funko pop. They had a funko pop of Juju Watkins
on the sideline with them. Because Juju is recovering from

(01:24:08):
that ACL injury, she can't be on the sideline with
her team. It was very cute, very nice to see
the little essentially a little action figure almost of their
teammate on the sideline with them, and it gives an
idea of the camaraderie and all these players pulling in
the same direction. Now they won. They beat number five

(01:24:29):
seed Kansas State sixty seven to sixty one on Sunday.
They feel good, they look good, and they're going to
go up against a machine in the Huskies Yukon with
pagebackers in their final season. She said that she's going
into the WNBA draft after the end of this season.

(01:24:51):
This is a team in Yukon that is firing all cylinders,
and especially when you consider the pedigree at Yukon, you
cannot be considered one of the best players to come
through there without winning a national championship. This is the
same program that gave us Sue Berd Diana Tarassi Granta start.
This is a legendary women's basketball program and arguably the

(01:25:14):
college basketball program of the twenty first century, men's or women.
This is a great head coach, this is a great player.
USC is gonna have. Usc is gonna have their work
cutout for them tonight, and UCLA They're gonna have their
work cutout for them in the National Championship or in
the Final four. I should say, does not matter which

(01:25:35):
side of it, does not matter which team comes out
of this USC and Yukon game. All right, when we
come back, Craig Way joins the program, getting us ready
for tonight's matchup, previewing Texas and TCU all coming up
next The Craigway Show, as we roll on on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred at the Zone. Sports Radio AM

(01:25:57):
thirteen hundred The Zone and hanging out with the this
afternoon is Craig Way gearing up for Texas and TCU
tonight six pm, Tip five forty five airtime right here
on the Zone.

Speaker 2 (01:26:07):
Craig, how you doing today, buddy?

Speaker 6 (01:26:11):
He's in beautiful at X and in where you are, saytown.

Speaker 1 (01:26:16):
Yes, sir San Antonio, feeling very good and I was
Texan Cameron earlier, Craig I said that I'm mister Bobcat.

Speaker 2 (01:26:23):
I love my text say Bobcats.

Speaker 1 (01:26:25):
But man, oh man, am I more excited for this
game tonight than any other game I've seen in this
calendar year at the least.

Speaker 6 (01:26:31):
Well, let's just put it this way.

Speaker 22 (01:26:33):
It's been pretty widely anticipated. After all, they are the
numbers one in two seeds. The programs know each other well.
But of course they didn't play this year because Texas
in its first year in the SEC and TCU still
in the Big twelve. They have played fifty seven times.

(01:26:56):
As a matter of fact, Andrew fifty seven times. You
know how many times Texas is one out of the
fifty seven.

Speaker 2 (01:27:01):
Let me guess forty eight.

Speaker 6 (01:27:04):
You'd be under selling him.

Speaker 22 (01:27:05):
They won fifty three of the fifty seven, and really
and truly TCU I think has won three like in
the past ten years. And then that's been about it.
You know, for decades, Texas dominated it. But tc of
course turned its fortunes around, especially under Mark Campbell, their

(01:27:25):
second year head coach. He's an interesting study because he
was an assistant coach at Oregon when Vick Schaeffer had
the number one seed in a region but the region
was in Eugene, Oregon, and he had to play Oregon
on their home floor and they lost. Or was in Portland,

(01:27:45):
but they lost in the state of Oregon where they
had a decided home court advantage, and Mark Campbell then
went the Sacramento State, did well there and left for
the TCU job. He took the TCU job site. He
had never been on the campus and took the TCU job.
And last year they had all kinds of problems. They

(01:28:07):
had the illnesses, they had injuries, they had walk on
so they had open tryouts. They actually had to forfeit
a couple of games because they didn't have enough players
to compete. And from that, from the ashes of that,
he's been able to build this into the most successful
women's basketball season in TCU history, both teams with identical

(01:28:29):
thirty four and three records, TCU winning the regular season
and Big Twelve Tournament championships, and for the first time
ever getting to the Elite Eight. And I mean for
the first time ever, first of all getting to the
Sweet sixteen and now to the Elite eight. So he's
done a fine job at the helm of TCU.

Speaker 1 (01:28:47):
Craig there was a TV show on Netflix called last
chance U and it felt like this tc women's basketball
program was that this season. So Dona Prince, she bounces around,
starts at Texas, goes to Oregon, comes to TCU, felt
like her last chance to play college basketball. Hailey van
Lyft similar situation, right goes LSU. It's almost a reclamation
project this year at TCU.

Speaker 22 (01:29:09):
Do you feel that, Well, it's a reclamation project, but
for different reasons that the show that you're referencing there
had a lot of guys with shady and in some
cases criminal backgrounds on some of that. It wasn't quite
like that, but I will, I will go this far
with you on it.

Speaker 6 (01:29:27):
Hailey van Lyth had issues at her prior.

Speaker 22 (01:29:32):
To institutions at Louisville, and of course it was a
couple of years ago where she had a big game
for Louisville in the second round when they beat Texas
and beat him a BYuT twenty two points. I mean
beat him sadly at Moody Center. It's the first season
in Moody Center and it's the only time that Vic
Schaeffer has not been able to get his team to
an Elite eight. The other four years, four seasons he's

(01:29:55):
had him advanced to the Elite eight. Now he's not
been able to get into the final four yet, and
they're going to try to do that tonight. But the
point was Haley Vanlith had some issues at Louisville and
of course Jeff Waltz a real tough, hard nosed head
coach there. So what if she used transfers to LSU
to play for Kim Malkey and you know what that's
going to be like. And she said there she needed

(01:30:17):
a mental health break and there were some mental health
issues and things like that.

Speaker 6 (01:30:20):
She needed a break from that.

Speaker 22 (01:30:23):
And so then so then after that she winds up
transferring to TCU and has done the heck of a job.
Sedonah Prince similar type situation, but it was more physical
with regarding the injury. I remember when Sedona was actually
traveling with the Texas team to a tournament in Fort Myers, Florida,

(01:30:46):
and this was in this was Thanksgiving weekend of twenty eighteen,
so that's over six years ago. She was a freshman,
but she'd had this really bad leg injury, broken leg
and then an infection came from it. When she was
playing for the under eighteen national team in the prior summer,
so she never suited up for Texas and she ended

(01:31:07):
up transferring to Oregon. She played two seasons there. She
transferred to TCU. This is her second season. And of
course she's a you know, former Liberty Hill Lady panther,
and she had committed when she was in the eighth grade.
Her dream was always to play for Texas. It didn't
work out, but and she felt kind of betrayed by

(01:31:27):
the former staff. But she you know, that was the
one when Karen Aston was the head coach. But she
said she harbors no ill will towards Texas or obviously
has nothing against Bick Schaeffer and in fact has been
very impressed with what he's done. So it's kind of
a clean slate in a lot of ways, I guess
you might say for TCU and for Texas it's a

(01:31:48):
different kind of clean slate. You know, they've been they've
been getting here to the Sweet sixteen and Elite eight,
but they haven't been able to get over the hump
to get back to the Final four. They haven't been
in the Final four to twenty two years since Jody
Comrad was a coach in two thousand and three, So
this is a and and Kathy Harshtam, my broadcast partner,

(01:32:09):
was on Jody's staff back then, so it's a different
sort of feel for them as well for TCU. A
lot of this is brand new for Texas. I think
they feel the urgency is there to get this done.
And Vic said it in the news conference Andrew that
he feels in the NCAA tournament this this game, the
ELITEA game, is the most difficult of the six games

(01:32:30):
to win, the one to get you over the hump
into the Final four, because you feel so much tension
and pressure and all that you're one step away from
getting to the promised Land, so to speak. And then
you almost feel like you're playing with house money if
you get to the final four.

Speaker 6 (01:32:43):
Once you get.

Speaker 22 (01:32:43):
Especially if you're gonna have to face South Carolina, which
Texas would have to in the semifinal, but they'd be
happy to have to deal with.

Speaker 6 (01:32:48):
That if they can get through tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:32:50):
We know it's funny.

Speaker 1 (01:32:50):
Coach k on his podcast, Greg was talking about how
when he was coaching, he looked at this game as
the last game before the bridge that across the bridge.
It's the national championship is all the you know, glitz
and glamour, the milk and honey. But you got to
get past this elead eight game first. Since the hardest
game to coach in as a college basketball coach.

Speaker 22 (01:33:09):
All right, I've heard a lot of coaches say that.
Rick Barnes said it, and I will tell you this.
When Rick Barnes was the coach at Texas, the only
time they went to the Final four was that same
two thousand and three season. It was a magical gear
for men's and women's basketball. So I called two final
four games in twenty four hours, and I haven't called
one since. That's how basketball horts sometimes. There was a
men's final four game I did in New Orleans against

(01:33:32):
Syracuse Wan Carmelo Anthony had an amazing game and beat
Texas in the summer final round. And I got in
the car and drove overnight to Atlanta and did the
women's final four game against Yukon with Diana Tarassi. And
they were heavy, heavy favorites, and it was a heck
of a game. It was a seventy one to sixty
nine ball game. So but Rick Barnes, I remember going

(01:33:55):
to record the pregame interview with him before they played
Michigan State in the Alamodome in the Elite eight in
two thousand and three, And that's the most uptight I'd ever.

Speaker 6 (01:34:03):
Seen him ever before or since.

Speaker 22 (01:34:06):
Was that game the the final four game before the semifinals?
He was, he was almost asleep. He was chilling in
the back, almost taking a nap in the locker room,
and went back to him. He was he was really
at peace with it because they'd gotten over the hump there.
So I think all of these coaches are saying the
same thing. This game is the most difficult one to

(01:34:28):
get because of the emotional, mental, psychological, if you will,
pressures and what it commands of the coaches and of
the players to try to win this game.

Speaker 1 (01:34:39):
So wanty in the x's and o's in the scouting
report here, Craig, because obviously, to me, the difference maker
in this game will be the frontcourt play of Texas
Taylor Jones versus Prints, Like this matchup will be the
matchup the sides of the game in my mind.

Speaker 22 (01:34:52):
Well, and they're gonna need more than just Taylor. They're
gonna they're gonna need Kyla Oldacre as well. Uh, They're
gonna need They're gonna need really to run both of them,
those players, and they'll sub as they have throughout.

Speaker 6 (01:35:02):
The course of the year.

Speaker 22 (01:35:03):
They'll rotate, and for those two to be fresh against
Sadonah Prince is going to be important. In talking with
Chris Blake, the radio voice of TCUs women, we Chris
and I went out with Chris Ewards, the Duke play
by play guy. We all went out and ate barbecue
Saturday night after all all of our teams had won
in the first game, and we talked a lot about this,

(01:35:27):
and Chris Blake feels the key for them, similar to
what you're saying, is Sadona Prince cannot afford to get
into foul difficulty because that's been a problem. But it's
been a problem with the Texas post players as well,
because it's a very physical brand of basketball that all
three of those players play. Now, I'm going to agree
with you on all of that, but I am going
to tell you this. I think one other major key

(01:35:52):
in this game is going to be how they guard. Yes,
Hayley Vanlett, that's important, but the other players. Madison Connor,
she's their second leading scorer. She's a forty six percent
three point shooters. She has hit one hundred and twenty
seven threes this year, and she it's kind of like
when you ran the interview I had with Brianna Preston.
She couldn't remember her name, but she knew it was

(01:36:14):
number two, and that's Madison Connor. And so she talked
about how important it was going to be to not
let her have open looks. And I think that's gonna
be portant. And then, you know, as with any NCAA
tournament games, then gotta make shots.

Speaker 6 (01:36:28):
And Texas shot the.

Speaker 22 (01:36:29):
Ball well until the last half of the last quarter
on Saturday, they were above fifty Heck, they hit ten
of their first fifteen shots in the game, and they
were above fifty percent the entire game until the last
half of the last quarter. They missed their last six
shots and some other ones, and they wound up. I
they get forty seven percent, but they shot pretty well.
But they're gonna guard you and they're going to defend you,

(01:36:50):
and if they can keep away from fouling while doing that,
then I like their chances tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:36:54):
And what's funny is that Vick Schaeffer has talked about
how this team could shoot three. It's like, Hey, you
might not think of him at three point shooting team,
but they can knock down threes. Do you think there
are that type of three point shooting team or do
you think that this is all just coach talk to
make sure the other team respects them from behind the arc?

Speaker 22 (01:37:10):
Well, I mean they have they have some who can shoot.
It ain't Shay Holly can shoot threes. Madison Booker is
a forty one percent three point shooter this year, but
only thirty three percent in conference play. It dropped off
or Ay Harmon has had an uptick in the second
half of the season. But as a team, and here's

(01:37:30):
what folks point to. As a team, Texas is shooting
thirty percent beyond the arc. That's middle of a pack
to below middle of the pack. TCU shoots thirty eight
percent as a team beyond the arc. As a team,
if you shoot forty percent from three point range, that's
the same thing as shooting fifty percent from inside the arc.

Speaker 6 (01:37:50):
The math adds up to that.

Speaker 22 (01:37:53):
So that's why I say a big part of this
is going to be how Texas guards the three guards
the perim, but yet don't get so close that they
allow a lot of straight line.

Speaker 6 (01:38:04):
Drives, because that's what Haley van Lyft can do.

Speaker 22 (01:38:06):
She can draw in the defense and then drive past
and kick to an open teammate for a shot.

Speaker 1 (01:38:11):
All Right, I don't want to steal your entire pregame here, Craig.
Pregame starts at five point forty five, tip off at six.
But what's one thing that we have to know coming
into this game?

Speaker 22 (01:38:21):
Well, I mean we've talked a lot about it. I
think the depth is going to be important for Texas. Again,
you just ran the interview with Brianna Preston. She came
off a career game the thirteen points at a couple
of huge steals. The depth of Texas has to outplay
the depth of TCU tonight. And I do think the
depth of Texas has an advantage there. But bre Preston

(01:38:43):
and then also jockolinga win in Tanda, Jordan Lee. Whoever
doesn't start, they've been alternating starting, whoever doesn't start, whoever
comes off the bench, has to play well.

Speaker 6 (01:38:55):
I think those things.

Speaker 22 (01:38:56):
I do think Texas can put pressure on the horn
Frogs to force them into some turnovers, but they're gonna
have to have good play, not necessarily a lot of points,
but good play out of their depth off their bench
in order to win this game.

Speaker 1 (01:39:10):
Craig Ways on the call tonight as Texas takes on
TCU in the Elite A. Craig, thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (01:39:15):
Man.

Speaker 22 (01:39:16):
Hey, I'm glad to be here, and I know tomorrow
night it's back to Longhorn Baseball for a lot of folks.
If Texas unfortunately does not advance, I'll be there with
Keith Morland Tomar. Otherwise, I'm hoping it'll be Roger Wallas
and Keith tomorrow night for the game Texas and Texas
State because this team will have a quick turnaround and
they're gonna head for Tampa if they win tonight, and

(01:39:37):
then it's onto the Final four, and then that's a
whole different subject to discuss, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (01:39:42):
We'll talk about it when it comes up. We don't
want to cross that bridge before we need to exactly.
Thank you so much, Craig. All right, well, we roll on.
We will talk. We hear from both coaches and players
as we gear up for tonight's matchup front Court. Is
the conversation all coming up? Bax in the Craigways Show
on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Sports Radio

(01:40:02):
AM thirteen hundred The Zone. If you missed any of
the Craigway Show today, make sure you go back and
listen to the podcast version available on the free iHeartRadio app.
You also can make us your number one pre set
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(01:40:23):
weekday right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
And you heard Mike Carge earlier the morning kickoff with
the World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry seven to nine AM.

Speaker 2 (01:40:33):
Again right here on the Zone.

Speaker 1 (01:40:35):
Okay, we talked to Craig in the last segment about
the matchup that we've circled. It is the front court matchup,
and the head coach of the TC warn Frogs, Mark Campbell,
spoke about his thoughts on Texas's front court depth.

Speaker 5 (01:40:51):
I mean, they got as good a front court as
anybody in the country. Taylor Jones is an athletic, strong,
versatal post player, and uh, the depth that they have
at the post position. They got a lot of big
bodies that they can throw at you. But they're a load,
they're they're they're a load down there that weigh on you.

(01:41:11):
And and so that's something that we're gonna have to
to manage and deal with as best we can and
try to keep those kids off the glass and don't
let them have deep post position.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
And that's big, right.

Speaker 1 (01:41:21):
It's not only the fact that Texas has Taylor or
Taylor Jones, but it also old Acre as well to
have the ability to throw multiple bodies at the glass,
which is something that most college teams you wish you
had one player that you could just throw out to
grab rebounds and defend. Texas has multiple players who can

(01:41:42):
do that, so not only front court talent, but also
front court talent depth and Vic Shaefer got asked about
the changes in rotation with your bigs an old Acre
and Jones.

Speaker 11 (01:41:54):
Yeah, I think you know, both of them, they're going
to have to do a great job, you know, down
low with with Prince and certainly both of them, we'll
get it, you know, they'll get a dose of it,
and so we'll we'll have to be really good down there.
And and but again I think you've got to do

(01:42:14):
some work early with her and at the same time.
You know, they they they really do a nice job.
You know, he was at Oregon and and a lot
of that stuff that they've run for a long time
they continue to run at TCU and so and they're
really good at it. And again, when you've got to
when you've got a player like like Hayley who can

(01:42:37):
kind of ignite it and run it, be the quarterback
of it, it's again you're talking about a player that
scores at all three levels, but can can really assist
at the same levels too, And so you've got to
really you've got to really be focused. But you can't
lose focus. You can't lose you know, two out there

(01:42:57):
on the perimeter, you can't lose any of them. They
can all fill it up. And so if you're gonna
play horse with them, you're gonna get beat. I mean,
it's it's not good. So you got to really be
diligent defensively. We have to be really sound and really
really solids that we don't get into, you know, some
issues they can present them.

Speaker 1 (01:43:16):
Yeah, foul trouble is that issue that head coach Vick
Shaeffer is speaking about the ability to play tight defense
and not foul. Now Texas luckily has multiple players that
they can throw like I said, old Acre and Taylor Jones.
What's interesting, though, is Sadanah Prince has played college basketball now.

Speaker 2 (01:43:35):
For about seven seasons.

Speaker 1 (01:43:37):
This is not her first trip to the NCAA Tournament,
but it's also not her first trip facing off against
Taylor Jones. They faced off against each other when she
was at Oregon and Jones was at Oregon State. She
got asked her thoughts on Texas's front court phenom.

Speaker 2 (01:43:54):
Now I know Taylor very well.

Speaker 10 (01:43:55):
I know our family well played it you should, I
think almost maybe three times in about high SCHOOLASKETA tournaments,
and then she was at Oregon State. I was an
Oregon played a few times there, and now we get
each other in Texas, which this thing is really cool.
But yeah, Taylor's awesome. You know, she's an amazing girl.
Really respect her, respect her family, known them for a
long time.

Speaker 7 (01:44:15):
They're very very.

Speaker 2 (01:44:15):
Sweet people and kind people.

Speaker 7 (01:44:17):
And it's been really cool.

Speaker 10 (01:44:18):
Right, She's an amazing player, and it's been fun to
match up with her kind of everywhere along my journey,
and so I'm excited it's going to be a battle
down there.

Speaker 2 (01:44:26):
And also, you know, I've been going on.

Speaker 10 (01:44:28):
We kind of haven't seen each other in quite a
long time, right, But I've worked really hard and grown
my game, and I know that she has. And so
it's the same matchup, but much different because we've grown
into completely different players.

Speaker 2 (01:44:37):
So it's two teams who have faced each other in
the Big Twelve. And you heard Craig.

Speaker 1 (01:44:41):
Texas owns the all time record against TCUs. Donah Prince,
a player who was supposed to be a Longhorn, decides
to go to Oregon after her injuries at Texas. This
there's a lot of these underlying storylines, and the biggest
one will be Haley van Liff, I feel because the
the way that she left Louisville as one of their

(01:45:02):
all time best players, goes to LSU, a team that
had just won the National Championship, doesn't vibe with Ken
Mulkey goes to TCU in almost a reclamation project, right,
this was a receiving her career. She thought she was
going to go in the w NBA after LSU goes
to TCU for her final season after going to the
Olympics last summer. What problems does Hailey van Lidth present

(01:45:25):
and how does she spark that TCU offense Vick Schaefer.

Speaker 11 (01:45:29):
Yeah, I just you know, they have so many good
players obviously, she can create for all of them.

Speaker 3 (01:45:34):
And they have kids that can line up on the
perimeter and make shots.

Speaker 11 (01:45:38):
And so then when you have the aircraft carrier inside
like they have and we do too, you know, we
have two of them. And so when you have that inside,
you know, that draws attention, and so it really is problematic.

Speaker 3 (01:45:55):
And so you've got to really do a good job
of handling the the person that's creating.

Speaker 11 (01:46:02):
And I think that's where you know, Hayley obviously can
score at all three levels.

Speaker 3 (01:46:07):
She creates well for her teammates.

Speaker 11 (01:46:09):
She enjoys the assist as much as the bucket, and uh,
she's just a really tough competitor. I mean, I just
think that's who she is and uh, and so that's
that's kind of the engine I think for them that
kind of makes them go and uh and so but
I think just like with any team, I mean, they
got great shooters, you know, they just really can. This's

(01:46:32):
why they've what they've lost three games, you know, So
that's why they're who they are and what they've done
and Uh, you know, it's it's hard. Winnings really hard, y'all. Like,
it's really hard. And they went and won their league
and uh, and so you have to you have to
understand what you're dealing with. And they're obviously that's why
they're the two seed, you.

Speaker 1 (01:46:52):
Know, the winners of the Big Twelve versus the team
that came a game away from winning the SEC Tournament
in their first year. Those two teams, Texas and TCU
tip off tonight five forty five air time, six pm
tip on the Zone. All right, when we come back,
we'll wrap up hour three of The Craigway Show and
send you on your way.

Speaker 2 (01:47:10):
I'll coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:47:11):
Next on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone, wrapping
up a Monday edition of The Craig Way Show. If
you missed any of The Craigway Show, you can go
back and listen on the free iHeartRadio app. The podcast
version will be available later today. Craig on the call
tonight as Texas and TCU tip off six pm, five

(01:47:34):
forty five pre games. So about an hour from now
you'll hear Craig from Birmingham as Texas takes on in
state rival TCU and I was saving this the entire
show because there's a secret that nobody wants you to
know about Haley van Lyff. In fact, she doesn't even
want you to know about this, and it's the fact

(01:47:55):
that one side of her body is longer than the other.
I'm not kidding. She gotta asked during her media availability yesterday,
is the left side of your body shorter than the right?
And everybody laughed, But this is the answer she gave.

Speaker 7 (01:48:12):
No, it is, and it does. It actually has.

Speaker 14 (01:48:15):
There's a lot of physiological issues that I deal with
because of it. My whole right side is stronger and bigger.
You can like, my hand is bigger, my foot is bigger,
my quad is bigger. Like you can see it if
you really look at me, if you're around me a lot.
And yes, I definitely always preferred a plant off my

(01:48:37):
right leg. I think fading to my left is a
lot more comfortable because you know.

Speaker 10 (01:48:44):
The leg is shorter, so it probably doesn't really touch
the ground.

Speaker 7 (01:48:46):
That's just weird things like that.

Speaker 14 (01:48:49):
But yes, that's true, and I deal with it every day.
But at this point in my career, I'm older, and
you know, I know how to manage my body in that.

Speaker 1 (01:49:00):
So Donah Prince and Madison Connor are the two players
you can hear laughing on the side as Hayley Vanalytic
explains that that is fascinating. That is so interesting, and
that is something that you're going to keep an eye
on tonight or an ear on tonight when you listen
on the free iHeartRadio right here on the Zona Is
Texas tips off at six pm.

Speaker 2 (01:49:20):
One side of your body being shorter than the other.

Speaker 1 (01:49:21):
Now, I've heard in sports of offensive linemen who might
have one arm shorter than the other one. I've heard
of pitchers who have one arm their pitching arm might
be longer than their other one. To have one leg
and one side of your body being shorter than the
other side. It also, let's be honest here, the MoMA mentality.

Speaker 2 (01:49:40):
Part of it.

Speaker 1 (01:49:41):
I look at it and I go like, hmm, So
one side of your body is shorter, So you're telling
me you like to go to your right side more
than your left.

Speaker 2 (01:49:49):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:49:50):
This is something that on the Scott Report, I imagine
Texas's assistant coaches have already circled and said, hey, force
her right. But the gay day before the game, you're
telling me, Hey, I like to fade to my laught.
I have all these you know this trick. I am
just saying this is something to keep your eye on tonight,
because if Texas does take this seriously and does try

(01:50:12):
to force Haley van Lift the one side or the other,
this is a big deal. It's very curious because we
talked to Haley Van Lyft the door, Prince, Madison Connor.
This matchup tonight between Texas and tcu or is as
close to pervy across the board as you can possibly
make it. And I was telling Cameron Parker earlier today

(01:50:35):
that I have been keeping a very close eye on
this TC women's basketball program for about two seasons now,
so Mark Campbell's entire time as the head coach, I
had been watching from a distance of how he's been
building this program. And Okay, obviously he was an assistant
coach when Sador Prince was at Oregon, so when he
comes over, it's obvious a match made in heaven between

(01:50:57):
him and Prince. Then he goes against Hailey Van Lyft
and now Madison Connor. After last season where they had
to fourfeit games and they had tryouts and they were
trying to figure out will they even be able to
feel the team last year to now being a game
away from the final four and two games away, two
wins away from winning the program's first NCAA National championship.

(01:51:19):
It's a big matchup tonight. It's state supremacy. It's a
shifting of power. And you hear the way that Vick
Schaeffer spoke, You hear the way that Madison Booker and
Roy Harmon speak, and this matchup tonight is between a
team that has been there multiple times and a team

(01:51:40):
that is playing with house money in TCU. So the
first time that this TCU program is getting this national exposure,
getting the bright lights, and they're playing with a looseness
that not a lot of teams that are left in
this tournament are playing with. UCLA been there, done that,
usc been there, done that, Yukon national champ be in predigree,

(01:52:01):
South Carolina defending national champions and Texas a national championship
on the wall and trying to get over that hump
with Vick Shaffer to the final four for the first
time since taking over the program. So there's a lot
of you have in industry knowledge, you have a lot
of we've been here before. We're trying to get over
the hump. We know what it takes to get to
the mountaintop, and it takes a lot. Versus TCU, who's

(01:52:24):
again playing with house money, who feels very loose, very comfortable.
Into night's game, I have Texas. I feel good about Texas.
The front court depth, the ability that you have multiple
players you can throw at Haley van Lyft to slow
it down. You have multiple players you can throw and
Madison Connor to slow it down. And on the flip
side of things, having a player like Shay Holly who's

(01:52:46):
shooting very well right now, I think matters in this game.
But it comes down to what Ry Harmon talked about,
and it might be the quote of the weekend.

Speaker 12 (01:52:54):
When talent meets talent, talent doesn't matter anymore. So it's
going to come down to the tougher team, the team
that prepares the best.

Speaker 1 (01:53:04):
And you know that Vick Shaeffer is going to have
his team prepared the best of his ability and the
way that he has spoken about his roster, the way
that he's spoken about his team all season long.

Speaker 2 (01:53:17):
We talk in baseball how there's just a.

Speaker 1 (01:53:21):
Different there's a different vibe around the team since hunts
Laschnagel took over this team, in particular, the health is there,
the talent is there, the coaching staff is there. If
there was every team that is going to get over
the hump and win the an elitiate appearance and get
to the Final four. And then you got to play

(01:53:41):
South Carolina for the fourth time this season. You're two
to one versus this team split in the regular season,
one or zero to one in the postseason. Losing the
SEC Championship game to South Carolina a chance to redeem
yourself with that, you feel very good about this team,
but first you got to get past TCU tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:54:03):
You've got to get past TCU tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:54:05):
Roy Harmon got asked how this team feels about being
the favorites coming into this matchup.

Speaker 7 (01:54:12):
Well, we're always gonna pick ourselves.

Speaker 12 (01:54:15):
You wouldn't find an athlete that would pick another team
to win, So yeah, we're always gonna choose ourselves when
it comes to Texas, and I think that's kind of
the thing that matters most throughout this whole season. We
always pick our We're gonna always pick ourselves, so we
trust in what we're gonna do. We trust in our
preparation and we understand that this is a great basketball team,

(01:54:37):
but yeah, we're always gonna choose ourselves at the end.

Speaker 7 (01:54:39):
Of the day.

Speaker 1 (01:54:40):
Texas and TCU tonight five forty five pre game six
pm tip off right here on the zone. Craig Way
will be maybe with us tomorrow potentially, if not, we're
gonna try to get Danny Gavis from the Austin American
State's been to recap the night's matchup, and we also
will have baseball as Texas and Texas State take the
field at the dish tomorrow night. We'll highlight that game

(01:55:02):
what goes into it as Texas continues