March 19, 2020 • 47 mins
Pac-12 Networks’ Ashley Adamson and Mary Murphy react to Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard being named first-team All-Americans (3:22) and discuss what their initial reactions were to hearing that March Madness was canceled (4:50).
Oregon head coach Kelly Graves joins the podcast and shares how he has been spending his free time (8:15). Coach describes the scene of when he found out that the postseason was canceled and how he broke the news to his team (10:20). Kelly also shares details of the call NCAA president Mark Emmert had with him about the cancellation of the tournament (14:00).
Coach Graves talks about how Sabrina is handling the situation and looks ahead to the bright future she has ahead of her (15:45). Coach relives the accomplishments his team had this year and how the team was able to capture the attention of the entire country (18:30). He talks about Ruthy Hebard's legacy in tandem with Sabrina's (22:20) and looks ahead to what his team will look like next season (25:12). Kelly ends his interview speaking of how Sabrina influenced all of basketball (29:35) and reflects on the moment he will never forget for years to come (37:45).
Mary and Ash wrap the pod discussing what Oregon's season meant (40:05) and what they will remember from one of the best teams in the history of women's basketball.
Oregon head coach Kelly Graves joins the podcast and shares how he has been spending his free time (8:15). Coach describes the scene of when he found out that the postseason was canceled and how he broke the news to his team (10:20). Kelly also shares details of the call NCAA president Mark Emmert had with him about the cancellation of the tournament (14:00).
Coach Graves talks about how Sabrina is handling the situation and looks ahead to the bright future she has ahead of her (15:45). Coach relives the accomplishments his team had this year and how the team was able to capture the attention of the entire country (18:30). He talks about Ruthy Hebard's legacy in tandem with Sabrina's (22:20) and looks ahead to what his team will look like next season (25:12). Kelly ends his interview speaking of how Sabrina influenced all of basketball (29:35) and reflects on the moment he will never forget for years to come (37:45).
Mary and Ash wrap the pod discussing what Oregon's season meant (40:05) and what they will remember from one of the best teams in the history of women's basketball.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hell, hell, hell, herehello all the love me to get your
fool podcast of the highest class ofwomen's schools, Pack twelve. Look at
the rankings if you needed to provenumbers never lie either, do Why speaking
the truth, the calm, thechaos, who bring in the passion and
(00:21):
the player of the year who'll bea crown sham began, Let's get the
cracking. What's happened? And MaryMurphy and actually Adam saying yeah we back
again. Yeah, all right,Hi everybody, hello again, Welcome to
the Inside Pack twelve Women's basketball podcast. Obviously a lot has happened since our
last episode nine days ago, andI just want to start by sending love
(00:45):
to everybody out there. We're sittingin a pretty intense moment right now,
and my hope is that this podcasttoday is going to bring a little sunshine
into your world. There's no sportsgoing on right now, but that doesn't
mean we can't talk about what's goingon with your favorite teams. Obviously,
the player some coaches are doing whatwe're all doing, which is trying to
process what's happening and navigate what's ahead. So Mary, Colleen, I think
(01:07):
we all feel like this is anopportunity to sort of celebrate the incredible season
and revisit some of our favorite moments. That sound good, It does sound
good. I'm looking forward to doingjust that, and talking to Kelly Graves
is always is always good, andit'll be informative for all of us as
we just try to figure out howto spend our days and do the best
we can give them the circumstances.Yeah, silver lining, we did get
(01:32):
in the Pac twelve women's tournament,and it ended on a high note,
and it was celebratory, you know, wasn't cut short, and I at
least, you know, we gotto see those great moments in that those
four days. Yeah, I amgrateful for the women that they got to
finish their conference tournament at least,because the PACTUAL men's journey was obviously canceled
after the first day. That's topfour teams didn't even get to play a
(01:53):
single postseason game. So and thenyou obviously think about the spring sports who
were barely a few weeks into theirseasons. But again, we're here to
celebrate and think about all the goodthings that we got to see. As
Mary you mentioned, or head coachKelly Graves, as our guests today.
Arizona head coach Adia Barnes will beour guest tomorrow on the podcast. And
a cool note on that just cameout about I think an hour ago that
(02:16):
there are four finalists for the NaySmith Coach of the Year. Kelly and
Adia are two of the four finalists. Howesome is that? It's pretty awesome.
Also, just so people know,we are not all sitting in a
studio together in San Francisco. Weare all sitting in front of microphones in
our homes and hoping we can makethis work. Well, yeah, that
(02:37):
is a good uh note, Mary, I think we've got people who listen
to this podcast from all of theplace where we are, at least certainly
in the in the Bay Area.We are in a shelter and place order
as we try to get a handleon the coronavirus situation. So we're all
at home and it's probably worth bringingthat up, especially because we're not in
the controlled environment of our quiet studio. There are kids, pat family members.
(03:00):
It's my garbage day. It's mygarbage days. Just hang with us
over the next thirty forty five minutes. We're all doing our best here.
The New the new normal. Beforewe bring Kelly on in just a few
minutes here, I want to talkto about some postseason accolades who talked about
Kelly and Adiya being two of thefour finalists for NACE withth Coach of the
(03:21):
Year. But also hot off thepress, Sabrini and Escu and Ruthie Heberd
were just named the APE All AmericaFirst Team, and Sabrina is the first
Pac twelve player ever to be namedto the AP First Team three times.
So again it feels like, youknow, Mary would sit here and try
and put her career into context andyou just think about the awards that she
want, that she's won, andthe impact that she's had, and sometimes
(03:43):
it's just kind of hard to do. It is, and we've talked about
it all season long and really throughouther whole career, just what she's meant
to Oregon, what she's meant tothe PAC twelve and now just the whole
basketball world. And it's been justso much fun for all of us to
meet her, watch her play andlook forward to whenever it is when she
moves on to the w NBA andbeyond. But it's been just an amazing
(04:08):
experience to watch Sabrina grow and becomethe player she is. But you mentioned
Ruthie again that she would get thatrecognition in the year where there's so many
great players across the country and sometimesshe's been the forgotten one on that team
than in this conference. But youknow, tip your captor Ruthie to Ruthie
Hubert and what she's accomplished and thatshe's finally getting some recognition for it.
(04:30):
Yeah, well said, and somethingcertainly we'll talk to Kelly about in a
couple of minutes. You know,obviously want to. I'm going to ask
coach about how he kind of heardthe news about the Incidable Tournament, how
he handled it with his team,what his day to day life is like
now, because you know everybody isdealing with a new normal. But I
guess I'll ask both of you whatwas your reaction and where what were you
(04:53):
guys doing when you saw the newscome out last week that the tournament was
canceled. Well, for me,I was just basically waiting for it to
come out. You just felt likethis tidal wave of change was coming.
It came incrementally and then once itstarted, you know, you just kind
of felt like it was inevitable,especially after some of the NBA players tested
positives. So it was a slowrole that just has continued and hasn't stopped.
(05:17):
And it started sort of with thesports world, and it's just spread
everywhere. Yeah. I mean,I think I said to you Ash when
we wrapped up the women's tournament,I was worried about the men's tournament.
It just the news was moving quickerthan we've ever seen in our all our
years working in the media. Andthat day, you know, I was
(05:40):
producing the men's studio shows and frommorning tonight it was the wildest, wildest
fourteen hours and U and then obviouslythe news the next day of the tournament.
It's just devastating. You know,it's like this is the crown jewel.
But uh, you know, Iwas talking to Michael Mullinery, who
produced some of the men's games thatday, and he was like, we
(06:01):
had the best day, you know, just that first day of the tournament.
And I'm like, and that's well, we'll hold on to it and
hopefully the uniapoletes had a great daytoo that day and we'll kind of just
be hanging hanging out there for therest of the time in this weird another
place. So yeah, it's justit's just unfortunate. Yeah, I mean,
(06:23):
it's you think about it. Andobviously Sabrina Unesco and the organ Ducks
had a historic here, one ofthe best we've ever seen in college basketball.
But the season of unfinished business isgoing to remain that. You know,
about a week removed from winning thePactol Tournament, they obviously found out
along with the rest of us,that the NCAA Tournament was going to be
canceled for the first time in itshistory. And I think that's the thing
(06:46):
that just, you know, youthink about how much we love watching the
games and how much we love beinga part of March Madness, and how
much it means to us and thefans, and it's just my heart goes
out to the players and the coachesand especially the seniors who were getting ready
to make a special run. Andthat's across. You know, we had
a lot of different We had sixNCAA Tournament teams, several we're going to
(07:10):
host, and it just, youknow, it kind of gives you that
sort of unfinished feeling. But Ithink we all also see the much bigger
picture, and that is that thiswas the only way forward, and I
think so now the thing is ishow to adjusted and move on. You
know, it's interesting, isn't itthat what Sabrina labeled this season is what
the season will be known as akind of prophetic in a strange way.
(07:34):
Very well said, very well said, so yeah, so the organ duck.
So they finished second in the final, a people behind South Carolina,
and we are always going to wonderwhat might have been. But for more
on how the team is handling it. We're really happy to have the Pac
twelve Coach of the Year, whojust this morning was named a finalist for
the Naysmith Coach of the Year Award, Kelly Graves. Welcome back to the
(07:55):
podcast. Oh I'm doing great,you guys, Thanks for having having me.
I wish we're talking about our upcomingopponents, but same sure we'll figure
something to talk about. Yeah,I think we've got a few questions.
And I usually start off by sayingthat, you know, we really appreciate
your time, but I guess thesedays you've got a little more time than
(08:16):
you're used to. Oh, so, how are you doing and what do
your days look like right now?Kelly? Well, I do have all
three of my boys at home,so you know, we're we're catching up
and having some fun. But notyou know, I've told myself, I
get up every morning, I watchedthe news to see what's happened, what's
(08:39):
new, what's going on, andthen I have vowed to not watch any
more news the rest of the day, so I turn it off because too
much of it's just oppressing. Andyou know, we've watched a couple of
movies. You know, there's videogames, there's other things, so I
don't know a lot of it justtalking and having some fun. I get
(09:01):
a couple of nice walks in everyday. The weather is beautiful here in
Eugene. So just like everybody else, man, we're just trying to survive,
right, use our imagination, dosomething. So if you put together
a binge watching list, that's whatI'm doing with my friends and families.
We're all putting together movies and showsand what you're streaming, and just do
(09:26):
you have any suggestions for us?Off the top, No, I'm not
really into all that stuff. Ido like watching movies, you guys.
I hate to admit this because numberone, it dates myself, and number
two, it really wasn't that goodof a movie. I remembered it to
be better. But I watched SaintAlmost Fire the other day. Oh wow,
(09:46):
ready, coach, Oh my gosh, it's embarrassing. I would like
to have that two and a halfhours back. When I watched it back
in nineteen eighty whatever, it seemedlike it was a lot better, but
now it was like no. Soyeah, some of those old, all
(10:07):
of them your suggestions, Coach.I got to ask you, you know,
we were just talking about kind ofwhere we were when when we found
out. I believe that that youwere out recruiting when the news broke that
the NCAA tournament was was going tobe canceled. Can you just kind of
walk us through how you found outand in turn, how you then connected
with your players, because I'm prettysure that you'd given them the week off.
(10:28):
Yeah, that was a crazy week. After we won the championship on
Sunday, you know, I'd giventhem the whole week off. We were
going to meet back up on Saturdaynight for practice. I've been doing that
for years, not just here buteven at Gonzaga, And because I think
they need a mental and a physicalbreak at this time, of the year,
and so you know, I spenta couple of days stayed there in
(10:50):
Vegas watch my son played Gonzaga,was there when they won their championship on
Tuesday night, and then I wentto the South and started the recruit So
I had heard, uh, youknow, Wednesday night, after i'd gotten
back to the hotel late, Iyou know, saw the news that the
NBA was shutting it down. Iwas watching that and then I just I
(11:11):
knew at that point, you know, we were we were done. Um,
you know, so I was kindof setting myself up for the next
day when we officially heard it.I and then everything that I was supposed
to do had gotten canceled and Igot spooped being on a plane, and
so I just you know, gota return trip home, met with the
team, but most of the thosethat were here, it was about half
(11:35):
the team, uh, you know, the rest were scattered all over and
I had, you know, putout a quick text say, if you're
still at home, just stay there, there's no reason to come back.
And uh. And so still Ihave not seen a few of our players.
I've talked to all of them,um, but but I haven't seen
all of them, and and nowmost of my team is gone, so
(11:58):
it was it was sad. Wewere all disappointed. Some took it better
than others. You know, Ithink I've taken it in stride, at
least I did the first couple ofdays, you guys, I it wasn't
as bad as it is now.And now it's starting to sink in what
could have been. At the time, even my wife said, you know,
you should be taking this ardor butyou know, I think it's in
(12:22):
our coach's DNA that you know,if you lose, you move on.
We got to win to morrow's game, and so I kind of had that
mentality. But now it's it wouldhave been on upon us, you know,
starting tomorrow, and now it's reallyyou know, the last couple of
days, it's kind of hit homeon man, what a what a disappointment
when unfulfilled feeling And it's been alittle tougher lately. As crazy as that
(12:48):
sounds, doesn't sound crazy at all. It sure doesn't. Where do your
players from England and Australia and Germany. Do they stay in the US or
did they get back? Yeah theyleft that the Germans are still here,
but but yeah, the rest allwent home and hopefully the travel bands lifted
(13:09):
at some point. You know,we still have on the you know,
on the schedule to start classes herein about five weeks, but my guesses
are going to shut them down andmake it all online. That's just my
gas. I'm not saying that asan official spokesperson for the University of Oregon,
(13:30):
but you know, if they ifthey do hold classes in person,
hopefully the travel plan ban would belifted so that they can get back in
the country. That remains to beseen. I guess. Yeah, it's
a it's a wild time for alot of people. Uh, my younger
brother is stuck in Guatemala right now, UM with the travel bands. So
yeah, it's I think everybody hasthose stories of it. Just it kind
(13:52):
of has hitting everybody in a lotof different ways. UM. I heard
you say, coach that the presidentof the NCAA, Mark Emmert, called
you after the announcement was made thatthey were canceled the tournament. Yeah,
so I just I'd love to hearwhat what did he say? And is
there any bails. So you've heardfrom the last week or so that you've
been happy to connect with UM.Well, I will say for those that
(14:13):
texted me, I apologized. Haven'tgotten back to everybody. I kind of
went off the grid for a fewdays there and didn't want to even talk
about it. But yeah, Mark, mister Emmert called and just you know,
he said he had reached out toa handful of of coaches and I
just wanted to apologize and kind ofexplain why they did what they did.
(14:37):
And I completely understand, and Ithought that was, you know, really
gracious of him to call. Ididn't have to, and you know,
he just talked about how much hehad enjoyed watching his play this year,
and and talked about Sabrina and acouple of our teammates and and him being
a husky, a former husky.You know, he was even cheering for
(15:00):
us from a bar, and hewas just disappointed he didn't get a chance
to see us do what we couldhave done in the tournament. So it
was only lasted five five minutes orso, you know, at that point,
I know he was really busy,So I really appreciated him, you
know, reaching out. You knowyou've made an impact when you've got a
husky cheering on a duck squad.I'll say that. Yeah, yeah,
(15:22):
he said that right up front.He made that very clear right from the
beginnings. A husky, but hewas really cheering for us. So,
you know, Kelly, I thinka lot of people were waiting to hear
from Sabrina. You know, shecame out with an Instagram post a couple
days ago talking about how this wasthe hardest year of her life and she
obviously didn't expect her senior season toend this way. Have you been able
(15:43):
to with one of the players thatyou were able to see or have you
have you been able to connect withher and kind of what did you say
to her? Yeah, she's actuallyback in Eugene, so we've spent some
time together the last couple of days. I think she just came back up
to train a little bit. Andshe had been California up until a day
or two ago, and and youknow, she's, um, she's getting
(16:07):
through it. I think she's reallyreally disappointed. But you know, if
there was anybody that was strong enoughto handle something like this, especially with
the expectations and everything that had hadhappened in her career, you know,
she she's handled every situation that she'sever been presented and this is nothing new.
You know. She um, she'llmove on. She's got a great
(16:27):
future, you know, in theprofessional ranks and and hopefully in the summer's
Olympic Olympic Games if if those happen. But she's she seems to be doing
fine. It took her a fewdays. She she was off the grid
for a couple of days. Wewere able to connect, um, you
(16:48):
know, that first day, andwe talked to every day. But I
know she's uh, you know,she she's just kind of been in her
own world for a while. That'sgot to be one of the great challenges
for you, Kelly, and foryour team is that you're never going to
have that goodbye moment with everybody.You have the last time in the locker
(17:11):
room, you have the last timeat I mean, you guys had already
had your banquet, but you know, there's always a sort of a last
time, and to not have thatis really is really kind of something to
think about, isn't it? Forall of us, just about all these
teams, and your team in particularright now, just you don't even have
that that period to sort of saythanks to everybody as you're all sitting in
(17:34):
the room together. Yeah, youyes, it's exactly right, and so
there's been no no closure. Ithink we had a little bit of closure
in that the last thing we rememberas a team where, you know,
was winning a championship and cutting downnets. You know, it's something a
(17:55):
lot of teams didn't get to toexperience, and they were looking for to
that NTA tournament as as of coursewe were too. But yeah, there
was never that that team sense ofclosure. And I'm hoping at some point
we'll get a chance, you know, that school does resume and that everybody
(18:15):
does come back for a little bitso that we can, you know,
somehow celebrate and give each other airhugs from six feet apart, and you
know, and just kind of reliveand and talk about what had happened this
year. You know, obviously wewanted to win six more games. I
felt like we were the best teamin the country, with all due respect
to the other teams in it.We were playing so well, we had
(18:37):
the experience, we had everything inplace really to make it happen. We
were the favorites in Vegas, wewere the favorites by all the analytics,
and you know, we just didn'tget that chance, But it doesn't take
anything away from what was a phenomenalseason thirty one and two Pact twelve regular
season championship, the tournament championship,and we did both in dominating fashion and
(19:03):
arguably the best conference in the country. We'll not arguably, I guess somebody
can argue it, but we won't. It was the best conference in the
country and we really dominated it.Quite frankly, we had one bad quarter
in the desert. Otherwise we gotwenty one and oh. And you know,
it's just, you know, alot of what ifs. But I'm
(19:26):
sure you know, at some point, like we always do, you remember
the great times you had as ateam, and that's what you know in
the end, that's that's what youdo. Remember. Yeah, the numbers
are quite astounding, aren't they.When you think about twelve and one against
top twenty five, seven and oneagainst top ten, and three and oh
against top five competition this year,it's the numbers are pretty mind boggling.
(19:49):
You talk about the thirty one andtwo, but just when you sort of
break it down into those categories thatthat you like to break down, it
is even more impressive. Yeah,you know, the one thing that and
we get a lot of attention forour offense, but it was historically great
this year. I was just lookingat some of the numbers. Our true
(20:11):
shooting percentage was fifty eight point three, which you know, almost lapped the
field in the country. Are pointsper one hundred possessions at one twenty three
point five, now, to putthat in contact, second best in the
country was South Dakota one twelve pointnine, so we were better than ten
(20:33):
points per one hundred possessions, betterthan second place. Number one in men's
basketball was one eighteen. Number onein the NBA is one sixteen, so
we were at one twenty two pointfive. It's historically great, and you
know, so I'm proud of thosenumbers. Our defense was much improved and
much better we It just was aphenomenal team and the way we caught the
(20:59):
nation's attention attendance or attention, andyou look at like social media numbers,
there are people who actually tracked thisstuff companies. We were three and four
to one more interactions in both Instagramand Twitter, and the same numbers in
Facebook than any other team in thecountry. It was just it was a
(21:21):
special group. Not only how weplayed, but how we conducted ourselves and
just the style and swaged that thisgroup had. It was really remarkable what
they've done over the last couple ofyears and in particular this season. Yeah,
I think you said it well,just capturing the attention of the entire
country. You know, you mentionedat Kelly that the silver lining probably is
(21:44):
that your team, at least inthe end, got to end on a
high note. You have to cutdown a couple of nets. They were
able to smash cupcakes in your facebefore everything kind of came to a hall.
I was looking through my pictures onmy phone and the last basketball related
picture that I took was a RuthieHeberd standing on top of that ladder at
Mandalaid swinging a piece of net aroundwith this giant smile on her face.
That it makes me smile just thinkingabout it. Um, you know,
(22:07):
have you ever seen her not witha smile? That's true. That's a
good point. That's a very goodpoint. U. Yeah, she's um,
you know, makes me smile.That also makes me a little bit
sad that we're not gonna see obviouslyan organ uniform next year. I know,
the national narrative focuses a lot onSabrina, and understandably so because she's
changed the game. But tell uswhy Ruthie's legacy is going to be just
(22:29):
as critical to the university as Oregonas Sabrina's. Well, I think those
two will forever be linked. AndI think she was the perfect compliment to
Sabrina. You know, Sabrina didget all the attention, or not all
of it, but a good portionof it, and deservedly so. But
Ruthie is really what made this teamwork and what made it all click.
(22:52):
She you know, was fine beingin the background to some degree, equally
impressive in all her numbers and andyou know, all that kind of stuff,
But she, uh, you know, I think just redefined pick and
roll basketball. She scored more pointsin the pick and roll in each of
(23:14):
the last two years than any playerin the in the country, men or
women. She just defensively continued toget better and better and better with such
a mainstay on the boards for us, and just the consistency with which she
played, well, it was incredible. She never never got to play against
(23:36):
single coverage because she was always doubleand triple teamed in every game. And
I think when teams would prepare forus. I think they would look at,
well, how are we going tocover Ruthie first? She was the
focal point many times. I mean, Sabrina is so fantastic and does her
thing, and she can beach inso many ways, and sat two so
(23:57):
impressive and talented not but Ruthie's theproblem and and she just you know,
always delivered. And I think thosetwo will forever be linked. I think,
you know, when they go intothe Hall of Fame here, when
they get their numbers retired here andall that kind of stuff, it should
always be together because Sabrina would bethe first to admit she couldn't have done
(24:18):
it without Ruthie, and Ruthie wouldsay the same thing about about Sabrina.
You know, they just needed eachother and they were there for each other
the entire four years. And youknow, I'm happy to see that she
ended up. What was she thePAC twelve all time field goal percentage leader,
She led the nation this year atsixty eight point five. Just a
(24:40):
model of consistency, you guys,and the most humble superstar I have ever
ever seen, and the nice saltof the earth, genuine nice. She's
the whole package, you guys,and we're gonna really really miss her.
Kelly. When do you you knowin your in your profession, you live
(25:03):
in the past. You'll live inthe present, and you'll live in the
future. You're always thinking about nextyear and the year after that and the
year after that. How does everythingthat's happened to impact the recruiting process?
Is the transfer portal active right now? Just what's going on on the recruiting
front, because it always seems likeit's going on. Is it going on?
(25:26):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, thatnever stops. Yeah, that's twenty
four seven, three hundred and sixtyfive days a year. You always have
an eye to the future, andwe've got a great future. I mean,
we obviously lose some iconic players thatyou know we'll we'll never be able
to replace. They left a legacyhere that you know is unmatched. But
at the same time, we dohave the number one recruiting class in the
(25:48):
country coming in and you add tothat two freshmen that we're sitting on the
bench for us this year in SedonaPrince and they are Sabali who you know
are both going to be first rounddraft picks in their own right and are
just phenomenal. So we're actually gonnahave seven freshmen on the court next year,
even though to at least know oursystem and understand what we're looking for.
(26:11):
So yeah, it's a It's anamazing group and I can't wait to
work with them. I think they'rethey're perfect fits for each other. You
know, we didn't just recruit highlyranked players. We've recruited the right ones,
ones that fit into our system.They're all winners four the five one
state championships and the only one thatdidn't Tahina. They were on the number
one team in the country and theywere about to win a day championship until
(26:33):
their final game was canceled this year. But you add to that the players
that we have coming back, AaronBowley, Lydia Giaomi Jazz, Shelley Taylor
Chavez, Holly winter Burn, LucyCochrane, and Morgan Yeager. Those are
veterans that all had key roles onour team this year. And then yeah,
we're looking at the portal. We'relooking to bring in probably one grad
(26:57):
transfer that well we kind of help, you know, kind of the transition
for for some of these rookies thatare coming in. I think we need
a little bit more veteran leadership andand you know, and some production because
we've got Baylor on the schedule nextyear, Syracuse, South Carolina, you
(27:19):
know, Marquette, where it's goingto be a loaded schedule, and that's
a lot to ask a whole bunchof freshmen to come in produce. So
yeah, we're we've always got aneye to the portal. It did pretty
well for us this year with MignonMoore. You know, that was a
heck of a of a transfer,so she meant a lot to our program.
Yeah, she was amazing. Wewere She was our last most recent
(27:41):
guest on the podcast. It's stillkind of hard to believe we were talking
to her a little over a weekago and all the excitement that she was
u articulating about being able to goand try and win a national championship.
You mentioned recruiting Kelly and I,you know, I think one of the
things that's become pretty obvious, Andyou also alluded to the fact that this
is the best conference in the country, and I don't think anyone that at
(28:03):
least we would listen to would arguethat. For you. What's been the
tipping point for the big time recruitsstaying on the West Coast. Over the
last few decades, we've you know, I think the PAC twelve has lost
fewer kids to schools back east andsome of those traditional powerhouses. Have you
seen. Has there been a tippingpoint and inflection point that you can point
to. No, not really.I think it's just a combination of a
(28:26):
whole bunch of things. You know, we have a lot of programs now
that are top ten programs. Youknow, maybe not every year, but
they've been in and out of itover the last four or five years.
We have several different I think whatfour different teams that have made the Final
Four in the last four years.No other conference can can boast that.
I think the PAC twelve network hasreally helped. I would still like to
(28:48):
see it in more homes, butI think that really helps. I think
the commitment they've made to you know, producing more more games on TV than
for women's basketball than any other conference. Uh, there's very good coaching here.
I just think it's um you know, there's a there's a buzz about
the conference and so people, youknow, they start to buy into that.
(29:08):
And you mentioned that West Coast playersaren't migrating east. You look at
my recruiting class New Jersey, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, you know,
only one is from the West coast, Tihina from from San Diego. So
I think that's happening. You know, with a lot of our programs,
we're becoming nationally known. I thinkthere's just a lot of different factors.
(29:30):
I don't think it's any one onething. I will say this, I
think Sabrine has really helped the entireconference. You know, somebody of her,
of her stature and renal, andI think it's just you know,
what she did for the whole game, I think is tremendous and can't be
completely measured. Right now, She'sgoing to change the game in terms of
(29:52):
shoe contracts and you know, onand on how how women's basketball is viewed.
And I think that certainly helped usat Oregon. But I think in
turn, it helped the entire conferencebecause people were tuning in to watch,
you know, our conference play.You know, Kelly, over the last
five years, you haven't really hadto worry much about leadership on the floor
(30:14):
with my Tay and then Sabrina justfollowing through with that when you look at
this group next year, you're goingto miss a lot of what Sabrina does
and what Ruthie does. But wheredoes the leadership and the drive come from
on the floor, in the lockerroom, on the practice floor, on
the track, all all those littleplaces and big places where it really makes
(30:34):
a difference. Well that remains tobe seen. You know, I don't
know yet, but I will tellyou one thing. We have two players,
Jazz Shelley and Taylor Chavis, whohave the exact same attitude, willingness
to do whatever it takes for theteam to win, their competitive spirit,
their drive, They have the sameintangibles that Sabrina does. You know,
(30:59):
they came in with those and nowthat they've had a chance to kind of
see her in action for a yearor two, I think that's really going
to help. So that's where Ithink it starts for us. We also
have Aaron Bowie and Lydia Giomi,who are the two players and even now
as we speak now or the twoplayers that really keep us together. I
think, you know, they're almostlike mother hands. Everybody has to have
(31:22):
one, and we have two.Those are the two that that bring great
balance to us, great perspective.They have everybody's back. They're awesome teammates.
So I think we're going to haveleadership in that area as well.
So we won't have that one ortwo players. It's going to be shared.
That leadership will be shared among youknow, four or five, and
then you know, somebody from thatfreshman class will step up and kind of
(31:47):
be that leader, because you know, it's such a huge class that they're
gonna you know, you want tointegrate everybody together. But you know,
all teams have not factions or segmentsor clicks or it's not I don't mean
it that's a negative. Those arenegative terms, but they kind of have
each other's back, and so somebodywill step up in that group. I'm
(32:08):
I'm confident, So I don't thinkthat's going to be an issue. You
guys, next year, we've gota ton of talent. I think my
biggest problem next year is we're youknow, I'm only going to have two
hundred minutes a game to play thesekids, so we've got to get them
to buy into the team first culture, you know, and and uh,
(32:29):
you know, I just we're notgoing anywhere. We're gonna be young,
but we're going to be really reallygood. This so don'ta prints you guys,
is a baller, ask Ruthie.Ruthie had to go against her every
day in practice, and I'll tellthat she is really really good and she's
really really fun too. She oh, yes, continue, I'm sorry,
(32:54):
No, Kelly, you know betterthan I do. But you know,
it's it's fascinating to be around aplayer who doesn't play, who feels so
impactful, Like every time you walkin the gym, you're like, you
know where she is. She's gotlike you know, she's like, you
know, someone that just attracts othersto her. She's just got a spirit
about her that it's it's amazing towatch when she's not on the like you
(33:17):
know, she's not even going toplay. Yeah, it's infectious. Yeah,
very well liked. She is greaton the bench. I thought her
in the area were phenomenal. Youknow, talk about everybody has value.
They weren't on the court helping play, but they were just tremendous on the
bench. And yeah, she's she'slegit. She reminds me a little bit
(33:37):
of Bill Walton. You know,that's a whole lot of your audience.
But she's a great passer, She'sgot awesome feel for the game. She
can shoot it around the basket,finishes both hands. I mean, she
can go up and just with twohands just throw it down bo I mean,
she is really a talented, talentedplayer and like you said, just
(33:58):
a great spirit, really a greatteammate. And then the area too.
You guys, I'm saying this forthe first time. Niara was more than
likely going to get into an NCAAtournament game, and that was something we
had talked about over the last coupleof months. She was learning all our
plays and she was ready to go. She didn't get that chance, But
(34:22):
yeah, she is phenomenal talent.You guys. We are really set really
everywhere. You know, Kelly,I just got chills when you said that,
and thanks for sharing it with us. I think there's so many of
those stories that all the all thewhat if and what could have been,
And you know there's for every nisthere's a lot more out there too that
(34:43):
didn't get a chance to be ableto play on that stage and may not
again, so I guess, andwe'll try and be mindful of your time.
So this is the last one foryou. A lot of people I
think turned to sports to escape,to find joy, to connect with people.
And obviously we're sitting here in oneof the more challenging and uncertain times
we've been in. There are nosports to turn to you right now.
So I guess for people listening athome, what advice do you have for
(35:06):
them, or what message would youwould you want to send. I would
say, spend some more time withyour with your loved ones, you know,
write letters to your you know,aunt's, uncle's cousins, and do
whatever you can tom, you know, to bridge whatever gap that you might
have or you know, I thinkthis will kind of get us back to
(35:28):
reset. Everybody was just so busyand everything that they did, and you
know, I hopefully it gives usa chance to kind of reflect on how
blessed we are number one and numbertwo, to just you know, think
of each other, get to knowyour neighbor best. You can't see if
they're fine. You know, I'vegot I'm near the university, you know,
my area, so there's a lotof elderly people that live relatively close
(35:51):
to campus, and you know,I've tried to kind of reach out to
some of them and at least introducemyself, see if they need anything.
I just think that's so. Andwhen it comes to the sports, you
guys, I tell my team thisall the time, and you can ask
them. You know, you've gotto enjoy every minute. You just don't
know. And sometimes we talk aboutlike when somebody gets injured, you know,
(36:13):
hey, just live every moment,you know, just enjoy this,
love what you do, love yourteammates, and because you never know when
it's going to get be taken away, and here it was taken away from
everybody. And we've talked about ourteam today. But I really feel and
I kind of had to slap myselfout of this after a couple of days
being so selfish and just thinking aboutmy team. But what about all the
(36:35):
other teams who's dreams were dashed?You know, the high school kids who
didn't get a chance to win astate championship, a dream of theirs,
our five freshmen incoming freshmen who didn'tget a chance to play in the McDonald's
All Star Game, which was alsoa dream of theirs, you know,
the first time NCA participants. There'sjust so many and it just goes on
and on and on, and Ithink we just got to really reflect on
(37:00):
what's important. You know, sportsis important, but you know there's there's
other things you guys, that weshould maybe focus a little bit more on.
So hopefully we'll all strength and hopefullywe'll get the leadership out of Washington
that we're not getting right now thatkind of bring us all together for crying
out loud, you know, becausewe're in this together and we've got to
figure it out. Kelly Graves twentytwenty, what do you say? Bye
(37:24):
bye? I'm really looking forward totwenty twenty one. Between the Boby stuff
and this and this was a reallytrying last few months. I think we
need a reset and this will hopefullygive it to us in a positive way
of hopefully we'll find the positive outof it. Well said coach. Go
(37:44):
ahead and Mary, what's your onefavorite single thing that happened this season just
to leave us on a like aon a high here, on a good
note, just something that made ussmile bigger than anything. Well, I
think validating our conference championship with um, you know, the celebration that we
(38:07):
had in Vegas I thought was phenomenal, and then just the moments within m
you know, beating team USA beatingOregon State in gil beating Stanford by thirty
plus twice. But I think themoment that is the most powerful to me
was our game. Oh okay,hmm, I gotta get myself together here.
(38:31):
Um. Really was our game atStanford, such a tough day and
our team rallied and I thought thatwas you know, one of their one
of their teammates, one of theirsisters was you know, in a in
a bad way, and they allstepped up. I just thought it all
(38:52):
came together that day, and itwas It was a magical day. It
was a two K, one Kone K, It was Stanford, their
place, it was the Kobe Memorial, It was everything, and that was
when true team was revealed. Andyou know, I'll forever remember that moment.
I think, Hell, you hadso many magical, joyous moments this
(39:15):
year, and I would agree thatthat game is number one on my list
of things that I'm going to rememberabout this season. We just I can't
say enough about how much we loveand respect you and your team and what
you're doing up there and Eugene,and we are so excited to see what
it's going to look like next yearbecause it's going to look different, but
we know the product is going tobe just as wonderful and shiny. So
(39:37):
we really appreciate you spending half anhour of your life with us this morning.
And I know Oregon fans and basketballfans and people everywhere are going to
appreciate your insight too, So gospend some time with your family. Good
luck with everything, and we'll definitelycheck in soon. But we appreciate you.
Well, thank you, I appreciateit, and everybody stay safe,
(39:58):
God bless all right, all right, thanks Kelly, that was some good
stuff with coach Graves. I think, Mary, the biggest thing that I'm
thinking about as we sit there andtalk to him, and you obviously hear
the emotion in his voice and everythingthat he's trying to navigate too, is
that from a coach's perspective. Andyou understand this because you obviously did it.
(40:19):
But he's been doing this thirty twoyears and to have a team that
is as special as the one thathe had this year, and to have
everybody healthy headed into the NCAA Tournament. It's not very often you build your
whole career, and there are greatcoaches that work their whole career and never
have a team that is actually capableof going out and win in the whole
thing. And that's to me asI just think about, you know,
(40:44):
my heart hurting for Kelly Graves isthat no matter how you know, I'm
sure he's gonna have an amazing teamnext year. I'm sure they're going to
be in it. They're gonna bein the national conversation. He's obviously that
great of a coach. But itjust felt like everything was set up this
year for it to be the year, and man, it just it's a
bummer. We're not going to getto see a play out. Yeah.
(41:06):
And I think having known Kelly sincehe was at Saint Mary's and I never
thought he'd leave Gonzaga. And thereason he left was for this, For
what was going to happen this year, Because putting it all together at Oregon
and the facilities and the resources andand what they built as a staff and
the players that came in, thiswas this was the crescendo. This is
(41:27):
this is was the point where itwas all going to come together. The
reason why, Um, but I'llsay this, having been around that team
for so many games over the lastyou know how many years since Kelly's been
there. You know, his hisimpact and that team's impact we'll go on
for a very very long time,whether they had this opportunity the NCAA tournament
(41:51):
or not. They You know,when you when you sit and talk to
Ruthie, and you sit and youtalk to Sabrina in Satu and Kelly and
all the players on that team,you just get an appreciation for how close
they were, how much they lovedplaying together and that and that's all those
folks that came to see them playat home and on the road. That's
never going to leave them. Thosesmiles, that hard work, those accomplishments,
(42:13):
it'll it'll stay with me forever.It's it's a very impactful experience and
one that for me doesn't need thecrescendo of a national championship. It does
not diminish one iota what they wereand what they've accomplished. Mic drop Mary,
I don't know what to say afterthat. I think that's perfectly said
(42:35):
and a great perspective, and whatthat team and program did for the game
is something that, as Kelly said, is I think kind of hard to
put in context right now, andis going to take some time to look
back and see because it's it's beenspecial. But and I'll add this,
what they accomplished doesn't diminish the restof the Pact twelve conference. They they
(42:58):
all floated up on the same boatthat they all all the teams because it
took great competition for Oregon to achievewhat they achieved. The teams that they
beat, you know, were challengesand those teams would have moved on to
the tournament and done well as well. So this is a conference thing,
(43:20):
a movement at the in the PACtwelfth conference that for this season was their
moment. There's been other teams otherseasons, but it took this whole conference
to help get organ where they are. And it's a loss for everybody.
Yeah, I mean, there's nodoubt about it. And I think another
thing that Kelly said that that reallyresonated with me at at the beginning of
(43:40):
our chat with him was that,you know, in the first couple of
days in the aftermath to find itout, it was kind of like you
go into coach mode and Okay,what's next. You reset and move on
and go on to the next thing, and then here we are a few
days removed and getting ready to youknow, the day's going to come tomorrow
in which they would have been playinga first round tournament game, and that's
not happening. And so the realityof it I think has set in.
(44:04):
And I mean I think fans certainlyfeel that way. Players obviously feel that
way. It's it's not necessarily thatit goes in linear. It's not like
it just gets easier every day.I think it's you know, us sitting
here right now, Normally we'd begetting ready to watch a lot of basketball.
So yeah, you know what,though, I'm glad that I got
to see your smiling faces on thissuper conference call today. That made me
(44:27):
happy for sure. And I'm alsoreally excited because we've got Adia Barnes joining
us tomorrow. We're going to releasethat podcast. I cannot wait to talk
to her. Obviously, she's goingto have a lot of great perspective,
as she always does. She hasa lot of connections to Italy. Obviously,
her husband is from there, sheplayed there, So she's working through
a lot of stuff, I'm sure, personally and professionally right now. So
(44:49):
I'm looking forward to connecting with theDA. One other note I would just
say to our listeners and the PACtwelve network faithful. We as a network
are still working through how we're goingto continue bringing sports content to you,
and all I can say at themoment is that there are some incredibly amazing,
smart, creative minds at work atevery hour of the day, and
(45:10):
we are close to having, youknow, some new plans in place,
so please stay tuned on that.Also, you may have to see Ashley
at her house, but other thanyeah, I may be doing talkbacks with
my three year old. But eitherway, we're going to bring you something
that hopefully you will want to watchand that we'll bring you joy. Speaking
of which, be sure to checkout the Pectual Men's Basketball podcast. Mike
(45:31):
Yam and Zahn McClain had a coupleof great ones the last couple of days.
They had an interview with the PACTUALAssociate Commissioner James Vanovich about everything that
went down that's well worth your listen. They also had Colorado as McKinley right
on, and they've talked about,you know how he and the Buffs are
handling everything, so great perspective allthe way around, and an opportunity to
get some of your sports fixed thatyou might be missing. So with that,
(45:53):
I think we're gonna say so long. Farewell. Mary. You got
one more thing for me, justa quick Murphy's law. And now from
Murphy's law, traditional laws don't applybecause it feels like in our world like
the impossible is going on. Butwe're all a team. We just talked,
(46:14):
you know, to Kelly. We'reall in this together, and we
all have roles. And just likea basketball team, everyone has roles.
We all just have to figure outwhat our role is. You gotta just
like a team, you gotta takecare of yourself, but you gotta take
care of others. So that's Murphy'slaws for today. That's one of the
year. I would echo that,be good to each other, be good
(46:34):
to yourself. If you want totalk about sports or life, we're here
for you. Reach out to us, drop us a line. We got.
We got nothing but time these days, so we're happy to chat.
I have a microphone, all right, Yeah, you have a microphone,
So here we go. All betsare off. All right, We'll love
you all, Thanks so much forlistening, as always, take care and
we'll be back tomorrow with the greatidea of burns
Hell, hell, hell, herehello all the love me to get your
fool podcast of the highest class ofwomen's schools, Pack twelve. Look at
the rankings if you needed to provenumbers never lie either, do Why speaking
the truth, the calm, thechaos, who bring in the passion and
(00:21):
the player of the year who'll bea crown sham began, Let's get the
cracking. What's happened? And MaryMurphy and actually Adam saying yeah we back
again. Yeah, all right,Hi everybody, hello again, Welcome to
the Inside Pack twelve Women's basketball podcast. Obviously a lot has happened since our
last episode nine days ago, andI just want to start by sending love
(00:45):
to everybody out there. We're sittingin a pretty intense moment right now,
and my hope is that this podcasttoday is going to bring a little sunshine
into your world. There's no sportsgoing on right now, but that doesn't
mean we can't talk about what's goingon with your favorite teams. Obviously,
the player some coaches are doing whatwe're all doing, which is trying to
process what's happening and navigate what's ahead. So Mary, Colleen, I think
(01:07):
we all feel like this is anopportunity to sort of celebrate the incredible season
and revisit some of our favorite moments. That sound good, It does sound
good. I'm looking forward to doingjust that, and talking to Kelly Graves
is always is always good, andit'll be informative for all of us as
we just try to figure out howto spend our days and do the best
we can give them the circumstances.Yeah, silver lining, we did get
(01:32):
in the Pac twelve women's tournament,and it ended on a high note,
and it was celebratory, you know, wasn't cut short, and I at
least, you know, we gotto see those great moments in that those
four days. Yeah, I amgrateful for the women that they got to
finish their conference tournament at least,because the PACTUAL men's journey was obviously canceled
after the first day. That's topfour teams didn't even get to play a
(01:53):
single postseason game. So and thenyou obviously think about the spring sports who
were barely a few weeks into theirseasons. But again, we're here to
celebrate and think about all the goodthings that we got to see. As
Mary you mentioned, or head coachKelly Graves, as our guests today.
Arizona head coach Adia Barnes will beour guest tomorrow on the podcast. And
a cool note on that just cameout about I think an hour ago that
(02:16):
there are four finalists for the NaySmith Coach of the Year. Kelly and
Adia are two of the four finalists. Howesome is that? It's pretty awesome.
Also, just so people know,we are not all sitting in a
studio together in San Francisco. Weare all sitting in front of microphones in
our homes and hoping we can makethis work. Well, yeah, that
(02:37):
is a good uh note, Mary, I think we've got people who listen
to this podcast from all of theplace where we are, at least certainly
in the in the Bay Area.We are in a shelter and place order
as we try to get a handleon the coronavirus situation. So we're all
at home and it's probably worth bringingthat up, especially because we're not in
the controlled environment of our quiet studio. There are kids, pat family members.
(03:00):
It's my garbage day. It's mygarbage days. Just hang with us
over the next thirty forty five minutes. We're all doing our best here.
The New the new normal. Beforewe bring Kelly on in just a few
minutes here, I want to talkto about some postseason accolades who talked about
Kelly and Adiya being two of thefour finalists for NACE withth Coach of the
(03:21):
Year. But also hot off thepress, Sabrini and Escu and Ruthie Heberd
were just named the APE All AmericaFirst Team, and Sabrina is the first
Pac twelve player ever to be namedto the AP First Team three times.
So again it feels like, youknow, Mary would sit here and try
and put her career into context andyou just think about the awards that she
want, that she's won, andthe impact that she's had, and sometimes
(03:43):
it's just kind of hard to do. It is, and we've talked about
it all season long and really throughouther whole career, just what she's meant
to Oregon, what she's meant tothe PAC twelve and now just the whole
basketball world. And it's been justso much fun for all of us to
meet her, watch her play andlook forward to whenever it is when she
moves on to the w NBA andbeyond. But it's been just an amazing
(04:08):
experience to watch Sabrina grow and becomethe player she is. But you mentioned
Ruthie again that she would get thatrecognition in the year where there's so many
great players across the country and sometimesshe's been the forgotten one on that team
than in this conference. But youknow, tip your captor Ruthie to Ruthie
Hubert and what she's accomplished and thatshe's finally getting some recognition for it.
(04:30):
Yeah, well said, and somethingcertainly we'll talk to Kelly about in a
couple of minutes. You know,obviously want to. I'm going to ask
coach about how he kind of heardthe news about the Incidable Tournament, how
he handled it with his team,what his day to day life is like
now, because you know everybody isdealing with a new normal. But I
guess I'll ask both of you whatwas your reaction and where what were you
(04:53):
guys doing when you saw the newscome out last week that the tournament was
canceled. Well, for me,I was just basically waiting for it to
come out. You just felt likethis tidal wave of change was coming.
It came incrementally and then once itstarted, you know, you just kind
of felt like it was inevitable,especially after some of the NBA players tested
positives. So it was a slowrole that just has continued and hasn't stopped.
(05:17):
And it started sort of with thesports world, and it's just spread
everywhere. Yeah. I mean,I think I said to you Ash when
we wrapped up the women's tournament,I was worried about the men's tournament.
It just the news was moving quickerthan we've ever seen in our all our
years working in the media. Andthat day, you know, I was
(05:40):
producing the men's studio shows and frommorning tonight it was the wildest, wildest
fourteen hours and U and then obviouslythe news the next day of the tournament.
It's just devastating. You know,it's like this is the crown jewel.
But uh, you know, Iwas talking to Michael Mullinery, who
produced some of the men's games thatday, and he was like, we
(06:01):
had the best day, you know, just that first day of the tournament.
And I'm like, and that's well, we'll hold on to it and
hopefully the uniapoletes had a great daytoo that day and we'll kind of just
be hanging hanging out there for therest of the time in this weird another
place. So yeah, it's justit's just unfortunate. Yeah, I mean,
(06:23):
it's you think about it. Andobviously Sabrina Unesco and the organ Ducks
had a historic here, one ofthe best we've ever seen in college basketball.
But the season of unfinished business isgoing to remain that. You know,
about a week removed from winning thePactol Tournament, they obviously found out
along with the rest of us,that the NCAA Tournament was going to be
canceled for the first time in itshistory. And I think that's the thing
(06:46):
that just, you know, youthink about how much we love watching the
games and how much we love beinga part of March Madness, and how
much it means to us and thefans, and it's just my heart goes
out to the players and the coachesand especially the seniors who were getting ready
to make a special run. Andthat's across. You know, we had
a lot of different We had sixNCAA Tournament teams, several we're going to
(07:10):
host, and it just, youknow, it kind of gives you that
sort of unfinished feeling. But Ithink we all also see the much bigger
picture, and that is that thiswas the only way forward, and I
think so now the thing is ishow to adjusted and move on. You
know, it's interesting, isn't itthat what Sabrina labeled this season is what
the season will be known as akind of prophetic in a strange way.
(07:34):
Very well said, very well said, so yeah, so the organ duck.
So they finished second in the final, a people behind South Carolina,
and we are always going to wonderwhat might have been. But for more
on how the team is handling it. We're really happy to have the Pac
twelve Coach of the Year, whojust this morning was named a finalist for
the Naysmith Coach of the Year Award, Kelly Graves. Welcome back to the
(07:55):
podcast. Oh I'm doing great,you guys, Thanks for having having me.
I wish we're talking about our upcomingopponents, but same sure we'll figure
something to talk about. Yeah,I think we've got a few questions.
And I usually start off by sayingthat, you know, we really appreciate
your time, but I guess thesedays you've got a little more time than
(08:16):
you're used to. Oh, so, how are you doing and what do
your days look like right now?Kelly? Well, I do have all
three of my boys at home,so you know, we're we're catching up
and having some fun. But notyou know, I've told myself, I
get up every morning, I watchedthe news to see what's happened, what's
(08:39):
new, what's going on, andthen I have vowed to not watch any
more news the rest of the day, so I turn it off because too
much of it's just oppressing. Andyou know, we've watched a couple of
movies. You know, there's videogames, there's other things, so I
don't know a lot of it justtalking and having some fun. I get
(09:01):
a couple of nice walks in everyday. The weather is beautiful here in
Eugene. So just like everybody else, man, we're just trying to survive,
right, use our imagination, dosomething. So if you put together
a binge watching list, that's whatI'm doing with my friends and families.
We're all putting together movies and showsand what you're streaming, and just do
(09:26):
you have any suggestions for us?Off the top, No, I'm not
really into all that stuff. Ido like watching movies, you guys.
I hate to admit this because numberone, it dates myself, and number
two, it really wasn't that goodof a movie. I remembered it to
be better. But I watched SaintAlmost Fire the other day. Oh wow,
(09:46):
ready, coach, Oh my gosh, it's embarrassing. I would like
to have that two and a halfhours back. When I watched it back
in nineteen eighty whatever, it seemedlike it was a lot better, but
now it was like no. Soyeah, some of those old, all
(10:07):
of them your suggestions, Coach.I got to ask you, you know,
we were just talking about kind ofwhere we were when when we found
out. I believe that that youwere out recruiting when the news broke that
the NCAA tournament was was going tobe canceled. Can you just kind of
walk us through how you found outand in turn, how you then connected
with your players, because I'm prettysure that you'd given them the week off.
(10:28):
Yeah, that was a crazy week. After we won the championship on
Sunday, you know, I'd giventhem the whole week off. We were
going to meet back up on Saturdaynight for practice. I've been doing that
for years, not just here buteven at Gonzaga, And because I think
they need a mental and a physicalbreak at this time, of the year,
and so you know, I spenta couple of days stayed there in
(10:50):
Vegas watch my son played Gonzaga,was there when they won their championship on
Tuesday night, and then I wentto the South and started the recruit So
I had heard, uh, youknow, Wednesday night, after i'd gotten
back to the hotel late, Iyou know, saw the news that the
NBA was shutting it down. Iwas watching that and then I just I
(11:11):
knew at that point, you know, we were we were done. Um,
you know, so I was kindof setting myself up for the next
day when we officially heard it.I and then everything that I was supposed
to do had gotten canceled and Igot spooped being on a plane, and
so I just you know, gota return trip home, met with the
team, but most of the thosethat were here, it was about half
(11:35):
the team, uh, you know, the rest were scattered all over and
I had, you know, putout a quick text say, if you're
still at home, just stay there, there's no reason to come back.
And uh. And so still Ihave not seen a few of our players.
I've talked to all of them,um, but but I haven't seen
all of them, and and nowmost of my team is gone, so
(11:58):
it was it was sad. Wewere all disappointed. Some took it better
than others. You know, Ithink I've taken it in stride, at
least I did the first couple ofdays, you guys, I it wasn't
as bad as it is now.And now it's starting to sink in what
could have been. At the time, even my wife said, you know,
you should be taking this ardor butyou know, I think it's in
(12:22):
our coach's DNA that you know,if you lose, you move on.
We got to win to morrow's game, and so I kind of had that
mentality. But now it's it wouldhave been on upon us, you know,
starting tomorrow, and now it's reallyyou know, the last couple of
days, it's kind of hit homeon man, what a what a disappointment
when unfulfilled feeling And it's been alittle tougher lately. As crazy as that
(12:48):
sounds, doesn't sound crazy at all. It sure doesn't. Where do your
players from England and Australia and Germany. Do they stay in the US or
did they get back? Yeah theyleft that the Germans are still here,
but but yeah, the rest allwent home and hopefully the travel bands lifted
(13:09):
at some point. You know,we still have on the you know,
on the schedule to start classes herein about five weeks, but my guesses
are going to shut them down andmake it all online. That's just my
gas. I'm not saying that asan official spokesperson for the University of Oregon,
(13:30):
but you know, if they ifthey do hold classes in person,
hopefully the travel plan ban would belifted so that they can get back in
the country. That remains to beseen. I guess. Yeah, it's
a it's a wild time for alot of people. Uh, my younger
brother is stuck in Guatemala right now, UM with the travel bands. So
yeah, it's I think everybody hasthose stories of it. Just it kind
(13:52):
of has hitting everybody in a lotof different ways. UM. I heard
you say, coach that the presidentof the NCAA, Mark Emmert, called
you after the announcement was made thatthey were canceled the tournament. Yeah,
so I just I'd love to hearwhat what did he say? And is
there any bails. So you've heardfrom the last week or so that you've
been happy to connect with UM.Well, I will say for those that
(14:13):
texted me, I apologized. Haven'tgotten back to everybody. I kind of
went off the grid for a fewdays there and didn't want to even talk
about it. But yeah, Mark, mister Emmert called and just you know,
he said he had reached out toa handful of of coaches and I
just wanted to apologize and kind ofexplain why they did what they did.
(14:37):
And I completely understand, and Ithought that was, you know, really
gracious of him to call. Ididn't have to, and you know,
he just talked about how much hehad enjoyed watching his play this year,
and and talked about Sabrina and acouple of our teammates and and him being
a husky, a former husky.You know, he was even cheering for
(15:00):
us from a bar, and hewas just disappointed he didn't get a chance
to see us do what we couldhave done in the tournament. So it
was only lasted five five minutes orso, you know, at that point,
I know he was really busy,So I really appreciated him, you
know, reaching out. You knowyou've made an impact when you've got a
husky cheering on a duck squad.I'll say that. Yeah, yeah,
(15:22):
he said that right up front.He made that very clear right from the
beginnings. A husky, but hewas really cheering for us. So,
you know, Kelly, I thinka lot of people were waiting to hear
from Sabrina. You know, shecame out with an Instagram post a couple
days ago talking about how this wasthe hardest year of her life and she
obviously didn't expect her senior season toend this way. Have you been able
(15:43):
to with one of the players thatyou were able to see or have you
have you been able to connect withher and kind of what did you say
to her? Yeah, she's actuallyback in Eugene, so we've spent some
time together the last couple of days. I think she just came back up
to train a little bit. Andshe had been California up until a day
or two ago, and and youknow, she's, um, she's getting
(16:07):
through it. I think she's reallyreally disappointed. But you know, if
there was anybody that was strong enoughto handle something like this, especially with
the expectations and everything that had hadhappened in her career, you know,
she she's handled every situation that she'sever been presented and this is nothing new.
You know. She um, she'llmove on. She's got a great
(16:27):
future, you know, in theprofessional ranks and and hopefully in the summer's
Olympic Olympic Games if if those happen. But she's she seems to be doing
fine. It took her a fewdays. She she was off the grid
for a couple of days. Wewere able to connect, um, you
(16:48):
know, that first day, andwe talked to every day. But I
know she's uh, you know,she she's just kind of been in her
own world for a while. That'sgot to be one of the great challenges
for you, Kelly, and foryour team is that you're never going to
have that goodbye moment with everybody.You have the last time in the locker
(17:11):
room, you have the last timeat I mean, you guys had already
had your banquet, but you know, there's always a sort of a last
time, and to not have thatis really is really kind of something to
think about, isn't it? Forall of us, just about all these
teams, and your team in particularright now, just you don't even have
that that period to sort of saythanks to everybody as you're all sitting in
(17:34):
the room together. Yeah, youyes, it's exactly right, and so
there's been no no closure. Ithink we had a little bit of closure
in that the last thing we rememberas a team where, you know,
was winning a championship and cutting downnets. You know, it's something a
(17:55):
lot of teams didn't get to toexperience, and they were looking for to
that NTA tournament as as of coursewe were too. But yeah, there
was never that that team sense ofclosure. And I'm hoping at some point
we'll get a chance, you know, that school does resume and that everybody
(18:15):
does come back for a little bitso that we can, you know,
somehow celebrate and give each other airhugs from six feet apart, and you
know, and just kind of reliveand and talk about what had happened this
year. You know, obviously wewanted to win six more games. I
felt like we were the best teamin the country, with all due respect
to the other teams in it.We were playing so well, we had
(18:37):
the experience, we had everything inplace really to make it happen. We
were the favorites in Vegas, wewere the favorites by all the analytics,
and you know, we just didn'tget that chance, But it doesn't take
anything away from what was a phenomenalseason thirty one and two Pact twelve regular
season championship, the tournament championship,and we did both in dominating fashion and
(19:03):
arguably the best conference in the country. We'll not arguably, I guess somebody
can argue it, but we won't. It was the best conference in the
country and we really dominated it.Quite frankly, we had one bad quarter
in the desert. Otherwise we gotwenty one and oh. And you know,
it's just, you know, alot of what ifs. But I'm
(19:26):
sure you know, at some point, like we always do, you remember
the great times you had as ateam, and that's what you know in
the end, that's that's what youdo. Remember. Yeah, the numbers
are quite astounding, aren't they.When you think about twelve and one against
top twenty five, seven and oneagainst top ten, and three and oh
against top five competition this year,it's the numbers are pretty mind boggling.
(19:49):
You talk about the thirty one andtwo, but just when you sort of
break it down into those categories thatthat you like to break down, it
is even more impressive. Yeah,you know, the one thing that and
we get a lot of attention forour offense, but it was historically great
this year. I was just lookingat some of the numbers. Our true
(20:11):
shooting percentage was fifty eight point three, which you know, almost lapped the
field in the country. Are pointsper one hundred possessions at one twenty three
point five, now, to putthat in contact, second best in the
country was South Dakota one twelve pointnine, so we were better than ten
(20:33):
points per one hundred possessions, betterthan second place. Number one in men's
basketball was one eighteen. Number onein the NBA is one sixteen, so
we were at one twenty two pointfive. It's historically great, and you
know, so I'm proud of thosenumbers. Our defense was much improved and
much better we It just was aphenomenal team and the way we caught the
(20:59):
nation's attention attendance or attention, andyou look at like social media numbers,
there are people who actually tracked thisstuff companies. We were three and four
to one more interactions in both Instagramand Twitter, and the same numbers in
Facebook than any other team in thecountry. It was just it was a
(21:21):
special group. Not only how weplayed, but how we conducted ourselves and
just the style and swaged that thisgroup had. It was really remarkable what
they've done over the last couple ofyears and in particular this season. Yeah,
I think you said it well,just capturing the attention of the entire
country. You know, you mentionedat Kelly that the silver lining probably is
(21:44):
that your team, at least inthe end, got to end on a
high note. You have to cutdown a couple of nets. They were
able to smash cupcakes in your facebefore everything kind of came to a hall.
I was looking through my pictures onmy phone and the last basketball related
picture that I took was a RuthieHeberd standing on top of that ladder at
Mandalaid swinging a piece of net aroundwith this giant smile on her face.
That it makes me smile just thinkingabout it. Um, you know,
(22:07):
have you ever seen her not witha smile? That's true. That's a
good point. That's a very goodpoint. U. Yeah, she's um,
you know, makes me smile.That also makes me a little bit
sad that we're not gonna see obviouslyan organ uniform next year. I know,
the national narrative focuses a lot onSabrina, and understandably so because she's
changed the game. But tell uswhy Ruthie's legacy is going to be just
(22:29):
as critical to the university as Oregonas Sabrina's. Well, I think those
two will forever be linked. AndI think she was the perfect compliment to
Sabrina. You know, Sabrina didget all the attention, or not all
of it, but a good portionof it, and deservedly so. But
Ruthie is really what made this teamwork and what made it all click.
(22:52):
She you know, was fine beingin the background to some degree, equally
impressive in all her numbers and andyou know, all that kind of stuff,
But she, uh, you know, I think just redefined pick and
roll basketball. She scored more pointsin the pick and roll in each of
(23:14):
the last two years than any playerin the in the country, men or
women. She just defensively continued toget better and better and better with such
a mainstay on the boards for us, and just the consistency with which she
played, well, it was incredible. She never never got to play against
(23:36):
single coverage because she was always doubleand triple teamed in every game. And
I think when teams would prepare forus. I think they would look at,
well, how are we going tocover Ruthie first? She was the
focal point many times. I mean, Sabrina is so fantastic and does her
thing, and she can beach inso many ways, and sat two so
(23:57):
impressive and talented not but Ruthie's theproblem and and she just you know,
always delivered. And I think thosetwo will forever be linked. I think,
you know, when they go intothe Hall of Fame here, when
they get their numbers retired here andall that kind of stuff, it should
always be together because Sabrina would bethe first to admit she couldn't have done
(24:18):
it without Ruthie, and Ruthie wouldsay the same thing about about Sabrina.
You know, they just needed eachother and they were there for each other
the entire four years. And youknow, I'm happy to see that she
ended up. What was she thePAC twelve all time field goal percentage leader,
She led the nation this year atsixty eight point five. Just a
(24:40):
model of consistency, you guys,and the most humble superstar I have ever
ever seen, and the nice saltof the earth, genuine nice. She's
the whole package, you guys,and we're gonna really really miss her.
Kelly. When do you you knowin your in your profession, you live
(25:03):
in the past. You'll live inthe present, and you'll live in the
future. You're always thinking about nextyear and the year after that and the
year after that. How does everythingthat's happened to impact the recruiting process?
Is the transfer portal active right now? Just what's going on on the recruiting
front, because it always seems likeit's going on. Is it going on?
(25:26):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, thatnever stops. Yeah, that's twenty
four seven, three hundred and sixtyfive days a year. You always have
an eye to the future, andwe've got a great future. I mean,
we obviously lose some iconic players thatyou know we'll we'll never be able
to replace. They left a legacyhere that you know is unmatched. But
at the same time, we dohave the number one recruiting class in the
(25:48):
country coming in and you add tothat two freshmen that we're sitting on the
bench for us this year in SedonaPrince and they are Sabali who you know
are both going to be first rounddraft picks in their own right and are
just phenomenal. So we're actually gonnahave seven freshmen on the court next year,
even though to at least know oursystem and understand what we're looking for.
(26:11):
So yeah, it's a It's anamazing group and I can't wait to
work with them. I think they'rethey're perfect fits for each other. You
know, we didn't just recruit highlyranked players. We've recruited the right ones,
ones that fit into our system.They're all winners four the five one
state championships and the only one thatdidn't Tahina. They were on the number
one team in the country and theywere about to win a day championship until
(26:33):
their final game was canceled this year. But you add to that the players
that we have coming back, AaronBowley, Lydia Giaomi Jazz, Shelley Taylor
Chavez, Holly winter Burn, LucyCochrane, and Morgan Yeager. Those are
veterans that all had key roles onour team this year. And then yeah,
we're looking at the portal. We'relooking to bring in probably one grad
(26:57):
transfer that well we kind of help, you know, kind of the transition
for for some of these rookies thatare coming in. I think we need
a little bit more veteran leadership andand you know, and some production because
we've got Baylor on the schedule nextyear, Syracuse, South Carolina, you
(27:19):
know, Marquette, where it's goingto be a loaded schedule, and that's
a lot to ask a whole bunchof freshmen to come in produce. So
yeah, we're we've always got aneye to the portal. It did pretty
well for us this year with MignonMoore. You know, that was a
heck of a of a transfer,so she meant a lot to our program.
Yeah, she was amazing. Wewere She was our last most recent
(27:41):
guest on the podcast. It's stillkind of hard to believe we were talking
to her a little over a weekago and all the excitement that she was
u articulating about being able to goand try and win a national championship.
You mentioned recruiting Kelly and I,you know, I think one of the
things that's become pretty obvious, Andyou also alluded to the fact that this
is the best conference in the country, and I don't think anyone that at
(28:03):
least we would listen to would arguethat. For you. What's been the
tipping point for the big time recruitsstaying on the West Coast. Over the
last few decades, we've you know, I think the PAC twelve has lost
fewer kids to schools back east andsome of those traditional powerhouses. Have you
seen. Has there been a tippingpoint and inflection point that you can point
to. No, not really.I think it's just a combination of a
(28:26):
whole bunch of things. You know, we have a lot of programs now
that are top ten programs. Youknow, maybe not every year, but
they've been in and out of itover the last four or five years.
We have several different I think whatfour different teams that have made the Final
Four in the last four years.No other conference can can boast that.
I think the PAC twelve network hasreally helped. I would still like to
(28:48):
see it in more homes, butI think that really helps. I think
the commitment they've made to you know, producing more more games on TV than
for women's basketball than any other conference. Uh, there's very good coaching here.
I just think it's um you know, there's a there's a buzz about
the conference and so people, youknow, they start to buy into that.
(29:08):
And you mentioned that West Coast playersaren't migrating east. You look at
my recruiting class New Jersey, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, you know,
only one is from the West coast, Tihina from from San Diego. So
I think that's happening. You know, with a lot of our programs,
we're becoming nationally known. I thinkthere's just a lot of different factors.
(29:30):
I don't think it's any one onething. I will say this, I
think Sabrine has really helped the entireconference. You know, somebody of her,
of her stature and renal, andI think it's just you know,
what she did for the whole game, I think is tremendous and can't be
completely measured. Right now, She'sgoing to change the game in terms of
(29:52):
shoe contracts and you know, onand on how how women's basketball is viewed.
And I think that certainly helped usat Oregon. But I think in
turn, it helped the entire conferencebecause people were tuning in to watch,
you know, our conference play.You know, Kelly, over the last
five years, you haven't really hadto worry much about leadership on the floor
(30:14):
with my Tay and then Sabrina justfollowing through with that when you look at
this group next year, you're goingto miss a lot of what Sabrina does
and what Ruthie does. But wheredoes the leadership and the drive come from
on the floor, in the lockerroom, on the practice floor, on
the track, all all those littleplaces and big places where it really makes
(30:34):
a difference. Well that remains tobe seen. You know, I don't
know yet, but I will tellyou one thing. We have two players,
Jazz Shelley and Taylor Chavis, whohave the exact same attitude, willingness
to do whatever it takes for theteam to win, their competitive spirit,
their drive, They have the sameintangibles that Sabrina does. You know,
(30:59):
they came in with those and nowthat they've had a chance to kind of
see her in action for a yearor two, I think that's really going
to help. So that's where Ithink it starts for us. We also
have Aaron Bowie and Lydia Giomi,who are the two players and even now
as we speak now or the twoplayers that really keep us together. I
think, you know, they're almostlike mother hands. Everybody has to have
(31:22):
one, and we have two.Those are the two that that bring great
balance to us, great perspective.They have everybody's back. They're awesome teammates.
So I think we're going to haveleadership in that area as well.
So we won't have that one ortwo players. It's going to be shared.
That leadership will be shared among youknow, four or five, and
then you know, somebody from thatfreshman class will step up and kind of
(31:47):
be that leader, because you know, it's such a huge class that they're
gonna you know, you want tointegrate everybody together. But you know,
all teams have not factions or segmentsor clicks or it's not I don't mean
it that's a negative. Those arenegative terms, but they kind of have
each other's back, and so somebodywill step up in that group. I'm
(32:08):
I'm confident, So I don't thinkthat's going to be an issue. You
guys, next year, we've gota ton of talent. I think my
biggest problem next year is we're youknow, I'm only going to have two
hundred minutes a game to play thesekids, so we've got to get them
to buy into the team first culture, you know, and and uh,
(32:29):
you know, I just we're notgoing anywhere. We're gonna be young,
but we're going to be really reallygood. This so don'ta prints you guys,
is a baller, ask Ruthie.Ruthie had to go against her every
day in practice, and I'll tellthat she is really really good and she's
really really fun too. She oh, yes, continue, I'm sorry,
(32:54):
No, Kelly, you know betterthan I do. But you know,
it's it's fascinating to be around aplayer who doesn't play, who feels so
impactful, Like every time you walkin the gym, you're like, you
know where she is. She's gotlike you know, she's like, you
know, someone that just attracts othersto her. She's just got a spirit
about her that it's it's amazing towatch when she's not on the like you
(33:17):
know, she's not even going toplay. Yeah, it's infectious. Yeah,
very well liked. She is greaton the bench. I thought her
in the area were phenomenal. Youknow, talk about everybody has value.
They weren't on the court helping play, but they were just tremendous on the
bench. And yeah, she's she'slegit. She reminds me a little bit
(33:37):
of Bill Walton. You know,that's a whole lot of your audience.
But she's a great passer, She'sgot awesome feel for the game. She
can shoot it around the basket,finishes both hands. I mean, she
can go up and just with twohands just throw it down bo I mean,
she is really a talented, talentedplayer and like you said, just
(33:58):
a great spirit, really a greatteammate. And then the area too.
You guys, I'm saying this forthe first time. Niara was more than
likely going to get into an NCAAtournament game, and that was something we
had talked about over the last coupleof months. She was learning all our
plays and she was ready to go. She didn't get that chance, But
(34:22):
yeah, she is phenomenal talent.You guys. We are really set really
everywhere. You know, Kelly,I just got chills when you said that,
and thanks for sharing it with us. I think there's so many of
those stories that all the all thewhat if and what could have been,
And you know there's for every nisthere's a lot more out there too that
(34:43):
didn't get a chance to be ableto play on that stage and may not
again, so I guess, andwe'll try and be mindful of your time.
So this is the last one foryou. A lot of people I
think turned to sports to escape,to find joy, to connect with people.
And obviously we're sitting here in oneof the more challenging and uncertain times
we've been in. There are nosports to turn to you right now.
So I guess for people listening athome, what advice do you have for
(35:06):
them, or what message would youwould you want to send. I would
say, spend some more time withyour with your loved ones, you know,
write letters to your you know,aunt's, uncle's cousins, and do
whatever you can tom, you know, to bridge whatever gap that you might
have or you know, I thinkthis will kind of get us back to
(35:28):
reset. Everybody was just so busyand everything that they did, and you
know, I hopefully it gives usa chance to kind of reflect on how
blessed we are number one and numbertwo, to just you know, think
of each other, get to knowyour neighbor best. You can't see if
they're fine. You know, I'vegot I'm near the university, you know,
my area, so there's a lotof elderly people that live relatively close
(35:51):
to campus, and you know,I've tried to kind of reach out to
some of them and at least introducemyself, see if they need anything.
I just think that's so. Andwhen it comes to the sports, you
guys, I tell my team thisall the time, and you can ask
them. You know, you've gotto enjoy every minute. You just don't
know. And sometimes we talk aboutlike when somebody gets injured, you know,
(36:13):
hey, just live every moment,you know, just enjoy this,
love what you do, love yourteammates, and because you never know when
it's going to get be taken away, and here it was taken away from
everybody. And we've talked about ourteam today. But I really feel and
I kind of had to slap myselfout of this after a couple of days
being so selfish and just thinking aboutmy team. But what about all the
(36:35):
other teams who's dreams were dashed?You know, the high school kids who
didn't get a chance to win astate championship, a dream of theirs,
our five freshmen incoming freshmen who didn'tget a chance to play in the McDonald's
All Star Game, which was alsoa dream of theirs, you know,
the first time NCA participants. There'sjust so many and it just goes on
and on and on, and Ithink we just got to really reflect on
(37:00):
what's important. You know, sportsis important, but you know there's there's
other things you guys, that weshould maybe focus a little bit more on.
So hopefully we'll all strength and hopefullywe'll get the leadership out of Washington
that we're not getting right now thatkind of bring us all together for crying
out loud, you know, becausewe're in this together and we've got to
figure it out. Kelly Graves twentytwenty, what do you say? Bye
(37:24):
bye? I'm really looking forward totwenty twenty one. Between the Boby stuff
and this and this was a reallytrying last few months. I think we
need a reset and this will hopefullygive it to us in a positive way
of hopefully we'll find the positive outof it. Well said coach. Go
(37:44):
ahead and Mary, what's your onefavorite single thing that happened this season just
to leave us on a like aon a high here, on a good
note, just something that made ussmile bigger than anything. Well, I
think validating our conference championship with um, you know, the celebration that we
(38:07):
had in Vegas I thought was phenomenal, and then just the moments within m
you know, beating team USA beatingOregon State in gil beating Stanford by thirty
plus twice. But I think themoment that is the most powerful to me
was our game. Oh okay,hmm, I gotta get myself together here.
(38:31):
Um. Really was our game atStanford, such a tough day and
our team rallied and I thought thatwas you know, one of their one
of their teammates, one of theirsisters was you know, in a in
a bad way, and they allstepped up. I just thought it all
(38:52):
came together that day, and itwas It was a magical day. It
was a two K, one Kone K, It was Stanford, their
place, it was the Kobe Memorial, It was everything, and that was
when true team was revealed. Andyou know, I'll forever remember that moment.
I think, Hell, you hadso many magical, joyous moments this
(39:15):
year, and I would agree thatthat game is number one on my list
of things that I'm going to rememberabout this season. We just I can't
say enough about how much we loveand respect you and your team and what
you're doing up there and Eugene,and we are so excited to see what
it's going to look like next yearbecause it's going to look different, but
we know the product is going tobe just as wonderful and shiny. So
(39:37):
we really appreciate you spending half anhour of your life with us this morning.
And I know Oregon fans and basketballfans and people everywhere are going to
appreciate your insight too, So gospend some time with your family. Good
luck with everything, and we'll definitelycheck in soon. But we appreciate you.
Well, thank you, I appreciateit, and everybody stay safe,
(39:58):
God bless all right, all right, thanks Kelly, that was some good
stuff with coach Graves. I think, Mary, the biggest thing that I'm
thinking about as we sit there andtalk to him, and you obviously hear
the emotion in his voice and everythingthat he's trying to navigate too, is
that from a coach's perspective. Andyou understand this because you obviously did it.
(40:19):
But he's been doing this thirty twoyears and to have a team that
is as special as the one thathe had this year, and to have
everybody healthy headed into the NCAA Tournament. It's not very often you build your
whole career, and there are greatcoaches that work their whole career and never
have a team that is actually capableof going out and win in the whole
thing. And that's to me asI just think about, you know,
(40:44):
my heart hurting for Kelly Graves isthat no matter how you know, I'm
sure he's gonna have an amazing teamnext year. I'm sure they're going to
be in it. They're gonna bein the national conversation. He's obviously that
great of a coach. But itjust felt like everything was set up this
year for it to be the year, and man, it just it's a
bummer. We're not going to getto see a play out. Yeah.
(41:06):
And I think having known Kelly sincehe was at Saint Mary's and I never
thought he'd leave Gonzaga. And thereason he left was for this, For
what was going to happen this year, Because putting it all together at Oregon
and the facilities and the resources andand what they built as a staff and
the players that came in, thiswas this was the crescendo. This is
(41:27):
this is was the point where itwas all going to come together. The
reason why, Um, but I'llsay this, having been around that team
for so many games over the lastyou know how many years since Kelly's been
there. You know, his hisimpact and that team's impact we'll go on
for a very very long time,whether they had this opportunity the NCAA tournament
(41:51):
or not. They You know,when you when you sit and talk to
Ruthie, and you sit and youtalk to Sabrina in Satu and Kelly and
all the players on that team,you just get an appreciation for how close
they were, how much they lovedplaying together and that and that's all those
folks that came to see them playat home and on the road. That's
never going to leave them. Thosesmiles, that hard work, those accomplishments,
(42:13):
it'll it'll stay with me forever.It's it's a very impactful experience and
one that for me doesn't need thecrescendo of a national championship. It does
not diminish one iota what they wereand what they've accomplished. Mic drop Mary,
I don't know what to say afterthat. I think that's perfectly said
(42:35):
and a great perspective, and whatthat team and program did for the game
is something that, as Kelly said, is I think kind of hard to
put in context right now, andis going to take some time to look
back and see because it's it's beenspecial. But and I'll add this,
what they accomplished doesn't diminish the restof the Pact twelve conference. They they
(42:58):
all floated up on the same boatthat they all all the teams because it
took great competition for Oregon to achievewhat they achieved. The teams that they
beat, you know, were challengesand those teams would have moved on to
the tournament and done well as well. So this is a conference thing,
(43:20):
a movement at the in the PACtwelfth conference that for this season was their
moment. There's been other teams otherseasons, but it took this whole conference
to help get organ where they are. And it's a loss for everybody.
Yeah, I mean, there's nodoubt about it. And I think another
thing that Kelly said that that reallyresonated with me at at the beginning of
(43:40):
our chat with him was that,you know, in the first couple of
days in the aftermath to find itout, it was kind of like you
go into coach mode and Okay,what's next. You reset and move on
and go on to the next thing, and then here we are a few
days removed and getting ready to youknow, the day's going to come tomorrow
in which they would have been playinga first round tournament game, and that's
not happening. And so the realityof it I think has set in.
(44:04):
And I mean I think fans certainlyfeel that way. Players obviously feel that
way. It's it's not necessarily thatit goes in linear. It's not like
it just gets easier every day.I think it's you know, us sitting
here right now, Normally we'd begetting ready to watch a lot of basketball.
So yeah, you know what,though, I'm glad that I got
to see your smiling faces on thissuper conference call today. That made me
(44:27):
happy for sure. And I'm alsoreally excited because we've got Adia Barnes joining
us tomorrow. We're going to releasethat podcast. I cannot wait to talk
to her. Obviously, she's goingto have a lot of great perspective,
as she always does. She hasa lot of connections to Italy. Obviously,
her husband is from there, sheplayed there, So she's working through
a lot of stuff, I'm sure, personally and professionally right now. So
(44:49):
I'm looking forward to connecting with theDA. One other note I would just
say to our listeners and the PACtwelve network faithful. We as a network
are still working through how we're goingto continue bringing sports content to you,
and all I can say at themoment is that there are some incredibly amazing,
smart, creative minds at work atevery hour of the day, and
(45:10):
we are close to having, youknow, some new plans in place,
so please stay tuned on that.Also, you may have to see Ashley
at her house, but other thanyeah, I may be doing talkbacks with
my three year old. But eitherway, we're going to bring you something
that hopefully you will want to watchand that we'll bring you joy. Speaking
of which, be sure to checkout the Pectual Men's Basketball podcast. Mike
(45:31):
Yam and Zahn McClain had a coupleof great ones the last couple of days.
They had an interview with the PACTUALAssociate Commissioner James Vanovich about everything that
went down that's well worth your listen. They also had Colorado as McKinley right
on, and they've talked about,you know how he and the Buffs are
handling everything, so great perspective allthe way around, and an opportunity to
get some of your sports fixed thatyou might be missing. So with that,
(45:53):
I think we're gonna say so long. Farewell. Mary. You got
one more thing for me, justa quick Murphy's law. And now from
Murphy's law, traditional laws don't applybecause it feels like in our world like
the impossible is going on. Butwe're all a team. We just talked,
(46:14):
you know, to Kelly. We'reall in this together, and we
all have roles. And just likea basketball team, everyone has roles.
We all just have to figure outwhat our role is. You gotta just
like a team, you gotta takecare of yourself, but you gotta take
care of others. So that's Murphy'slaws for today. That's one of the
year. I would echo that,be good to each other, be good
(46:34):
to yourself. If you want totalk about sports or life, we're here
for you. Reach out to us, drop us a line. We got.
We got nothing but time these days, so we're happy to chat.
I have a microphone, all right, Yeah, you have a microphone,
So here we go. All betsare off. All right, We'll love
you all, Thanks so much forlistening, as always, take care and
we'll be back tomorrow with the greatidea of burns
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