March 24, 2022 • 26 mins
KJ chops it up with one of the legends of March Madness, UCLA's Tyus Edney, about his game winning layup vs Missouri in the second round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament. Tyus shares his thoughts on the 2022 UCLA Bruins, the 1995 UCLA Bruins run to the National Championship, and why that team is the only team other than the Wooden era teams to hang a National Championship banner in Pauley Pavilion.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is kJ Live with Chris Johnson. Allen and Chris
is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
entertainment in a strain. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now
tuned in to kJ Live. Today's guest on the show
(00:26):
was the u c l A All America, responsible for
one of the greatest shots in the history of that
basketball program, also played in the NBA and overseas. We
have none other than Mr four point eight himself. Ti
Us Edney is in the building. Tie, is how you doing,
my man? What's going on? Oh? Everything? Man? It's Mark Madness.
(00:48):
Our Bruins are in Philly. We're in the sweet six.
T Let's talk about that. Man. How are you excited?
Are you excited during this time of the year, especially
for your team? I know that sounds like a dumb question,
but I need to hear you say it, my brother.
You know this time of year as well as I do,
is like, uh, you know, you get the US. It's
(01:10):
like it's no better time of the year, you know it? Yeah, man,
I mean it's like chills through my body. Man. But
when we watch our brains and and just how they
compete and the job that Mick Cronin has done. What
do you think? What does it mean? The grit is
what stands out the most for this team. You always
feel like they have a shot no matter what. Speak
a little bit about coach Cronin and about this year's team, Uh,
(01:33):
they're just you know, they had a little bit of
up some you know, it was different this year. They
had the target on their back this year. Last year
they kind of think snuck up on everyone. But this
year everybody knew. You know, they're all coming back. They're
gonna be good. Um and I think that you know, coach,
the staff, the guys really stepped up this year and uh,
you know, took on that challenge and now they're they're back.
(01:56):
They're back. In the conversation, you know, they had a
little drop, but um, as you can see, I feel
like they're healthy. Never they're healthy, they're gonna be in games.
Like you said, like they just have a toughness about
a grid. I think like Himie is is key for
them and that and and obviously Tiger and you know
those guys are just like steady, the steady ones, and
(02:17):
you know they're gonna be there and they're gonna be competing. Um,
and uh yeah, they're just fun to watch. I mean
I think I think everyone roots for him because they're
they're never out of it, you know what I mean,
Like in a way, Yeah, and they never stopped fighting. Um.
They just you know, no matter you know, how many
bad plays in the row have been, no matter how
(02:39):
many misshots we have or or how much frustration that
kind of takes you over as a fan watching, you
always have a feeling in the back of your head,
in the bottom of your heart, like, no, I gotta
keep rocking with these guys because you know they've they've
proven me wrong before and I don't know, I will
never not believe in this crew a game. And I
think that a lot of that has to do with
coach Cronin and his staff. I don't think they get
(03:01):
enough credit for for the attitude and the DNA that
they've sort of replaced and put back into this culture.
You know what I'm saying. It's a different it's a
different type of DNA. I mean, if you look at
you know, U c l A Men's basketball and Twitter
I G. And they show pictures from practice, you will
always see dudes with pads and you know, everything up
(03:21):
and I've noticed that the whole year tires every single post, Right,
you see a post, it's dude sweating, it's dude getting
beat up in the kind of finished through contact. I'm like,
bag coach Croner really got these dudes going. And he's
really I feel like he's a coach that coaches your
team so that they peek in March. And despite having
all these different ups and downs and weathering, it's some
(03:43):
storms and a lot of things that people don't even
talk about. Was that thing that happened on the plane, bro,
Like that whole plane situation, and that's scared that I
read about I read about I didn't I didn't even
know about that to a couple of weeks ago that
that's what happened on that plane. Bro. Yeah, I actually
found out later, like I heard about it and I'm
here in the office, so I heard, Yeah, they had
(04:05):
like some playing issues and then I talked you know,
Doug errickson that and I really felt that, like, man,
that was like frightening. I mean they were like, broy
the call the relatives and I mean it was bro, Bro, Bro,
that is that is That's right? And yeah, and to
keep these guys you know together, and to keep everybody
(04:26):
you know spirits up and on the same page despite
the injuries and things going on, you know, the situation
with Mac and Rrors. I mean, it's just all kinds
of stuff, man. And to be right here, it's a
very very exciting time. I cannot wait to watch him play.
But I got to talk about one of the most
exciting times of my entire basketball career, possibly of my
(04:46):
life outside of my children, obviously, was that day against Missouri.
We're in the sweet sixteen, or the round round, second round,
four four point they said used to go, we're down one.
I mean, I'm thinking about the game, paul O' Lenny.
He's got twenty three. He's giving whoever was on him buckets.
(05:08):
I'm not I'm not gonna say who was on him,
but he was, Yeah, somebody eight three that day. So
we were in a tough position. Tyson, will you please
take us through the four point eight Take us through
what your thought process was from the moment coach Herrick
drew up the play. Um, you remember it was we
(05:29):
we got out played. Man. We were like I was
getting torched. My sound like you said, Lenny was to man,
he dudes, oh, miss, It's like when are they gonna
start missing? You know exactly we used it. That was
usually that point in the game where we would kind
of take over and then you know, he'd be like,
all right, we got this. That just that wasn't coming.
I wasn't coming. I remember that last that that little
(05:53):
dump down lay up they got. Um it was that
was that walked back. You know, don't you could even
say what you and thinking about? Like, man, wait a minute,
I know you're probably looking at the scoreboard like is
that is that right? We really want to know what
I was thinking. You want to hear what I was thinking?
To us? Absolutely, I would ask you a question, bro,
(06:13):
bro bro, So so this is this is sad. This
is gonna sound like I was completely a horrible team
and and that I was not believing in us. But
this was at the time, so I was trying to
find a silver line. So the whole time and joined
after they hit that last layup, it kind of hit
me Bob Myers and Kevin Dempsey that this was probably
gonna be it. It was just too far away. So
(06:36):
we're thinking about life after losing this game. Now we
had we had already planned to go to Cobbo Saint
Lucas all right, because we didn't feel like, we didn't
feel like we were gonna make it. I'm just telling you, guys.
I know no one knows this, but we start said,
you know, I think tickets. I think tickets. I think
it was that bad. I was like, we're like no,
(06:57):
We're like, oh, this isn't gonna happen. So we were like,
so I kind of looked like the might have looked
at empty, like like they did look like, what come on?
You know, they made the shot. So we go. So
then and there's something in the basketball well Dempsey. Dempsey
was influencing me and Bob me I'm a champion, and
you know, I was coming off the crunch Shaw things.
So I was kind of falling into that because I
(07:18):
was salty because I hadn't been playing. I was being
wrongly negatively influenced by Bob Myers and Kevin Dempsey. I
wasn't being a great team man. I should have believed
in you to the very end. And I poured away,
and I think this is what happened. I pulled away.
I said, I'm not listening to you guys. Anymore, stopped
making a lot of this situation, and I put on
my twel's dog and I said, I'm putting all my
energy in the tires right now. Bro. That worked, Bro,
(07:49):
So that's what I was thinking. So tight. But Russ,
that's what I was thinking. As you guys were walking
to that should have been. That was a long walk
back to that huddle. It was like, uh man, and
you know Ed, Yeah, I don't know if you remember.
Ed was already in my ear on the way back,
you know, and started doing this and this chest ship
(08:12):
he give me. Coach just drew it up, man, He
just like you get it. Right before I went out,
he came. He was like you understand what I'm saying,
Like I want you to shoot the ball. And you know,
my mind was like, yeah, okay whatever. Coach like, all right,
all right, I'll find that. I'll get it to it
because that's what we did all year, right. It was
(08:34):
like the game will getting tight and we're like, where's
that find it? Romar Coach and be like, hey, just
throwing to it, We'll be all right. And I was
like I gotta find it. Yeah yeah, And so I
don't know, man, that you know, Cam. Well, you know,
Cam's point guard too, so we were just playing together
and just being in sync all year, and uh, he
(08:57):
gave me the perfect pass like on the run. I
don't know if you're remember that. Let you let you
on the outlets? Yeah, let me so I knew, you know,
that was the thing. Like, you know, my mind was
like I can't get stopped, Like nobody can stop me
or slow me down. So that's all that was my
My option number one was just get that thing to
the other side of the court as fast as I
can and then you know, maybe a quick pass for
(09:20):
a shot or you know, find a somewhere here. I
don't know, you know, So in a moment like that,
are you thinking about like as you get the ball,
are you thinking about as a high level athlete, are
you thinking about just what's in front of you? Or
is there ever was there ever a split second that
you might have replayed a situation and had a muscle
(09:42):
memory moment. What what tell me that it's it was
at that point? I mean, you're not even really thinking,
you know, it's you have you know, you remember we
do that drill or that three seconds where he makes
us go full court. You remember like just in the
end or free throw line of lay up or whatever,
and so you know, like I always took like you know,
(10:04):
in your mind, you've got enough time, like as long
it's like basically that that was no defense when you
did that, so you knew you had enough time to
get down there as long as you know, like you said,
I didn't get stopped. So that's all I was thinking.
I'm like, man, I can't let these dudes like trap
me or you know. So at that point, it's pure instinct.
It's just like I got one goal. I gotta get
this thing down the floor and that's it. That's so
(10:26):
that's why that was on my mind. And as I
was coming down, you know, instinct takes over because you're
you're you're just it's just surveying the situation quick reads.
You know. I noticed the um they were like funneling
me kind of to the sideline, and uh, and my
instinct was like I gotta you know, I always like
(10:47):
to get middle and get to my right to the
strong end. So it's not hard. Yeah, when I and
then I noticed when I went behind my back, then
they they were momentum just kind of they weren't expecting that,
and so that's when it kind of opened up. It
was like shoot, I got a lane to the basket.
So the finish, the finish, it was high degree of difficulty.
(11:11):
You had to you know, shaking up and down and
then kind of hook shot it. How did you develop
that finished? Bro, what's the story behind that? So? Um,
A little story sometimes I'll tell it, but I'll try
to be quick. Um. We put in our driveway in
Long Beach. We had a little basket. It was like
(11:32):
there's old school basket to be on a pole and
then like this one actually was a little wood and
it was kind of a real rim but it was
very small and so um we had a hook and
we would hook it on our garage and it would
call it little hoop. So we would play in the
in the in the in the driveway, me my brothers,
(11:52):
my buddies, like we would have like real games where
we be fighting, we be getting hurt. I mean out
there for two or three hours just going at it,
you know. And and the only rule was you couldn't
like jump and dunk over anybody because it would break
the it would break the it was like a rain catch.
We'd hold it put it on the rain catch so
(12:14):
it would break that and then we'd be done. We
wouldn't be able to play anymore. So the only rule
was you couldn't jump and like dunk over anybody on
the little rim or else the whole thing. You could
dunk if you're in front of in front of somebody,
but not over. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
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(12:35):
Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
So what you had, what we all did is like
we learned how to like get shots off with like
people just standing with their arms up because you know,
if you put your arms up there, y're higher than
the rants. You got to figure out how to get
little hooks. Look, that's why I had a little stocky postgame.
You know. Insues were uncanny. Man. I always wondered about that. Man,
(13:03):
that's amazing. Me and Josiah, we grew up doing that
with the nerve hoop yeah nerfo yeah. But it's but inside,
but inside in the living room. So we had like
a whole little strip of carpet where we could, you know,
between some furniture where we were one on one couches
on the Nerf groop. That's why me and Joe always
had that those little close quarter jazz because we were
(13:25):
jamming against the coffee table. But we had a couch
that we couldn't go pa, So the game was short,
you know this t yeah, because the couch was right there. Bro,
I couldn't do Yeah, we had a dresser in the room.
We had a dress but but um yeah, so you
develop all that. It's weird that you go back to that.
(13:47):
But like a couple of times, you know, my dad
he was when we get hurt because we were always
in au, were always playing, so we would get hurt
out there and I come in twisted ankle or sometimes
my brother be talking trash and I get pins and
my brothers two years older. So then I I'll be
trying to go in the house like, oh man, I'm
not playing with him tomorrow. My dad would be like, uh,
(14:08):
go back out there. He never let me go, like
go ahead. I'd be like so bad, So then I
go out and just it'd be like a fight then
you know, you know brothers, yeah I do. But you know,
just like that, he started noticing in the games like
we were doing because he'd watch him sometime he started
noticing that we would do those moves in the game
and he was like, wait, this is this little thing
(14:29):
is kind of translating. So he kind of started leaving
us along when we'll be out there and he'd kind
of be like, yeah, y'all because just because of that,
because he said he saw it was translating, just like
you said, with nerve and a little jazz and that stuff.
You know, but it's a trip out that that stuff
kind of transling. It's all facts and it all matters,
and it possibly what are the biggest shots of your
(14:51):
career at that time? Yeah, and you and listen to this,
you're and head combined you guys talking about y'all we
didn't know suddenly was busted. Mean you got you a
combined for thirty nine, ten rebounds, eight assists, four steals,
a block, five for ten from the three. Give me
a break, dog, okay, super senior stepping. Ok you know,
(15:16):
somebody like gave me the stats of that game, and
I was like, I didn't. I didn't even That was
the first time I really heard him. I never even
looked at it. That's today. Today was the first time
I looked at him. Let me see what's going on.
I knew, I remembered, but let's see who was busting
our ass on the other day. And it's Old Finley
or whatever. Old uh. Hey. We ended up going winning
(15:43):
the championship. But I feel like when you heard your
wrist and that was against was it the game before
ariz On the state? Yea, so it was against you
or was it against I mean Oklahoma State? Oklahoma State?
So okay, yeah, you heard your wrist. Now was it
(16:03):
broken or was it severely spring because I don't even remember, dude,
Oh man, it was um so like my ligaments all
it's like it's almost like stretching. It's almost something it
kind of worse than a break, even like that's what
they said, you know, but um yeah, And you know
(16:23):
at the time when I felt it, I've heard it.
I fell against the backstop and the floor and it
just kind of like jammed into the and you know,
you you know how it is in the game, you
feel it, but you're just like, man, we gotta this
is turn. We gotta win this game. So I remember
after that game, it was like that's when it was
a man, I was like worried because I said, this
is really bad, and it just started locking up and
(16:45):
it got tight, and then we tried everything even the
next couple of days. Yeah, I do just yeah, but
you got out to cameraon dollar. I think I think
he doesn't get enough credit for his role of coming
in and no turnovers with tennis is but just pushing
(17:06):
that pace, not being afraid of Arkansas's guards and forty
minutes of hell or heck or whatever they tried to
call it. It was like, oh, tie Us is out.
Oh we got him now there was and then dollars
like now we got nothing coming because the way. But
with us, it was so much about the stats. It
was his attitude out there. It was his leadership. He's
bringing us together. We're finally getting in the huddles. Remember
(17:28):
how long it took him start getting in the huddles.
Now we're getting in the huddles all the time. And
jump Street and those are the stuff. I'm sitting on
the beach and I'm just I get this from my dad.
You just watched for like a bunch of other little
ship that you think that you think is gonna really
matter in the big skame. So I'm seeing this early
on and I'm just like, oh man, I'm feeling that
feeling and feeling good. Just talk about though. I wonder
(17:50):
did you have a conversation with Dollars. Did y'all talk
about anything? Did you tell him like, hey, man, I
can't go tomorrow or or anything like that, or or
did he fly come in blind? Let me know, you know,
calf Man. So before the guy, I don't know if
you remember that in the locker room where I was
just trying everything to get my risk together and it
was like it was not working. And I knew that.
(18:11):
So I went over to Cam this is this might
be like five minutes before we went out to warm up,
and I went over the camp. I was like Cam, hey, hey,
be ready, Man, be ready. I was like, I can't go.
I was like, I don't know if I can, you know,
just be ready. I'm gonna try it, but be ready.
And he just he kind of looked at me. He
was like yeah whatever, like you know, like yeah, yeah, whatever,
(18:35):
like but yeah yeah. So he didn't believe me all
the way into I took I took myself out of
a game because I was I was a mess out there.
I couldn't do anything. And I don't know if you
remember that. I did like a minute and a half
and I was remember one hand and uh so I
think actually the best thing I'm and this is kind
of one thing. I think Cam maybe had like one
(18:57):
turn over, but it was right when he got in
point yeah, and I think he turned it over. And
do you remember. I don't know if you remember, but
Arkansas was like they just knew they one right. Oh.
They was like, yeah, yeah, they don't know how tough.
Cal was like like, oh wait, what y'all h exactly,
(19:19):
you didn't know. Now you're gonna know sot are going
to work. And you know Cal was doing it all year.
He was point guard. Man, he dined, he lad, he
mean he's tough defensively, Uh yeah, oh he. I think
he took that personal that they it was a rap.
I think so, man. And I think also though that
(19:42):
everybody else you you were such a security blanket for
our squad the entire season that when you went down
it forced everyone else to step up, whether they're ready
or not. And so you saw dudes, and let's think
about this. You go down in the championship again, you
got Toby version j R. Coming out being solid Charles Bankins.
(20:04):
I mean, just think about how turned up and overcompensated
everybody's level had to get knowing that Tyres Edney was
not gonna be there, and you saw it. That's why
I think. I think it had a lot. So you're
affecting the game, bro by not even being there, Dudes,
new No, I'm telling you. Think about how we play it. Man.
We we played a man, we were unbelievable, played a
(20:24):
perfect basketball game. And I always thank you and George
for the senior leadership for being those staples, those those
solid pillars for us to look up to, role models
for us to follow the entire season and beyond. Man,
I always appreciated, uh you guys is the way you
treated us as freshman and all that. Man, that's that
(20:44):
was a beautiful thing. Let me ask you this, why
do you think that team in particular, what's so special?
U c l A has eleven national championships, ten hundred
John Wooden our championship, they've been to six final four since.
Have not closed to deal what made so different? You know?
(21:07):
I think and you can speak to this too. I'm
I'm not I don't want this to sound like a
bi extreame thing, but we were heavily um l A kids.
For one, we all kind of grew up playing with
each other against each other, you know what I mean.
So we all knew each other even before we we
hit U c l A. And so I think that
(21:30):
our just our closeness as a team, how we got along,
just all the everything, the us down, the funny stuff like, um,
I think the energy you guys brought in that that
was huge for us. That that kind of just it
just took our level, you know, up, and and um
just all that I think and we I think we
(21:52):
all genuinely, like genuinely liked uh playing together and playing
for each other and enjoying each other's successes. You know
that's to me that and you know, I know it's
that John wouldn't quote it's amazing. Remember Coach Harry used
to say, it's it's amazing we couldn't be accomplish when
no one cares to get credit. But that that was
that team for me, that was like the definition of
(22:12):
that team. It was like, um we we I feel
like we all like beating up on people, We beat
up on each other, but then we we love beating
up on people, you know what I mean. And that
team like we used to love beat people on the road.
Remember we almost get more hype on the road. And
I mean just that type of like just killer instinct,
(22:33):
that toughness, that togetherness, that um, you know, all those
things I think is kind of what just would put
us over the got us over the hump. You know.
Really in a lot of games and and uh and
like you said, obviously everybody's talented and and and just
like in the final game, everybody had the ability to
like raise their level when they needed to, you know,
(22:53):
so um, that just made that team special. I mean
we and we were I mean we were big, we
had size, we had athleticism, we had um you know,
everybody could have played you. You could have played oh
I mean you didn't play him saying but like you know,
if if you had to insert, if Charles would have
went down and you inserted, you could jump right in
and been ready you know what I mean, right, facts, facts,
(23:16):
it would have been ready for you. Though they were
they were ready for the jazz fake nah you have
been like wait, wait, what what is this? No man,
But but you make a great point. Man, and I
also think that I think I think the support that
we had, Like I'm not typically a big old the
(23:37):
fans and this and that type of guy, but I
just really felt like, because are the fans had went
through such a long draught of a championship, coupled with
the fact that you have this different generation of l
A fans that you know, your era of fans that
were rocking with y'all, that meant our era of fans
that are rocking with us. So then that becomes a
beautiful thing in l A. When you got a small
(23:59):
city like that and you've got different generations, and it
just becomes sick because you start seeing different combinations of
fans in the stands like oh, man, and believe it
or not, that stuff inspires you. Man. When you walk
out at the shoot around before the game, it Pauli Pavilion, man,
and you're looking at all these people, man, and there's
just it's nothing but love, and you feel that buzz
in the air like we feel like you're about to
win something that year. It's just a magical, magical moment.
(24:22):
It's a magical feeling. It was a magical time, man,
And man, I really hope we can get back and
repeat it because I just want this generation to experience that.
Now they're gonna have it in their own kind of way,
if you will. But I want this city to feel
like what it felt like when we won the championship
with Yeah, I want them to feel agree, I agree.
(24:43):
I mean I think, um, we had a little this year.
I think we had a little you know, just like
you know when we're we're when then when we're not
in the conversation like we you know, we come out
and even going to the SC game or we had
the seventy two guys back, we had Um it was
supposed to come back on Ford and you couldn't. But
like just the energy in the building reminded me of
(25:05):
that time, um, of our like in our time where
I was like, okay, this is you feel the buzz
and students are outside, everybody you know, it's a packed house.
It's like it was a rival. Uh we owed them,
you know what I mean? Oh the old heads back,
you know everything, you know, the champs, the chants were
back in the building. Uh uh yeah, it was that,
(25:30):
you know, I had I felt that I felt at
that game that like that energy you're talking about it,
just it's it's something special. Definitely. Well, man, I appreciate
you coming on today. Man, I know you will be
rooting our bruins along or you headed out to feel it. No, no,
not to feel it. So if if they take care
of business, you will be in the end. I'm not
(25:50):
saying I'm not janking it. I ain't gonna say that.
Another live. We got to do another live. Thank you
so much man for revisiting. Are incredible March Madness moment
here on kJ Life, Ladies and gentlemen, Tius etne
This is kJ Live with Chris Johnson. Allen and Chris
is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
entertainment in a strain. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now
tuned in to kJ Live. Today's guest on the show
(00:26):
was the u c l A All America, responsible for
one of the greatest shots in the history of that
basketball program, also played in the NBA and overseas. We
have none other than Mr four point eight himself. Ti
Us Edney is in the building. Tie, is how you doing,
my man? What's going on? Oh? Everything? Man? It's Mark Madness.
(00:48):
Our Bruins are in Philly. We're in the sweet six.
T Let's talk about that. Man. How are you excited?
Are you excited during this time of the year, especially
for your team? I know that sounds like a dumb question,
but I need to hear you say it, my brother.
You know this time of year as well as I do,
is like, uh, you know, you get the US. It's
(01:10):
like it's no better time of the year, you know it? Yeah, man,
I mean it's like chills through my body. Man. But
when we watch our brains and and just how they
compete and the job that Mick Cronin has done. What
do you think? What does it mean? The grit is
what stands out the most for this team. You always
feel like they have a shot no matter what. Speak
a little bit about coach Cronin and about this year's team, Uh,
(01:33):
they're just you know, they had a little bit of
up some you know, it was different this year. They
had the target on their back this year. Last year
they kind of think snuck up on everyone. But this
year everybody knew. You know, they're all coming back. They're
gonna be good. Um and I think that you know, coach,
the staff, the guys really stepped up this year and uh,
you know, took on that challenge and now they're they're back.
(01:56):
They're back. In the conversation, you know, they had a
little drop, but um, as you can see, I feel
like they're healthy. Never they're healthy, they're gonna be in games.
Like you said, like they just have a toughness about
a grid. I think like Himie is is key for
them and that and and obviously Tiger and you know
those guys are just like steady, the steady ones, and
(02:17):
you know they're gonna be there and they're gonna be competing. Um,
and uh yeah, they're just fun to watch. I mean
I think I think everyone roots for him because they're
they're never out of it, you know what I mean,
Like in a way, Yeah, and they never stopped fighting. Um.
They just you know, no matter you know, how many
bad plays in the row have been, no matter how
(02:39):
many misshots we have or or how much frustration that
kind of takes you over as a fan watching, you
always have a feeling in the back of your head,
in the bottom of your heart, like, no, I gotta
keep rocking with these guys because you know they've they've
proven me wrong before and I don't know, I will
never not believe in this crew a game. And I
think that a lot of that has to do with
coach Cronin and his staff. I don't think they get
(03:01):
enough credit for for the attitude and the DNA that
they've sort of replaced and put back into this culture.
You know what I'm saying. It's a different it's a
different type of DNA. I mean, if you look at
you know, U c l A Men's basketball and Twitter
I G. And they show pictures from practice, you will
always see dudes with pads and you know, everything up
(03:21):
and I've noticed that the whole year tires every single post, Right,
you see a post, it's dude sweating, it's dude getting
beat up in the kind of finished through contact. I'm like,
bag coach Croner really got these dudes going. And he's
really I feel like he's a coach that coaches your
team so that they peek in March. And despite having
all these different ups and downs and weathering, it's some
(03:43):
storms and a lot of things that people don't even
talk about. Was that thing that happened on the plane, bro,
Like that whole plane situation, and that's scared that I
read about I read about I didn't I didn't even
know about that to a couple of weeks ago that
that's what happened on that plane. Bro. Yeah, I actually
found out later, like I heard about it and I'm
here in the office, so I heard, Yeah, they had
(04:05):
like some playing issues and then I talked you know,
Doug errickson that and I really felt that, like, man,
that was like frightening. I mean they were like, broy
the call the relatives and I mean it was bro, Bro, Bro,
that is that is That's right? And yeah, and to
keep these guys you know together, and to keep everybody
(04:26):
you know spirits up and on the same page despite
the injuries and things going on, you know, the situation
with Mac and Rrors. I mean, it's just all kinds
of stuff, man. And to be right here, it's a
very very exciting time. I cannot wait to watch him play.
But I got to talk about one of the most
exciting times of my entire basketball career, possibly of my
(04:46):
life outside of my children, obviously, was that day against Missouri.
We're in the sweet sixteen, or the round round, second round,
four four point they said used to go, we're down one.
I mean, I'm thinking about the game, paul O' Lenny.
He's got twenty three. He's giving whoever was on him buckets.
(05:08):
I'm not I'm not gonna say who was on him,
but he was, Yeah, somebody eight three that day. So
we were in a tough position. Tyson, will you please
take us through the four point eight Take us through
what your thought process was from the moment coach Herrick
drew up the play. Um, you remember it was we
(05:29):
we got out played. Man. We were like I was
getting torched. My sound like you said, Lenny was to man,
he dudes, oh, miss, It's like when are they gonna
start missing? You know exactly we used it. That was
usually that point in the game where we would kind
of take over and then you know, he'd be like,
all right, we got this. That just that wasn't coming.
I wasn't coming. I remember that last that that little
(05:53):
dump down lay up they got. Um it was that
was that walked back. You know, don't you could even
say what you and thinking about? Like, man, wait a minute,
I know you're probably looking at the scoreboard like is
that is that right? We really want to know what
I was thinking. You want to hear what I was thinking?
To us? Absolutely, I would ask you a question, bro,
(06:13):
bro bro, So so this is this is sad. This
is gonna sound like I was completely a horrible team
and and that I was not believing in us. But
this was at the time, so I was trying to
find a silver line. So the whole time and joined
after they hit that last layup, it kind of hit
me Bob Myers and Kevin Dempsey that this was probably
gonna be it. It was just too far away. So
(06:36):
we're thinking about life after losing this game. Now we
had we had already planned to go to Cobbo Saint
Lucas all right, because we didn't feel like, we didn't
feel like we were gonna make it. I'm just telling you, guys.
I know no one knows this, but we start said,
you know, I think tickets. I think tickets. I think
it was that bad. I was like, we're like no,
(06:57):
We're like, oh, this isn't gonna happen. So we were like,
so I kind of looked like the might have looked
at empty, like like they did look like, what come on?
You know, they made the shot. So we go. So
then and there's something in the basketball well Dempsey. Dempsey
was influencing me and Bob me I'm a champion, and
you know, I was coming off the crunch Shaw things.
So I was kind of falling into that because I
(07:18):
was salty because I hadn't been playing. I was being
wrongly negatively influenced by Bob Myers and Kevin Dempsey. I
wasn't being a great team man. I should have believed
in you to the very end. And I poured away,
and I think this is what happened. I pulled away.
I said, I'm not listening to you guys. Anymore, stopped
making a lot of this situation, and I put on
my twel's dog and I said, I'm putting all my
energy in the tires right now. Bro. That worked, Bro,
(07:49):
So that's what I was thinking. So tight. But Russ,
that's what I was thinking. As you guys were walking
to that should have been. That was a long walk
back to that huddle. It was like, uh man, and
you know Ed, Yeah, I don't know if you remember.
Ed was already in my ear on the way back,
you know, and started doing this and this chest ship
(08:12):
he give me. Coach just drew it up, man, He
just like you get it. Right before I went out,
he came. He was like you understand what I'm saying,
Like I want you to shoot the ball. And you know,
my mind was like, yeah, okay whatever. Coach like, all right,
all right, I'll find that. I'll get it to it
because that's what we did all year, right. It was
(08:34):
like the game will getting tight and we're like, where's
that find it? Romar Coach and be like, hey, just
throwing to it, We'll be all right. And I was
like I gotta find it. Yeah yeah, And so I
don't know, man, that you know, Cam. Well, you know,
Cam's point guard too, so we were just playing together
and just being in sync all year, and uh, he
(08:57):
gave me the perfect pass like on the run. I
don't know if you're remember that. Let you let you
on the outlets? Yeah, let me so I knew, you know,
that was the thing. Like, you know, my mind was
like I can't get stopped, Like nobody can stop me
or slow me down. So that's all that was my
My option number one was just get that thing to
the other side of the court as fast as I
can and then you know, maybe a quick pass for
(09:20):
a shot or you know, find a somewhere here. I
don't know, you know, So in a moment like that,
are you thinking about like as you get the ball,
are you thinking about as a high level athlete, are
you thinking about just what's in front of you? Or
is there ever was there ever a split second that
you might have replayed a situation and had a muscle
(09:42):
memory moment. What what tell me that it's it was
at that point? I mean, you're not even really thinking,
you know, it's you have you know, you remember we
do that drill or that three seconds where he makes
us go full court. You remember like just in the
end or free throw line of lay up or whatever,
and so you know, like I always took like you know,
(10:04):
in your mind, you've got enough time, like as long
it's like basically that that was no defense when you
did that, so you knew you had enough time to
get down there as long as you know, like you said,
I didn't get stopped. So that's all I was thinking.
I'm like, man, I can't let these dudes like trap
me or you know. So at that point, it's pure instinct.
It's just like I got one goal. I gotta get
this thing down the floor and that's it. That's so
(10:26):
that's why that was on my mind. And as I
was coming down, you know, instinct takes over because you're
you're you're just it's just surveying the situation quick reads.
You know. I noticed the um they were like funneling
me kind of to the sideline, and uh, and my
instinct was like I gotta you know, I always like
(10:47):
to get middle and get to my right to the
strong end. So it's not hard. Yeah, when I and
then I noticed when I went behind my back, then
they they were momentum just kind of they weren't expecting that,
and so that's when it kind of opened up. It
was like shoot, I got a lane to the basket.
So the finish, the finish, it was high degree of difficulty.
(11:11):
You had to you know, shaking up and down and
then kind of hook shot it. How did you develop
that finished? Bro, what's the story behind that? So? Um,
A little story sometimes I'll tell it, but I'll try
to be quick. Um. We put in our driveway in
Long Beach. We had a little basket. It was like
(11:32):
there's old school basket to be on a pole and
then like this one actually was a little wood and
it was kind of a real rim but it was
very small and so um we had a hook and
we would hook it on our garage and it would
call it little hoop. So we would play in the
in the in the in the driveway, me my brothers,
(11:52):
my buddies, like we would have like real games where
we be fighting, we be getting hurt. I mean out
there for two or three hours just going at it,
you know. And and the only rule was you couldn't
like jump and dunk over anybody because it would break
the it would break the it was like a rain catch.
We'd hold it put it on the rain catch so
(12:14):
it would break that and then we'd be done. We
wouldn't be able to play anymore. So the only rule
was you couldn't jump and like dunk over anybody on
the little rim or else the whole thing. You could
dunk if you're in front of in front of somebody,
but not over. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I
(12:35):
Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
So what you had, what we all did is like
we learned how to like get shots off with like
people just standing with their arms up because you know,
if you put your arms up there, y're higher than
the rants. You got to figure out how to get
little hooks. Look, that's why I had a little stocky postgame.
You know. Insues were uncanny. Man. I always wondered about that. Man,
(13:03):
that's amazing. Me and Josiah, we grew up doing that
with the nerve hoop yeah nerfo yeah. But it's but inside,
but inside in the living room. So we had like
a whole little strip of carpet where we could, you know,
between some furniture where we were one on one couches
on the Nerf groop. That's why me and Joe always
had that those little close quarter jazz because we were
(13:25):
jamming against the coffee table. But we had a couch
that we couldn't go pa, So the game was short,
you know this t yeah, because the couch was right there. Bro,
I couldn't do Yeah, we had a dresser in the room.
We had a dress but but um yeah, so you
develop all that. It's weird that you go back to that.
(13:47):
But like a couple of times, you know, my dad
he was when we get hurt because we were always
in au, were always playing, so we would get hurt
out there and I come in twisted ankle or sometimes
my brother be talking trash and I get pins and
my brothers two years older. So then I I'll be
trying to go in the house like, oh man, I'm
not playing with him tomorrow. My dad would be like, uh,
(14:08):
go back out there. He never let me go, like
go ahead. I'd be like so bad, So then I
go out and just it'd be like a fight then
you know, you know brothers, yeah I do. But you know,
just like that, he started noticing in the games like
we were doing because he'd watch him sometime he started
noticing that we would do those moves in the game
and he was like, wait, this is this little thing
(14:29):
is kind of translating. So he kind of started leaving
us along when we'll be out there and he'd kind
of be like, yeah, y'all because just because of that,
because he said he saw it was translating, just like
you said, with nerve and a little jazz and that stuff.
You know, but it's a trip out that that stuff
kind of transling. It's all facts and it all matters,
and it possibly what are the biggest shots of your
(14:51):
career at that time? Yeah, and you and listen to this,
you're and head combined you guys talking about y'all we
didn't know suddenly was busted. Mean you got you a
combined for thirty nine, ten rebounds, eight assists, four steals,
a block, five for ten from the three. Give me
a break, dog, okay, super senior stepping. Ok you know,
(15:16):
somebody like gave me the stats of that game, and
I was like, I didn't. I didn't even That was
the first time I really heard him. I never even
looked at it. That's today. Today was the first time
I looked at him. Let me see what's going on.
I knew, I remembered, but let's see who was busting
our ass on the other day. And it's Old Finley
or whatever. Old uh. Hey. We ended up going winning
(15:43):
the championship. But I feel like when you heard your
wrist and that was against was it the game before
ariz On the state? Yea, so it was against you
or was it against I mean Oklahoma State? Oklahoma State?
So okay, yeah, you heard your wrist. Now was it
(16:03):
broken or was it severely spring because I don't even remember, dude,
Oh man, it was um so like my ligaments all
it's like it's almost like stretching. It's almost something it
kind of worse than a break, even like that's what
they said, you know, but um yeah, And you know
(16:23):
at the time when I felt it, I've heard it.
I fell against the backstop and the floor and it
just kind of like jammed into the and you know,
you you know how it is in the game, you
feel it, but you're just like, man, we gotta this
is turn. We gotta win this game. So I remember
after that game, it was like that's when it was
a man, I was like worried because I said, this
is really bad, and it just started locking up and
(16:45):
it got tight, and then we tried everything even the
next couple of days. Yeah, I do just yeah, but
you got out to cameraon dollar. I think I think
he doesn't get enough credit for his role of coming
in and no turnovers with tennis is but just pushing
(17:06):
that pace, not being afraid of Arkansas's guards and forty
minutes of hell or heck or whatever they tried to
call it. It was like, oh, tie Us is out.
Oh we got him now there was and then dollars
like now we got nothing coming because the way. But
with us, it was so much about the stats. It
was his attitude out there. It was his leadership. He's
bringing us together. We're finally getting in the huddles. Remember
(17:28):
how long it took him start getting in the huddles.
Now we're getting in the huddles all the time. And
jump Street and those are the stuff. I'm sitting on
the beach and I'm just I get this from my dad.
You just watched for like a bunch of other little
ship that you think that you think is gonna really
matter in the big skame. So I'm seeing this early
on and I'm just like, oh man, I'm feeling that
feeling and feeling good. Just talk about though. I wonder
(17:50):
did you have a conversation with Dollars. Did y'all talk
about anything? Did you tell him like, hey, man, I
can't go tomorrow or or anything like that, or or
did he fly come in blind? Let me know, you know,
calf Man. So before the guy, I don't know if
you remember that in the locker room where I was
just trying everything to get my risk together and it
was like it was not working. And I knew that.
(18:11):
So I went over to Cam this is this might
be like five minutes before we went out to warm up,
and I went over the camp. I was like Cam, hey, hey,
be ready, Man, be ready. I was like, I can't go.
I was like, I don't know if I can, you know,
just be ready. I'm gonna try it, but be ready.
And he just he kind of looked at me. He
was like yeah whatever, like you know, like yeah, yeah, whatever,
(18:35):
like but yeah yeah. So he didn't believe me all
the way into I took I took myself out of
a game because I was I was a mess out there.
I couldn't do anything. And I don't know if you
remember that. I did like a minute and a half
and I was remember one hand and uh so I
think actually the best thing I'm and this is kind
of one thing. I think Cam maybe had like one
(18:57):
turn over, but it was right when he got in
point yeah, and I think he turned it over. And
do you remember. I don't know if you remember, but
Arkansas was like they just knew they one right. Oh.
They was like, yeah, yeah, they don't know how tough.
Cal was like like, oh wait, what y'all h exactly,
(19:19):
you didn't know. Now you're gonna know sot are going
to work. And you know Cal was doing it all year.
He was point guard. Man, he dined, he lad, he
mean he's tough defensively, Uh yeah, oh he. I think
he took that personal that they it was a rap.
I think so, man. And I think also though that
(19:42):
everybody else you you were such a security blanket for
our squad the entire season that when you went down
it forced everyone else to step up, whether they're ready
or not. And so you saw dudes, and let's think
about this. You go down in the championship again, you
got Toby version j R. Coming out being solid Charles Bankins.
(20:04):
I mean, just think about how turned up and overcompensated
everybody's level had to get knowing that Tyres Edney was
not gonna be there, and you saw it. That's why
I think. I think it had a lot. So you're
affecting the game, bro by not even being there, Dudes,
new No, I'm telling you. Think about how we play it. Man.
We we played a man, we were unbelievable, played a
(20:24):
perfect basketball game. And I always thank you and George
for the senior leadership for being those staples, those those
solid pillars for us to look up to, role models
for us to follow the entire season and beyond. Man,
I always appreciated, uh you guys is the way you
treated us as freshman and all that. Man, that's that
(20:44):
was a beautiful thing. Let me ask you this, why
do you think that team in particular, what's so special?
U c l A has eleven national championships, ten hundred
John Wooden our championship, they've been to six final four since.
Have not closed to deal what made so different? You know?
(21:07):
I think and you can speak to this too. I'm
I'm not I don't want this to sound like a
bi extreame thing, but we were heavily um l A kids.
For one, we all kind of grew up playing with
each other against each other, you know what I mean.
So we all knew each other even before we we
hit U c l A. And so I think that
(21:30):
our just our closeness as a team, how we got along,
just all the everything, the us down, the funny stuff like, um,
I think the energy you guys brought in that that
was huge for us. That that kind of just it
just took our level, you know, up, and and um
just all that I think and we I think we
(21:52):
all genuinely, like genuinely liked uh playing together and playing
for each other and enjoying each other's successes. You know
that's to me that and you know, I know it's
that John wouldn't quote it's amazing. Remember Coach Harry used
to say, it's it's amazing we couldn't be accomplish when
no one cares to get credit. But that that was
that team for me, that was like the definition of
(22:12):
that team. It was like, um we we I feel
like we all like beating up on people, We beat
up on each other, but then we we love beating
up on people, you know what I mean. And that
team like we used to love beat people on the road.
Remember we almost get more hype on the road. And
I mean just that type of like just killer instinct,
(22:33):
that toughness, that togetherness, that um, you know, all those
things I think is kind of what just would put
us over the got us over the hump. You know.
Really in a lot of games and and uh and
like you said, obviously everybody's talented and and and just
like in the final game, everybody had the ability to
like raise their level when they needed to, you know,
(22:53):
so um, that just made that team special. I mean
we and we were I mean we were big, we
had size, we had athleticism, we had um you know,
everybody could have played you. You could have played oh
I mean you didn't play him saying but like you know,
if if you had to insert, if Charles would have
went down and you inserted, you could jump right in
and been ready you know what I mean, right, facts, facts,
(23:16):
it would have been ready for you. Though they were
they were ready for the jazz fake nah you have
been like wait, wait, what what is this? No man,
But but you make a great point. Man, and I
also think that I think I think the support that
we had, Like I'm not typically a big old the
(23:37):
fans and this and that type of guy, but I
just really felt like, because are the fans had went
through such a long draught of a championship, coupled with
the fact that you have this different generation of l
A fans that you know, your era of fans that
were rocking with y'all, that meant our era of fans
that are rocking with us. So then that becomes a
beautiful thing in l A. When you got a small
(23:59):
city like that and you've got different generations, and it
just becomes sick because you start seeing different combinations of
fans in the stands like oh, man, and believe it
or not, that stuff inspires you. Man. When you walk
out at the shoot around before the game, it Pauli Pavilion, man,
and you're looking at all these people, man, and there's
just it's nothing but love, and you feel that buzz
in the air like we feel like you're about to
win something that year. It's just a magical, magical moment.
(24:22):
It's a magical feeling. It was a magical time, man,
And man, I really hope we can get back and
repeat it because I just want this generation to experience that.
Now they're gonna have it in their own kind of way,
if you will. But I want this city to feel
like what it felt like when we won the championship
with Yeah, I want them to feel agree, I agree.
(24:43):
I mean I think, um, we had a little this year.
I think we had a little you know, just like
you know when we're we're when then when we're not
in the conversation like we you know, we come out
and even going to the SC game or we had
the seventy two guys back, we had Um it was
supposed to come back on Ford and you couldn't. But
like just the energy in the building reminded me of
(25:05):
that time, um, of our like in our time where
I was like, okay, this is you feel the buzz
and students are outside, everybody you know, it's a packed house.
It's like it was a rival. Uh we owed them,
you know what I mean? Oh the old heads back,
you know everything, you know, the champs, the chants were
back in the building. Uh uh yeah, it was that,
(25:30):
you know, I had I felt that I felt at
that game that like that energy you're talking about it,
just it's it's something special. Definitely. Well, man, I appreciate
you coming on today. Man, I know you will be
rooting our bruins along or you headed out to feel it. No, no,
not to feel it. So if if they take care
of business, you will be in the end. I'm not
(25:50):
saying I'm not janking it. I ain't gonna say that.
Another live. We got to do another live. Thank you
so much man for revisiting. Are incredible March Madness moment
here on kJ Life, Ladies and gentlemen, Tius etne
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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