Thunder Advance to NBA Finals, SEC Spring Meetings Highlights, Texas Coaches & Legends Talk Texas Sports “The Morning Kickoff Show”

Welcome to "The Morning Kickoff Show" with Mike "Hardball" Hardge & "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry. Today, the guys talk about The Oklahoma City Thunder sending the Minnesota Timberwolves home with a 124-94 blowout victory, winning the Western Conference Finals 4-1. SEC Spring Meetings in Florida: We have audio from Texas Basketball Head Coach Sean Miller, Texas Women's Basketball Head Coach Vic Schaeffer, and more from Texas Football Head Coach Steve Sarkisian. Mark Henry gives his "World's Strongest Take." Plus, a conversation with Texas Baseball head Coach Jim Schlossnagle and a "Legends of the Lock Room" segment with newly Southwest Conference Hall of Fame inductee Kirk Dressendorfer. You can hear it all here on "The Morning Kickoff Show!"

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for tuning in to the podcast of The
Morning Kickoff with myself, Mike Carbo Hartz, and the world's
strongest man in WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry. Guys,
we really would like it if you would advertise with us,
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That's right, Folks, tune in and make sure you tell
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(00:22):
to nine am, Monday through Friday, right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Good Morning, Austin, k Town, Flugerville, Htown, Paroland, Leander,
and sials.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Be Texas or wherever you may be listening.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
This is a throwback Thursday edition of The Morning Kickoff
right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
Texas Softball starts its National Championship Quest OKC blows out
the Timberwolves to advance to the NBA Finals.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
We've got a top ten.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Five stars quarterbacks in the history of college football, and
we will rank them. Coach Slots joins us at eight am.
The Talk Regional Lifetime Longhorn Kirk Dressendorfer will join us
in our Legends of the Locker Room segment at eight seventeen,
and you will hear from coach Miller, Coach Sark, and

(01:22):
coach Vick Schaeffer as they all hit the stage at
SEC Spring meetings. That's right, I am your host, Mike
carball Hart. My co host is Awwe Hall of Famer
and the world's strongest man. He is d Mark Henry.
Good morning Austin, and of course we've got our guy
Marcus behind the boards. And if you want to be

(01:43):
a part of the show, all you got to do
is text the word Texas follow by your message to
eight one five three zero.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Standard data and message rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's the word Texas followed by your message to eight
one five three zero. Standard data and message rates may apply. Also,
if you want to avoid your opinion, all you got
to do is leave us a message by using that
talkback feature on the new and improved iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
We'll receive it instantly and you might hear it on air.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
But you also will get a chance to win Dirk
Bentley's Dirks Bentley's tickets for tonight's concert. Make sure you
tune in. I'll give you the keyword of the day
and you'll get a chance to win a pair of
tickets to tonight's concert. Well, let's get right into it,
because the NBA continues to not disappoint, well unless you're

(02:32):
a Timberwolves fan, and then you're very, very disappointed. This
is the OKC Thunder winning this matchup one twenty four
to ninety four. And what that means, folks, is I
had to pay off my debt and I went and
brought donuts this morning because Mark had asked me and

(02:52):
we placed the bet, and as a man of my word,
I got up early, went to go get some donuts
and I ended up bringing them.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
And so nice, that's what I do.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
You know, whoa easy When you pay up your debts,
it makes you feel good. I mean it makes you
feel good. It makes you feel good to pay up
your debts and to not have not to owe anybody anymore,
right right, you know I don't. I don't like it.
I don't like to owe anything. Well, I don't want
to feel indebted to so let me pay my debt off,

(03:26):
you know. So that's that's that's where it is, and
I appreciate you doing so, no problem. It just took
me out of my way because of the fact that
the temper Wolves decided that they did not want to
play basketball. The face of the NBA. Who he's not
going to be the face to grow up? You're going
to grow up? Well, we thought that last year, we

(03:46):
thought that the year before. He's at that stage. Now.
Don't give up. Don't give up. I don't ever.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
I gave.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
I gave upon him from the Game one when he
just didn't seem to have the energy and the and
the person I'm talking about is Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
It just so happens that every.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Time you try to put an American. That's right, I'm
calling him an American because I was hopeful that we
would have.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
An American MVP at some point.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
But it looks like it's going to continue to go
across the border and hang out in Canada.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
With Shae, Gil, Chris Alexander.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
You get good basketball, doesn't matter if you get the
superior entertainment, does it matter? Like I'm at the point
now where to have Joker and to have Giannis Uh
and now have Shae. I'm not not mad anything. I mean,

(04:49):
Joel Ebid you know he's American now, but when he
won his MVP, he was not a citizen, right, So
it's like the last four have being non American, So
I'm not I'm not aggravated by any means, as long
as I'm entertained with basketball and I feel like the

(05:11):
league is getting better, which I think this is the
best playoffs I've watched in years because of how dedicated
the coaches were to sticking to UH strategy and how
consistently great the competitiveness of these playoffs were. Well, I mean,

(05:36):
I wouldn't say that they were that competitive because there
were some forty point blowouts in the playoffs as well,
so I would say that that's that's just that's just
a few games. I'm talking about the series. Everybody, nobody
expected New York to really beat Boston and all of
that happened. You're not talking totality of series. You had.

(06:00):
The Indiana Pacers have two series from the jump that
we are. We were like, man, Indianapolis is They're winning
buzzer beaters to win these I mean, it's just where
is the weakness? The only weakness was the deplorable nature
in which the Lakers played in the first round.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, and that was it.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
That was lazy, unenthusiastic basketball. Well, I still believe that
when you look at the overall record.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
In the NBA.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
The disappointing part is okay See has been this good
all season long. The disappointing part was Cleveland. Cleveland was
the other team that should have been that. People thought
that we're going to be in the finals, but Indian
Indiana did their thing.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
But one thing is for sure.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
When we think about SGA, all you can think about
is him being the m v P, and he proved
to be that in this series.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
Walsa hoounce, Corrisso hops it away, He comes out of
a steal, throws it back and kills.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
US Alexander the unselfish.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Played and pretty much the entire building on his feet
as we wind down the first half, kills US Alexander.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Left hand and lays it up an end.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Ed which nice fake asked the fucking of stolen?

Speaker 4 (07:28):
SGA down a lane, throws it down board.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Defense to offense man.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
SGA counted out of the how man. I mean, he's
just one of those guys that finds a way to
get it done, and that's what he continues to do.
Score buckets, be the MVP, and was named MVP of
the Western Conference Finals of.

Speaker 5 (08:00):
The Magic Johnson Trophy for the twenty twenty five Western
Conference Finals most valuable.

Speaker 4 (08:05):
Player is Shay Gilles. I, like Dang, I just want
to shout out these fans.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
They've been here, okay here not here a couple of years.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
I got here, and there's some really dark times in
this arena, not fun times, and these stands fans have
been by her side too, think and then so we
appreciate them.

Speaker 6 (08:37):
First and foremost.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
And then of course I want to thank my teammates.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Without them, I'm nothing.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
Claire's dad, I don't have one hundred and twenty four
points by myself.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
He's a team guy.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
And speaking of team, fourteen players played in that game
last night for OKC. Obviously it was a blowout. They
scored nine points, Minnesota scored nine points in the first quarter,
and let's just say it was an embarrassment throughout the
entire evening, especially because of the point that you start

(09:24):
to look at an NBA semifinals, so to speak, to
get into the championship, your season is on the line,
and you go out and lay another egg is very,
very disappointing. Not only is it disappointing for Minnesota, I
think that they realized that with what they have is

(09:46):
not good enough. And Rudy Gobert, as much as he
is a big threat, he's a guy that is slowing
them down and he's the guy that they can hack
a shack like. You want to make sure that you
have zero weaknesses. Oklahoma City has some strength that I'm

(10:07):
going to talk about in my World's Strongest take, and
it is the true reason why that series the way
it was, And that was what spawned I bet. I
was under the impression that, man, this is a very
good defensive team and what they have and the way
they play the Stars is different than every other game

(10:30):
that they play. And you said, man, Anthony, it was though,
I said, harje he will not be the reason that
they win that series. Somebody else will be the one
I And that's what started to bet.

Speaker 7 (10:47):
So where do you think Minnesota's going for vacation? They
going to Galveston? Nah, I don't think they going to Galveston.
They need to purify.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
You have to purify yourself in the why is it
lake in the time that's right around the corner from there, exactly.
But they got to get back home first. They should
have saved some frequent fire miles and not even flew
to Oka see because that was a waste of time.
But congratulations on your victory of your bet. We thank

(11:21):
you Hard, Way to Go, Way to Go. Wow, that
seems so hey, it's here right I showed up with it.
Coming up next, we're gonna continue the conversations as you
look around and realize that we have a new basketball
coach that we haven't heard from a lot since his arrival. Well,

(11:41):
we're gonna give you that opportunity, Coach Miller when he
was at the SEC Spring meetings. Coming up next right
here on the Morning Kickoff on a thirsty Thursday, right
here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred. Design, Welcome back
to the Morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred on Mike Harballhard's World Strongest Man, WW Hall

(12:03):
of Amer, d Mark Henry and my guy Marcus holding
it down. We will not have Eric Henry today. He's
got some stuff. They're obviously doing a lot in Florida
with the SEC meetings and he's handling some business down there.
But coming up in the next segment, you will hear
from coach Sark and Coach Vick Schaeffer about Texas and

(12:28):
where they are headed, but right now I want you
to hear from coach Sean Miller. Sean Miller took over
the Texas basketball program right after the season, and he's
been on the ground. He's been doing the tour. You
can see him on a lot of different shows. We're
gonna try to get him on next week with us.
But here's coach Miller with his opening statement at the

(12:50):
spring meetings of the SEC here today.

Speaker 8 (12:53):
I'm thrilled to be here on the SEC Spring meetings.
From before I think captain college sports. You know, all
eyes seem to be pointed here in Destin, Florida and
to be a part of it, especially at a great
place like the University of Texas.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
I'm both honored.

Speaker 8 (13:10):
And thrilled to be here and excited to talk about
Texas basketball.

Speaker 9 (13:14):
For Lecinda and for Daily how important was it just
for them to be able to come in because you
mentioned that you're not coaching the team, so for you
have a style in a way of doing things. How
important is it to have those guys or maybe help
the other guys who've been here or coming here to
know how you operate well.

Speaker 8 (13:32):
You know, it goes to the word that everybody talks
about in today's college sports model, and that's retention. We're
all looking for ways to keep our best players, to
have key contributors and winning players go from one.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Season to the next.

Speaker 8 (13:48):
It's how things always have and field can pro sports.
You know the value of keeping your best players with
you for a long period of time because it's not
only their consistency and their own performance, but it's their
ability to impact others, to teach them, to coach them,
to kind of show the way to those that are new.
And Lesina and Dalen have a unique opportunity because they've

(14:12):
been with us in Dalan's case for multiple years in
Locina's case this past year. But they know how we travel,
how we practice, They know terminology, they know people in
our strength gives, they know who I am, and I
do think that they'll be very helpful in bridging that
gap that just is there when you're a new coach

(14:32):
at a new place with the other players. Equally important
are the five or six Texas returners. You know, guys
that have been in the SEC that understand what it's
like to play in Nashville and be part of the
SEC tournament, that live in Austin, that go to school
every day, so you know they're going to be able
to from that retention perspective be very helpful in building.

(14:56):
So if you look at it, we have retention this
coming year in my first few two different ways, from
the two guys coming from Xavier and from those returning
from Texas. But that's a force that I don't think
that we underestimate. You know, you obviously collect talent. You
have to have a talented roster, especially in this league,

(15:16):
but the familiarity and the retention part of it is
something we hope to build as well.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
And what he basically is saying is he's bringing guys
in that can teach the others the system. A lot
of times these coaches aren't allowed to work with the
players and do different things, so make sure that you
have guys that can teach, just like football, where you
have Michael Taff teaching the safeties, making sure some of
the young players understand what's going on, Anthony Hill teaching

(15:44):
some of the young players the system and what's so
important for them at that linebacker position. So Sean Miller
is coming in and doing the things that he needed
to do. But he was asked what attracted him to
the University of Texas parts.

Speaker 8 (16:00):
I think the first part that's attractive is in I
think for any coaches to be a part of the
University of Texas, I mean, there aren't many places that
combine the forces that we have on our side. The
city of Austin, you know, I think that it gets
known around the country is like this really cool, great
college town I had never heard of bad words, A

(16:23):
great place to live, great food, seeing live music, great
college town. And you get to Austin, like, oh my goodness,
it's one of the top ten largest cities in our country.
You know, it's way more than college town. It's a
thriving city. It's the fastest growing city in America. And
then you know, you look at our campus. Start with

(16:43):
the university itself. I think the statistic that is in
play right now is ninety thousand applicants a year. They
accept less than nine thousand. There are many universities that
can say that. And yet the backdrop of Austin with
the University of Texas, you put the sec in play,

(17:03):
which you know it just means more is a great slogan.
We've all seen it from the outside. If you're not
a part of the SEC, but it does. You feel
that when you turn the TV on when you watch
a college football and this year at college basketball game,
you sense the college sports is just incredibly important in
this footprint. So that and then the other part of
Texas is the Moody Center in our practice facility. You know,

(17:27):
it's two and a half three years old. There are
very few places that have that type of new facility
and that's a great combination that I just named right
there in a row. So it's a decision that although
for me Xavier, it's not like I wanted to leave there.
It's a great place in its own right. It's just
if you really want to be the best or try

(17:50):
to win at the highest level, I think the future
of college sports is right here.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
And that's that's saying a lot because of everything that
goes into a head coach. As he said, the main
thing that everybody talked about, and this was going back
to Chris Beard. When the Moody Center was built, it
was designed obviously for concerts and other things, but making
it a true home court advantage, unlike the Frank Irwin Center,

(18:19):
where it was the drum and it was just.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, it would leave you.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
I've been to plenty of games men and women for
Texas Athletics, and it is loud in that place, and
they have done an excellent, excellent job of building that atmosphere.
Now it's just got to translate on the court to
the court. Dude had their own section, you know. It's

(18:46):
just things like that. Obviously, being in the state of
Texas and being around the state, you now know what
recruiting is all about. Texas is hot on the trails
of the number one ranked last of twenty twenty six
player whose brother just happens to be the offensive lineman
for the University of Texas, Trevor Goulesby. Michael Goulesby is

(19:10):
one of the best players in the country for sure,
in the state of Texas, and coach was talking about
recruiting the state of Texas.

Speaker 8 (19:19):
We want to recruit the high school players moving forward.
You know, to the earlier question, I think that, you know,
it's a blend of transfers retention in incoming high school players.
You can develop them, you can retain them. And we
have such an amazing state that I don't think it
would be in our best interest to not make the
state of Texas and the best high school players in

(19:42):
the state a huge priority to not do that. I
don't know if you can maximize who we are as
a basketball program in university, So recruiting high school players,
you're going to see us active. I also don't think
our entire team or classes of five or six are
going to.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
Be a part of our f future.

Speaker 8 (20:00):
But getting the right two or three, three, sometimes maybe
even four in a class and then trying to then
add players to the spring, that's that's our philosophy.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
And when you want to compete and you want to
get those types of players, you obviously have to deal
with Nil was part of the topic when he took
the job, and it's still a hot topic for Texas basketball.
I think the hot button model is just singular.

Speaker 8 (20:25):
It's it's you know, the name, image and likeness and
how that's going to work moving forward and look as
a coach, I don't think any of us can be
presumptuous or act as if we know the answer. Part
of it is just we're in this period of time
of the unknown, and you know, I think the analogy
that I've heard is you're flying the plane and building

(20:47):
it at the same time, and to some degree in
terms of sports, that's true. Right where you're you're trying
to make the best decisions for your program, most importantly
for the players that you're coaching in real time, knowing
certain things may not be the same in the future,
and by the way, certain things aren't the same today

(21:07):
as they were even a year ago. So I think
it's that unknown. There's never been more of it when
it comes to that, which affects recruiting the lifeblood of
what we all do, and.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
You got to make sure that you stay on top
of it. And that's what he's.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Going to be able to do immediately because of the
fact that recruiting is what it is. It's getting really,
really intense, and we've seen a lot of it. I'm
on the circuit, so I see a lot of the
recruiting and all the people that are involved, and I'll
see a lot more coming up this summer. So Texas

(21:43):
is out recruiting Texas players, and as I said, the
number one player in the state, his brother just happens
to be one of the best offensive linemen for the
University of Texas. Coming up in the next segment will
continue the conversations as coach start talks a little bit
about Texas recruiting, and we get to hear a motivational
speech from one Vic Schaeffer. You don't want to miss

(22:07):
it right here on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred the Zone. Normally on Thursday we would
have our guy Eric Henry of Horns twenty four to seven.
We're giving him the week off. He'll be back next
week to fill us in on all things that happened
at SEC.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Spring meetings.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Coming up at the top of the hour, we will
have coach Schlasnagel Jim Slasnegel, head baseball coach of the
University of Texas and explaining everything that's happening as the
Austin Regional starts tomorrow. Texas plays Houston Christian at one o'clock.
But there was some damage to the left field wall.
There is a lot of videos and images of that wall.

(22:52):
We'll get the latest update from Coach Slasnagel on everything
that's being done to fix that. But right now I
want you to hear from coach Sark, and Coach Sark
we heard a little bit of it yesterday. We're gonna
hear a little bit more today and we'll also hear
from Vig Schaefer and Coach Sark obviously has had success

(23:12):
over the last couple seasons. After when he first got
to the University of Texas, wasn't a winning season, won
a bunch of games in year two, and then taking
he has taken his team to back to back College
Football Playoffs, even in the expanded version. Coach Sark took
Texas back to it as the only team that was

(23:34):
able to get back into the College Football Playoffs, and
Coach Sark was asked about the playoffs, what's the expectations
and should it be sixteen teams?

Speaker 10 (23:44):
I think, you know, I've lived this life going all
the way back to the early two thousands, right when
I was an assistant coach at USC and we didn't
have a playoff, and I think that there was. I
remember a year at SC we had a great football

(24:05):
team and the way the computers spit it out in
the end, I think LSU might have played Oklahoma and
we played Michigan and the Rose Bowl, and I think
there was split champions that year. I think it was
US and LSU were split champions. And then we grew
into a two team playoff, and we grew into a
fourteen playoff and now we've grown into where we're at today.

(24:28):
And I think at the end of the day, we
all just want to put the best teams to have
an opportunity to compete for a championship. And now more
than ever, you know the length of the season. You know,
last year we played sixteen games, and that was just
to get to the semi finals. We would have been
seventeen right to win a championship. And so the idea

(24:52):
I think we've all got to wrap our brain around.
I don't know if we'll ever see an undefeated national
champion again. If we do, that's a really good team
because it's just so difficult. And it's not so it's difficult, yes,
because of the quality of the opponents you play, but
it's so difficult to stay healthy that long. I mean,
you're gonna have teams in years like we had last

(25:14):
year where you lose your starting quarterback and how do
you respond to your quarterback being down and you lose
both your left tackles that happened to us last year,
or your left tackle.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Then you're right tackling.

Speaker 10 (25:24):
Do you have the depth to endure and so I
think you're gonna see teams more and more now two losses,
three losses, maybe even four losses that get in not
very different than the nca baseball tournament. Of what that
looks like. I'd looked at Vanderbilt. I think is a
number one seed. There was a point in the season
they were eleven and ten, and now they're the number

(25:45):
one seed in the baseball tournament.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
And so I don't know.

Speaker 10 (25:50):
And we kind of saw it in basketball this year
with Florida and then when in the national this idea
of somebody's gonna go sixteen to oher in college football,
man put us statue up somewhere of that.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Team, because and think about that, think about the journey
on which this team has to go, like all teams,
the schedule of the SEC, the teams that you're gonna
end up having to play, the.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Strain of that.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
And he's right, do you think there will be an
undefeated team again that can win a national championship? I
don't think so. And if it is a setup where
he actually, in his heart of hearts, thinks, man, we're
going to kill him this year, then he's setting everybody up.
But I don't think so. I don't think he's setting

(26:39):
anybody up. I think he realizes that with the schedule
that they have playing in the SEC, everybody, somebody's gonna get.
Everybody's gonna get at least one loss. Well, not only that,
I think it's more of the transfer portal playing a
part of it. Everything. Team they're going to fix needs
get better. Oklahoma like their quarterback, I mean I got

(27:02):
a chance to watch him.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, he's impressive.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
He's not the quarterback that Texas face last year.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Right, This guy can throw it, man.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
And to see him make that team better means that
there will be a different result in how they play.
It may not be a different result in the end
of the game, but it's definitely gonna be a lot
better than it was last season. Yeah, And that's what
I believe everyone has been talking about is the changes

(27:31):
in the sport. It's the playing field is not a
big divide anymore. There's teams that have Now you're gonna
have increased in il, you're gonna have ways to make money,
You're gonna be able to get those top notch players.
We see it all the time with the transfer portal,
as is so for me looking at this and being

(27:52):
able to figure this change that is out there. That's
why these guys like Brandon Harris, that's why teams are
hiring gms to be able to run the organization while
the coaches go out there and are able to coach.
So it is. It is an interesting time. But one
of the things that I have to give Texas a

(28:12):
lot of credit for is being able to have home
grown talent. And what I mean by that is if
you go back and you think about the University of
Texas and the transfer portal, one of the biggest things
that coach Sark talked about.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
We need to get big humans. We have to be
able to.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Look sec and they've been able to not have to
go into the transfer portal to get offensive lineman in that.

Speaker 10 (28:44):
You know, we we've recruited pretty good here in the
last four years, and not just the old linement, a
lot of positions and other positions maybe not so well.
And you know, we've utilized the portal like a lot
of schools have to. You know, we haven't tried to
build our roster through the portal. We've tried to fill
needs in the portal, and we just haven't felt like

(29:07):
we've had those needs at the offensive line, We've recruited
it well. Coach Flood is a great teacher, he's a
great coach. We've got good continuity in that room. We've
got good leadership in that room. And so I think
one of the natural things I was asked this earlier.
People are gonna say we're gonna be a young football
team this fall. We're not necessarily young. We just got
some new faces, guys who have been in our program,

(29:29):
who have been who've been working on their craft, who
have been developing, and now it's their opportunity.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
They're not necessarily young.

Speaker 10 (29:35):
They see guys in their third and fourth years in
our program that now it's their time to compete and
to show what they're capable of doing. And part of
that for us is to live.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Through maybe some of the growing.

Speaker 10 (29:46):
Pains that we just don't have the continuity that we've
had the last couple of years. But there's still a
lot of good players that if we felt like they
weren't good enough, maybe we would have gone into the portal.
But we felt like we had more pressing needs that
we needed to address and that that room was gonna
be good enough for us to compete at a high level.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
That's awesome right there. And I love the fact that
he is given those kids that opportunity to develop, grow
up and be able to make sure that this is
you got the foundation, We're going to give you every
opportunity to make sure that you achieve at a high
level to be an offensive lineman here. So in baseball,

(30:25):
you would think that the guys that would have to
really study and really know what their craft is would
be a picture and a catcher like because there's so
many variables and people coming up and knowing what each
individual on the team's strength and weaknesses. Right. Yeah, So
that's what it is with the quarterback and the offensive line.

(30:45):
You have to know every variable, every play that you
come in, every formation, and if you see a defense
and you can convert your defense in a quarterback and
say no, no, no, let's move into this on the fly,
you're winning. Yeah, that's just the way it is. You
have to be taught that for a couple of years.

(31:09):
So bringing in an offensive lineman just because he's good
at Colorado or Alabama is not going to make you
a good offensive line. It could actually make you worse
because that guy won't know.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
The calls right.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
You got to be kind of dolled in and make
sure that you understand what's going on. And for Texas
to be able to win, they got to win at
a high level. They got to make sure that they
have the right people. And speaking of the right people,
when you come to the University of Texas, you know
what is asked of you, you know what is expected,
and you know what needs to be achieved. And the

(31:45):
one person that truly understands it is one Vic Schaeffer.

Speaker 5 (31:50):
I go back to that second year, we go to
the Elite eight. We finished fifth in the country. We're
twenty nine and seven. I'm at a head coaches meeting.
There's twenty head coaches in there, and I look around
the table. Ten played for the national championship. For one
the national championship. I finished fifth in the country and

(32:11):
was in the Elite eight. And I'm not even in
the top half of the coaches and the programs at Texas.
But that's what Texas is, you know, And so that's
what you sign up for when you go there.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
That's what you know you're signing up for.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
And every coach understands that, and that is what we've
been able to see from all the coaches here that's
so good at the University of Texas. That just goes
to show you elite likes elite, and when you can
be elite, think good things happen. And that's what's happening
here on the forty acres. Coming up next, we'll continue
the conversations. There's a top ten of five star quarterbacks

(32:52):
and I want you to hear who they are and
see where you rank them. I think I know where
one of them will be for you right here on
the morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
Marcus does such a good job of leading you right
in to the things that you need to know.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
And what you need to know is today is your day.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
You get a chance to win a pair of tickets
to go see Dirk's Bentley tonight at the Moody Center.
All you got to do is get over to that
new and improved iHeartRadio app, search the one that's got
the preset of AM thirteen hundred The Zone, tap that
red microphone.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
And leave the keyword burning.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Burning is the keyword of the day for you to
get a chance to win a pair of tickets to
go see Dirk's Bentley tonight at the Moody Center. Coming up,
in the next segment, we'll have coach Jim Slasnagle preview
in the Austin Regional as his team will be hosting
this weekend starting tomorrow. Texas will throw the first pitch

(33:57):
at one pm tomorrow at dish falk Field and we'll
talk to coach Slass about all that. And there was
a storm that came through and I hope everybody's okay.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Some of that was awful, awful storm, but.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
We did get a chance to see that the baseball
field was a little torn up in left field. So
we'll find out from coach Slass what is going on.
But the Athletic did an article the other day on
ranking the top ten all time five star quarterbacks all time,

(34:34):
all time, all time, and I'm gonna start at number
ten and then we'll go from there. Okay, at number ten,
they came in with Caleb Williams. Obviously, Caleb Williams what
he was able to do at Oklahoma changed the dynamic
of that football team when he replaced Spencer Rattler in

(34:54):
the game against Texas, and the rest was history. He
ends up leaving going to US see Heisman Trophy winner
all that. How do you feel about that? I feel good.
I feel good about Caleb. I'm a big fan, Okay.
Coming in at number nine, Justin Fields. Justin Fields went
to the University of Georgia right out of high school.

(35:16):
Things got a little hectic. He was there for both
football and baseball. Ends up leaving going to Ohio State.
But Georgia did have a five star quarterback in Justin Fields.
Didn't get a chance to really play. They played against Texas.
They put him in on punt not punt block, but

(35:36):
punt coverage where he was the upback, Like we didn't
know you were about to run effect play when you
put him in in that particular position. He ends up
leaving right after that, coming in at number eight. Bryce
Young twenty twenty. Obviously, Bryce Young became a Heisman Trophy winner,
went on that had unbelievable time at Alabama and we

(36:00):
got a chance to see him play against Texas multiple
times and Texas kind of controlled the game against them.
But it is what it is, and now Bryce Young
is at number eight. Coming in at number seven was
too Attackabaloa twenty seventeen. I was at the national championship
game where Tua came off the bench and threw the

(36:21):
game winning touchdown to another freshman in Devonte Smith, and
Tua went on to have a.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
I'm not gonna call.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
It tumultuous, but he had some problems because of concussions
when and he broke his hip and did all kinds
of things at Alabama, so that changed it. But he
comes in at number seven. Number six Kyler Murray went
to Texas A and M before transferring to Oklahoma and
the rest. Obviously, Heisman Trophy winner, Big twelve title, being

(36:52):
able to do what he was able to do. But
the thing was, there was a glimpse that he might
have come to Texas when he held up the jersey,
but he decided he was just messing with us. Number
five Trevor Lawrence. We know what he was able to
do at Clemson. Unbelievable player in college. Number four Jameis Winston.
Jameis Winston, also a baseball player, went to college at

(37:16):
Florida State, won a national championship. I got it coming
in at number three. Cam Newton. Cam Newton came to
Florida in two thousand and seven. Well, they had another
quarterback that was on that team, and Cam ends up
going to Blend Junior college, transferring to Auburn Texas team

(37:36):
to a national championship, and he also wins a Heisman
trophy coming in at number two. Vy Vy came in
at number two and number one was Tim Tebow. Now
I understand folks here at the University of Texas will
gladly flip the script on that one. Have Vy at

(38:00):
number one and have Tim Tebow at number two. But
it's up for debate. It's up for debate. But Tebow
one two?

Speaker 6 (38:08):
Right?

Speaker 1 (38:10):
He won two Natties or two Heismen. No, he won
two Natties. Only one person has ever won two Heismans.
So he won two Natties and one Heisman. I Ben
should have won the Heisman. I give him the Heisman,
So you know it's a push. I don't have to
go TIBO ought to be one A, one B. Yeah, Okay,
we'll ask coach Slapsnagle who he thinks he'll be, Like, what,

(38:33):
I got a baseball game to think.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
About coming up next?

Speaker 1 (38:36):
The head coach of the Texas Longhorns, Jim Slasnagel, gets
ready for the Austin Regional and we'll talk about the
season and the expectations of this weekend right here on
the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
Welcome back to our number two of the morning Kickoff
right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

(38:57):
We talked okayc and SGA the MVP as they advanced
to the finals. We also heard from coach Miller, Coach Sark,
and coach Vic and now we get a chance to
hear from the Texas Baseball coach Jim Sloasnagel and coach
I know this is a busy weekend for you, but
more importantly, how's the field right now?

Speaker 6 (39:22):
Well, good morning, guys, appreciate you having me on. I'm
not quite there yet, but as it was about eleven
o'clock last night, they were in the process of taking
down the damaged fence that got hit up during the
storm and we're gonna have to come up with a
temporary solution to get us to the weekend. So it's
amazing how many people at Texas or we're audit within

(39:43):
fifteen twenty minutes of it happening. And I know they're
working around the o'clock to have it ready for tomorrow.
It's going to affect the practices a little bit today,
but we should be ready to go tomorrow one o'clock.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
I know a lot of folks are excited about that
and been kind of monitoring the situation.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
But let's get back to the brass text.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
And you made a comment that that kind of stuck
with me a little bit on Monday, and I was
there for the celebration and the announcement of the tournament
and being the host of the teams that are coming in.
But you said, don't take this stuff for granted. I
understand the standard is the standard, but don't take this

(40:24):
kind of thing for granted. Can you elaborate a little
bit more for our listeners.

Speaker 6 (40:30):
Yeah, I mean I think it's just super hard to
make the NCAA tournament. It really is. You have that
with three hundred teams in Division one baseball, certainly you
have different levels of commitment. But since COVID, you know,
the college baseball, this is the golden age of college baseball.
There's only a twenty round draft, you have nil More

(40:53):
and more great players are staying in college, and more
and more great players would come to college, which makes
the talent level teams equal out. And obviously you have
the coaches. There's more money invested in coaching, and there's
not not not too many games where you know you're
playing somebody that's poorly coached. So uh, and then and
then you throw in the n CC and you see

(41:14):
how with a couple of injuries and uh, if kids
start feeling, you know, less confident, the season can snowball
on you, like old Mississippi state teams that won national
championships did make the SEC Tournament the year before. Uh,
and you look at what happened in you know, college
station this year. Is that's that can happen to anybody.
I mean it truly can. I don't care what kind

(41:36):
of coach you have, So I never take it for
granted because I've had to sit there and watch wherever
I was coaching, you know, the name not pop up,
and that's a miserable feeling. So the standard is the standard.
But I'm certainly thankful to still be playing the summer.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Year because I'm glad you said that there was a
study that went on and said that the college basketball
was better now because kids were staying in college longer.
Is that the same for baseball? Are there more guys
that are really talented staying in college baseball because going

(42:16):
to the pros and getting in the minor league system
is not conducive since they're making money and have the nil.

Speaker 6 (42:26):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's first of all,
it's just it's just there's not that many jobs. So
you had post COVID, major League Baseball was already trying
to contract their minor league teams and try to be
more efficient in their development, spent spend more money on
fewer players, if you understand what I'm saying, And and
so COVID basically gave them the excuse to and it

(42:49):
was real. I shouldn't say excuse it gave them and
get another reason to reduce the number of minor league teams.
So now you have, you know, major league organizations that
have significantly fewer on the teams. Therefore there's fewer jobs
for people to go play in, which naturally is going
to keep people in college or send guys to or
send guys to college. And then just the commitment at

(43:11):
the upper level of Division one baseball too, facilities and
nutrition and player development and recovery, you know, that's those
are things you don't find until you get to the
big league. And so obviously I have my own opinions,
but I think the fastest route to the big league
is to be a college player. And you're seeing the
elite SEC college player make it to the big leagues

(43:34):
now in less than twelve months, sometimes eighteen months. And
that's what we sell, and that's why everybody has a
great team. He had the transfer portal. Everybody wants to
play in the SEC, so every single team is super talented,
no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
We're talking to Texas baseball coach Jim Slasnegel as they
get ready for the Austin Regional as they get ready
to host Houston Christian uts in Kansas State and coach,
going up against Houston Christian, this is a team that
you saw earlier in the season. You also got a
chance to play against UTSA and you've had history with

(44:13):
Kansas State. Tell us a little bit about the teams
and the expectations of the weekend.

Speaker 6 (44:20):
Yeah, yeah, it's certainly going to be great baseball. You
got to have a Houston Christian team where the coach
has just done a phenomenal job of flipping around the program.
They played super clean baseball, Friday night starters had a
lot of success. He's a senior. Anytime you face a
senior pitcher and that's been an All conference pitcher and

(44:41):
All Conference player, that tells you he's stuck and he's
not going to get spooked by the moment. I'm assuming
that that's who's Parker Edwards's pitching for Houston Christian and
they've had a great year, won their tournament, so they're
a good team and the hot team. And then you
have UTSA and k State. UTSA has won forty four games.
Older team, really good pitching, dynamic offense can beat you

(45:06):
in a lot of different ways. Have a couple of
the better players in the state of Texas on their team,
and their coach really does a good job. It's creating
an incredible persona and in case State, who I haven't
seen play in person, but I know the kind of
teams that Pgu's puts together to do what they've done
at Kansas State, competing for Big twelve championships without you know,

(45:28):
great weather. They're building facilities, but you you know Pete's
from the northeast he's got a New England toughness about
him and that's how his teams play h And so
it's going to be, you know, the regional is truly
up for grabs and we're gonna have to play well
to win.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Coach out, you said that they have construction going on
at the stay Um and how you practice is going
to be affected by that. How would a practice go
one with people working on the back wall. Yeah, and
to like trying to keep your team primed and ready
for the competition.

Speaker 6 (46:08):
Yeah, So the teams will be able to get ground
balls and kind of do defensive work stuff that maybe
doesn't include the outfield, and then they'll just have to
take their batting practice in the batting cages, which which
most coaches are completely fine with. I've been a plenty
of regionals where the practice day just gets rained out
and you don't even get to practice. So we've we've

(46:31):
also provided them. Coach Blair at west Lake has been
gracious to if there is a team that wants to
get out on the field and take live VP and
they can do that or were there so thankful for
coach over at west Lake and in terms of having
our team ready, our guys are ready. You know, they're
chomping us a bit. We've challenged them all week to

(46:51):
get better in certain areas of our both individually and
as a team. And I can promise you we're all
tired to look at each other ready to play somebody
else that you.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Say that because I did a hit with k V
yesterday and I talked about a couple of guys that
we expect.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
To see a lot from.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Obviously, Jalen Flores is somebody that is a former All
American and and his clutch when clutch is needed from him.
So I'm hopeful that he and Ryland Galvan will we'll
we'll step up to the challenge. But I wanted to
get the latest on Max Ballue and what's his status.

Speaker 6 (47:29):
Yeah, he's all good to go. Yeah, he played, He's
played in every inning of every game since, uh, since
he came back. I think he's getting more and more
confident in that in that thumb and getting his timing
down and hopefully, uh, you know, he can have a
big weekend. He certainly a guy that can change the
game with one swing.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
Yeah, definitely one of the guys that you're gonna need
to have step up at the plate as well. But
let's get to the pitching rotation. Obviously, you got to
get Game one first. And so are we going with
Ruger or are we going with Luke?

Speaker 6 (48:01):
Well, it's kind of like Christmas morning, buddy, you're gonna
have to wait till.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Tomorrow, coach. Can we get a birthday president a little bit?
I mean a Christmas president early?

Speaker 6 (48:15):
No, we don't. I'm not one of those households where
you get to do stuff on Christmas Eve. Man, you
gotta wait till Santa come and what and you gotta
go to bed. You can't be peeking around the corner.
You have to wait till Christmas morning, so you know bed. Yeah, yeah,
Now we'll uh, you know, we'll figure it out later today.

(48:36):
We're still trying to you know, we got to figure
out how the best you know, play against the Duster Christians,
but also when you know, give us the best chance
to win the regional and I think, uh, we're still
trying to play that out. We've got we're still doing
a lot of work on case state at the moment
to figure out if we play them, what the best
matchup is.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
All right, and then I'm gonna let you go with
this obviously being at the University of Tech, is uh
the expectations and as we talked about the standards as
the standard, is there anything you would like to say
to coach White as they get ready to go for
the quest for a national championship.

Speaker 6 (49:14):
Yeah, man, send some magic across the street. Brother. That's
it's incredible what he's the consistency that he's had in
his career. And Texas softball fat uh the middle game
of the Super Regional. That's actually the first college softball
game that I've ever been to more than one inning.
I think I went to a couple of innings of
one in A and M. We didn't have softball TCU,

(49:35):
so uh, so I stood down the line for all
eleven innings of that middle game or tendings whatever it was.
And man, what an exciting sport and that the ladies are.
They're so crazy tallended. So we will have we will
we practice at ten this morning, but we will have that. Uh,
we'll have that game on in the locker room and
around the office and rooting on the longlords.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
That's awesome, man, I'm sure that he's returning the face
towards your way and last but not least. What are
you ordering over at Starbucks? Because we didn't hurt everybody
else's order, But you're I know, I'm sorry.

Speaker 6 (50:08):
I'm so glad. Yeah, I made a bad choice.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
Take coach.

Speaker 6 (50:14):
Yeah, I'm out of Starbucks on the last day at school,
right across from the school. So it's like literally every
kid and bad life choice. But I'm getting my ice
sponsor this morning.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
All right, there he is.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
I'll be making sure all right to check in on you.
Appreciate you man.

Speaker 6 (50:34):
Sorry, guys, yeah, you're good.

Speaker 5 (50:37):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
There he is coach Jim Slasneggel, and they get ready
for their big matchup. Coming up next, We got the
lifetime Longhorned legend, my guy Kirk Dressendor for coming up
next right here on the morning kickoff on sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred The Zone. He is a three time
All American and All Southwest Conference pitcher. He posted forty

(51:02):
five wins in what better way than having a legend
in the locker room On this day, Kirk dressing Door
first struck out eleven to help Texas get to its
twenty fifth College World Series, and we are welcomed by

(51:23):
my guy Kirk dressing Door for Kirk.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
How you doing, buddy, I'm doing great.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
How you guys doing well. We're excited to have you on,
especially you know, obviously our guy Chris Bennett CB posted
that on this day in nineteen eighty nine. By the way,
I was at that game where you struck out eleven
to help Texas get his twenty fifth College World Series

(51:50):
birth and you just recently was enshrined in the Southwest
Conference Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Man, I'm so proud of you, dude. You just don't
even know.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
Nah, I appreciate it, and you know, yeah, it seems
like yesterday, but hard to believe that was like thirty
six years ago.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Time flies when you're having fun. Hey, I was always told,
once a champion, always a champion, no matter how much
time goes by. No, it's it's nice that.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
Has a great day, great memory, and you know, kind
of a tone for the year before.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
We didn't make it, so you know.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
Hopefully, hopefully I'll give a little good luck for the
fellows this year getting in there.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
Well. I like locker room moments, and I'm glad to
have you on the legits of the locker room. Like
give us a locker room moment related to that game
and how do you feel about the state of the
union in baseball college baseball today?

Speaker 3 (52:53):
You know, a memory from that game, I think, you know,
just like every I guess top seed and coaching decision
that goes into these regionals, you know, you always have
to make that big decision because you're usually paired up
with a one and a four. It's like who do
you who do you match up with? And do you
do you do you go with your your ace and

(53:13):
in a one and four matchup? Or do you try
to hold people back and and and get you know,
wait for the next round. So we had to you know,
that year ended up getting a NOD a few days
before against that same New Orleans team, and you know
they had a losing record, didn't you know, kind of
won their conference tournament and got into it late.

Speaker 1 (53:33):
But you know, you got to win them one at
a time.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
And you know, I ended up pitching the first game
of that series against New Orleans and then got them
again in the championship and they were like our four seeds.
So you never know what can happen in these tournaments
to get a team that's hot, throw off the records
and everything else on paper because you got to go
win them one at a time.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
So we got in a dogfight that first game.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
And ended up we were sitting getting no hit going
into the seventh eighth inning and it was we ended
up pulling it out two to nothing. But uh, you know,
things could have could have could have been you know,
a whole different course if we hadn't got that first win.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
So that was a that was a big one.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
You know, New Orleans was a tough you know, good
program still is, and uh, you know, it's nice to
get those wins, and you know, as far as the
state of baseball now, it's definitely you know, you guys
know college athletics is a different game these days and
when you know, back in our day.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
But you know, I'm I'm so proud of you know.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
I I love watching these guys compete, and I think
getting coach lost coming over and uh, you know, getting
them ready to battle through the sec I mean, you
can't let down for a minute or you know you're
gonna you get swept in real quick hurry. And uh,
you know, I think they've just come in with that
mindset from day one and uh carried it through, no.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Doubt we're talking to Kirk dressing door.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
For and dressed. You know, you talk about competing and
getting guys on the Texas has been able to do
that week in and week out, and you start to
think about the injuries that they went through, next man up, mentality,
piecing some things together. And I've seen you out there
and kind of with you and I always have our

(55:17):
little conversations about the game. But one of the things
that I've always thought about is if your pitching shows up,
you got a chance. And I'm not just saying that
just because I'm talking to one of the best pitchers
in the game, but in the reality of it, you
got to have great starting pitching to be able to

(55:37):
compete at this level. There's no doubt, Harge.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
And you know, losing you know, Spencer to the injury,
and I hope he's doing well and he'll's quickly. You
know that that leaves a big hole and going without
Blue for a while. The same way on the offensive side.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
But you're right. I mean I watch a lot of
SEC baseball.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
I watched the tournament and the gosh, you know, the
entire the guys they run out there, the depth they have,
and just the talent, you're right with the starting pitching
that can go deep into games and set up their
bullpen really set up, you know, not not just one game,
but the entire series is very impressive. So I've I've

(56:19):
I've really enjoyed watching, you know, And and it has
to happen every year when you sometimes exceed expectations, You've
got to get a little more out of guys that
you may have not have counted on and in the
as big roles as they're being pushed into. Uh, you know,
Valantis just you know started off hot and has stayed

(56:39):
that way. You know, that's a freshman who's stepped up,
and you know, you get one guy goes down, and
especially your ace, you know that means you know, it's
a whole different ball game, as you know, going from
you know, Saturday Sunday starter to the Friday guy. You
know where you're going ace versus ace, and really one one,
you know, a loss is almost like.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
Two losses in that situation.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
And h you know, because not only are you supposed
to get a win against their best guy, you're you're
also supposed to save your bullpen.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
So there's a lot of pressure. And I've really been
impressed how everybody has.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
Been able to kind of go out there and stay
within themselves, not do true, you know, And a lot
of credit goes to Max Wiener and coach Loss and
that the coaching staff to keep these guys, uh, you know,
keep their minds right and and not just try to
go do too much, stay within themselves, no doubt, Kerk.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
I wanted to ask you too, because a lot of
people always try to make.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
Make a lot out of the SEC tournament, the Big
twelve Tournament, or back in your day, the Southwest Conference
tournament if the team has already been playing well and
earned that right. Obviously, you want to win championships, but
a regular season championship is just as good as an
SEC or a Big twelve tournament championship because you get

(58:00):
a chance to line up your pitching, you get guys rested.
But this is the time that everybody that plays college athletics,
this is the time that you really want to try
to get after it. Oh, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
And you're right, I mean, you want to win every game,
but I think from a priority standpoint, it's the conference season.
The conference tournament, you know, I mean, conference tournament is
just kind of a nice showcase.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
In some some regards. And you know when when I
was playing, we we did the same thing.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
We were already you know, predetermined by the time you
win your own conference during the regular season, you're already
you're already you know, hosting, and you already know where
you're sitting. So really what you're using the tournament do
is stay, stay, you know, keep that competitive edge, line
up your pitching, like you said, go get your work in.
But it wasn't when it all costs unless you were

(58:52):
playing to get into a to a regional Uh So.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
That was kind of how we approach you.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
I mean, we were fortunate we won two out of
three conference tournaments when I was at that Texas But
it was fun baseball to me because you know, you're
already taking care of business during your conference season. That
conference tournament was just fun. Baseball.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Wasn't as much you know, do or die type of
pressure on you.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Well unless unless you know, coach Gustison wanted something out
of you, he wouldn't act.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
That was the pressure of the tournament, was Coach Gustason
getting everybody fired up. Man as always, we love catching
up with you.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
I'm so proud of you.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
Congratulations on the long overdue moment of being inducted into
the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
Man, So proud of you, Bro, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (59:44):
Appreciate you, guys. Thank you having me on.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
All right, I'll talk to you soon and I'll see
you at the dish.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
Bro, all right, good, you can't care there. He is
a Hall of Famer. My guy, Kirk Dressendor. For one
of the reasons I wanted to come to the University
of Texas was the.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
Guy right there. When we come back, we've got the.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
World's strongest man bringing you his world's strongest take right
here on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred bazol.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
That's what he does. He brings you his world's strongest take.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
W W Hall of Famer and the world's strongest Man
Dve Mark Henry brings you his world's strongest take. Take
it away, big fellow hard Yes you know the time,
Thomas fifth time for the world's strongest take by the
world's strongest man, Marcus. Back then they didn't know me.

(01:00:40):
Now I'm hot, They're all on me. Guys.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
Last night, the Oklahoma City.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
For twenty one turnovers in their win taking them to
the NBA Championships Series. And yes, Shay Gildris Alexander was him.
He got to stand up there with the microphone, get

(01:01:11):
the award, and he be the one that handed it
to his teammates. So that means that you are the leader.
You are the edge of the sword, You're the tip
of the spear. But I have to say this, and
this is my take. The reason that I have and

(01:01:32):
I'm holding up this box of doughnuts is because.

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
I'll pick off my bed.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Let me finish. The reason that I got to hold
that box up like Shae had got to hold up
his title is because of the bed that I made.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
That this defense was so intense.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
That ball down, how many players were not gonna succeed
against it. Everybody that they the Oklahoma City under his
face has to realize when you get the ball, you
have to shoot. You have to already be in position
to shoot, because if you put it on the ground,
they're gonna send two and they're fast enough to get

(01:02:22):
back to their man. They couldn't wait for Anthony Edwards
to get the ball because they knew that he was
gonna try to dribble first. Julius Randall. His skills said
is he spins one way and spins the other way.
They couldn't wait for him to get the ball, which

(01:02:44):
led to the twenty one turnovers in the game that
led most of those turnovers led the two points R three.
It was impossible for Minnesota to win with the press
sure that the defensive pressure that they put on Anthony
ed Wasson, Julius Randall. Now I'm gonna say this and

(01:03:09):
I'm gonna say it with my chess. The reason that
they won the series was not just because of Shaye's greatness,
because they they mentioned Alex Caruso's name as much as
they mentioned Shaye's name because of the defensive pressure, and

(01:03:30):
they assigned him to whoever was the most ball dominant guy,
and he stripped the ball away from him every game
in this playoffs, Caruso had two steals and then the
rest of the guys they follow suit. It's like it's
like the blood in the water with sharks. They used

(01:03:52):
in the in the telecast last night, the words suffocating
multiple times. They call these guys as defensive demons and
Adams Caruso was a catalyst for the Force fumbles, so
Force fumbles, the force turnovers. So my take is that

(01:04:15):
the Oklahoma City could be the best defensive pressure team
since the Detroit Pistons. What's say you? Why the Detroit Pistons.
Oh yeah, I mean Rodman, Isaiah du Mars, Vinnie Johnson.

(01:04:38):
I mean, they're a good basketball team and they're very solid.
They will probably end up winning the NBA Championship. But
as far as saying that they're like, they're not. They're
not dominant, They're not that physical that that Indiana I
mean not Indiana, but that Detroit Pistons team was on
a whole nother level defense. They did it with physicality.

(01:05:01):
This team is doing it with tenacity, and they do
a lot of Yeah, they do a lot of health defense,
and they on their deep they they like I said,
they played fourteen guys last night on their on their
way to destroying the the Minnesota Timberwolves. But he hasn't

(01:05:21):
got to play because of garbage minutes. Well, but they
I mean, but they got to play a lot of minutes. Yeah,
they didn't let them. They didn't have to let them play.
But the one thing that I agree with you with
is this defense. There's no quit in them. Alex Caruso
has always been a defensive stopper.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
I mean that's just who he is.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
He's been able to guard the post, he's been able
to guard the wing, he's been able to guard the.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Punk, the point. I mean he is. That's his that's
his calling card. That is there.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
So for me, you start looking at who the difference.
Lou Dort is somebody that has always been a very
very physical guard. I saw I saw Stephen A. Smith
bring this up last night. He was talking about how
Julius Randall and Anthony Edwards were trying to move lou

(01:06:20):
Dort and they couldn't because he's a big, barrel chested dude.
That makes it very difficult for you to move him about.
So I look at this team. They're special. They've been
good all season. That's why there have been the best
team in the NBA. They got the MVP on their side.
But they also have to be able to be more

(01:06:42):
consistent moving forward because next week it looks like they
are going to be taking on the Indiana Pacers and
the ball over and they play solid basketball as well,
So it is going to be a very very special

(01:07:02):
moment when they get that that moment to do so,
so I'm excited about it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
But most importantly, they are playing for a NBA championship and.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
I had to pay my penn.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
Yeah, go ahead and give everybody your truth, everybody body
your trophy. Mark. You didn't even show the donut. Look
at that. Look at that, guys, Look at that. Man.

Speaker 2 (01:07:31):
We're gonna close out the show and send you sir Patrick.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
But coming up next we're go to talk softball baseball
and did they get that fence figured out in left field?
We'll talk about it and give you an update right
now on the Morning Kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone. Welcome back to the Morning Kickoff, and
if you missed any part of the show, get over

(01:07:55):
to our podcast page wherever you get your podcast. But
of course we always want you to be part of
the iHeart family, so get over there and download that
iHeartRadio app so you can listen to coach Slopsnagle as
he went through the preparations that are going on. For
those that missed it, we will have that up on

(01:08:15):
the podcast page here in just a minute. But we
also talked to him about the softball not softball We
did talk to him about softball because that's coming up next,
but we also talked to him about left field and
the fact that that wall was tore up last night
because of the bad weather and it was rough and
they got a lot of work that they're starting to

(01:08:37):
already pull over. And yeah, but everybody on here has
been talking about the baseball game and every time I
look up, they're like, what's the update on the field. Well,
they're working on it, so we will know more a
little bit later. But coach did say that they plan
on playing the game tomorrow, so don't don't worry about that.

(01:08:58):
Tickets have already gone on sale. If you hadn't got
a ticket yet, you can pick up your tickets. Go
over to Texas Longhorns dot com and get on that
ticket page where you can get your tickets for the weekend.
Also Texas Softball. They will play at eleven o'clock this morning.
First pitch is at eleven am, but it starts at

(01:09:19):
ten forty five right here with Andrew Hayes. Andrew Haynes
will be on the call, so you can hear Andrew
do his pregame at ten forty five right here on
Sports Radio Am thirteen hundred The Zone. We also touched
on the fact that Mark's take was about ok se
OKC has now advanced to the NBA Finals. They will

(01:09:45):
take on the winner of New York and Indiana. Indiana
has a three game, three to one lead on the
New York Knicks, but they're back in New York tonight, Mark,
what are you thinking about in tonight's basketball game? Where
do New York people go for vacation? They go to Florida, right, yeah,
nowhere most of them. Yeah, Yeah, they'll be in Orlando.

(01:10:07):
They'll be in Miami real soon, right because I see
Indian Indiana going in there and handling their business. You know,
like this team is going to be down. I know
they got a lot of fight in them, but they
just don't have the tools. And if they start Robinson again,

(01:10:30):
horrible mistake and coaching harble mistake, going to start Towns
at center and bring Josh Hart, Josh Hart back in. Yeah,
because I'm just saying that this has been it's been
an interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
U n c A NBA tournament. And right now, let
me ask you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:52):
This, because Jalen Brunson has been really really banged up
through our this time. He has been carrying this team
to this through the playoffs. Is he running out of gas?
I think he's running out of gas. And he does

(01:11:13):
not have the goon squad Miter Robinson, softest tissue paper.
He can't do it called Anthony Towns. He thinks he's
a guard. Who is the guy that's like, Oh, you're
gonna hit my guard? Who's the Draymond Green of New York.

(01:11:33):
They don't have it. You can't win. Can't win with that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
Yeah, you're not gonna win. You're gonna have some good games.

Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
The sun gonna shine on your rear end just a
little while, but the light gonna go out as soon
as the clouds come, and the clouds come in big
dudes that want to inflict paining on He's going to
the ground almost every time. What do they say in football?
Where do you get hurt when you go to the ground?
So they got to do a better job retooling. They

(01:12:07):
have a really good Texas Longhorn on that team, really good.
He's his whole career. He's been a kind of an enforcer.
Played two minutes in the last game. Two minutes you're
talking about PJ Tucker. Yeah, I know he's older, but

(01:12:28):
you got he got six files. TJ is already back
in AUSTINJ is already. PJ is like, man, man, Yeah,
I just want to say where my shoes at. I'm
gonna hook him up. I'm gonna hook him up with
some with some real nice kicks. Yeah, I'm gonna introduce

(01:12:49):
him to a guy.

Speaker 2 (01:12:50):
And you know, I'm just like.

Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
He But I'm just wondering, why not throw him out
there just for.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Laughs.

Speaker 1 (01:12:59):
Well, he's definitely gonna be physical, but you know, the
reality of the situation is it's the series is over.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
It is you gotta win three games and singing.

Speaker 1 (01:13:11):
Yeah, that's the big lady. Yeah, you know we have
to say big lady. Now. You know it's against the rules,
the body shame, the ladies singing and flower bringing. That's
what's happening right now.

Speaker 2 (01:13:30):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 1 (01:13:31):
Sorry, Nick, Yeah, I don't mean to hit y'all where
it hurts, but it's time for y'all to pack y'all
stuff and get down to Orlando. It's Disney time. They
are definitely they're not going for Universal. They're not going
as the winners. Let's they're going to Universal. Yeah, they're
not getting their opportunities taking care of two. But I

(01:13:53):
start to look at this and I say, all right,
it's kind of like the Timberwolves. What are the Timberwolves
going to need to do to get over the hump toughness?
And they need somebody that can take the ball out
of Anthony Edward's hand and get him the ball on
back screens. They need to give him more scoring without

(01:14:14):
him handling the ball. And Conley is not the guy
who's the guard out there that's gonna be a free
agent that can get him the ball and dictate where
the team goes and put him in the best position
to be the best scorer he could be.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
Yeah, it is because the way he tried.

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
To score this game with the Oklahoma City set him up.
They play every time, they don't attack until you dribble,
and then they want to force you out of your dribble.

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
He's gonna have to learn to get the ball.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
Rich Hamilton shoot, He's gonna have to Kobe, get the post,
low post isolation, everybody spread out, go do your thing.
He's gonna have to do every other option to score
other than I'm gonna drip got down. I'm a dribblets
got down, and then the double team comes and you
got to pass the ball to somebody with three seconds
on the clot Yeah, I'm tired of it. Well, I

(01:15:08):
can't win like that, can't win with him. Yes, I
mean the whole thing about it is to me this
team as a whole. The Knicks, they had it, but
they depended upon one player way too much. Jalen bruns.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
Him up.

Speaker 1 (01:15:29):
He did everything he could possibly do to get you
to this point. But every once in a while you
need some other guys to step up. You got rid
of defense Enzo. You got rid of him. Another guy
that can knock down threes, Miles Bridges. I thought he
was gonna be it. The Center fed Oklahoma City. They

(01:15:52):
got rid of him. Which Hartenstein, Hartenstein, they needed him.
I would have got rid of Robinson over getting rid
of Hartenstein.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
Well, they're going over there hanging out with the whole
folks in Florida.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
That's like that episode of Jerry Siinfeld Batima.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
We're coming down.

Speaker 1 (01:16:14):
I want to thank Mark Hearing, I want to thank
coach Slasnego, I want to thank Marcus.

Speaker 2 (01:16:19):
And I want to thank you to people.

Speaker 1 (01:16:20):
As always, tell five friends, Tell five friends, because We
will be back tomorrow to give you all the stuff
from Texas Softball Preview, Texas Baseball, Texas Softball eleven AM
right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to zone,
and just remember this. Don't believe everything you see, because
even salt looks like sugar. Peace,