February 19, 2020 • 49 mins
Pac-12 Networks' Mike Yam and Don MacLean interview one of the signature voices of Pac-12 basketball, Pac-12 Networks’ Ted Robinson. Ted recalls the scary Oscar da Silva injury in Colorado, and highlights the actions of both Tad Boyle and Jerod Haase to bring the two teams together (6:24). Mike, Don and Ted break down the top six in the Pac-12 Standings (11:40), and talk about teams wanting to avoid the early morning game in the tournament. Ted talks about the recent success of UCLA (21:15) and explains why he cannot figure out USC this season. Ted also compares the similarities and differences of Oregon’s Payton Pritchard and Arizona State’s Remy Martin (25:03). Finally, Mike asks Ted and Don for their conference award predictions (30:58), and they talk about some of the most underrated players in the conference (39:00).
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Ah Hill, rap the ball,baby, Let's go. This is Inside
the Pack twelve podcast. Put ona pair of your headphones and four baggets
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(00:25):
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Inside is cold and young Pack twelvelegends and the lums that analysis. We
(00:45):
go farmly on the stores to takeyou from conference play all the way to
the final four with some hoop kindof swords, just walking you through the
game. I hit your host MikeGamm and the board dumb acclaim, Hey,
super excited for just one today.If you watch Pack twelve games,
and if you're listening to this podcast, that means you do. He has
been God. I'm gonna even goa little bit more macro here, don
(01:08):
I'm gonna take a step back,and I was about to say, hey,
he's been the prominent voice on PACtwelve networks since we launched, and
I think that's already understood. ButI was just thinking about Ted Robinson the
other day. I was home,it was an off day, and I
was watching a feature on sixty minutesabout Rafa Nadal and there's all these shot
calls, and by st I meanyou hear the announcer's voices in the feature,
(01:30):
and Ted's voice is all over thisthing. And I was gonna hit
him up and just let him know, but that's probably just commonplace. Ted.
You probably tell you yam him.The temptation is what Ted Robinson on
is to go in a million differentdirections because the guy's done a million different
things. Well, this is athis is a PAC twelve men's basketball podcast,
(01:51):
So we'll try to stay on thattopic, but it's gonna be difficult
with Ted on Ted, did youcatch that sixty minutes feature by the way
on Rafa? Yeah, I did. I did, Mike, and thanks,
And by the way, it's greatto be back with you guys,
because once again, for year two, the both of you were doing something
that is of great value to theconference, to the basketball and thankfully there's
more to talk about this year,yea more positive. But here here's yeahmer,
(02:15):
here's how I phrase him. I'vebeen around long enough. I called
games when Don McClean played. Icalled games in the Big East, when
Mike Hopkins played, and I called, I showed him the scoresheet. I
called, I think three games thatSean Miller played in a pit. Okay,
so I give you an idea.You have, you have the resident
fossil here on your hands. Yeah. Don McClean just turned fifty, Ted,
(02:40):
do you keep you are? Youjust said something that that struck me.
Do you keep your boards from allyour games? You know, yammer,
that's a great question. And honestly, this year is the first year
and I started. I had achance to be in the NBA at twenty
six, just turning twenty six,which it was crazy story, and of
(03:04):
course the NBA wasn't really the NBAback then. I showed down the book
the other night because pace Man Nico'sdad was on the team that I was
with. We were kind of scrubstogether in a sense. But I started
keeping score, and I've always keptscore because it's the baseball tradition you just
keep your own score book. Andthis year's the first year I haven't done
it. And it's just the proliferationof apps and screens in front of you,
(03:28):
enough other information, stats and soforth that you have put in in
front of you. I just stoppedkeeping scores, So this is the first
year I haven't. I still havescore books that go back. In fact,
I've showed our other colleague this Icalled that same year when I was
with the Golden State Warriors and PaceManu was on our team, it was
still the San Diego Clippers. SoI have score books with Bill Walton's day
(03:52):
hit it for games that the Warriorsplayed in San Diego that first year I
was in the league. So anyway, it's one of those things that my
wife keeps haranguing me we need toclear out. But yeah, I do
have them, and I have thebaseball ones to you. Wow, that's
that's kind of awesome there. Ican't even imagine for anyone who is interested
(04:13):
in being a broadcaster and doesn't knowwhat Ted is referring to. Basically,
every play by play guy goes intoa game and don I know, usually
has you know his notes, andthe analysts certainly do as well. But
basically it's got rosters and notes andstats and just kind of a way to
keep track of who's on the floorand those types of things. So when
I said board, that's what Iwas referring to. The point is Ted,
(04:34):
you probably have like a basement fieldof boxes with those boards at that
if you were keeping that many.You know, what I finally threw out
was the years I did the NCAAtournament for CBS, which was in the
nineties. Now again, remember thiswas in the nineties and internet was in
its infancy. We were still gettinginformation via facts, you know, there
(04:56):
were no smartphones, et cetera.And so I would have these thick notebooks
because you'd get assigned on Sunday toyour site and you might have a Thursday
game with eight teams and six ofthem you've never seen. So I would
keep these thick notebooks just you'd callpeople, you would ask for them to
fax you, and and keep thesethick notebooks of notes of all these teams.
(05:17):
Which I finally threw out in theinteresting part which connects to the PAC
twelve, was I would guess probablythree I did five years of the tournament
for CBS, and three of thoseyears I hired at the suggestion of Billy
Packer, who would sit at theseminar and tell us all, Hey,
this is what I do, youshould all do the same thing. So
I hired a young guy who's verysmart, who had connections all through the
(05:39):
basketball world, and I hired himliterally paid him on the side deep to
do some research for me. Andhe would get faxes from other conferences and
they're scouting reports on these teams thatyou had some idea who was who,
and that guy is Jamie's aneevid,who's the deputy commissioner of the conference.
Jamie was working in the Stanford Basketballoffice then as a young guy workings his
(05:59):
way, and he was clearly sharpand had contacts and knew how to use
him. So literally I hired him, I think probably three years. He
did an incredible job of putting togethera broadcasters scout report. So, Ted,
we've now established that you've been aroundfor a while and done a lot
of things. But you said somethinglast week, and you said it again
on Saturday night when we did thatStanford Arizona game, that what happened the
(06:21):
week before is probably the best thingthat you've ever seen in college basketball.
Referring to that Colorado Stanford game aweek ago, two weeks ago. Yeah,
done, and Mike, it was, you know, without question,
one of the handful of almost fortyyears of being around college ball, one
of the handful of moments that justshine him. And I won't dwell too
(06:44):
long on it, but in theimmediaccene when the collision happened and fell and
Eddie House was my partner, andEddie saw it from a better view than
I did of the fall onto thefloor, and he immediately gasped. And
when you saw two players immediately DaveJohn Davis of Stanford peel away in tears,
just sobbing, and then Evan Baddygetting up and seeing something and he
(07:06):
peels away in tears, you immediatelyin that moment thought this was the kind
of injury that we've become sadly accustomedto seeing in football, and you don't
see it in basketball, so you'renot as prepared for it. And the
aftermath in the five minutes or sowhere they brought a stretcher out eventually distill
(07:27):
but was able to get up andwalk off, which was astounding despite the
cotton of blood, but to seethe players so emotionally distraught, and then
to have a huddle with the playersin the middle of the court and Jared
hasket in there, and Tad Boyleeventually came in on the exterior two and
later finding out that it was TadBoyle who told McKinley right to go say
(07:47):
a prayer. Chared has jumped inand told the Colorado players, look,
I know you weren't trying to doanything here. Let's put this away,
put it by and let's keep playing. And the Colorado fans of player was
sold out. It was extraordinary andit was just a moment, and I
think I used the word in thetime. It was just a moment where
everybody was a human being. Nolonger were they competitors, and all the
(08:09):
phrases we toss around, warriors,etc. They were just humans. And
somebody got in the moment they thought, got pretty seriously hurt, and the
uniform you're wearing didn't matter anymore.So to me it was also guys.
I thought it was something that ourconference should wave the flag about because it
spoke remarkably well to two programs andto two coaches, to Tad Boyle and
(08:31):
to Jared Hass and their class andthe Colorado fans and the class they showed,
you know, and I'm sure everyeverybody else would have reacted the same
way, But in that moment,in that scene, to me, it
spoke loudly about those two programs,those fans, and I think they deserve
to be It shouldn't be forgotten.I guess is where I'm going to end
up with this. It shouldn't beforgotten. It's interesting because Saturday you were
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on the column PAC twelve Network withDon for the Stanford Arizona game, and
we played your interview with Jared askedon one of our shows before the game,
and you had asked him about itand Jared's response about there not really
being a playbook that you could followin a situation like that. But You're
right, it looked like Hass gotit right. Ted Boyle got it right.
(09:15):
To see some of the social mediatweets out there from a lot of
the players on both teams wishing Oscarreally well it was. It was a
really unique situation and one that Ithink all of us were not obviously happy
to see what had happened on thefloor, but just the response was kind
of special. For you to bea part of that, I can only
imagine. But at the same time, just because you've been around this league
(09:37):
so long and you know these headcoaches, you probably ted aren't surprised that
those coaches responded the way they did. I would argue, you know,
two of the class of your guysthat we have in the country on the
sidelines. Absolutely, Mike, absolutely, and look, I believe all twelve
would have panel it the same way. It just it struck of those two.
And again as Jared and Jared whowas credit when I asked him about
(09:58):
it, this sturdy Now he wastrying to downplay his role as we spoken,
and we spoke about it in theshooting around a little bit in the
morning because I hadn't seen Jared sincethey left Boulder the previous Saturday, So
I just had to tell how howimpressed I was. And you know the
other the other area I think that'sso significant of this again is it isn't
(10:20):
forgotten because we we're going to seeit. It's going to continue to happen.
The concern about injury, the significantStanford is leading, you know,
the study and the research. Thereare two massive projects going on on the
Stanford campus right now about head injury, and again we associated mostly with football.
In fact, the leading voice thathe's still serving as the face of
(10:43):
one of the programs is Bryce Love. Even though he's now trying to pursue
his pro football career on the EastCoast, he's still being the face of
one of these massive concussion study programs. So back back to where we started
with this thing. Look, itwas astounding class shown by by both men.
And I'll tell you the other thing, Guys. I said it to
Don Saturday leaving Boulder a week ago, Saturday. If you had told me
(11:05):
that Oscar de Silva was going toplay seven days later, I'd have given
you my mortgage at bet Noway,I mean just seeing it again and living
through the immediate moment. So that'sI hate to use the word because it
can be overused, but that wasmiraculous to me, given the fall,
given the severity that he was ableto clear all the protocols in play a
week later. Ted, it's beena unique year in the conference in the
(11:28):
sense that it's been so competitive andso so much of a flip around from
last year, when you know,things weren't looking so great. But me
and Mike kind of agreed on ourother podcasts that we've now we're seeing some
separation, that between the top sixand the bottom six. Stamford's two games
away from sc and UCLA at fivelosses, and that it's a six team
(11:52):
race for four seeds in Vegas.Do you see it that way? Yeah,
there's no question. That's what Saturdayand Sunday's games. Now you can
take a visual look. I thinkthey put the standings up done at the
beginning of our game at Stanford Saturday, and I couldn't help but I just
started thinking of the Talking Heads movieStop making Sense, because it was like
just a jumble of teams with allthese numbers and it didn't make any sense.
(12:15):
Well, by Sunday night it mademore sense. You're exactly right,
and so now you've got you've gotsix, depending on which day it is,
Lenardi has either five or six inthe tournament, which is great the
jocking for the four seeds. You'reexactly right. Then the question, and
I think don you bring this upevery year? Is it advantageous to be
the five because you get a gameagainst the twelve and that adds that adds
(12:39):
a win to your resume. Exceptthis year, the twelve isn't necessarily going
to be the twelve of past years. Right, the twelve is if it's
Washington on any given night, Rightwith Washington, you know, you're not
necessarily thinking it's the twelve of pastyears. So all of those questions,
to me are what's going to makeVegas? Of all the years since the
conference moved there, This to mecould be the most fun tournament because it
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is going to be, I thinkis scramble at all ends, and you
have multiple teams that are going tobelieve when they go to Vegas they could
do what Oregon did last year.Multiple teams are going to have the thought
because there is no dominant team thatthey could run four days off here and
somehow steal that did. You know, it's really interesting about that. I
feel like every year we say thatthe tournament is wide open, but how
(13:24):
meaningful these games are going to be? Because I think back to ted last
season of Oregon, it figured outthings defensively. You know, maybe they're
not a twelve seat in the NCdoable a tournament. Maybe they don't have
to win those four straight games inorder to land a spot in the NC
doable a tournament like they did aseason ago, and they don't have to
play Virginia in the sweet sixteen.You know, I think we make a
big case for winning a conference championship, winning the PACTOL Championship, and rightfully
(13:50):
so. But for those teams atthe top, like positioning in the Big
Dance to really make a run likethese games down the stretch are really critical
from that perspective as well. Heyamen, yeah, right, that's a
great point. And this fast forwardsa little bit into March madness and done.
Since you played, you can talkabout this. And to me,
that's what especially the Colorado, OregonArizona group, they want to make sure
(14:13):
they don't fall so that they getstuck into eight nine, because that,
to me is the worst one,right eight nine. TV loves eight nine
because eight nines are always generally generallythe best first round game, so CBS
and Turner love those games. Andthen if you happen to survive that game,
you get a one, and soyour odds of getting out of the
first week are pretty slim. Andthat's why I'm saying you want to be
outside. I've always thought that Deight nine was the was the kind of
(14:37):
them Again, you're you're the seatsacrificial lambs for television. Top three teams
right now seem to be those inArizona State may get their way in.
There be one of those as well. You know, USC We're guessing here,
But the point to me the topis, Yeah, if you want
to really make a run like Oregondid last year get to the second weekend,
you got to stay at eight nine. Yeah, Ted, you mentioned
(14:58):
the five game, and you know, I feel like I've been around a
pretty long time too and done thePac twelve Pac ten tournament even back when
it was that. And it's onething I don't have an answer too.
And we saw it last year withOregon running the table winning four straight days
of the notion that could it bebeneficial to be in the five twelve game
as the five seed because you getused to the arena, you get a
(15:22):
game under your belt, you haven'thad as many days off versus the rest
and having that buy of you know, not playing on Wednesday. I don't
have an answer to that, andI'm curious if either YouTube guys have have
a thought on that of is itmore beneficial and is this year different because
it's so competitive and there isn't anydominant teams, wouldn't this be a year
(15:46):
where you might say to yourself,yeah, we're fine being the five instead
of you know, eking out thefour seed. Yeah, well yeamra I'll
just jump at first, then yougo ahead. But I's on the analogy
I use is the years since thetournament's gone to Vegas for the conference.
Is that five twelve game is Wednesdayat noon? And you know, I
(16:07):
did I don't know how many twentyplus years of the NCAA tournament. And
to me, and I used tohear coaches when they would really be honest
with you, they would open upand admit the game they hated playing was
the first game Thursday. If you'rekicking off the tournament at eleven twenty am
in Salt Lake City on a Thursday, and they couldn't stand playing in that
(16:29):
game because you don't even feel likeyou're in the tournament. You haven't gotten
going yet, nobody's there yet.Suddenly in two hours one of you has
done right and he goes home.I called this was God. Probably six
seven years ago. I called mccronincoaching Cincinnati when they were probably was probably
a four thirteen game and he lost. And if my memory's right, he
lost to Harvard in the four thirteengame, in the first Thursday morning game,
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and it's a horrible feeling. Sothat's to me the human element of
the five well game and they're schedulingis it's Wednesday at noon. There generally
aren't very many people there and everybody'sjust kind of getting used to being on
hand, and suddenly by two o'clockone of his going home. So that
to me is the danger of thefive twelve game. I Mike, go
ahead, Yeah, you know.I also wonder too, just the nerves
(17:15):
surrounding it, because if you area team that hasn't had a ton of
success, right like you're you're sittingthere as the twelve, how much added
there's no pressure on you when you'rethe five. You know that Getting back
to something Donny you were talking abouton yesterday's podcast, that human nature element,
like in my head, I gota flash back and I don't remember
the exact seeds, and Ted youmight have even been on the call for
(17:37):
it. When Ernie Kent was atWashington State, didn't they took a game
pretty late, like I didn't Kennyhave to have like two games saving blocks
Like I just think about moments likethat in those types of games when you
are seated towards the bottom and you'rejust out there just playing with reckless,
abandoned Utah. When Lark Skoviac tookover that program, you know, I
(18:00):
think they won a game in thetournament that they weren't supposed to go and
win. That was at Jordan Leverage'steam. One of those types like those
moments kind of happened. It's kindof what makes the sport great. But
from an analytical standpoint, with thestart times, I'm sure that that plays
in body clocks for a lot ofthese players. But I think that's why
there's not an answer. You know, at the case by case basis,
(18:22):
Oregon was supremely motivated last year.Knew that they had to run the table
to get in the NCAA tournament.They knew they were good enough team that
they should have already been in theNCAA tournament. But because of what they
did, you know, in Decemberand January, they knew they had to
run the table and that was enoughmotivation. They could have been the five
twelve game, the whatever game.They were probably going to run the table
(18:45):
regardless because of how motivated they were. Hey, guys, here's something else.
I just thinking about this while you'retalking. Suppose and we still have
three weekends to go here, Butsuppose Washington is the twelve. Their net
is still decent, right because theyhave that win over Baylor from the very
beginning of the year. They callsold could have five twelve win if the
twelve is Washington, could that bea little more valuable? Normally you think
(19:08):
it wouldn't be as valuable because thetwelve is not going to have very good
a very good resume, But thatone Baylor win may keep Washington with a
decent number. Yeah, if theystay in the top fifty of the net,
that's a Q one win neutral site. Wait, Neutral's top seventy five
right for Q one, right,Yes, so that's probably going to be
a Q one win for whoever thefive seat is. So maybe maybe it's
(19:30):
writ You're right, that's a greatpoint. Maybe it might be more worthwhile
to be in the five twelve games. Yeah, Washington, right now,
their current net ranking is sixty eight, which is just wild to me considering
what's happened to them in the conference. Oregon State, by the way,
seventy five, just for some contexton how the season has played off,
played for, played out for twoteams that have had some struggles in the
(19:52):
league so far this year. Bythe way, Oregon State with a net
ranking of seventy five, really interestingwhen you consider the Q one wins that
they have because four of them andyou know the guys the one the team
that we saw against Saturday night.I feel badly for Stamford because they they
never got a real good run inthe second half in Arizona, and after
losing so many close games, andI don't know if they can They have
(20:15):
two tough road trips remaining. Theystill have to go to the Organs and
then to the Washington's, so Idon't know if they can pull themselves together.
But internally, there's been a littleshred of me that's been hoping that
Jared Hass could have kept this andcould keep this momentum from the beginning going,
because it is hard to fathom forthose who've been around the league,
and remember, you know, Stanford'sbrilliant run under Mike Montgomery and then Trent
(20:37):
Johnson, but they've only made thetournament. I remember sixty eighteens going.
Stanford's only gone once in the lasteleven years, and that is hard to
believe. The year that kind ofdrought. Yeah, that was the wild
thing when Johnny Dawkins was there,Ted, I asked Don this question,
and I posed it for the tournamentin Vegas in terms of the rosters and
(20:59):
the makeup of a team. Isthere a team right now? And I'll
expand it, not just in thePact twelve tournament, but down the stretch
over these next couple of weeks orso. Whose roster you feel like is
really set up for for success downthe stretch here? Well, and I
listened to Don the other night talkingabout this, Mike, because I haven't
seen them live in the conference seasonyet. But look, we all know
(21:22):
the talent u Cela has, rightand if they do indeed continue to play
more to mccronin style, which isexactly what Stanford, by the way,
was doing the first half of theyear with Jared as they would play much
more to the style of Jared asshas wanted. Now, if you Cela
does this, we know how muchability. They are right, So they're
going to be one of the teamsto me that flies to Vegas thinking,
(21:44):
hey, we could do this.There's no there's no you know, there's
no Duke or Kansas obstacle in ourpath in this conference this year. There's
good teams, but we don't havea truly great team. So yeah,
that's the one to me, themystery team to me. And it's probably
the second or third time in recentyears I've said this is USC And again
they come back and they don't havea Kongo and they win both games this
(22:06):
weekend, right, and despite theturnover every year, and don you know,
Don is much more the expert becauseyou've seen them a bunch in person.
That one kind of interests me tothe point of puzzling as a man.
There they are again. They're goingto end up, you know,
with a heck of a shot tobe a seed in dagas well. Getting
back to Stanford too, Ted Ianswered Mike's question with Stanford because of two
(22:27):
things. If they can get backto the level defensively, because it was
it was noticeably different in November andDecember, in the first part of January.
If they can get back to thatand then they have the perimeter shooting.
And to me, when you getto Vegas, it's about teams getting
hot, and Stanford's one of thebest three point shooting teams in the league.
(22:47):
If they can get hot and individuallylike Tyrell Terry gets hot or Isaac
White gets hot Spencer Jones, ifthey can get back to the level defensively
and then get hot from the perimeter, Stanford's definitely a team that could run
the table. Yeah, and donyou know we I asked this question to
Jared past the other day and hedidn't didn't buy too much on it,
(23:10):
but I would be. I'm interested, intrigued and will watch carefully. You
know how much Tyrell Terry will havein the tank. He's a freshman.
He's had to carry a lot ofthe load and this year has gone along
for Stanford, and he's not physicallyas strong, nearly strong as they want
him to be, as they assumehe will become. So I is that
a valid concern? Is the guesttank for him in March? I think
(23:33):
so? Um, And look,every player is different, and Tyrell Terry,
I'm assuming has looked how he's lookedfor a while, like he's gotten
by by being more slight of build, but he's start out a way to
get it done. But he's neverhad to play this many games with a
step up in the level of competitionfrom high school to college. And to
(23:55):
your point, Ted, if I'mcoaching against Stanford, I'm probably going to
turn it up on him a littlebit, try and be more physical,
even take a few fouls if Ihave to try and wear him down even
more. I haven't noticed a teamtrying to do that yet, but if
I'm coaching against Stamford, I mightstart thinking that way because he is so
important to how good Stamford is.Yeah, and that's the game last Saturday
(24:19):
in Boulder, the game where toSilva falling at her, But you saw
McKinley wright. He's a definitely partof the theory Colorado employed against Stamford.
Yeah, hey, Ted, becauseyou've seen so many great individual players this
season, Don and I all seasonlong, I've been talking about Peyton Pritchard,
and yesterday on the podcast, Ibrought up this idea of Remy Martin
(24:41):
and what he could do to pushPeyton, and Don's response was like,
as he's just got to win theleague, in order for him to jump
Peyton Pritchard. I don't know ifyou agree with that, but for context
on the type of season Pritchard hashad this year, is there comparable in
all your years from an individual standpoint, and the guys had this much dominance?
(25:02):
Yeah, you know, yeah,that's a good that's a good word
you tossed in there at the end, Yamra, because the dominance part may
separate. And I think the analogywhen I saw Pritchard there the first game
of the year in Oregon and seenI think I've seen him three times now,
and it was all before I leftfor a few weeks at the end
of January to go to Australia.So when I left, to me,
there was no question Pritchard was theguy. I went over to Stanford and
(25:26):
sat in the stands and watched ArizonaState play Stanford last Thursday, and Remy
Martin was brilliant. He was justbrilliant, and he carried through it in
Berkeley on Sunday. So he's puttinghimself there, you know. There they
strike me as a little different.This is where I'll step veer a little
bit into Don's lane. So Don, you can smack me down. But
you know, Pritchard to me isdoing it as part of a team,
(25:49):
and Remy does a lot of inthe Berkeley game Sunday, My god,
it was extraordinary what he did,but it was a lot of solo action.
And that's to me a little bitwhere Pritchard, to me, shades
more towards what TJ McConnell did inhis senior year at Arizona. T J
McConnell had a much better supporting him. His supporting cast was outstanding. So
(26:10):
no, that's why the dominance wordthat you use, Jamer, I wouldn't
have used that for t J.McConnell. He didn't have to be dominant
because the team was so good.Peyton needs to be a little bit more
in that way. So you know, that's just the one, the one
go ahead done. I was justgonna say, Ted, it's a good
point you make about that, AndI would say this with Pritchard. You
(26:30):
know, the ball moves better inthe organ offense than it does for Arizona
State. And I think Pritchard's genius, if you want to call it.
That is, he's got all allthe boxes checked. Offensively, he can
catch and shoot he can rip throughand go to the rim, he can
pull up, and not that Remycan't do that, but I just think
(26:52):
it looks like Peyton gets it morein the framework of the offense because of
the ball movement, but also thepieces around him. They have more perimeter
shooting in Oregon with Richardson and Duarteand those guys, whereas Arizona State the
ball doesn't move as much, soit looks like it's a lot of iso,
which I think a good amount oftime it is. But nobody can
stay in front of Remmy either.And so if if if I'm Remy Martin
(27:15):
and I know I can blow pastwhoever I want whenever I want, I'm
probably going to do that. Butthe kickouts aren't there because Arizona State isn't
a very good three point shooting team. So he's thinking in his mind,
well, I'm gonna blow by andscore versus Pritchard. A lot of the
time is blowby and kick out becausehe knows he's got shooters out there.
(27:36):
Yeah, and that's a great call. And that's why Don McLean is Don
McLean, yam or you He isa summarized because that's that's been my frustration
with Arizona State watching them this year, even the games they win, they
want it cal but the ball doesn'tmove the way where the way a lot
of us like to see the ballmove. It just doesn't. And Arizona
State's making a work right now.Right, they're winning games, so it
(27:57):
is working for them, but itis a different it's just a different look.
Yeah. Casing point by the way, the match up against call Over
the weekend, it just was Remytook over. He's he's heaving up threes,
they're going down, but it's there'snot the movement ted that you're referring
to, right, And so thisis this is where and I know you
guys are going to talk. Iknow you're going to talk about this,
(28:18):
but I'm fascinated to get a littlesneak from Don on this one, because
again, we saw Arizona Saturday,and I've seen Arizona I think four times
in person now, and you seeyou see why Nick o'mannioned is so highly
regarded, right, and then youwatch him shoot and I've seen I think
I've seen four games and I don'tthink I've seen him shoot the ball well
in any of the four games.And he has some missus like he had
(28:40):
at Stamford. He has some missusthat are just oh like ouch missus.
So am I missing something there?Don Well. We spent a lot of
time on it. On the podcastyesterday, I broke him down for his
U next level UM look ahead,I guess you'd call it. I'm not
concerned about his shooting. I thinkthe point I made was because of his
(29:03):
burst, and he's got a reallyreally good burst, either from the standstill
or in transition. In high school, he didn't have to pull up,
he didn't have to catch and shootbecause he could blow by and score in
the paint and at the rim wheneverhe wanted. So this is probably a
newer thing for him. But youlook at him mechanically and it looks sound
so now. To me, itjust becomes about reps and confidence. And
(29:25):
I think the more he's he's inthe gym working on one two bounce pull
ups, the more he's working onstand still catch and shoots, the better
he'll become in the NBA. Peoplethat I've talked to aren't concerned about it
at all, because it doesn't lookwrong now. The results may may look
a little wrong at times, butwhen you see it released from his hand,
(29:45):
you're saying to yourself that guy willeventually be a very good shooter.
That's a great that's a great call, because what I was thinking as I'm
as I was speaking was more recentcop Lonzo Ball right now, Oh no,
there was a fundamental difference. Oh, Mechanically, Lonzo balls as broken
(30:07):
as a player. Lonzo Ball wasas broken of a highly regarded player as
I've ever seen. Mechanically on hisshot, you know it is on the
wrong side of his face, hiselbow was flying, his release didn't never
followed through it, Like there wasso many things wrong with that jumper.
And even though he made a fewat UCLA, you knew that that thing
could not sustain and it would nothold up. And he's started the process
(30:30):
of changing it, and he's madea couple of tweaks. I don't know
if you guys watched him this year, but it's still wrong. Like,
yeah, it's better, but it'sstill wrong. And until he completely fixes
at Lonzo Ball will never be aconsistent perimeter shooter. Doesn't doesn't Lavares can't
he go and just change it.I mean, he's the one that taught
(30:52):
him I don't. I don't knowwhat happened there. Yeah, that's exactly
a little bit of a weird situation. Hey, Ted, before I let
you get going, only, Idon't know if I'll have another opportunity on
the Podcastle's hawk with you? Soare you cool if I just throw some
some awards your way and just kindof I know there's still some games left
to be played. But who youthink might be the front runner in a
couple of these categories? Sure?Sure? Um, all right, so
(31:15):
I just think Player of the Year. I think we're on the same page,
right, Payton Richard, right now? Yes? Yeah, to me,
right now? Yes, Okay,this one I think is hard Freshman
of the Year, Ted, whodo you like? Oh? Wow?
Um, that's the that's the coinflip one? To me, it's okay.
I think it's Hobby. So it'sa congu Naji. I've seen Nagy
(31:36):
way more often, so I've probablyslant a little bit that way. Um,
So if if you had me,if you asked me to flip the
coin right now, I'd land onNagy. Yeah. I think I think
that one's going to come down toif Arizona finishes ahead of USC and the
standings. It makes it easier tosay Nagy. You know, whenever you
look at these awards, you say, okay, if Arizona didn't have Naji,
(31:57):
what would it look like, ifus didn't have a cong Wu,
what would it look like in theeffect of those two. You can look
at the numbers. The numbers arevery similar points and rebounds. But I
just think if Arizona finishes higher,you're probably going to err to the side
of Naji with that one. It'sa good call because at the same time,
like a Congress effect on that team, you can make an argument maybe
greater than Naji's. But Naya's outthere. Yeah, I mean it's that's
(32:22):
a razor thin margin from the numbersand from the MPa. Hey, can
I make a suggestion, guys?Sure, Here's here's an award that I
would love, Yeamer, And itfeeds off what you said. I think
there should be and this is somethingI talked to Sean Miller about on Saturday.
There should be a Senior the Yearaward. I really do. And
(32:43):
obviously it's Peyton Pritchard this year,right, And to me, it plays
into you referenced Remy Martin Don andthe other guy I'll talk about as McKinley
Wright and I spent a lot oftime around Colorado this year, and I've
been asking the people what what theythink and will either one of them choose
to come back for a senior yearand perhaps had their game take the step
(33:04):
because Peyton Pritchard made himself right,He's made himself a much more enticing asset.
When you say dom by coming backfor senior year, well, I
think you can enhance your profile byhaving a monster year. And I think
Peyton Pritchard, well, you canlook at this too. It like there's
a reason why you're still in collegeas a senior, right because NBA people
(33:25):
obviously think you have some deficiencies.So that doesn't really change unless unless you've
come back. Like is Peyton Pritcharddramatically different this year than he was last
year? Not really. I meanI think he's more confident. I think,
you know, his body looks alittle stronger and better. But what
you can do is get some momentumon your side, Like if you're having
a monster senior year, the NBApeople may perk their ears up a little
(33:51):
bit more than they had in thepast, so you can definitely help yourself
in that regard. It doesn't changeyou and probably doesn't change their evaluation of
you. But if you're you know, on everyone's radar because of the senior
year you have, it can't doanything but help. And for guys like
McKinley, Wright and Remy Martin,like, they're not first round picks anyway
(34:14):
right now, So why wouldn't youcome back and finish your college career and
have a great college career like PeytonPritchard what he did this year. Forget
the NBA. Peyton Pritchard with theseason he's having on top of what he
did is first three years, isgoing down as one of the all time
greats at Oregon. Had he leftlast year, he's not even in that
conversation. And what does that mean, Well, it just means that for
(34:36):
the rest of your life, you'regoing to be considered one of the greatest
players to ever play at Oregon Andthat's pretty cool. Amen, and don
What I would wonder would t J. McConnell have been as would he have
been drafted, would he have hadI think, what does he have four
or five years now in the leagueif he hadn't played his senior year at
Arizona. No, that's my pointthough Ted. It's like TJ McConnell was
(34:58):
never going to be drafted. Thereason he's been in the NBA is all
those intangibles that maybe were enhanced bybeing under Sean Miller for another year in
a senior year. But he wasgonna have to go make an NBA team
regardless. And I think for thosetwo guys, I mean McKinley and Remy,
could they be second rounders, yes, but more probable is they're gonna
(35:19):
have to go make a team,just like Jordan McLoughlin has done as well
from USC And so to me,if I was advising those players, I
would say, look, man,you can do nothing but help yourself by
coming back for your senior year andyou can increase your legacy at our university
and maybe get to the NBA tournament. Again, what's wrong with that?
(35:39):
If the endgame is that you're gonnahave to go make an NBA roster on
your own without getting drafted anyway,and that's probably going to be the case
for those guys. Good point,Ted, I'll throw out I'll throw two
more your guys way most improved playerssince we're talking about guys and increasing their
stock if they stay a little bitlonger. Is there a guy that made
(36:00):
a jump from last year that standsout this season? Wow? Da Silva
and I think has to stand out. I mean that was I think the
first half of the year. Withoutquestion, Oscar da Silva had has become
a standout player. So that's thefirst thing that jumps to my mind.
Yeah, I'm with you on thatone. Don Hoodie got for most improved.
(36:20):
Yeah, I think Da Silva's inthat conversation. I think um Kyler
Kelly's in that discussion. I thinkChris Smith is in that discussion. But
I think Da Silva is the frontrunner. And I hope that he gets
back on tracker. He was infoul trouble on Saturday night, but hopefully
(36:44):
he and Stanford get back on track, and I think if they do,
he's probably going to be your mostimproved player. Okay, Coach of the
Year, guys, I think it'sbeen This one's getting interesting now it's hard
now Yeah yeah, wow, Coachof the year. Man, that that
is that frustrates me for years.It's like most Valuable player, right or
(37:08):
Player of the Year and I'm goingto issue issue his name again. When
t J McConnell did not win Playerof the Year, to me, that
was absurd. I don't understand whatthe criteria was that he didn't win that.
So, you know, if yousay coach of the Year for exceeding
expectation, it's pretty hard to argueagainst one of Kyle Smith's slash Mark Fox
(37:29):
right for exceeding expectation, I mean, that's extraordinary. But then you could
look at and say, hey,if mc cronin can keep UCLA running down
the stretch here, given what hewalked into right and given where they were
on jan one, that's pretty amazing. And then on the top side,
you say, Dane Altman and SeanMiller can turn their entire virtually their entire
(37:52):
rosters over year to year and stillmake it work. So, honestly,
guys, I'm gonna I'm gonna say, I don't even know where to go
on that because I'm not sure wheremy criteria fall. I would have to
think about that. Yeah, we'lllet that one sit till the till season's
end. Donnie got one guy,Yeah, I mean that that Ted said
it perfectly. It's it's like it'show you view the award, you know.
Or if you look at it aswhat you thought was going to happen
(38:15):
with a team and they far exceededthat, or you just look at the
job that they did with what happenedduring the season and manage managing the season
basically with injury and whatever else goeson. Or are you rewarding the team
that wins it? You know,let's say Colorado wins the regular season,
is Tad your coach of the year. He could be, and maybe he
(38:37):
deserves it, But it's gonna befascinating to see who alto If things stay
kind of the way they are,it's gonna be fascinating to see who wins
it, because you're gonna see howpeople view the award by who wins it.
All right, I'm gonna ted becauseyou threw out there should be a
senior award, and I actually lovethat idea. I'm gonna throw a made
(38:58):
up award your guys as well,most underrated player in the conference. Is
there a guy not getting enough attentionfor what he's doing? Is there a
player that stands out for you?Guys? I got I got one,
I got one, all right?Go ahead done. Cj Ellaby and what
he's done this year. I mean, I think you know we're talking about
Kyle Smith exceeding expectations. I mean, Ellaby has made a major jump from
(39:22):
last year. And I used thisline on Thursday night. He went from
one of the best freshmen last yearin the in the conference to one of
the best players this year. Andyou know, they don't win as many
games as they won without C.Jellaby and in what he provides them offensively,
defensively, And I just think youknow, we talk about because they're
(39:44):
in the middle of the pack,m we talk about the players like Pritchard,
Remmy Martin a lot, but tome, Ellaby is hands down one
of the five best players in thisconference. Wow. And then the name
that now in Vane is Matt Bradleythat I would throw out, Yeah,
(40:04):
I mean he's at he's he's notonly stepped his game up this year,
but he's had to again carry thevast majority of their loads single handedly.
And again I sit, you sitat the shoot arounds like and don you
do the same thing and you hearthe opposing team get ready to play cal
and it's number twenty, number twentynumber now where twenty is don't let twenty
do this? You know, that'swhen you know you're carrying the load.
And Bradley is what he's eighteen pointsa game, uh, even with that
(40:29):
pressure on him this year, Sothat would be in the LLO. I
haven't seen Ellabe live this year,which frustrates me. I've seen Bradley a
lot, and that's I would echothose very thoughts on Well real quick.
That's why I struggled on the MostImproved. I was trying to think of
that. I knew there was anothername, Matt Bradley in the most from
eleven ay as well is big timebetter shooting percentage, but are across the
board the rebounds A yeah, whyaren't you given us your award winners?
(40:52):
Because Bradley's my guy. I waskind of hoping someone would take it.
And I was sitting chime in onthe Coach of the Year Matt, because
I'm sitting tight on that one.I guess I don't know, because there's
a there's a part of me thatis still leaning towards Mark Mark Fox right
now, and it's because of thehead to head with Washington State. Like
to me, that's meaningful everything thatTed had made reference to Cosan on all
(41:13):
that stuff. I just didn't think, like I said this to maybe Don,
I might have mentioned this to you. Can you imagine what Cow would
have been with Justice suing for example, Like, I just didn't McNeil.
Yeah, Like, I just didn'tfeel like they. The kid Van Overt
has been playing some good basketball.You're right, but I just Matt Bradley
(41:34):
to me, I don't think it'snearly enough credit. And when you said
Elbe, you're one hundred percent right. I just think Don, you and
I and I know Ted you youtalk about him as well. He gets
attention just because we're talking about him. Um. I just I feel like
every week I'm making a point onthe show to talk about Matt Bradley and
Cow like they. I just don'tthink he gets enough love. And um,
(41:54):
the the onion so to speak.He is never scared to take a
big shot, and that's I lovethose guys. I absolutely love those players.
Here's a guy out throw out therethat yam or do your question about
a guy that is a little underthe radar that I think could be very
important for his team's hopes in Marchis juston at Oregon. Yeah, and
(42:15):
I have no idea what the helpright now if Dante is and when when
he might I just don't not upto speed on that issue. But that
juston. We've seen guys like thatbefore at Oregon and Dana's time. They're
the guys that do a lot ofthe you know, not in the box
score stuff, and Juton has thatphysical presence about him right, that strength.
That to me, if Oregan isgoing to try to do what they've
(42:36):
done in prior marches, he wouldbe a significant player. It's a good
absolutely I agree with that too.Dante last tight checked by the way,
is participating shoot runs and is quoteclose is what I've heard. I saw
that from Dane Oltmond, so toyour point, Ted, hopefully he gets
out there pretty soon. You know, Oregon, as we know, continues
(42:57):
to improve, and this is aboutthe time where like we start that,
well, Dane Altman's doing it againtype of thing, and so, um,
it'll be interesting with this. Thisis this is a big time road
trip. This week the Organs atthe Arizonas is going to be fun to
watch because both those games are asmeaningful as any game this year in the
(43:20):
Conference. Ted, you have oneof those. Right, I'll be in
Tucson for the Oregon State Arizona game, and I'm looking forwardcause i have not
seen Oregon State live this year,so I'm looking forward to seeing especially I
was watching their games over the weekend. Don you reference Kyler Kelly and I
I'm watching his TV, but watchinghim run the floor, that looks to
me to be on TV a lotbetter than it was last year. Well,
(43:43):
I made this point real quick,and yeah, I want I want
you to hear this too. AndI made this point in the Civil War
last week. So remember how muchI talked about that, Thible just looked
different, like he covered ground likeI'd never seen before. I'd never seen
a guy get from point A topoint B as fast as Tis Stible.
So that's like a plus one skill, right. And so I was watching
(44:06):
Kyler Kelly warm up, and wehaven't seen a guy like Kyler Kelly in
our league where it's seven feet,it's bouncy, it's long arms, it's
wide shoulders. And so I askedWayne, I said, is it wrong
for me to say that Kyler Kellyshould have the same defensive impact that Matisse
Stibel had? Because he looks differentand he has a plus one thing just
(44:30):
like Thible did. And Wayne agreedwith me and he said, he just
doesn't understand how to play hard consistentlylike Matisse Stibele did and so like and
I said during the game, ifKyler Kelly could figure out how to play
as hard as Matie Stible did,we would be talking about him in the
same vein as Matis Stible because ofwhat he has in that plus one stuff.
(44:54):
Yeah, and don don't you thinkI mean? And again I've only
seen him on TV this year,But if a guy that size with rim
production can run the floor like that, he's got a chance to play.
He's got a chance to play atthe next level. Yes, But the
only thing is is now, theway the NBA is, you have to
be able to shoot at all positions. It doesn't mean you can't play,
(45:15):
but like it's a special it's aspecial player now that can play in the
league without being able to shoot.And maybe Kelly is that guy. Maybe
he is. Maybe he will figureout how to play as hard as like
a Montrez Errol and affect the gameso much that you don't need him to
be able to shoot. And hemight be favorite of the year on the
(45:36):
defensive side for a defensive player ofthe Year, But to your point,
if there was maybe more of thatconsistent effort, it's less of a conversation
like I think Tyler Bay is inthat in that mix. Bryce Wills,
I think deserves to be in thatconversation based off of what is a second
in the country in blocks, likeyou would think that would help fast track
you for that award, But thisyear, I think there's some other guys
(45:59):
that are having some attention. Butwith those tools, you am like and
look, Ke's averaging three and ahalf blocks a game, which is great,
which is a lot, but withthose tools, he should be averaging
five plus blocks a game like literally, and you know, you you're given
gifts like he has and it's ashame to not to be able to use
(46:20):
them to the maximum Like Thible.Did you know Thible saw that he was
good at that And guess what,the guy ended up being the twentieth pick
in the draft and has been crushingit and playing in the NBA a lot
like meaningful minutes he's he's out there, which has been awesome to see,
no doubt because there's some other playersthat were drafted and not getting the type
(46:42):
of minutes that that Thible is.Ted can't thank you enough for coming on
the podcast. Absolutely awesome to havea kind of conversation with you about all
the things that are happening in theleague. It's been a joy to listen
to you and Don on the broadcastat as many games as you are getting
on PAC twelve network. To youguys just continue to be one of the
best duos that we have and greatambassadors for the game. So looking forward
(47:04):
to actually seeing you in Vegas.I feel like I don't unless it's football
season we're hanging out with Yogia,I don't get to see it too often.
I know what we need to do, Namor and Don. We need
to do this and like just havea three hour just blowout session someday because
we could just talk ball forever.We have someone with Don's Don's mind that
understands it can take our knucklehead views. Yeah, or you and me and
(47:25):
Don makes them sound smart. Let'scall me sometime when we have three hours.
Yeah, you know what we shoulddo. I'm on the pitch because
I know that the suits are listeningto to the podcast. So I think
what Ted is asking for is aweekly three hour show. We could sigil
cast it on the Pat twelve network. I'm volunteering you, Ted for I
(47:45):
have an idea because the word onthe street is the studio is going to
be inside this year at let's justdo a three hour show from the set.
We'll just turn the camera on andgo. Yeah, I'm all about
that. Don remember the last yearfor game for the championship, they said,
yo, our go, we havetwo commercials. We just went.
So I'm down delay theater. That'swhat you PJ. PJ made a stop
(48:10):
on the set with us, SoTed, you you were now officially been
volunteered for for that. You don'thave much of the movies. So but
seriously, thank you so much forfor stopping by. Always great to talk
with h with you, not onlyabout what's happening in the conference. I
need some more tennis stories. Igot one for you off air for another
day in time. Ah okay,yeah we will get that long go.
(48:35):
Thanks you guys, appreciate it,Ted Robinson, and by the way,
for everyone who's been listening to thepodcast, appreciate the support on social media.
Are always holding it down for usputting this thing together. If you
do see it on Twitter, shareit, and of course always subscribe,
encourage your friends to subscribe. Rateand review certainly helps a lot of our
metrics as well, So if youare kind enough, certainly appreciate it.
And on the women's side, youdo not want to miss Ashley Adam sim
(48:58):
and Mary Murphy the league. Iwas just looking at it this morning.
Half the league is sitting in thetop twenty five right now. It is
scary how good women's basketball is inthe Pecwolve Conference, and they got you
covered start to finish everything that's happeningon that side of the floor as well.
So highly encourage you guys to checkout their show. Once again,
thanks for listening.
Ah Hill, rap the ball,baby, Let's go. This is Inside
the Pack twelve podcast. Put ona pair of your headphones and four baggets
and to some ballcasts having the ballchat about the best conference in the nation.
All facts is truly for the wholebluffers get who want the then gunn
(00:25):
and then't get in buggers. Howabout we discussed while the Trojan's Husky Ducks
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Inside is cold and young Pack twelvelegends and the lums that analysis. We
(00:45):
go farmly on the stores to takeyou from conference play all the way to
the final four with some hoop kindof swords, just walking you through the
game. I hit your host MikeGamm and the board dumb acclaim, Hey,
super excited for just one today.If you watch Pack twelve games,
and if you're listening to this podcast, that means you do. He has
been God. I'm gonna even goa little bit more macro here, don
(01:08):
I'm gonna take a step back,and I was about to say, hey,
he's been the prominent voice on PACtwelve networks since we launched, and
I think that's already understood. ButI was just thinking about Ted Robinson the
other day. I was home,it was an off day, and I
was watching a feature on sixty minutesabout Rafa Nadal and there's all these shot
calls, and by st I meanyou hear the announcer's voices in the feature,
(01:30):
and Ted's voice is all over thisthing. And I was gonna hit
him up and just let him know, but that's probably just commonplace. Ted.
You probably tell you yam him.The temptation is what Ted Robinson on
is to go in a million differentdirections because the guy's done a million different
things. Well, this is athis is a PAC twelve men's basketball podcast,
(01:51):
So we'll try to stay on thattopic, but it's gonna be difficult
with Ted on Ted, did youcatch that sixty minutes feature by the way
on Rafa? Yeah, I did. I did, Mike, and thanks,
And by the way, it's greatto be back with you guys,
because once again, for year two, the both of you were doing something
that is of great value to theconference, to the basketball and thankfully there's
more to talk about this year,yea more positive. But here here's yeahmer,
(02:15):
here's how I phrase him. I'vebeen around long enough. I called
games when Don McClean played. Icalled games in the Big East, when
Mike Hopkins played, and I called, I showed him the scoresheet. I
called, I think three games thatSean Miller played in a pit. Okay,
so I give you an idea.You have, you have the resident
fossil here on your hands. Yeah. Don McClean just turned fifty, Ted,
(02:40):
do you keep you are? Youjust said something that that struck me.
Do you keep your boards from allyour games? You know, yammer,
that's a great question. And honestly, this year is the first year
and I started. I had achance to be in the NBA at twenty
six, just turning twenty six,which it was crazy story, and of
(03:04):
course the NBA wasn't really the NBAback then. I showed down the book
the other night because pace Man Nico'sdad was on the team that I was
with. We were kind of scrubstogether in a sense. But I started
keeping score, and I've always keptscore because it's the baseball tradition you just
keep your own score book. Andthis year's the first year I haven't done
it. And it's just the proliferationof apps and screens in front of you,
(03:28):
enough other information, stats and soforth that you have put in in
front of you. I just stoppedkeeping scores, So this is the first
year I haven't. I still havescore books that go back. In fact,
I've showed our other colleague this Icalled that same year when I was
with the Golden State Warriors and PaceManu was on our team, it was
still the San Diego Clippers. SoI have score books with Bill Walton's day
(03:52):
hit it for games that the Warriorsplayed in San Diego that first year I
was in the league. So anyway, it's one of those things that my
wife keeps haranguing me we need toclear out. But yeah, I do
have them, and I have thebaseball ones to you. Wow, that's
that's kind of awesome there. Ican't even imagine for anyone who is interested
(04:13):
in being a broadcaster and doesn't knowwhat Ted is referring to. Basically,
every play by play guy goes intoa game and don I know, usually
has you know his notes, andthe analysts certainly do as well. But
basically it's got rosters and notes andstats and just kind of a way to
keep track of who's on the floorand those types of things. So when
I said board, that's what Iwas referring to. The point is Ted,
(04:34):
you probably have like a basement fieldof boxes with those boards at that
if you were keeping that many.You know, what I finally threw out
was the years I did the NCAAtournament for CBS, which was in the
nineties. Now again, remember thiswas in the nineties and internet was in
its infancy. We were still gettinginformation via facts, you know, there
(04:56):
were no smartphones, et cetera.And so I would have these thick notebooks
because you'd get assigned on Sunday toyour site and you might have a Thursday
game with eight teams and six ofthem you've never seen. So I would
keep these thick notebooks just you'd callpeople, you would ask for them to
fax you, and and keep thesethick notebooks of notes of all these teams.
(05:17):
Which I finally threw out in theinteresting part which connects to the PAC
twelve, was I would guess probablythree I did five years of the tournament
for CBS, and three of thoseyears I hired at the suggestion of Billy
Packer, who would sit at theseminar and tell us all, Hey,
this is what I do, youshould all do the same thing. So
I hired a young guy who's verysmart, who had connections all through the
(05:39):
basketball world, and I hired himliterally paid him on the side deep to
do some research for me. Andhe would get faxes from other conferences and
they're scouting reports on these teams thatyou had some idea who was who,
and that guy is Jamie's aneevid,who's the deputy commissioner of the conference.
Jamie was working in the Stanford Basketballoffice then as a young guy workings his
(05:59):
way, and he was clearly sharpand had contacts and knew how to use
him. So literally I hired him, I think probably three years. He
did an incredible job of putting togethera broadcasters scout report. So, Ted,
we've now established that you've been aroundfor a while and done a lot
of things. But you said somethinglast week, and you said it again
on Saturday night when we did thatStanford Arizona game, that what happened the
(06:21):
week before is probably the best thingthat you've ever seen in college basketball.
Referring to that Colorado Stanford game aweek ago, two weeks ago. Yeah,
done, and Mike, it was, you know, without question,
one of the handful of almost fortyyears of being around college ball, one
of the handful of moments that justshine him. And I won't dwell too
(06:44):
long on it, but in theimmediaccene when the collision happened and fell and
Eddie House was my partner, andEddie saw it from a better view than
I did of the fall onto thefloor, and he immediately gasped. And
when you saw two players immediately DaveJohn Davis of Stanford peel away in tears,
just sobbing, and then Evan Baddygetting up and seeing something and he
(07:06):
peels away in tears, you immediatelyin that moment thought this was the kind
of injury that we've become sadly accustomedto seeing in football, and you don't
see it in basketball, so you'renot as prepared for it. And the
aftermath in the five minutes or sowhere they brought a stretcher out eventually distill
(07:27):
but was able to get up andwalk off, which was astounding despite the
cotton of blood, but to seethe players so emotionally distraught, and then
to have a huddle with the playersin the middle of the court and Jared
hasket in there, and Tad Boyleeventually came in on the exterior two and
later finding out that it was TadBoyle who told McKinley right to go say
(07:47):
a prayer. Chared has jumped inand told the Colorado players, look,
I know you weren't trying to doanything here. Let's put this away,
put it by and let's keep playing. And the Colorado fans of player was
sold out. It was extraordinary andit was just a moment, and I
think I used the word in thetime. It was just a moment where
everybody was a human being. Nolonger were they competitors, and all the
(08:09):
phrases we toss around, warriors,etc. They were just humans. And
somebody got in the moment they thought, got pretty seriously hurt, and the
uniform you're wearing didn't matter anymore.So to me it was also guys.
I thought it was something that ourconference should wave the flag about because it
spoke remarkably well to two programs andto two coaches, to Tad Boyle and
(08:31):
to Jared Hass and their class andthe Colorado fans and the class they showed,
you know, and I'm sure everyeverybody else would have reacted the same
way, But in that moment,in that scene, to me, it
spoke loudly about those two programs,those fans, and I think they deserve
to be It shouldn't be forgotten.I guess is where I'm going to end
up with this. It shouldn't beforgotten. It's interesting because Saturday you were
(08:54):
on the column PAC twelve Network withDon for the Stanford Arizona game, and
we played your interview with Jared askedon one of our shows before the game,
and you had asked him about itand Jared's response about there not really
being a playbook that you could followin a situation like that. But You're
right, it looked like Hass gotit right. Ted Boyle got it right.
(09:15):
To see some of the social mediatweets out there from a lot of
the players on both teams wishing Oscarreally well it was. It was a
really unique situation and one that Ithink all of us were not obviously happy
to see what had happened on thefloor, but just the response was kind
of special. For you to bea part of that, I can only
imagine. But at the same time, just because you've been around this league
(09:37):
so long and you know these headcoaches, you probably ted aren't surprised that
those coaches responded the way they did. I would argue, you know,
two of the class of your guysthat we have in the country on the
sidelines. Absolutely, Mike, absolutely, and look, I believe all twelve
would have panel it the same way. It just it struck of those two.
And again as Jared and Jared whowas credit when I asked him about
(09:58):
it, this sturdy Now he wastrying to downplay his role as we spoken,
and we spoke about it in theshooting around a little bit in the
morning because I hadn't seen Jared sincethey left Boulder the previous Saturday, So
I just had to tell how howimpressed I was. And you know the
other the other area I think that'sso significant of this again is it isn't
(10:20):
forgotten because we we're going to seeit. It's going to continue to happen.
The concern about injury, the significantStanford is leading, you know,
the study and the research. Thereare two massive projects going on on the
Stanford campus right now about head injury, and again we associated mostly with football.
In fact, the leading voice thathe's still serving as the face of
(10:43):
one of the programs is Bryce Love. Even though he's now trying to pursue
his pro football career on the EastCoast, he's still being the face of
one of these massive concussion study programs. So back back to where we started
with this thing. Look, itwas astounding class shown by by both men.
And I'll tell you the other thing, Guys. I said it to
Don Saturday leaving Boulder a week ago, Saturday. If you had told me
(11:05):
that Oscar de Silva was going toplay seven days later, I'd have given
you my mortgage at bet Noway,I mean just seeing it again and living
through the immediate moment. So that'sI hate to use the word because it
can be overused, but that wasmiraculous to me, given the fall,
given the severity that he was ableto clear all the protocols in play a
week later. Ted, it's beena unique year in the conference in the
(11:28):
sense that it's been so competitive andso so much of a flip around from
last year, when you know,things weren't looking so great. But me
and Mike kind of agreed on ourother podcasts that we've now we're seeing some
separation, that between the top sixand the bottom six. Stamford's two games
away from sc and UCLA at fivelosses, and that it's a six team
(11:52):
race for four seeds in Vegas.Do you see it that way? Yeah,
there's no question. That's what Saturdayand Sunday's games. Now you can
take a visual look. I thinkthey put the standings up done at the
beginning of our game at Stanford Saturday, and I couldn't help but I just
started thinking of the Talking Heads movieStop making Sense, because it was like
just a jumble of teams with allthese numbers and it didn't make any sense.
(12:15):
Well, by Sunday night it mademore sense. You're exactly right,
and so now you've got you've gotsix, depending on which day it is,
Lenardi has either five or six inthe tournament, which is great the
jocking for the four seeds. You'reexactly right. Then the question, and
I think don you bring this upevery year? Is it advantageous to be
the five because you get a gameagainst the twelve and that adds that adds
(12:39):
a win to your resume. Exceptthis year, the twelve isn't necessarily going
to be the twelve of past years. Right, the twelve is if it's
Washington on any given night, Rightwith Washington, you know, you're not
necessarily thinking it's the twelve of pastyears. So all of those questions,
to me are what's going to makeVegas? Of all the years since the
conference moved there, This to mecould be the most fun tournament because it
(13:01):
is going to be, I thinkis scramble at all ends, and you
have multiple teams that are going tobelieve when they go to Vegas they could
do what Oregon did last year.Multiple teams are going to have the thought
because there is no dominant team thatthey could run four days off here and
somehow steal that did. You know, it's really interesting about that. I
feel like every year we say thatthe tournament is wide open, but how
(13:24):
meaningful these games are going to be? Because I think back to ted last
season of Oregon, it figured outthings defensively. You know, maybe they're
not a twelve seat in the NCdoable a tournament. Maybe they don't have
to win those four straight games inorder to land a spot in the NC
doable a tournament like they did aseason ago, and they don't have to
play Virginia in the sweet sixteen.You know, I think we make a
big case for winning a conference championship, winning the PACTOL Championship, and rightfully
(13:50):
so. But for those teams atthe top, like positioning in the Big
Dance to really make a run likethese games down the stretch are really critical
from that perspective as well. Heyamen, yeah, right, that's a
great point. And this fast forwardsa little bit into March madness and done.
Since you played, you can talkabout this. And to me,
that's what especially the Colorado, OregonArizona group, they want to make sure
(14:13):
they don't fall so that they getstuck into eight nine, because that,
to me is the worst one,right eight nine. TV loves eight nine
because eight nines are always generally generallythe best first round game, so CBS
and Turner love those games. Andthen if you happen to survive that game,
you get a one, and soyour odds of getting out of the
first week are pretty slim. Andthat's why I'm saying you want to be
outside. I've always thought that Deight nine was the was the kind of
(14:37):
them Again, you're you're the seatsacrificial lambs for television. Top three teams
right now seem to be those inArizona State may get their way in.
There be one of those as well. You know, USC We're guessing here,
But the point to me the topis, Yeah, if you want
to really make a run like Oregondid last year get to the second weekend,
you got to stay at eight nine. Yeah, Ted, you mentioned
(14:58):
the five game, and you know, I feel like I've been around a
pretty long time too and done thePac twelve Pac ten tournament even back when
it was that. And it's onething I don't have an answer too.
And we saw it last year withOregon running the table winning four straight days
of the notion that could it bebeneficial to be in the five twelve game
as the five seed because you getused to the arena, you get a
(15:22):
game under your belt, you haven'thad as many days off versus the rest
and having that buy of you know, not playing on Wednesday. I don't
have an answer to that, andI'm curious if either YouTube guys have have
a thought on that of is itmore beneficial and is this year different because
it's so competitive and there isn't anydominant teams, wouldn't this be a year
(15:46):
where you might say to yourself,yeah, we're fine being the five instead
of you know, eking out thefour seed. Yeah, well yeamra I'll
just jump at first, then yougo ahead. But I's on the analogy
I use is the years since thetournament's gone to Vegas for the conference.
Is that five twelve game is Wednesdayat noon? And you know, I
(16:07):
did I don't know how many twentyplus years of the NCAA tournament. And
to me, and I used tohear coaches when they would really be honest
with you, they would open upand admit the game they hated playing was
the first game Thursday. If you'rekicking off the tournament at eleven twenty am
in Salt Lake City on a Thursday, and they couldn't stand playing in that
(16:29):
game because you don't even feel likeyou're in the tournament. You haven't gotten
going yet, nobody's there yet.Suddenly in two hours one of you has
done right and he goes home.I called this was God. Probably six
seven years ago. I called mccronincoaching Cincinnati when they were probably was probably
a four thirteen game and he lost. And if my memory's right, he
lost to Harvard in the four thirteengame, in the first Thursday morning game,
(16:55):
and it's a horrible feeling. Sothat's to me the human element of
the five well game and they're schedulingis it's Wednesday at noon. There generally
aren't very many people there and everybody'sjust kind of getting used to being on
hand, and suddenly by two o'clockone of his going home. So that
to me is the danger of thefive twelve game. I Mike, go
ahead, Yeah, you know.I also wonder too, just the nerves
(17:15):
surrounding it, because if you area team that hasn't had a ton of
success, right like you're you're sittingthere as the twelve, how much added
there's no pressure on you when you'rethe five. You know that Getting back
to something Donny you were talking abouton yesterday's podcast, that human nature element,
like in my head, I gota flash back and I don't remember
the exact seeds, and Ted youmight have even been on the call for
(17:37):
it. When Ernie Kent was atWashington State, didn't they took a game
pretty late, like I didn't Kennyhave to have like two games saving blocks
Like I just think about moments likethat in those types of games when you
are seated towards the bottom and you'rejust out there just playing with reckless,
abandoned Utah. When Lark Skoviac tookover that program, you know, I
(18:00):
think they won a game in thetournament that they weren't supposed to go and
win. That was at Jordan Leverage'steam. One of those types like those
moments kind of happened. It's kindof what makes the sport great. But
from an analytical standpoint, with thestart times, I'm sure that that plays
in body clocks for a lot ofthese players. But I think that's why
there's not an answer. You know, at the case by case basis,
(18:22):
Oregon was supremely motivated last year.Knew that they had to run the table
to get in the NCAA tournament.They knew they were good enough team that
they should have already been in theNCAA tournament. But because of what they
did, you know, in Decemberand January, they knew they had to
run the table and that was enoughmotivation. They could have been the five
twelve game, the whatever game.They were probably going to run the table
(18:45):
regardless because of how motivated they were. Hey, guys, here's something else.
I just thinking about this while you'retalking. Suppose and we still have
three weekends to go here, Butsuppose Washington is the twelve. Their net
is still decent, right because theyhave that win over Baylor from the very
beginning of the year. They callsold could have five twelve win if the
twelve is Washington, could that bea little more valuable? Normally you think
(19:08):
it wouldn't be as valuable because thetwelve is not going to have very good
a very good resume, But thatone Baylor win may keep Washington with a
decent number. Yeah, if theystay in the top fifty of the net,
that's a Q one win neutral site. Wait, Neutral's top seventy five
right for Q one, right,Yes, so that's probably going to be
a Q one win for whoever thefive seat is. So maybe maybe it's
(19:30):
writ You're right, that's a greatpoint. Maybe it might be more worthwhile
to be in the five twelve games. Yeah, Washington, right now,
their current net ranking is sixty eight, which is just wild to me considering
what's happened to them in the conference. Oregon State, by the way,
seventy five, just for some contexton how the season has played off,
played for, played out for twoteams that have had some struggles in the
(19:52):
league so far this year. Bythe way, Oregon State with a net
ranking of seventy five, really interestingwhen you consider the Q one wins that
they have because four of them andyou know the guys the one the team
that we saw against Saturday night.I feel badly for Stamford because they they
never got a real good run inthe second half in Arizona, and after
losing so many close games, andI don't know if they can They have
(20:15):
two tough road trips remaining. Theystill have to go to the Organs and
then to the Washington's, so Idon't know if they can pull themselves together.
But internally, there's been a littleshred of me that's been hoping that
Jared Hass could have kept this andcould keep this momentum from the beginning going,
because it is hard to fathom forthose who've been around the league,
and remember, you know, Stanford'sbrilliant run under Mike Montgomery and then Trent
(20:37):
Johnson, but they've only made thetournament. I remember sixty eighteens going.
Stanford's only gone once in the lasteleven years, and that is hard to
believe. The year that kind ofdrought. Yeah, that was the wild
thing when Johnny Dawkins was there,Ted, I asked Don this question,
and I posed it for the tournamentin Vegas in terms of the rosters and
(20:59):
the makeup of a team. Isthere a team right now? And I'll
expand it, not just in thePact twelve tournament, but down the stretch
over these next couple of weeks orso. Whose roster you feel like is
really set up for for success downthe stretch here? Well, and I
listened to Don the other night talkingabout this, Mike, because I haven't
seen them live in the conference seasonyet. But look, we all know
(21:22):
the talent u Cela has, rightand if they do indeed continue to play
more to mccronin style, which isexactly what Stanford, by the way,
was doing the first half of theyear with Jared as they would play much
more to the style of Jared asshas wanted. Now, if you Cela
does this, we know how muchability. They are right, So they're
going to be one of the teamsto me that flies to Vegas thinking,
(21:44):
hey, we could do this.There's no there's no you know, there's
no Duke or Kansas obstacle in ourpath in this conference this year. There's
good teams, but we don't havea truly great team. So yeah,
that's the one to me, themystery team to me. And it's probably
the second or third time in recentyears I've said this is USC And again
they come back and they don't havea Kongo and they win both games this
(22:06):
weekend, right, and despite theturnover every year, and don you know,
Don is much more the expert becauseyou've seen them a bunch in person.
That one kind of interests me tothe point of puzzling as a man.
There they are again. They're goingto end up, you know,
with a heck of a shot tobe a seed in dagas well. Getting
back to Stanford too, Ted Ianswered Mike's question with Stanford because of two
(22:27):
things. If they can get backto the level defensively, because it was
it was noticeably different in November andDecember, in the first part of January.
If they can get back to thatand then they have the perimeter shooting.
And to me, when you getto Vegas, it's about teams getting
hot, and Stanford's one of thebest three point shooting teams in the league.
(22:47):
If they can get hot and individuallylike Tyrell Terry gets hot or Isaac
White gets hot Spencer Jones, ifthey can get back to the level defensively
and then get hot from the perimeter, Stanford's definitely a team that could run
the table. Yeah, and donyou know we I asked this question to
Jared past the other day and hedidn't didn't buy too much on it,
(23:10):
but I would be. I'm interested, intrigued and will watch carefully. You
know how much Tyrell Terry will havein the tank. He's a freshman.
He's had to carry a lot ofthe load and this year has gone along
for Stanford, and he's not physicallyas strong, nearly strong as they want
him to be, as they assumehe will become. So I is that
a valid concern? Is the guesttank for him in March? I think
(23:33):
so? Um, And look,every player is different, and Tyrell Terry,
I'm assuming has looked how he's lookedfor a while, like he's gotten
by by being more slight of build, but he's start out a way to
get it done. But he's neverhad to play this many games with a
step up in the level of competitionfrom high school to college. And to
(23:55):
your point, Ted, if I'mcoaching against Stanford, I'm probably going to
turn it up on him a littlebit, try and be more physical,
even take a few fouls if Ihave to try and wear him down even
more. I haven't noticed a teamtrying to do that yet, but if
I'm coaching against Stamford, I mightstart thinking that way because he is so
important to how good Stamford is.Yeah, and that's the game last Saturday
(24:19):
in Boulder, the game where toSilva falling at her, But you saw
McKinley wright. He's a definitely partof the theory Colorado employed against Stamford.
Yeah, hey, Ted, becauseyou've seen so many great individual players this
season, Don and I all seasonlong, I've been talking about Peyton Pritchard,
and yesterday on the podcast, Ibrought up this idea of Remy Martin
(24:41):
and what he could do to pushPeyton, and Don's response was like,
as he's just got to win theleague, in order for him to jump
Peyton Pritchard. I don't know ifyou agree with that, but for context
on the type of season Pritchard hashad this year, is there comparable in
all your years from an individual standpoint, and the guys had this much dominance?
(25:02):
Yeah, you know, yeah,that's a good that's a good word
you tossed in there at the end, Yamra, because the dominance part may
separate. And I think the analogywhen I saw Pritchard there the first game
of the year in Oregon and seenI think I've seen him three times now,
and it was all before I leftfor a few weeks at the end
of January to go to Australia.So when I left, to me,
there was no question Pritchard was theguy. I went over to Stanford and
(25:26):
sat in the stands and watched ArizonaState play Stanford last Thursday, and Remy
Martin was brilliant. He was justbrilliant, and he carried through it in
Berkeley on Sunday. So he's puttinghimself there, you know. There they
strike me as a little different.This is where I'll step veer a little
bit into Don's lane. So Don, you can smack me down. But
you know, Pritchard to me isdoing it as part of a team,
(25:49):
and Remy does a lot of inthe Berkeley game Sunday, My god,
it was extraordinary what he did,but it was a lot of solo action.
And that's to me a little bitwhere Pritchard, to me, shades
more towards what TJ McConnell did inhis senior year at Arizona. T J
McConnell had a much better supporting him. His supporting cast was outstanding. So
(26:10):
no, that's why the dominance wordthat you use, Jamer, I wouldn't
have used that for t J.McConnell. He didn't have to be dominant
because the team was so good.Peyton needs to be a little bit more
in that way. So you know, that's just the one, the one
go ahead done. I was justgonna say, Ted, it's a good
point you make about that, AndI would say this with Pritchard. You
(26:30):
know, the ball moves better inthe organ offense than it does for Arizona
State. And I think Pritchard's genius, if you want to call it.
That is, he's got all allthe boxes checked. Offensively, he can
catch and shoot he can rip throughand go to the rim, he can
pull up, and not that Remycan't do that, but I just think
(26:52):
it looks like Peyton gets it morein the framework of the offense because of
the ball movement, but also thepieces around him. They have more perimeter
shooting in Oregon with Richardson and Duarteand those guys, whereas Arizona State the
ball doesn't move as much, soit looks like it's a lot of iso,
which I think a good amount oftime it is. But nobody can
stay in front of Remmy either.And so if if if I'm Remy Martin
(27:15):
and I know I can blow pastwhoever I want whenever I want, I'm
probably going to do that. Butthe kickouts aren't there because Arizona State isn't
a very good three point shooting team. So he's thinking in his mind,
well, I'm gonna blow by andscore versus Pritchard. A lot of the
time is blowby and kick out becausehe knows he's got shooters out there.
(27:36):
Yeah, and that's a great call. And that's why Don McLean is Don
McLean, yam or you He isa summarized because that's that's been my frustration
with Arizona State watching them this year, even the games they win, they
want it cal but the ball doesn'tmove the way where the way a lot
of us like to see the ballmove. It just doesn't. And Arizona
State's making a work right now.Right, they're winning games, so it
(27:57):
is working for them, but itis a different it's just a different look.
Yeah. Casing point by the way, the match up against call Over
the weekend, it just was Remytook over. He's he's heaving up threes,
they're going down, but it's there'snot the movement ted that you're referring
to, right, And so thisis this is where and I know you
guys are going to talk. Iknow you're going to talk about this,
(28:18):
but I'm fascinated to get a littlesneak from Don on this one, because
again, we saw Arizona Saturday,and I've seen Arizona I think four times
in person now, and you seeyou see why Nick o'mannioned is so highly
regarded, right, and then youwatch him shoot and I've seen I think
I've seen four games and I don'tthink I've seen him shoot the ball well
in any of the four games.And he has some missus like he had
(28:40):
at Stamford. He has some missusthat are just oh like ouch missus.
So am I missing something there?Don Well. We spent a lot of
time on it. On the podcastyesterday, I broke him down for his
U next level UM look ahead,I guess you'd call it. I'm not
concerned about his shooting. I thinkthe point I made was because of his
(29:03):
burst, and he's got a reallyreally good burst, either from the standstill
or in transition. In high school, he didn't have to pull up,
he didn't have to catch and shootbecause he could blow by and score in
the paint and at the rim wheneverhe wanted. So this is probably a
newer thing for him. But youlook at him mechanically and it looks sound
so now. To me, itjust becomes about reps and confidence. And
(29:25):
I think the more he's he's inthe gym working on one two bounce pull
ups, the more he's working onstand still catch and shoots, the better
he'll become in the NBA. Peoplethat I've talked to aren't concerned about it
at all, because it doesn't lookwrong now. The results may may look
a little wrong at times, butwhen you see it released from his hand,
(29:45):
you're saying to yourself that guy willeventually be a very good shooter.
That's a great that's a great call, because what I was thinking as I'm
as I was speaking was more recentcop Lonzo Ball right now, Oh no,
there was a fundamental difference. Oh, Mechanically, Lonzo balls as broken
(30:07):
as a player. Lonzo Ball wasas broken of a highly regarded player as
I've ever seen. Mechanically on hisshot, you know it is on the
wrong side of his face, hiselbow was flying, his release didn't never
followed through it, Like there wasso many things wrong with that jumper.
And even though he made a fewat UCLA, you knew that that thing
could not sustain and it would nothold up. And he's started the process
(30:30):
of changing it, and he's madea couple of tweaks. I don't know
if you guys watched him this year, but it's still wrong. Like,
yeah, it's better, but it'sstill wrong. And until he completely fixes
at Lonzo Ball will never be aconsistent perimeter shooter. Doesn't doesn't Lavares can't
he go and just change it.I mean, he's the one that taught
(30:52):
him I don't. I don't knowwhat happened there. Yeah, that's exactly
a little bit of a weird situation. Hey, Ted, before I let
you get going, only, Idon't know if I'll have another opportunity on
the Podcastle's hawk with you? Soare you cool if I just throw some
some awards your way and just kindof I know there's still some games left
to be played. But who youthink might be the front runner in a
couple of these categories? Sure?Sure? Um, all right, so
(31:15):
I just think Player of the Year. I think we're on the same page,
right, Payton Richard, right now? Yes? Yeah, to me,
right now? Yes, Okay,this one I think is hard Freshman
of the Year, Ted, whodo you like? Oh? Wow?
Um, that's the that's the coinflip one? To me, it's okay.
I think it's Hobby. So it'sa congu Naji. I've seen Nagy
(31:36):
way more often, so I've probablyslant a little bit that way. Um,
So if if you had me,if you asked me to flip the
coin right now, I'd land onNagy. Yeah. I think I think
that one's going to come down toif Arizona finishes ahead of USC and the
standings. It makes it easier tosay Nagy. You know, whenever you
look at these awards, you say, okay, if Arizona didn't have Naji,
(31:57):
what would it look like, ifus didn't have a cong Wu,
what would it look like in theeffect of those two. You can look
at the numbers. The numbers arevery similar points and rebounds. But I
just think if Arizona finishes higher,you're probably going to err to the side
of Naji with that one. It'sa good call because at the same time,
like a Congress effect on that team, you can make an argument maybe
greater than Naji's. But Naya's outthere. Yeah, I mean it's that's
(32:22):
a razor thin margin from the numbersand from the MPa. Hey, can
I make a suggestion, guys?Sure, Here's here's an award that I
would love, Yeamer, And itfeeds off what you said. I think
there should be and this is somethingI talked to Sean Miller about on Saturday.
There should be a Senior the Yearaward. I really do. And
(32:43):
obviously it's Peyton Pritchard this year,right, And to me, it plays
into you referenced Remy Martin Don andthe other guy I'll talk about as McKinley
Wright and I spent a lot oftime around Colorado this year, and I've
been asking the people what what theythink and will either one of them choose
to come back for a senior yearand perhaps had their game take the step
(33:04):
because Peyton Pritchard made himself right,He's made himself a much more enticing asset.
When you say dom by coming backfor senior year, well, I
think you can enhance your profile byhaving a monster year. And I think
Peyton Pritchard, well, you canlook at this too. It like there's
a reason why you're still in collegeas a senior, right because NBA people
(33:25):
obviously think you have some deficiencies.So that doesn't really change unless unless you've
come back. Like is Peyton Pritcharddramatically different this year than he was last
year? Not really. I meanI think he's more confident. I think,
you know, his body looks alittle stronger and better. But what
you can do is get some momentumon your side, Like if you're having
a monster senior year, the NBApeople may perk their ears up a little
(33:51):
bit more than they had in thepast, so you can definitely help yourself
in that regard. It doesn't changeyou and probably doesn't change their evaluation of
you. But if you're you know, on everyone's radar because of the senior
year you have, it can't doanything but help. And for guys like
McKinley, Wright and Remy Martin,like, they're not first round picks anyway
(34:14):
right now, So why wouldn't youcome back and finish your college career and
have a great college career like PeytonPritchard what he did this year. Forget
the NBA. Peyton Pritchard with theseason he's having on top of what he
did is first three years, isgoing down as one of the all time
greats at Oregon. Had he leftlast year, he's not even in that
conversation. And what does that mean, Well, it just means that for
(34:36):
the rest of your life, you'regoing to be considered one of the greatest
players to ever play at Oregon Andthat's pretty cool. Amen, and don
What I would wonder would t J. McConnell have been as would he have
been drafted, would he have hadI think, what does he have four
or five years now in the leagueif he hadn't played his senior year at
Arizona. No, that's my pointthough Ted. It's like TJ McConnell was
(34:58):
never going to be drafted. Thereason he's been in the NBA is all
those intangibles that maybe were enhanced bybeing under Sean Miller for another year in
a senior year. But he wasgonna have to go make an NBA team
regardless. And I think for thosetwo guys, I mean McKinley and Remy,
could they be second rounders, yes, but more probable is they're gonna
(35:19):
have to go make a team,just like Jordan McLoughlin has done as well
from USC And so to me,if I was advising those players, I
would say, look, man,you can do nothing but help yourself by
coming back for your senior year andyou can increase your legacy at our university
and maybe get to the NBA tournament. Again, what's wrong with that?
(35:39):
If the endgame is that you're gonnahave to go make an NBA roster on
your own without getting drafted anyway,and that's probably going to be the case
for those guys. Good point,Ted, I'll throw out I'll throw two
more your guys way most improved playerssince we're talking about guys and increasing their
stock if they stay a little bitlonger. Is there a guy that made
(36:00):
a jump from last year that standsout this season? Wow? Da Silva
and I think has to stand out. I mean that was I think the
first half of the year. Withoutquestion, Oscar da Silva had has become
a standout player. So that's thefirst thing that jumps to my mind.
Yeah, I'm with you on thatone. Don Hoodie got for most improved.
(36:20):
Yeah, I think Da Silva's inthat conversation. I think um Kyler
Kelly's in that discussion. I thinkChris Smith is in that discussion. But
I think Da Silva is the frontrunner. And I hope that he gets
back on tracker. He was infoul trouble on Saturday night, but hopefully
(36:44):
he and Stanford get back on track, and I think if they do,
he's probably going to be your mostimproved player. Okay, Coach of the
Year, guys, I think it'sbeen This one's getting interesting now it's hard
now Yeah yeah, wow, Coachof the year. Man, that that
is that frustrates me for years.It's like most Valuable player, right or
(37:08):
Player of the Year and I'm goingto issue issue his name again. When
t J McConnell did not win Playerof the Year, to me, that
was absurd. I don't understand whatthe criteria was that he didn't win that.
So, you know, if yousay coach of the Year for exceeding
expectation, it's pretty hard to argueagainst one of Kyle Smith's slash Mark Fox
(37:29):
right for exceeding expectation, I mean, that's extraordinary. But then you could
look at and say, hey,if mc cronin can keep UCLA running down
the stretch here, given what hewalked into right and given where they were
on jan one, that's pretty amazing. And then on the top side,
you say, Dane Altman and SeanMiller can turn their entire virtually their entire
(37:52):
rosters over year to year and stillmake it work. So, honestly,
guys, I'm gonna I'm gonna say, I don't even know where to go
on that because I'm not sure wheremy criteria fall. I would have to
think about that. Yeah, we'lllet that one sit till the till season's
end. Donnie got one guy,Yeah, I mean that that Ted said
it perfectly. It's it's like it'show you view the award, you know.
Or if you look at it aswhat you thought was going to happen
(38:15):
with a team and they far exceededthat, or you just look at the
job that they did with what happenedduring the season and manage managing the season
basically with injury and whatever else goeson. Or are you rewarding the team
that wins it? You know,let's say Colorado wins the regular season,
is Tad your coach of the year. He could be, and maybe he
(38:37):
deserves it, But it's gonna befascinating to see who alto If things stay
kind of the way they are,it's gonna be fascinating to see who wins
it, because you're gonna see howpeople view the award by who wins it.
All right, I'm gonna ted becauseyou threw out there should be a
senior award, and I actually lovethat idea. I'm gonna throw a made
(38:58):
up award your guys as well,most underrated player in the conference. Is
there a guy not getting enough attentionfor what he's doing? Is there a
player that stands out for you?Guys? I got I got one,
I got one, all right?Go ahead done. Cj Ellaby and what
he's done this year. I mean, I think you know we're talking about
Kyle Smith exceeding expectations. I mean, Ellaby has made a major jump from
(39:22):
last year. And I used thisline on Thursday night. He went from
one of the best freshmen last yearin the in the conference to one of
the best players this year. Andyou know, they don't win as many
games as they won without C.Jellaby and in what he provides them offensively,
defensively, And I just think youknow, we talk about because they're
(39:44):
in the middle of the pack,m we talk about the players like Pritchard,
Remmy Martin a lot, but tome, Ellaby is hands down one
of the five best players in thisconference. Wow. And then the name
that now in Vane is Matt Bradleythat I would throw out, Yeah,
(40:04):
I mean he's at he's he's notonly stepped his game up this year,
but he's had to again carry thevast majority of their loads single handedly.
And again I sit, you sitat the shoot arounds like and don you
do the same thing and you hearthe opposing team get ready to play cal
and it's number twenty, number twentynumber now where twenty is don't let twenty
do this? You know, that'swhen you know you're carrying the load.
And Bradley is what he's eighteen pointsa game, uh, even with that
(40:29):
pressure on him this year, Sothat would be in the LLO. I
haven't seen Ellabe live this year,which frustrates me. I've seen Bradley a
lot, and that's I would echothose very thoughts on Well real quick.
That's why I struggled on the MostImproved. I was trying to think of
that. I knew there was anothername, Matt Bradley in the most from
eleven ay as well is big timebetter shooting percentage, but are across the
board the rebounds A yeah, whyaren't you given us your award winners?
(40:52):
Because Bradley's my guy. I waskind of hoping someone would take it.
And I was sitting chime in onthe Coach of the Year Matt, because
I'm sitting tight on that one.I guess I don't know, because there's
a there's a part of me thatis still leaning towards Mark Mark Fox right
now, and it's because of thehead to head with Washington State. Like
to me, that's meaningful everything thatTed had made reference to Cosan on all
(41:13):
that stuff. I just didn't think, like I said this to maybe Don,
I might have mentioned this to you. Can you imagine what Cow would
have been with Justice suing for example, Like, I just didn't McNeil.
Yeah, Like, I just didn'tfeel like they. The kid Van Overt
has been playing some good basketball.You're right, but I just Matt Bradley
(41:34):
to me, I don't think it'snearly enough credit. And when you said
Elbe, you're one hundred percent right. I just think Don, you and
I and I know Ted you youtalk about him as well. He gets
attention just because we're talking about him. Um. I just I feel like
every week I'm making a point onthe show to talk about Matt Bradley and
Cow like they. I just don'tthink he gets enough love. And um,
(41:54):
the the onion so to speak.He is never scared to take a
big shot, and that's I lovethose guys. I absolutely love those players.
Here's a guy out throw out therethat yam or do your question about
a guy that is a little underthe radar that I think could be very
important for his team's hopes in Marchis juston at Oregon. Yeah, and
(42:15):
I have no idea what the helpright now if Dante is and when when
he might I just don't not upto speed on that issue. But that
juston. We've seen guys like thatbefore at Oregon and Dana's time. They're
the guys that do a lot ofthe you know, not in the box
score stuff, and Juton has thatphysical presence about him right, that strength.
That to me, if Oregan isgoing to try to do what they've
(42:36):
done in prior marches, he wouldbe a significant player. It's a good
absolutely I agree with that too.Dante last tight checked by the way,
is participating shoot runs and is quoteclose is what I've heard. I saw
that from Dane Oltmond, so toyour point, Ted, hopefully he gets
out there pretty soon. You know, Oregon, as we know, continues
(42:57):
to improve, and this is aboutthe time where like we start that,
well, Dane Altman's doing it againtype of thing, and so, um,
it'll be interesting with this. Thisis this is a big time road
trip. This week the Organs atthe Arizonas is going to be fun to
watch because both those games are asmeaningful as any game this year in the
(43:20):
Conference. Ted, you have oneof those. Right, I'll be in
Tucson for the Oregon State Arizona game, and I'm looking forwardcause i have not
seen Oregon State live this year,so I'm looking forward to seeing especially I
was watching their games over the weekend. Don you reference Kyler Kelly and I
I'm watching his TV, but watchinghim run the floor, that looks to
me to be on TV a lotbetter than it was last year. Well,
(43:43):
I made this point real quick,and yeah, I want I want
you to hear this too. AndI made this point in the Civil War
last week. So remember how muchI talked about that, Thible just looked
different, like he covered ground likeI'd never seen before. I'd never seen
a guy get from point A topoint B as fast as Tis Stible.
So that's like a plus one skill, right. And so I was watching
(44:06):
Kyler Kelly warm up, and wehaven't seen a guy like Kyler Kelly in
our league where it's seven feet,it's bouncy, it's long arms, it's
wide shoulders. And so I askedWayne, I said, is it wrong
for me to say that Kyler Kellyshould have the same defensive impact that Matisse
Stibel had? Because he looks differentand he has a plus one thing just
(44:30):
like Thible did. And Wayne agreedwith me and he said, he just
doesn't understand how to play hard consistentlylike Matisse Stibele did and so like and
I said during the game, ifKyler Kelly could figure out how to play
as hard as Matie Stible did,we would be talking about him in the
same vein as Matis Stible because ofwhat he has in that plus one stuff.
(44:54):
Yeah, and don don't you thinkI mean? And again I've only
seen him on TV this year,But if a guy that size with rim
production can run the floor like that, he's got a chance to play.
He's got a chance to play atthe next level. Yes, But the
only thing is is now, theway the NBA is, you have to
be able to shoot at all positions. It doesn't mean you can't play,
(45:15):
but like it's a special it's aspecial player now that can play in the
league without being able to shoot.And maybe Kelly is that guy. Maybe
he is. Maybe he will figureout how to play as hard as like
a Montrez Errol and affect the gameso much that you don't need him to
be able to shoot. And hemight be favorite of the year on the
(45:36):
defensive side for a defensive player ofthe Year, But to your point,
if there was maybe more of thatconsistent effort, it's less of a conversation
like I think Tyler Bay is inthat in that mix. Bryce Wills,
I think deserves to be in thatconversation based off of what is a second
in the country in blocks, likeyou would think that would help fast track
you for that award, But thisyear, I think there's some other guys
(45:59):
that are having some attention. Butwith those tools, you am like and
look, Ke's averaging three and ahalf blocks a game, which is great,
which is a lot, but withthose tools, he should be averaging
five plus blocks a game like literally, and you know, you you're given
gifts like he has and it's ashame to not to be able to use
(46:20):
them to the maximum Like Thible.Did you know Thible saw that he was
good at that And guess what,the guy ended up being the twentieth pick
in the draft and has been crushingit and playing in the NBA a lot
like meaningful minutes he's he's out there, which has been awesome to see,
no doubt because there's some other playersthat were drafted and not getting the type
(46:42):
of minutes that that Thible is.Ted can't thank you enough for coming on
the podcast. Absolutely awesome to havea kind of conversation with you about all
the things that are happening in theleague. It's been a joy to listen
to you and Don on the broadcastat as many games as you are getting
on PAC twelve network. To youguys just continue to be one of the
best duos that we have and greatambassadors for the game. So looking forward
(47:04):
to actually seeing you in Vegas.I feel like I don't unless it's football
season we're hanging out with Yogia,I don't get to see it too often.
I know what we need to do, Namor and Don. We need
to do this and like just havea three hour just blowout session someday because
we could just talk ball forever.We have someone with Don's Don's mind that
understands it can take our knucklehead views. Yeah, or you and me and
(47:25):
Don makes them sound smart. Let'scall me sometime when we have three hours.
Yeah, you know what we shoulddo. I'm on the pitch because
I know that the suits are listeningto to the podcast. So I think
what Ted is asking for is aweekly three hour show. We could sigil
cast it on the Pat twelve network. I'm volunteering you, Ted for I
(47:45):
have an idea because the word onthe street is the studio is going to
be inside this year at let's justdo a three hour show from the set.
We'll just turn the camera on andgo. Yeah, I'm all about
that. Don remember the last yearfor game for the championship, they said,
yo, our go, we havetwo commercials. We just went.
So I'm down delay theater. That'swhat you PJ. PJ made a stop
(48:10):
on the set with us, SoTed, you you were now officially been
volunteered for for that. You don'thave much of the movies. So but
seriously, thank you so much forfor stopping by. Always great to talk
with h with you, not onlyabout what's happening in the conference. I
need some more tennis stories. Igot one for you off air for another
day in time. Ah okay,yeah we will get that long go.
(48:35):
Thanks you guys, appreciate it,Ted Robinson, and by the way,
for everyone who's been listening to thepodcast, appreciate the support on social media.
Are always holding it down for usputting this thing together. If you
do see it on Twitter, shareit, and of course always subscribe,
encourage your friends to subscribe. Rateand review certainly helps a lot of our
metrics as well, So if youare kind enough, certainly appreciate it.
And on the women's side, youdo not want to miss Ashley Adam sim
(48:58):
and Mary Murphy the league. Iwas just looking at it this morning.
Half the league is sitting in thetop twenty five right now. It is
scary how good women's basketball is inthe Pecwolve Conference, and they got you
covered start to finish everything that's happeningon that side of the floor as well.
So highly encourage you guys to checkout their show. Once again,
thanks for listening.
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