Texas Longhorns Softball & Baseball Postseason Push, Top 25 CFB Coaches, NBA Conference Finals Breakdown "The Morning Kickoff Show"

Welcome to "The Morning Kickoff Show" with Mike "Hardball" Hardge & "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry. Today, the guys talked about the Texas Longhorn softball team preparing for the College Softball World Series in Oklahoma City. The Texas Longhorn baseball team is preparing to host the College Baseball Regional Round. CBS Sports ranks College Football's top 25 head coaches. The NBA Conference Finals as the New York Knicks try to make it a series with the Indiana Pacers down 2-1 and the Oklahoma City Thunder go up 3-1 over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Conversations with Joe Cook of Inside Texas and Texas Softball Head Coach Mike White. You can hear it all here on "The Morning Kickoff Show!"

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Good Morning, Austin, Ktown, Flugerville, Htown, Pairland,
Leander and Seals.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Be Texas or wherever you may be listening.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
This is a Texas Tuesday edition of The Morning Kickoff
right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
Texas Baseball gets the number two overall seed and we
now know the opponents. Texas Softball is headed back to
the Women's College World Series and ok see Joe Cook

(01:01):
of Inside Texas joins us to talk about the opponent
of the Texas Longhorn football team next season. We also
have Texas softball head coach Mike White joining us. At
eight am. The Knicks get Game three the t Wolves
and okase come down to the final moments, and of

(01:21):
course we have to talk some more in h L Hockey.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
I'm your host, Mike Harball.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Harj my co host, is a WWE Hall of Famery
and recognized as the world's strongest man, the Mark Henry.
He is out today and he will be back tomorrow.
But of course we've got our guy Marcus behind the boards.
And if you want to be a part of the show,
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Speaker 1 (01:53):
This us to word Texas followed by your message to
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We'll give you that opportunity a little bit later. Let's

(02:17):
get right into it, because yesterday and over the weekend,
because you know, obviously we were off and I hope
everybody enjoyed their Memorial Day and took a moment to
you know, honor those that have passed away that we're
fighting for our country.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
But I wanted to talk about.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
This because Texas softball is now headed back to the
College World Series and I was talking to Marcus about
this a little bit ago. This year in college softball,
in Texas' first year in the SEC, Oklahoma's first year

(02:54):
in the SEC, we start to see now what it's
all about. Texas and Oklahoma they go to the College
World Series, but some of these other teams get their
opportunities now. And it's interesting to me because Texas joins
the SEC, and I'll get into baseball in just a moment,

(03:14):
but when you break down the SEC and you start
to see who's all in the College World Series, you
start to truly understand what this is all about. Five
of the eight teams in the College World Series are
part of the SEC. Texas will take on an SEC

(03:39):
opponent in their first game, and if they win that game,
will excuse me, when they win that game, they will
take on another SEC opponent. Now it looks to me
as if you start to look at how they set
these brackets up, and you believe now.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
That Texas.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
And the way that the NCAA set this up. They
don't want all of the SEC teams playing for a
national championship. In the top racket, Texas will take on
Florida this Thursday at eleven am. You can hear that
game right here on AM thirteen hundred the Zone.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
The winner of that game.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Will take on the winner of Tennessee and Oklahoma. So
now you're creating that top racket bottom bracket. In the
bottom bracket, you have Texas Tech, who is in the
World Series for their first time ever, versus Ole Miss,
and then you have Oregon versus UCLA. So they have

(04:48):
spread this out to where Ole Miss will have a
battle to get to the championship. But they're doing everything
they possibly can. You've got four teams in the top
bracket from the SEC. I see you, incaa, I see
what you're doing there as far as the seedings, so
I totally understand. But after the game against Clemson, Texas

(05:11):
goes out and wins the regional super Regional excuse me.
Against Clemson, they had their backs up against the wall,
but they come back and they get the victory, and
now they get a chance to go to the World Series.
And this is what coach Mike White and the ladies
had to say about it.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
You know, it's just resilience from the team.

Speaker 5 (05:31):
They just believe they could come back at the old
times and believe.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
We had the school runs when you we had school runs.
Today against that team, they're going to score off our pitching.
We had to score more. And that was the challenge
that I.

Speaker 6 (05:41):
Set out for the team, just that we know how
to fight and we know how to win with our
backs against the wall, and so knowing that if we
go into the World Series and we're down, that we're
never out of it.

Speaker 7 (05:52):
So just knowing that.

Speaker 8 (05:52):
We're able to fight with our backs against the wall,
and just knowing that we did it last year and
knowing the experience is going into with the same mindset
of not going to die and just play the last out,
play with.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Everything we have.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
And that's exactly what they were able to do. Big
time performances. And as I said, we will be talking
to the head coach of the Texas softball team, Mike White,
at eight am. You do not want to miss that
as they get ready to head to okc for a
big time matchup once again, headed back to the College

(06:28):
World Series in Okay See, but the man side of it.
It continued as well. Yesterday, Texas was chosen as the
number two overall seed. Thirteen teams. Thirteen teams from the
SEC made the NCAA Tournament. Texas, the Austin Regional, will

(06:49):
be hosting Houston Christian. They will also be hosting UTSA
and k State. Texas will kick things off on Friday,
eleven am, first pitch, I mean, excuse me, one pm,
first pitch, and you can hear that game right here
on AM thirteen hundred the Zone. Texas has already played

(07:10):
Houston Christian earlier this year in April. They defeated them
and run ruled them twelve to two. That would be
their first opponent, but everybody's a little bit different from
what we saw in April to where we are now.
Texas also had UTSA. They played them in March and
they ended up losing to them eight to seven in

(07:32):
extra inning, so there's some extra revenge there, but they
have to get past Houston Christian first. And the team
was rather chill yesterday as the announcement was made, and
I thought what coach Slosnegel said was rather important, but
some of the players decided it was a chill mode
right there, Bron.

Speaker 9 (07:53):
I'm think that there's kind of a muted reaction. They
all in the penascos. They kind of went into that
and how do you guys can get front for the tournament?

Speaker 5 (08:01):
Yeah, I think obviously we knew we were going to
be posting and stuff like that.

Speaker 10 (08:04):
I'm not sure how I feel about that, because I
never want us to take anything for granted. I know
how I feel. I mean, I feel like the kid
running down the stairs for sure. Every time I wake
up on this morning and and know that we're in
is a great feeling because all you have to do
is one time have to sit and watch that TV
show and had your name not come up. No, we
didn't have a crazy reaction, but I think that's the
standard around here.

Speaker 7 (08:25):
That's expected, and we're ready to get to work.

Speaker 10 (08:27):
As long as I'm coaching here, I don't ever want
to assume anything. I don't want to feel like we're
entitled to something. I want to I understand what the
standard is. That's that's fine, But at the same time,
you better celebrate those small wins because they're not easy.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
And that's the thing that this Texas baseball team that
went twenty two and eight in the conference, won the
conference by two games in its first season there forty
two and twelve overall, they get the number two overall seed.
Vanderbilt has been played playing hot baseball, which is why

(09:02):
they got the number one overall. See but when you
start to look at the journey that this Texas baseball
team has gone on this year, it is something that
a lot of folks truly, truly can't even fathom. Going
into it, you knew you were gonna have a great coach,

(09:23):
and coach Losnegele, he's a Hall of Famer. He's done
things in this game and turned around programs, and Texas
wasn't a program that needed to be turned around, it
just needed to be directed. And he came in with
his new staff and was able to create this atmosphere
and this aura of this baseball team that was much needed.

(09:45):
As we said, but then you hear him say we lost.
When I say we am talking as him, he said,
we lost our starting Friday night pitcher, Jared Spencer.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
You lost Max Bluu for twenty six games.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Twenty six games, you lost your MVP during that time,
and you truly find out more and more about your
team you had to fill in some of those voids.
You lose your starting second basemen in the field that
was part of a great SEC defense. You didn't have

(10:27):
the best year from your starting shortstop who wasn't All
American last season.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
He still came up.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Clutch, but his numbers weren't where they normally were. You
had banged up pitching staff that you had to piece together,
and yet you go into the SEC, which everybody told
you you weren't going to be able to compete. It's
a different beat when you go in there and all
you do is go out there and win the SEC

(10:56):
by two games, and now you are the number two
overall seed.

Speaker 11 (11:01):
You know what though, you know what I get from
all that? Though all base boys down on one thing.
The boys are bop business. They got to stay on it. Yeah,
they're a bop business in it. And that's what coach
sounds like. He's like, that's gonna do it.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, he puts some things together. And again, the most
important thing that he said during that interview, and you'll
hear more from coach Slosnege with his interview with Craig
Way yesterday. We'll play that at eight thirty four. He
said something that was very vital. I will never ever

(11:37):
ever be complacent enough to know that the standard is
the standard. But you need to enjoy these moments because
it doesn't happen. You can look at a couple teams
in this conference that are not going to the tournament.
So always, always enjoyed those moments. We're just getting started
here on the morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen

(12:00):
hundred The Zone. Coming up next, we're gonna talk about
the top twenty five NCAA football coaches and where does
your coach rank in that conversation right here on the
Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred. Welcome back
to the second segment of the show as we get
ready to talk college football.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
But we will continue those.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Conversations coming up in the next segment as we have
Joe Cook of Inside Texas breaking all things down Texas Longhorns.
We'll also talk about the New York Knicks, and don't
forget at eight o'clock, we will have the Texas softball
head coach Mike White as they get ready to face
Florida this coming Thursday as they advance to the College

(12:48):
World Series in Oklahoma. I wanted to get into this
conversation as well, because football never stops and everyone is
truly excited about this upcoming season. And but one of
the things that we like to talk about is the
coaches and how they all break down. And of course,

(13:08):
you know we're gonna talk about coach sarkis in and
where folks see him in this top twenty five of
coaches as of right now, and I'm gonna do all
SEC coaches because we can all go through it and
kind of have these conversations. These are the top twenty
five excuse me, top twenty five Power four coaches voted

(13:32):
on by the folks over at CBS. And as you
start to think about this, just kind of take a
step back and look at the seasons as most of
these coaches, what they went through. One of those situations
is the one in Missouri Columbia, Missouri. Eli Drinkowitz. Now,

(13:54):
I got a chance to see him at SEC Media Days,
and by the way, SEC Media Days are coming up
in July. But you start to look at what this
team was and where they're trying to go coming into
the season, you would have thought that they were gonna
be national champions the way that they were carrying themselves.

(14:15):
They were walking around with the chess poked out, which
you should. I mean, if you start thinking about it,
all these teams start to look at themselves as the ultimate,
especially after the success that they had in the previous season.
But now you start to look at it. Last year
they didn't have the best year. They went five and
three in conference play and finished deep into the conference.

(14:40):
But you start to think about their program and where
they're headed. I think he's done a great job of
building that program. I think he's going to continue to
grow and Missouri is coming a place that some guys
are being developed. So we'll see what his rank is
going to be moving forward. Then you go to Tennessee,

(15:01):
they come in at number sixteen with Josh Hipel. A
lot of times when you look at these programs and
you start to break them down, We've talked about it before.
The quarterback position plays a major major role in the
success and the failures of a particular program. You know,
the story of the offseason was the Nico Almalivia quarterback

(15:27):
from from Tennessee that now is at UCLA with his
brother who transferred out of Arkansas. So you sit and
you look at what is Josh Hipel going to do?
Josh Hipel one hell of a coach, but he's also
had good quarterbacks, so over the they made the playoffs
as well.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
And over the last four seasons he has.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Had this team thirty seven and fifteen, including twenty and
twelve in SEC play. So this is a guy that
a lot lot of folks continue to look at and
believe that Josh Heipel is the right guy for Tennessee.
Now he's just got to figure out his quarterback position.
Then you continue with old miss Ole Miss Lane Kiffin

(16:14):
funny to follow on Twitter, all the great things that
Lane Kiffin tries to become. Then he loses Jackson Dark
who ends up going to the NFL and playing for
the New York Giants.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
Now you wonder what is going.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
To happen with Ole Miss Ole Miss was the team
last year that a lot of folks thought were gonna
upset the Apple cart and be the team that was
going to lead the SEC. Finally getting Lane over the top.
Now we'll just have to see what continues to happen.
What are they going to do coming in at number nine?

(16:51):
Kaylin de Boor of Alabama, A lot of folks in
Alabama were unfair when it came to the expectations of Alabama.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
Now when I say you never followed the last big.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Guy exactly, and that's what I was just about to say,
you start to look at what Saban built. It was
going to be rough to follow Nick Saban, regardless of
who came in there. I know that they made a
run at Sark said no, I want to.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Be at Texas. Good job, Sark. We'll get to you
in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
But you start to look at what they were able
to do in those particular moments. You lose your quarterback.
Now you don't have Jalen mill Row, who also is
in the NFL and is hopeful to be a starting
quarterback there. And for a lot of times people were
trying to figure out is Calen de boor the right guy.

(17:47):
I believe he is the right guy. They wouldn't have
went out and got him. There wasn't going to be
a one hit wonder. He is going to be the
guy there that will be able to lead this team.
And he comes in at number coming in at number eight,
you've got Lsu and Brian Kelly.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Brian Kelly is.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
He's a little different he's a little different, just to
say the least. But one thing you cannot deny is
he is one hell of a football coach and a
lot of people truly believe that this has to be
the year that he shows up. LSU has way too
much talent every single year for you not to be

(18:32):
prepared and for you not to be successful. And as
I said, when you have your quarterback, and they do
Grant and Neusmeyer, he is their quarterback, you should be
able with all the talent that you accumulate.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
Every single year.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
There's no doubt that LSU always has top talent. Therefore
they should be in the conversation of success.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
Then you go down to number four. You have your guy.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Steve Sakjian, who always is looking for that next step.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
He's taking Texas.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
To the cusp of the Promised Land back to back seasons.
He's a play or two away from being in the
National title game. And I believe each time Texas would
have won the national title. For here he sits right
now at number four with a new quarterback again, no

(19:35):
Quinn yours. Now you have a new quarterback in Arch
Manning that everybody seems to believe is the answer, and
no reason for you not to. He's coming in, He's
got three seasons learning coach Sark's offense.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
He has got every opportunity.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
He's got the side, he's got the bild, he's got
the name, he's got the arm strength, he has the ability.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Now it's just a matter of the speed.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Of the game and being able to understand what is
asked of him in this offense. So and I don't
look like I don't believe that there's gonna be any
difference in that. I think Texas is going to be
ready to roll. And coming in at number one is
Kirby Smart. What do you inspect Kirby Smart and his

(20:31):
football team. Georgia is always at the top of the
conversation in this SEC deal. Georgia finished six and two
in the SEC regular season. Texas finished seven to one
in the regular season eleven and three overall. But Kirby
Smart without Carson Beck, now, Kirby Smart has has the

(20:55):
ability to recruit at a high level. But just remember
this recruiting situation is changing a little bit because Texas
now that they're in the SEC, they're grinding and continuing
to grind and continuing the grind and they're closing that
gap of recruitment for all of these teams. So to

(21:20):
round it out, you've got at number one, you've got
Kirby Smart, number four, Steve Sarkesian and just so you know,
two and three was Ohio State with Ryan Day and
because they just won the national championship, you got to
give him some love. And I'm confused about Dabbosweeney being

(21:42):
number three, and I think that has a lot to
do with kay Klubnick coming back as well. Number four,
Steve Sarksian, number eight, LSU's Brian Kelly, number nine, Kaylin
de Boor, number twelve, Ole miss and Lane Kiffin number sixteen,
Tennessee Josh Heipel number excuse me, number twenty four, Eli Drinklewitz,

(22:10):
And we'll see what happens with Missouri. But coming up next,
we'll get a chance to talk to our guy, Joe
Cook of.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
Inside Texas get his thoughts on this coaching ranking.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
But of course he did an interview with San Jose's
head coach, and I want to find out more about
that right here on the morning kickoff on sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred The Zone. It's Tuesday, so you know
what that means we get our guy Joe Cook of
Inside Texas and on three you can follow him at
Joseph Cook eighty nine and Joe. Before we get into

(22:45):
your interview with the San Jose Spartans coach, I wanted
to ask you something that has been really on my mind.
As this football team gets ready during the offseason, going
through all their offseason training and we get ready for
the fall semester, we start to think about next season

(23:06):
as far as Arch Manning is concerned, and everybody is
talking about Arch, whether they're predicting him to be a
Heisman Trophy candidate, they're predicting him to be the number
one overall pick in the NFL draft, suggesting teams will
be tanking. But the one thing that I keep coming
back to is the weapons and how they're going to

(23:29):
be used.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
You got CJ.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Baxter coming back, and we saw Trey Wisner grow up
right before our eyes.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
You had the transfer portal and all those.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Guys that have come in to kind of shure up
some of the weak spots. But you also have that
wide receiver room with a lot of superstars to be
in it. So what is your biggest thought on this
offensive minded football team led by Arch Manning.

Speaker 12 (23:59):
Ye, I think you point out a lot of great
things and how you know you're trying to put it
all together around Arch Manning because you know, it's just
like how I'm sure the NFL teams try to put
it all around their quarterbacks if they're on rookie contracts too,
or even if they signed a big contracts. You know,
you try to get all these pieces there because there's

(24:22):
an expediency. You know, if you have a guy on
a rookie contract, then you don't have to pay him
that much. You can go get other pieces around him.
And it's not a like for like thing, but I
feel like there's some similar reilarities and that they're trying
to get all the pieces around him because they know
he's not gonna be You can't sign them to a
long term, five year deal like he's going to be

(24:43):
going to the draft someday, So you've got to find
the pieces around him and around him quickly.

Speaker 9 (24:49):
And I think they've done a good job of that.

Speaker 12 (24:51):
With you know, not only a wide receiver, but at
tight end as well. You know, for me, the big
question is offensive line. It's I've mentioned I don't think
it's a question that has like four options. If you're
replacing four starters, you would like to be choosing from
people who have been on campus for at least three years,
or you know, a five star like those are the

(25:12):
best options to solve that problem with.

Speaker 9 (25:16):
But still it's replacing four starters.

Speaker 12 (25:18):
Three even went to the NFL Draft, One got undrafted,
one and he was the.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
Most had the most career start.

Speaker 12 (25:24):
So I think, I like all the stuff that's around Arch,
we just still have to learn a little bit about
the offensive line before we really know what this offense
I think is going to look like.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, so speaking of that, you know, it's kind of
funny because I go back to some of the interviews
that Arch has had, and then even Coach Sark and
talking about the speed of the game, Arch mentioned that, hey,
I've had I had some great plays, but if you
go back and look at it, I was still learning
during that time. And then you also look at what

(25:55):
Coach Sark talked about. He's like, well, at one point
we were drawing up our plays and trying to get
the call sheet, and we realized we had a bunch
of chunk plays that were on the call sheet. Do
we think that some things are going to change to
this offense to the point of, yes, we know he
can throw the deep ball, but it's those intermediate passes

(26:17):
and the timing passes that Sark loves so much that
Arch really needs to hone in on.

Speaker 12 (26:24):
Yeah, I don't think they're going to look down at
their game plans anymore and be like, Wow, it's all
deep balls. I think they're gonna they're gonna understand that
that's gonna be some critical aspects of the offense of
those intermediate routes because I think they saw how successful.

Speaker 9 (26:38):
It could be.

Speaker 12 (26:39):
You, Quinn, you were That's what he was really proficient
that he could hit those intermediate routes.

Speaker 9 (26:43):
He could find the guys over the middle, and you know,
he can find his checkdowns.

Speaker 12 (26:48):
I know it's not obviously a very sexy statistic, but
not missing your checkdowns is a good thing to have,
and that's what quin yours had. You got to be
able to do that, and you have to be able
to know hit those over routes when the window clears.

Speaker 9 (27:02):
Thanks to a play action fake, and you got to
be able to hit.

Speaker 12 (27:06):
Those you know, quick plant routes when when they're clearing
on an RPO. So and that's something that you know,
it's a tougher part of the Starkegan's offense. Just it
took It takes a lot of people, a lot of
time people to be able to get that aspect of it.
But it's something I'm pretty confident in Archie's ability to learn.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
We're talking to Joe Cook of Inside Texas. You can
follow him on social media at Joseph Cook eighty nine.
And Joe, you had a conversations with the head coach
of San Jose, Texas second week opponent after they go
and take on.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
Ohio State.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
What was your biggest takeaway from your conversation.

Speaker 12 (27:48):
Well, I know that, uh, I think ken Nea Mozilolo
kind of understands what he's up against. You know, he
understands that as someone who watched Texas a lot last year.

Speaker 9 (27:58):
He said he would start games and Texas games on at.

Speaker 12 (28:02):
The hotel just to watch how start called plays and
to see that, so he knows what he's up against.
It'll be a tough challenge, but it sounds like he's
got a pretty confident program.

Speaker 9 (28:13):
Heading into his second year.

Speaker 12 (28:16):
And people may think like, oh, they're running the option.

Speaker 9 (28:19):
Of course no he he.

Speaker 12 (28:21):
I told him this and he agreed, Like, you're not
an option football coach.

Speaker 9 (28:24):
You're a football coach who ran the option.

Speaker 12 (28:26):
It's just kind of what you have to do at
the academies based off the you know, wait restrictions and
stuff like that. You can't have three hundred and forty
pounds offensive lineman. So he you know, he has a
more modern offense, passes the ball around.

Speaker 9 (28:41):
They're going to try to.

Speaker 12 (28:42):
Increase the tempo. They do have a little bit of
a they have to change things up again because they
had an All American wide receiver last year ended up
going to the Falcons and Nick Nash, so they're going
to be losing that. But you know, I think this
is a team that's probably going to compete for the
Mountain West or try to at least be in the mix.
It's going to be tough to Unsea teams like Boise

(29:02):
and UNLV and even Nevada, but you know it's not
going to be It will definitely be probably the best
G five team that Texas players of the three that
they're playing.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Wow, that's interesting because a lot of folks see San
Jose and really don't understand what that program is all about.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
So that is good to know.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
So make sure you get over to Joseph Cook eighty
nine to check out his latest video with the head Coach.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
But Joe, I wanted to ask you this before I
let you go.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
I want to go back to what you talked about
about that offensive line and the unknown. One of the
biggest questions. Obviously you got to replace some stunts, but
one of the biggest questions that I have, and I
continue to go back to this. I know there's some
names in the mix, but that center position when Jake
Majors left, that left a huge void because there was

(29:55):
I mean, he was the guy for so long. And
I know that kind Robertson and Hudson and all these
other guys are looking at that position. But who do
you think is going to solidify that offensive line?

Speaker 12 (30:09):
You know, I think it's gonna end up being Cole Hudson.
I like Conor Robertson. I think he's a He's a
has very much developed over his time at Texas. I
think people may be a little jaded from, you know,
remembering what happened in twenty twenty three.

Speaker 9 (30:22):
Well, that was a long time ago. And that was
at the early stages of his development.

Speaker 12 (30:27):
But with Cole Hudson, you know, this is someone who's
got experience on the interior, someone who I think they've
believed would be ready to play some center at some
point in his career.

Speaker 9 (30:37):
And as finally showing up.

Speaker 12 (30:39):
And you know, the possibility existed Robertson could play well
enough at ball and in the summer to be the center,
move from Hudson back over to guard and put a
pretty good combination.

Speaker 9 (30:51):
Out on that offensive line. But right now looks like
it's going to be Hutson.

Speaker 12 (30:55):
You know, he's not a returning starter per se, but
he basically is one with all the guys and snaps
that he's had in his career, and that seems to
be the option they have for the guy getting the
ball to Arch Maning on every play.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
There is Joe Cook of Inside Texas. Make sure you
follow him at Joseph Cook eighty nine. As always, Joe,
we appreciate you, brother.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
And have a good week.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Absolutely, thank you. Arch.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
There is Joe Cook coming up next.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
We got a lot to talk about when it comes
to the NBA, A lot of twenty point comebacks. But
are we really looking at Kat as a superstar. Let's
talk about it right here on the morning kickoff on
Sports Radio and thirteen hundred the Zone.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
Now's your chance, you hear.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Now's your chance to get a pair of tickets to
go see Dirk's Bentley May the twenty ninth at the
Moody Center. All you got to do is get over
to the iHeartRadio app. You know the one that you
have us number one on your preset. Get over there
and touch that rib micro and leave the word broken.
Broken is the word that you need to leave to

(32:06):
get a chance to win a pair of tickets to
go see Dirk's Bentley this week.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
This week. Bet you can't get them.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Right now, all right, let's get into a special shout
out to my guy Joe Cook of Inside Texas. Great,
great insight and thought on everything that's going on with
the Texas football team, because I know it's the off season,
but there's never the off season when it comes to
Texas football. Coming up next, we have Mike White that

(32:34):
had baseball, i mean softball coach of your Texas Longhorns.
As they get ready to go back to the College
World Series, they face a familiar opponent in Florida at
eleven AM. You can listen to that game on Thursday
right here on AM thirteen hundred the Zone. But right
now I want to talk NBA. The New York Knicks

(32:56):
came back from twenty down. Folks were betting their houses.
I saw one post and you know who you are
at fifty k and retire early on Indiana. Well, it
looked real good for Indiana early, but then kat Carl
Anthony Towns, who has been on the bench, decided it

(33:19):
was time to show up and show out. He went
nuts in their matchup against the Knicks the other night,
and now they get ready to play again tonight and
Karl Anthony Towns had twenty four points. But here is
Carl Anthony talking about that performance after being benched in
the previous games.

Speaker 13 (33:40):
Okay, how big is that weight that's been lifted off
your shoulder after tonight?

Speaker 14 (33:44):
I mean, anytime you can win, it's a good feeling.
So down to all, finding a way to win tonight
should raise our confidence and raise the morales too.

Speaker 13 (33:53):
So there was a stretching game too, where you didn't
get minutes. How did you refocus mentally to be such
a massive contributor in that fourth quarter with a twenty
point quarter for yourself.

Speaker 14 (34:01):
Uh, when I got a chance tonight, you know, to
do what I'm doing before, But I made sure I
was gonna seize opportunity, and uh, you know, I just
wanted to go out there and give our team a
chance to win.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
So I'm just happy I was able to do that.

Speaker 13 (34:14):
This is also the second time that the team went
through a huge stretch without Brunton, and they put together
an incredible winning performance. And what did you see from
the entire unit with Brunson on.

Speaker 14 (34:23):
The bench of both of those great and continuity, this
team is special.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
That locker room is special.

Speaker 14 (34:29):
I think, you know, for us to have the grittiness
that we have, that's because of the characters and the
personalities and the sacrifice everyone that locked rooms willing to make.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
Boy like an event. Truliqui changing voice on us like that.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
I thought we were listening to three differentviews the way
that he was talking. But Kat was able to lead
the charge as Jalen Brunson was on the bench with
five fouls through the first three quarters, and they were
able to make things happen. So the one thing and
we'll hear from Charles barklay On, Tom Thibodeau, and you'll

(35:03):
hear from Kenny Kenny Smith.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
Those guys are hilarious.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
You'll be able to listen to watch the game tonight
on TNT. But the funny thing is you start to
look at this series and now it becomes the series.
Because now it's two one, I still believe it's Indiana series.
I don't think that this game will change much tonight.
They are three and a half point favorite tonight. Indianapolis

(35:28):
is But the best part about this they freed Halliburton's dad.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
He is free. They have decided.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
If you don't remember, he got banned from the arena
earlier in the season because of the way he was
acting on the baseline. He tried he took the flag,
I mean the Halliburton towel and put it in front
of the Giannis Antetokoupo and Giannis was not happy about it,

(35:58):
so they ended up banning him.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
But now he is back.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
He is free and last, free and last he gets
a chance to go to the arena.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
But guess what, he can't sit on the baseline.

Speaker 4 (36:10):
He can't.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
He's got to sit up in a sweet on.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
He's got to sit up in a suite, but he
is free and he is able to be back on
the court to be able to go watch his son play.
So you already know if you are got any kind
of wager, any kind of wager, go ahead and put
the wager on Haliburton going nuts tonight and them scoring

(36:34):
big because Dad is a free free man. Also, last
night Big Time matchup between ok See and Minnesota Timberwolves,
okay See gets to win. We'll talk a little bit
more about that at eight seventeen, because there's there's a

(36:56):
lot to unwrap when you look at this OKAC and
Minnesota Timberwolves matchup. A lot of folks are looking at
this series and truly truly trying to figure out what
to make of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Minnesota Timberwolves obviously
are an exciting team, but Okasee has the ability and

(37:20):
the depth.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
And this is something that Mark talked about.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
By the way Mark obviously you notice that Mark's not
here today.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
He'll be back tomorrow. He's taking care of some business.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
But you start to understand truly what this depth is
when it comes to this basketball team in okay See.
They have player after player after player that continue to
show up that they can go to at any time.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
And that's the start.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Contrast from what you've seen from the New York Knicks.
The New York Knicks have a very, very very short bench,
and now they are trying to figure out how they're
gonna make the adjustments moving forward tonight in their matchup
against Indiana, and it's gonna be a little bit tough.
And that's why I believe that Indiana's gonna continue to

(38:12):
roll in this big time matchup.

Speaker 11 (38:15):
You know how they say sports is copycat leagues. Yep,
I hope. I am rooting for Oklahoma City to win
a championship because they use their bench, and I want
other teams to like copy that and use their bench
in the playoffs instead of these seven and six man rotations.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Yeah, a lot of yeah, you're right.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
I mean you start to look at what these teams
end up being and how they end up being broken down,
and why is it that this is the way that
this goes down. It is really difficult to understand that
you definitely have to expand your bench, especially in today's
NBA because of the up and down the court in

(38:54):
the back and forth of these guards. Our number one
is in the books. Our number two, two is just
around the corner. Also, Mike White, Texas softball coach, is
right around the corner. Don't go anywhere. The morning kickoff
rolls on right after this. No Mark Henry today, but
he will be back.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Tomorrow and our number one.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
We talked a lot about coaches rankings. We talked to
Joe Cook of Inside Texas. We also broke down the NBA.
But right now it's time to talk Texas softball with
the head coach of the Texas softball team, Mike White.
You can follow him on social media at Texas Coach

(39:37):
White and Texas defeated Clemson in a tough, back and
forth critical third game to advance to the College World
Series in Oklahoma for back to back seasons and the
third time over the last four seasons. And coach talk
about that battle in that final game against Clemson two

(40:01):
events to the College World Series.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
Yeah, good morning.

Speaker 5 (40:05):
I think obviously the biggest hood or was that second
game in the eighth innings we had second and tho
nobody out and we were able to get.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
Out of that.

Speaker 5 (40:13):
That was the biggest part of the whole series. But obviously,
you know, we took a momentum from winning that game
and into the second game, came out and hit four
line drives and first innings and then eventually scored three
runs in the second and we're able to kind of
capitalize on some mistakes that they made, and you know,
pitching came through in the end with mac morgan coming

(40:33):
in for a first appearance for a tremendous safe win opportunity.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Actually, and I want to stay right there because that's
one thing that I love about the fact that you're
not afraid to throw different pitchers out there at all times.
Obviously Teagan is your best player or best pitcher at
this particular point in time, but you're not afraid to
throw the mac Morgan out there and bring others out

(40:58):
of the pen to go out there make that big
time performance.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know you have to make
a change.

Speaker 5 (41:06):
You can't just keep doing the same thing and hope
for the best. I thought we we got as bad
as much as we could at a teague, and we
knew that it was going to difficult to go seven
full innings, so we were prepared to make the changes
if necessary, and we just felt like they hadn't seen
Mac the whole time. And you know, here a velocity
can be o a parian times along with a movement
on a drop ball and get those ground balls. And

(41:27):
she was able to do that for you know, two
and a half or three, three solid innings.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
Coach, you talk about her her velocity on the fastball
and the rise ball, and I was looking at it
and it just looked like it was getting on top
of the batters a lot more than what they were
used to seeing. But the other part of it, too,
is just that competitive nature that not only Mac had,
but your entire team, especially when you go back to

(41:53):
what you said about Saturday night, the importance of that
matchup and getting out of those innings in those crucial
times to bring it right back into the final game
and be able to battle to get to Oklahoma City.

Speaker 5 (42:08):
Yeah, I think you know, we talked a lot about
mindset and confidence level and what you say to yourself
and controlling and being where your feed are, you know,
and making the play and not thinking about the result.
And I think we were able to do that in
those moments, and we just made the plays when we
needed it too.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
What you need to have from a championship team. We
talk about it.

Speaker 5 (42:26):
If you can get your glove on it, make the play,
and it can make a big difference in a series.
And unfortunately, you know, Teagan was able to come through
in that big moment in the eighth innings, and then
the same with mac Morgan.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
You know, they had the tying run at the second.

Speaker 5 (42:39):
Base and the last inning of the last game, and
then also you know the winning.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Round of the plate.

Speaker 5 (42:44):
Now she was able to come up with the ground
ball right back to her and what a relief that was.

Speaker 4 (42:48):
It was huge.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
You also had some unbelievable defensive plays by Mia Scott
over at third base. But before we talk about Mia
and what she was able to do. Being a head
coach at times can be very difficult, but you get
paid the big bucks to make tough decisions. And one
of those decisions that you made was putting putting Leah
liam Good back over at shortstop and her being able

(43:12):
to make the plays that she did and coming up
with some timely hits. Talk about her and just what
she's been able to achieve so far this season.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
Yeah, I mean, you know, you need different people to
step up, and we see that sometimes these unsung heroes,
and you can talk about that you wouldn't someone you
wouldn't expect him to come through in those situations. But
we keep pumpering her up and telling her not to
worry about her offense and concentrate on a defense.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
Well, as soon as she did that, her offense came
came through.

Speaker 5 (43:41):
I mean here, she had an unbelievable weekend in the
biggest moment of the season for us, and what was
really the difference maker in the series, I believe if
you're looking at one contributor, because you know, sometimes the
expected heroes, you know, like the reset with her stuff,
you know, there's so much pressure on them and they're
really concentrating on them, and then they look at like
a seven or eight header in the lineup and they're
going and you know, this should be an out and

(44:01):
it tends out not to be. And unfortunately for us.
Liamas on our side and had a great weekend.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
We're talking to Mike White, head coach of the Texas
softball team as they advanced to the College World Series
and back to back seasons, and coach, we're talking about it.
You're back in Oklahoma City. Your first game will be Thursday,
eleven o'clock against a formidable opponent that you've already seen
that you beat two out of three earlier this year

(44:29):
in the Florida Gators. You're in a bracket with Tennessee
and Oklahoma. Y'all might as well just kept playing in
the SEC tournament the way that they got everything set up.
But talk about Florida in the matchup coming up this Thursday.

Speaker 5 (44:46):
Yeah, obviously Florida's you know, finishing the season strong. They
had a good weekend, a good regional, good super regional
teaging rough Rock I mean sorry, rough Rock there aces
back and healthy. You know, so she's probably the one
we're going to see because we didn't see her in
that three game series early on, and she's starting pretty well.

Speaker 4 (45:05):
So you know, it's kind of like a matchup of
last year and we.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
Faced them, i think the first game in the College
World Series and we're able to come out on top,
and we're hoping to do the same thing this year.
But you know, they have you know, really good speed
and some great palaces throughout the line up, a very
tough team. And of course, like you said that top
HILFH of the bracket is like SEC old styles, So
you know, so that's kind of crazy the way they
set that up.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
Yeah, I was talking to our producer earlier today and
I was looking at it and I was like, well,
five of the eight teams are out of the SEC
and there it looks like they're trying to say only
one SEC team should be playing for the national championship
instead of too the way that they got this bracket
set up. But if you win that game, When you

(45:49):
win that game, excuse me, you will play on Saturday
against the winner of Tennessee and Oklahoma, two teams that
you know very well. Also, as you look at the
forecast for this weekend, the expectation is the same, and
that's to go out and dominate every pitch.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean we've got to come out and
be aggressive. It's worked well.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
For us in this last part of the season, and
we gotta do the same thing. We can't be afraid
of anybody we're facing. We we know the opposition very well.
That's one of the benefits of playing against SEC programs.
And it's not gonna be a shutout. I mean I
doubt very much whether the team's gonna get shut out,
and so we're gonna have to produce in those big
moments with runners on basis, and we're gonna have to
have that shut down pitch or great defensive play when

(46:35):
we need it on defense. And that's the difference in
so we had a game of inches and it stney
is that when we saw that throughout the weekend as well.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Coach talk about Mia Scott and what she means to
this program. I know we talked about this in the past,
but each week it just seems like when the pressure
is at its highest point, she is the right person
at the right time and continues to have that even
Cue will look about her every step of the way.

Speaker 5 (47:04):
Yeah, she never looks phased at any moment. And I
got asked earlier in the season, you know, who would
you want to be the pissing up with your with
your encament and I do it the I moment and
Mea was one of the ones.

Speaker 4 (47:15):
I kind of picked on because her attitude is always
the same.

Speaker 5 (47:18):
She believes that she can get that hit and it's
almost like she toys with it or sometimes like to
give him that first strike and then kind of like
take the abyss pitch and hit that. It's imprustrating as
a coach because you let the big one the fat
one go down the middle and she'll kind of work
to get the outside pitch through the bowl that the
pitch is throwing.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
So it's like she's teasing with them.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Yeah, every time I watch her, it's just like you said,
it's so calm, like nothing is phasing her until your point.
She just looks like, I'm gonna hit what I want
to hit. You can give me anything that you want,
but if you leave it up just enough, I'm gonna
hurt you and hurt you bad. So it's pretty fun
to watch, especially watching your team as it develops over

(48:01):
these seasons. And now the standard is the standard, and
the standard seems to be get to Oklahoma City and
then let the chips fall where they may.

Speaker 5 (48:13):
Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, we have some talent
on this program. We continue to build that through recruiting,
you know, I think we have one of the top
recruiting classes in the country coming in next year hopefully
to build on this program, you know, and you know,
continue to push and be it the Cullete World Series.
I mean, it's it's obviously it's the pinnacle of the
sport and it's where we need to be to be

(48:34):
able to have an opportunity to win a national championship,
and we continue to strive to do that and we
just love to support. I don't know if you're out
of the games until the games, but the crowd was
crazy and it really gave us a lift throughout the weekend.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
Yeah, the crowds are always packed out there at McCombs
field because they just loved their softball. I wanted to
ask you about Ashton Maloney as well. She has eighty
nine hits on the season and she's close to breaking
the singles season record. You've been around this game a
long time, coach, and you've seen talent come and go,

(49:06):
but the one thing that continues to be consistent is
those players in their approach to the ballgame. You guys
find a way to drive the ball out of the park,
but you need to have guys get on to be
able to be successful.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
Yeah, without a doubt.

Speaker 5 (49:22):
I mean she excuse me, She's the one that I
would say has been the most consistent throughout the year.
And you're in the past two years, previous two years.
That hasn't always been the case. She's always been hot
and mean a little bit cold. And this year she's
been the model of consistency for us and it's been
great at leadoff and be able to, you know, make
sure that Reese Atwood comes up in the fist innings
with a runnerund base and that sometimes that can be

(49:44):
the big difference in a game too, because pitchers are
still trying to find their feet in that fist inning.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Yeah, and you guys always seem to find a way
to jump out in front. You guys will be playing
at eleven o'clock against the Florida Gators. You can hear
that game right here on AM thirteen hundred The Zone
and coach we as always, we want to thank you
for joining us today and best of luck.

Speaker 4 (50:06):
Hey, thank you so much, appreciate the support.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
And hook Holmes there is coach Mike White as they
get ready to head to Oklahoma City to take on
the Florida Gator's another sec battle up in Okay.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
See when we come.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
Back, we'll continue our conversations the NBA. Is it fantastic?
OKAC seems to think so. Right here on the morning
kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Awesome
stuff from coach Mike White as we get ready for
Florida in Texas. I know how I said it, Florida

(50:43):
and Texas this Thursday at eleven P. I mean eleven am.
You can listen to the game right here on AM
thirteen hundred the Zone D one Softball. As we finished
that interview, it came out D one Softball put Reese Atwood,
Tagan Come, and Megan Mia Scott all on the All

(51:04):
American Team. Reese Atwood first Team All American and Tigan
Kevan and Mia Scott's second Team All American. And so
it's a pretty exciting time around the forty Acres for
those ladies as they get ready to chase that national
championship starting this Thursday at eleven. But last night, the

(51:26):
NBA continues to be the drama field thing that it is,
and the OKC Thunder defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves one twenty
eight to one twenty six. This game was back and
forth the entire time. Uh Okasee gets out to a
lead and leads into halftime, but then all of a sudden,

(51:48):
the Timberwolves find a way to get it going. The
one thing that continues to be a part of the
conversation is what is going on with Anthony Edwards. We'll
talk about him in just a little bit. We'll actually
hear from him in just a little bit. But the
MVP looked like the MVP last night as Shay Gil

(52:12):
Chris Alexander. I know, bubble wrap is what people want
to call him right now because if you get too
close to him, it's a foul. He finished the night
with forty minutes and forty points.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
Opus Alexander already three assists, jump shot, bounces around with
soft touch.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
Those are his first points.

Speaker 4 (52:34):
Rebounds.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Okay, she's sixteen to eight Randall guard him.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
That's Ga. That's some room pre pointer.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
It's good.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
They do have a foul to get five seconds.

Speaker 12 (52:47):
Jo justs Alexander hesitation, pulls a bank shot is good.

Speaker 4 (52:52):
That's Ga.

Speaker 10 (52:53):
Spins co pair looking at help thinking it's time falling away.

Speaker 4 (52:57):
It's up.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
It's God, that's g.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
He ain't playing like a lemvpaid.

Speaker 3 (53:02):
At bar On Faiya.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
But the funny thing about him is he was twelve
or fourteen from the free throw line. It's the same
thing that we talked about before. He shot fourteen free
throws yesterday. His team shot twenty one. That is why
people get after him. That's why they call him a
free throw merchant. That is why people get so frustrated

(53:25):
with the way the game is officiated when he has
the ball in his hands. It's funny because nobody got
mad when it was the Michael Jordan rules. Nobody got
upset when Michael was getting.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
All the foul calls.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
But now that this younger generation is starting to I
do agree.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
I was saying it last night.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
I was like, now, wait a minute, some of these
fouls that they are calling or not fouls, I.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
Do agree with that.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
But there's just something about the way that he plays
that people are now getting annoyed by.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
But he had help yesterday.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
Jalen Williams, the guy that I have been talking about
the entire time. I said, he is the X factor
for that team. He finished with thirty four points. Chad Hongren,
another big time player, had twenty one points. But it
wasn't just his points, it was the way he was

(54:24):
playing defense.

Speaker 4 (54:26):
McDaniels.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
McDaniels on the drive to spend the lay a flock
by Holme, Cridon, picked up by SGA and home. Grin
is that guy that can protect the rim. He had
three of the five blocks for OKC, but it was
SGA and Jalen Williams that were the benefactor of yesterday's game.

Speaker 8 (54:48):
Thank you, Mike jad Up. It seemed like every time
they made a push, you guys responded, how were you
able to hold them off?

Speaker 12 (54:56):
Just trust each other and in stack possessions.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
So I got TV.

Speaker 12 (55:03):
I don't know, just play hard, compete together.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
The game has ups and downs. The other typical thing
I usually say, Shay, I'm gonna come to you.

Speaker 8 (55:13):
Then Jacob had a game, Sched had a game. Just
describe it, Ina.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
They impacted these guys. They were amazing tonight.

Speaker 15 (55:20):
They were confident, they weren't rattled by the moment. Like
there's so much to say about the work they put in,
the effort and the character that those two guys have.
They deserve these moments, and they're stepping into them with
full confidence and taking advantage of them.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
And I'm loveing them a prot of the suit.

Speaker 8 (55:38):
Are we able to keep your cousin from beating you guys?

Speaker 3 (55:41):
Yeah, it was close to it.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
You had the hell of a game.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
It's they're really good.

Speaker 15 (55:46):
Teams, so you try to do a good job on
their main guys, and they're BC and D guys.

Speaker 3 (55:49):
Get off and they're really good team.

Speaker 15 (55:51):
And you gotta try to do the job all the
way around, and it's harder than it looks, but they're
a good team. So so guys are gonna play well.
We's looking to figure out how to win, and we
gotta win.

Speaker 3 (55:59):
Tonight's rappey check.

Speaker 8 (56:01):
While you guys were doing your thing on offense, lou
Dork was holding it down on Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
Just what impressed you.

Speaker 8 (56:08):
About what he was able to do tonight defensively?

Speaker 12 (56:11):
Uh, Honestly, I don't know if I'm impressed anymore because
I had every night.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
It's so normal to us.

Speaker 15 (56:16):
Uh, there's a reason he was first time All Defense
this year. There's a lot of reasons he should have
been years before this. But uh, he's getting his recognition now,
and you know, I'm happy for him.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
And he was big to night for Ah. You guys
up three to one.

Speaker 8 (56:28):
Now, do you get a chance to close it out
at home in Oklahoma City on Wednesday?

Speaker 3 (56:32):
How do you get it done?

Speaker 15 (56:34):
Play to our identity on both ends of the floor.
If we do, that will be just fine. If not,
if you get uglyy. So we just got to be
who we are and trust our work, trust.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
Our happy congrats on the wind.

Speaker 9 (56:44):
Thanks, thanks well.

Speaker 1 (56:46):
The funny thing is they they came out and did
what they needed to do, but they still definitely have
to work on another part of all of that because
of the fact that this game it'll change in a heartbeat,
especially if you have a guy like uh ant Man
who for some reason just doesn't seem to understand that

(57:11):
you are judged on a different level when you're that
type of person. So check out what ant Man has
to say about people saying that it looked like he
struggled tonight.

Speaker 4 (57:24):
I don't look at it like I struggled or he struggled.

Speaker 16 (57:26):
It just.

Speaker 14 (57:28):
They had a good game plan making us get off
the ball.

Speaker 4 (57:32):
Especially for me man, it was super and gaps.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
I made the right play all night, So I don't
really look at it like I struggled.

Speaker 4 (57:37):
I didn't get enough shots to say I struggled, So
that's might that might be hard.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
You gotta look at it, but yeah I struggled.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Oh, it's just I made.

Speaker 11 (57:42):
The right way to what Yeah, uh, what if you
can't get your shot out? That is part of struggling,
or as a former NFL player would say, struggling.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
I just don't understand how he.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
Misses the thought process of how he's supposed to be
like you are. You said this too, and we were
talking about it. You said, as far as being the
face of the league, it's like he's trying his best
to not be it.

Speaker 11 (58:19):
It seems like as soon as he got labeled dad
by people, he just seemed to.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
Go the other way.

Speaker 11 (58:24):
It's like he's trying to not be that face, so
he says the craziest, wildest things.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
Yeah, it's just kind of frustrating to me because I
look at him as somebody that is leading the team,
which he was. He was being a facilitator. He did
move the ball around and played forty one minutes, took
thirteen shots. Alexander Walker took more shots than he did

(58:56):
and that cannot happen if you're Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 11 (59:00):
Yeah, he gots to go ten for thirty. If he's
gonna have a bad game, it's gonna he has to
put up shots somehow.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
And for him to only have sixteen points in that situation,
he had six assists.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
And this is the thing I can understand.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
If it was one of those games and they got
blown out, I can understand where it's like he's not
a difference maker in this one. They lost by two,
and if he could have been Anthony Edwards, I know
that that defense was all over him.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
I totally understand because I watched the entire game. But
it's one of those things that you look at the
as a as an individual, and you're gonna tell me
that Mike wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Have let that happen. Oh No, Mike wouldn't have let
that happen. Mike would have.

Speaker 11 (59:51):
Took over that game looking at that clock, knowing I
saw a game in the nineties when Mike was zero
for fifteen and finished the game with thirty points.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Somehow.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
Yeah, he's because he's that guy.

Speaker 11 (01:00:01):
But as when it comes to thunder, I like to
give a shout out to lou Dort yep, because you
remember the first year, I think his rookie year when
they made the playoffs and played the Rockets, and the
Rockets strategy was just let him shoot yep. And now
he's shooting forty percent from three point this year.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
It's like, that's a different dude. Man, that's working on
your game.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
But he's doing what he's supposed.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
To do on that defense defens society.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
That's why he recognized being very, very consistent. You also
got to give a shout out to Alex Caruso, who
was able to be effective again come in and strategize
on how to foul in the moments that he needed
to foul. And it goes back to our conversation we had.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
A little while ago.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
When you extend your bench and you can get guys
in the ball game that can help you win, even
if it's in spurts, you have to find a way
to get that done, and that is where the New
York Licks have struggle. Coming up next, you'll hear our conversation, well,
Craig Way's conversation with one Jim Slasnagele. That's right, Coach

(01:01:10):
Slasnagel met with the media yesterday. You don't want to
miss it right here on the morning kickoff on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. If you've missed any
parts of the show, all you got to do is
get over to the podcast page and check out the latest.
As we continue to roll on, we had Mike White,

(01:01:32):
the Texas softball head coach as they get ready to
go to Okay, see, we also had Joe Cook of
Inside Texas talking all things Texas football, and right now
you're about to hear an interview with Craig Way and
the head baseball coach Jim Slasnagel. As coach Slasnagel and

(01:01:53):
his team had an event yesterday waiting to see they
knew they were going to be hosting.

Speaker 3 (01:01:59):
They did know what the overall seed was going to be.

Speaker 1 (01:02:03):
They end up being the number two seed, and then
you find out the opponent will be Houston Christian one pm,
first pitch. You can hear that right here on AM
thirteen one hundred the zone. But you also have UTSA
out of San Antonio and k State as well coming

(01:02:24):
to the Austin Regional and Craig Way talk to coach
Jim Slasnikl.

Speaker 16 (01:02:30):
I would imagine this is something that never gets hold, right,
being able to look up there and see your team
on the board.

Speaker 10 (01:02:35):
Yeah, it's not something you ever want to take for granted,
especially if you've ever had to experience being on the
bubble and not getting in, or being on the bubble
and barely getting in.

Speaker 7 (01:02:46):
It's like Christmas Morning to me. Every year. You can't
conference championships.

Speaker 10 (01:02:50):
All that stuff is nice, but you can't make a
domo unless you're in a regional and so just is
the opportunity to be in.

Speaker 7 (01:02:56):
And then also obviously to play at home. Man, it's
really hard to do.

Speaker 10 (01:02:59):
And were proud of our team and staff or what
we've accomplished at this point.

Speaker 7 (01:03:03):
You mentioned a Roger in the post game after the
Tennessee game.

Speaker 16 (01:03:05):
You said we're going to be somewhere in that top
eight and you said it doesn't really matter to me.

Speaker 7 (01:03:09):
So I would imagine being number two is not mad. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:03:13):
If you have told this before the season, you're going
to win an SEC regular season and be a number
two national.

Speaker 7 (01:03:17):
Seed, we all would have signed up for that.

Speaker 10 (01:03:20):
So journey has been, you know, interesting, and it's been
winding road. But again, just really proud of our team
and now you got to go play. I mean, all
bets are off. We got good teams coming here. We
have three teams that are used to playing here, you know,
and two teams that we that have played here this year,
and obviously Kansas State, who's been you know, a conference
member until this year, So it's certainly not going to

(01:03:42):
be They're not going to be spooked by being here
simply because they've been here.

Speaker 7 (01:03:46):
So I'm sure it's be very competitive regional.

Speaker 16 (01:03:49):
I'm really curious about saying, have you ever, in your
time as a head coach be at TCU, A and M,
have you ever been in a regional? We're two of
the teams out of the other three you'd already played
during a year.

Speaker 7 (01:04:01):
That's a really good question. I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:04:05):
I don't think so.

Speaker 7 (01:04:06):
I'm sure maybe.

Speaker 10 (01:04:08):
I'm sure maybe at some point in the Louisiana regionals
when I was at Tulane, you know, back in the
days where you know, they were super regional and where
there wasn't as much money spent on flying teams around.
So I'm sure we I'm sure it's happened, but I
don't remember it.

Speaker 16 (01:04:21):
As far as Kansas State. That's another team you know,
from only a year ago. So I mean there's a
great deal of familiarity here, isn't there.

Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:04:28):
Yeah, great?

Speaker 10 (01:04:29):
I mean for Kansas State, for Texas and Dish Faulk
should be a lot of familiarity, you know.

Speaker 7 (01:04:35):
I haven't.

Speaker 10 (01:04:35):
I haven't coached against k State since twenty one. But
you know, Tulow has from last year, and they have
d Kennedy, who was on you know, Texas team last year.

Speaker 7 (01:04:45):
I've actually known him since he his eighth grade.

Speaker 10 (01:04:48):
But but yeah, utsa, certainly they came here and beat
us in a really good game on a Tuesday night,
and and coach hallmarks done an awesome job of creating
not just a winning program, but that program has a persona,
it has a it has a trademark, and their toughness
and grit and kind of play anybody anywhere type thing.
And then the job that the Houston Christian coach has

(01:05:09):
done is off the chart. Now, I'm very, very impressed
by him. He's got a great future in our profession.

Speaker 16 (01:05:14):
In terms of the study that that you and Max
get together. In terms of figuring out your pitching plans,
that's something that evolves over the next day or two
before or do you already have in mind what you
want to do going into the weekend?

Speaker 10 (01:05:27):
I think, you know, we've been playing out scenarios for
the last two weeks, two and a half weeks. You know,
when we you know, used openers, we started being in
the first game of a conference series against maybe a
guy that could be Conference pitcher of the Year, and
we still won the game. So so yeah, we've we've
been talking about We've been talking about all this week,
and now that we have our draw, we'll go back.

(01:05:49):
And one good thing about our draw, two of the
three teams we've already done a lot of work on,
so you just got to kind of refresh it so
that that's a good thing.

Speaker 7 (01:05:56):
Saves us some time this week.

Speaker 10 (01:05:59):
But we'll figure out what the best matchup is and
you know, you know, I know, and we I don't
know if we've announced it yet, but I'd prefer to
play the first game and that allows us. There's a
lot of advantages to that, but one of them is
it allows us to watch the game after us and
whether we've won or lost. It gets a little more
time to and get a better idea of who who
we're going to play and what we need to do

(01:06:19):
against them.

Speaker 16 (01:06:19):
And then also, I know how important it is to
you and the staff also over these past few days
and then going in this we could get some guys
healthy if you get them rested up a little bit.

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
I mean, that's still an ongoing challenge.

Speaker 7 (01:06:31):
Isn't it.

Speaker 10 (01:06:31):
Yeah, Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there are other teams
that are trying to get healthy players back, but for us,
we earn the right to go a little slower in
the conference tournament and then get back here and give
the guys got We got back on Friday, got quick
lift in, then gave the guys off all day Saturday,
and didn't practice till Sunday night, So it's almost like
forty eight hours worth of kind of being away from baseball.

(01:06:53):
We had a good workout last night and we'll get
back into a normal weekly routine this week. But especially
a guy like Jonah, it'd be nice to get him back,
even if it's just a DH type thing. I think
we're a significantly more dynamic team when he's playing, which
is crazy to say about a seventeen year old player.
He does have to go graduate Thursday night and get

(01:07:15):
his diploma, so we're going to let him do that
as long as he's back in time for the game.
But yeah, I think everybody could use a little rest,
and we're making the most out right now.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
That's unbelievable when you sit back and you think about
the journey of this baseball team from start to finish.
What all has transpired in those particular moments when you
look at the beginning of the season and you start
to really break it down, not knowing exactly what's going

(01:07:45):
to happen with this squad again, with the new pitching staff,
with everybody that is trying to the new staff period
in trying to find their ways through all of this,
and using your best player in Max belou for twenty

(01:08:05):
six games before he can come back, still trying to
get through. Now he's going to be in a position
to be really sharp, I hope going into this weekend.
Then you lose your starting pitcher, your Friday night guy,
and you find a way to get it done and
you still win the SEC by two full games. It

(01:08:28):
is something that a lot of folks, a lot of
folks are still scratching their head about, especially when you
look just down the road at a team that started
the season as the number one team in the land
and now don't even get into the tournament, as thirteen
SEC teams get in to the NCAA Tournament, and wow,

(01:08:55):
it's just one of those momentum changing moments here on
the forty eight when we come back we'll close out
the show and send you to Dan Patrick Dallas Stars
Rally time. We'll talk about that, and of course the
NBA right here on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio

(01:09:15):
and thirteen hundred the Zone.

Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
Just like that beat, so I just let it keep going.

Speaker 1 (01:09:20):
Make sure you get over to AM thirteen hundred the
Zone on all social media platforms. All it is is
at AM thirteen hundred the Zone on TikTok, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
wherever you get in your social media stuff and check
out all the late make sure you like and subscribe

(01:09:42):
to all of those pages and leave us a message.
Click on it, tell your friends. And also we're on
YouTube so you can see us today. You didn't get
to see Mark, but you'll get to see him tomorrow.
You get a chance to hoil at Marcus and of
course you get to see your boy hardball hard.

Speaker 3 (01:10:03):
Yeah. This got some old school oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
it's got that vibe right there. I like that beat
right there.

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
I want to talk a little bit about the Dallas Stars.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
Are they in a predicament right now?

Speaker 1 (01:10:19):
They continue to battle up against the Edmonton Oilers. They
will play tonight on ESPN. You can see that game tonight.
And look, I didn't told y'all before. I'm not the
biggest hockey fan in the world, but when a Texas
team is playing, you know that I'm gonna be paying

(01:10:40):
attention to it. Edmonton has been handling their business and
the Dallas Stars after that first game, they have had
to battle all the way through. They lose on Sunday
night six to one. Not a good look. They got
outscored in the third quarter three I mean yeah, in
third period, three to nothing, and now they have to

(01:11:04):
try to find a way to get it done tonight
because you do not want to go down three games
to one against the Edmonton Oilers, and the Dallas Stars
will be taking that on tonight seven o'clock on ESPN.
Also tonight, we have the NBA back in action as
the New York Knicks get ready to take on the

(01:11:27):
Indiana Pacers.

Speaker 3 (01:11:29):
As I said before, the.

Speaker 1 (01:11:30):
Pacers, they play at a pace that is not good
for the New York Knicks. And the only reason why
it's not good for the New York Knicks is because
their bench is so short. And Charles Barkley talked to
Jalen Brunson the other night, He's not a big fan
of what Thibodeau has been doing with the Knicks.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Bingch Jayden, what the hell is up with Timms? Man, y'all,
bitch who technically won this game.

Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
For y'all to know?

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
Does he y'all explain to y'all like, I'm gonna play guys.
I'm not gonna play guys because you got your minute
kind of damn wacky.

Speaker 3 (01:12:14):
Oh I had a great comeback. Well, let me stop. No,
I mean I got the almost fitting conference, man.

Speaker 12 (01:12:22):
Regardless of what people say on the outside, respectfully, whatever
you guys you say, I mean, we're a close sit
group in that locker room.

Speaker 3 (01:12:30):
I love the fact that he said respectively.

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
He was like, I really want to cut y'all out
right now, because y'all don't know what's going on in
our locker room.

Speaker 3 (01:12:38):
You put me on the spot man, right.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
And then the other part of it is, think about
what Chuck said at the very beginning. He said, technically,
your bench won the game for you. And the reason
why he said technically is because they had Carl Anthony
Towns come off the bench. So and in theory he

(01:13:02):
is correct, but in reality of it all you're looking
at it and you're saying, why is he not starting
to be able to do that? Actually, actually I take
that back. Mitchell Robinson started for Josh Hart, but they
took Carl Anthony Towns out of the game early. Yeah,

(01:13:22):
and for that to happen, the numbers didn't add up properly.

Speaker 3 (01:13:26):
So you look at it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:27):
Josh Hart comes off the bench had nine eight points.
McBride come off the bench had nine points. So that's
seventeen points off of their bench.

Speaker 3 (01:13:37):
That's good old unpredictable teams. He's like.

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):
And speaking of being unpredictable, Kenny the Jetsmith had the
ultimate ultimate line when he said this about Thibodeau.

Speaker 16 (01:13:53):
There's only one guy on the Indiana side and double
figures and he comes off the bench.

Speaker 17 (01:13:58):
Well, you know, first of all, before we go to
the pictures, they're very fortunate the Knicks to go on
that five zero run, and I'm you know the other thing,
you're surprised that, you know, Tip it wouldn't play nine
guys in a baseball game, so.

Speaker 1 (01:14:10):
Like they, I'm surprised at.

Speaker 3 (01:14:19):
That he has done that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
But the bench of Indiana, Yeah, Kenny had that lock
and loaded. He been waiting on that one he was mad.
He was ready with it. He knew what the situation
was going to be. But here's the thing. When you
start to look at all of these matchups and how
the games is being performed. The one thing about TIBs

(01:14:42):
that I truly respect is that he wants.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
You to play defense.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
Definitely, he wants you to be able to play defense
and and stop your opponent.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
He comes from that Van Gundy Tree limit lineage. And
that's fine. I'm cool with that.

Speaker 1 (01:15:03):
But the reality of the conversation truly has to be
when you're playing in a matchup and you look at
your opponent, you have to be able to match them up.
And if you're thinking that your defense of one player
that can't score, that's not a score that needs to
get put backs for you to score, you're gonna end

(01:15:25):
up losing that game. Yes, And the fact of the
matter is they should.

Speaker 3 (01:15:29):
Have lost that game. The other night they were down
by twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:15:33):
This is the third game this postseason that they were
down by twenty and came back to win.

Speaker 3 (01:15:40):
And they come back kids, I guess.

Speaker 1 (01:15:42):
And the frustrating part, if you're looking if you're an
Indiana fan, you're only frustrated because of the fact that
you lost the game, and the reality of it is,
you know that you can get any shot that you
want at any time, because they're not going to be
able to keep up with this pace.

Speaker 3 (01:16:03):
They can't New York. That is.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
I know Stephen A is losing his mind right now.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
I was hopeful.

Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
I was truly hopeful that they lost that game just
so I could see one face. That's all I cared about.
That's all that I wanted to see. When you sit
back and you think about the way that the game
was being played, and for me, it was all going
to be about the fact that Steven A. Smith was

(01:16:32):
going to have to eat crow and eat his words,
because he is the one that always decided that, hey,
we are the best, we are the better team. We're
going to do this, We're going to do that. To
bring it back to the exactly, we've got to figure
out what you're doing. But the fact of the matter
is they are in a bad spot and now they

(01:16:55):
have to try to figure out what's next and how
are they going to get that done.

Speaker 3 (01:16:59):
I don't see it happening. I don't think they're gonna
be able to get it done. And I believe tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
The Pacers because halla Burton that is free.

Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
He could be in the building.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
And I can't wait and see the story that is
being made up about him. I want to thank Marcus
for doing a great job. We'll have Mark Henry with
us tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:17:22):
And if you miss any part of the show, get
over to the.

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
Podcast page wherever you get your podcast, and check out
the interview with Joe Cook, check out the interview with
Mike White, Texas softball coach, and of course you can
hear Craigway's interview with coach Schloss.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
And of course you can hear Craig.

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
Way this afternoon from two to five right here on
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to Zone. And just remember this,
It's gonna believe everything.

Speaker 3 (01:17:47):
You see, because even salt looks like sugar.

Speaker 14 (01:17:50):
Peace,