August 15, 2025 • 34 mins
0:00-10:39 – Longtime host of Indiana Sports Talk, Coach Bob Lovell, joins to preview the upcoming High School Football season as many schools hold scrimmages tonight. JMV and Coach go through each class and talk about the teams with the most promise heading into the 2025 campaign.
10:40-34:55 – Longtime voice of IU Athletics Don Fischer joins to recap the basketball team’s trip to Puerto Rico, where new HC Darian DeVries and the Hoosiers won all three exhibition games. He gives great detail on who impressed him most, and how the top few players performed. Then, he previews the upcoming football season, giving his thoughts on new QB Fernando Mendoza and the rest of the roster.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaking of joining us and always chilling. I was doing
the math in my head right here, and then I
reached out to Nathaniel and said, what year is this
for Indiana Sports Talk and the return edition with Bob
Lovell at the helm and Bob joins us? Now? Is
this thirty one? Thirty two, thirty two? That's incredible?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Let them.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Have we done any research in this market that who
around here has maintained on the air in any any way,
any form, any fashion in thirty two years like that?
I mean, Chuck Chuck Lofton would have been the last
one that comes to mind, and he retired back in June.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I've not looked at it, John, I have no idea.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I just know that we've been on since nineteen ninety four,
and aside from some heart is shoes, I've made most
of those weekends.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
That's because you're the man.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
It's because I'm not very smart. No giving up every weekend.
I have to talk about the football masses.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, and listen, don't how smart I am. Don't say
that out loud, because you got somebody sitting right here
talking to you, following in your Saturday night footsteps. So yes,
but I just do a music.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, you and I've had that discussion before.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I think you're crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I mean I do, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I love you, I love you, but I still think
you're crazy.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I mean, you have a chance to be at home
and be with the family and get you want to
you want to play.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Music, playing music for the masses, and you're talking sports
for the masses thirty thirty two years. Yeah, I don't.
I don't know. Nobody really doesn't ring a bell here.
I'm sure there's probably probably somebody, but.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, you know somebody you know, I don't you know me.
I don't get caught up in that. Yeah, I just
know that.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Of course we do sports, and so guys like Chuck
and others who do things infinitely more important than what
I do. I'm just having a good time sitting in
my house talking to my friends about sports and getting
paid for it. And so if there's a sweeter gig
around other than maybe yours, I think I'm okay.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Now we have some sweet gigs, no doubt about that.
You are a week away from things being official at
the high school football level, right, you got a lot
of scrimmage. I give you a great example how about
are you jealous that you can't be down at Eastern
Green with a Thunderbirds in Brown County and their scrimmage
and football. Can you imagine how they're tripping the light
(02:39):
fantastic on the grid iron tonight.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well, I'm not jealous. I would. I'd like to be there.
I'd like to That's the one damn side of this
gig that I have, John, is I don't get to
see games. You know, it's kind of hard to squeeze.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
In and beat a game and then be in front
of a microphone and all that stuff, and so it's hard.
It's and I have to talk about twenty or so
games that I haven't seen, But nothing beats being there
in person and getting the emotion and feeling what that's
all about. So I'm sure Green County is the anticipation
(03:18):
is incredibly high down there.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I can't imagine, with all due respect, they could be
worse football viewed than that. To be honest, I don't know.
I might be wrong. There may be something worse out there,
but that seems like, until further notice, not great.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So yeah, there's their most prominent alum.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, I think it's coming upon you to come to
their financial rescue and help them out.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I just I wonder. I don't know if this is
in Eastern green if this is in Eastern Hides, if
this isn't Nashville, I think it'd be worth a trip
to go over there because you can hang around in
Nashville afterwards. But if this is in the Eastern Hids, yeah,
I don't know. I don't know about that. Like hundred
degrees at both places, I think at the beginning of this,
so that should be great.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Sounds to me like you're not also going to come
to their aid financially.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Try you're trying to dodge. You're trying to dodge that.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Hey, I told them not to use the stucco on
that building when they built that thing. Just stick with
the old building. It was made of brick. It has
a long time left in it, right. But we got
to have a new school. We've got a host of
sectional we've got to do. This went against it. Now
kids are poking holes in the side of the building,
the stucco building with their pens. Well done.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's it right there. They need you, they need your leadership.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
That's what we do. Hey, I will I will say this,
do we start at the top of the list in
six A with things getting real next week with Brownsburg,
cg LN, Westfield, Hamilton Southeastern. As they would say, the
usual suspects, Well they really are.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
And that's the one thing about football, John, especially in
our state, it seems quite frankly, that it is the
usual suspects, if you will. And you know, it's hard
to go against the Brownsburg team that won the six
A championship with a tremendously talented group of sophomores, and
l En had a tremendous run. I think everybody understands
(05:15):
that the l N Elsie opener next week is what
could be one of the best games, if not the
best game in the state. Then you know Westfield, everybody
thinks highly of them, as they do Center growing rightfully,
So you hit your central. Bumping up to six A
makes it kind of interesting, quite frankly. And then Hamilton
County just continues to win hs and Fishers.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Carmel.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I think what John Ebert is going to do well
Warren Central, Min Davis, some great six eight teams around
our state, and then and as you pointed out, some
really good ball games next week.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
The elevation of Decatur Central that has been so good
athletically really across the board, but especially in football. What's
that going to do for the southwest side.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I think it's going to get a more even more
energizing what they are, to be honest, I think that
they are. You know, everybody, Look, Decatur Central football's had
a long, long tradition of success dating back to when
I was in school one hundred years ago, and so
they don't need much invitation to go out and have
fun with their hawks.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
But they're good.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
I mean both Polston's as good as it gets a quarterback,
and this should be a fun, fun group to watch.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Quite Franklin so five A New Pal Cathedral, Meryllville, Bloomington South.
He said, I'm kind of going down in some preseason
polls right here. I guess we'll strow it with those
those five particular teams in that class.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It's hard.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I mean New Pal Cathedral if you can, those are
two tremendous teams. You know, New Pal one four got
bumped up to five A. So that's their dynamic going
into a Cathedral had a great.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Run last year. A lot of those guys are back.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I think that clearly you start with those two Merrillville as.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
You mentioned up North Bloomington.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
South haven't hurt much of them lately, but they've got
a good group East Central one in four AS, so
they bump up to five lofty at jeff Castle, Whiteland
Mike Quakers have to be in this discussion in five
A and so there's a lot of good teams, especially
here in Central Indiana.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah. Four A. I didn't want to bring this up
because we talked so much about him a year ago.
It was a renaissance campaign with the artist down in
Morgan County at Martinsville. And I know friend of the
show Ryan Wolf of Son Reese is going to be
a senior down there and as a fantastic player. And
I think they bring back some of what got them
(07:41):
again that renaissance season a year ago. What do you
think about the artis in four.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
That I think, as you point out, they have some
guys back.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I think the one thing is, you know they have
a group that understands what they have to do. They've
gotten better and you get a little bit of taste
of success.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And you want much more. But I think when you
look at four A, I think they.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Have a legitimate chance. But there's some really really good teams.
I mean Hardy Shields with the Goldsbury kids. Jet Goldsbury,
one of the best around is very good.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Star is always good.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
I shall walk back from a great run right Greenfield
Central here locally having a good run added to Danville,
as hard as it is for me to support Danville
from my days back in Plainfield, they have a.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Really really good team. Greenwood Martinsville is right in that discussion.
So I'd be optimistic if I were a fan of
the Artisian's quite frankly.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, So maybe another good season, back to back good
seasons too, ye, Shatard, Heritage Hills, East Noble, Mitchell Walka,
Greenfield Central. You know down in southern Indiana, it's rights
Rod Coley maybe back in the mix a little bit.
I think a year ago there were six and five
with the Royals. So that's all coming up in four
A and bub Lovell's got everything for you later on
(08:57):
tonight as far as Indiana Sports Talk and season number
thirty two for Bob coming up later on tonight. Three
A Leres Memorial, Gibson, Southern Lawrenceburg, Modern Day of Evansville,
Adam Central, and Lynton Lutheran and Ran Central Catholic two
AA and then in Class A Providence North Judson, South
(09:17):
Putt North de Cata among those starting at the top
to start a season. So yeah, there are some good
squads up there, really from class to class to begin
this season, well, there are.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
And I think we have football in our sage gets
better and better. More and more players are recruited by
power conferences. I think it's a reflection on the great
coaching we have, the great players and great support in
institutions and communities around our state, and so this should
be We're hopeful that weather is able to let us
(09:50):
have some great work in the next few weeks and
so excited about season thirty two.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
We started this show John.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
When I when I was twenty, and so.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
It's Bob Lovel Number thirty two starts later on tonight,
back to back Friday and Saturday nights with Indiana Sports
talk around the state of Indiana. It's simply put us
not get any better. And Bob's on the Andy Moore
Automotive Group Hootline per usual, Bob every Friday, this is
your spot. Cannot wait to get it started for real
(10:26):
coming up next Friday Night. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
I appreciate it, John, I have a great weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Great to have him back. Bob Lovel of Indiana Sports
Talk right there, no no Jeremiah Wheatley says that means
Friday night football is almost I'm assuming he probably has
some quality Caribbean photographs too to share on his venture
down there with AU basketball. We'll get into that in
IU football as well. We're glad he is back for
(10:50):
yet another year because we are on the verge of
starting the football campaign. The voice of the Hoosiers, Don
Fisher's on the Andy Moore Automotive Group pot line. Hello, Don,
How are you good?
Speaker 5 (11:01):
John? How you doing?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
When did we get back?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I got back on Monday of this past week from
Puerto Rico, and it was a very very good trip.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
All right, to those that may not understand, because I
think a lot of people think, well, you go down
there and you play like JMV and a bunch of
dudes from Tuesday night at Sinegrove and you feel good
about yourself. But this was far more than what that
would describe with this trip. Was it not for this program?
Speaker 5 (11:32):
There's no question.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
They played three games that we're talking about the IU
basketball team. They played three games down there. It was
fun to be a part of that, and just in
the sense of getting to go get to build relationships
with the coaching staff and the players, which you know,
everybody's brand new except for two walk on kids and
(11:55):
two a couple of managers. That's basically you've got everybody
else new in the program athletically wise with the basketball
team players, and you do have two walk ons that
came back from last year, Ian Stevens and Rayford.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
The other kid that came back.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
But you're trying to build relationships with these guys, and
so you get to know them a little bit and
you talk to them and you just enjoy the experience.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
And then a christ did a little.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Work after ball games, but not a lot sure, So
at any rate, John, it was a very very good
trip from my standpoint, but more importantly from an Indiana
fans standpoint, because at what I saw in those three
ball games that they played against Serbian tea two Serbian
games against the Mega super Bet team, which is a
(12:51):
very good basketball team, would I would say they would
give a lot of Big ten teams trouble and Indiana
was able to win both those ballgames. But more importantly,
watching coach Debris, coach these kids, watching how they're coaching staff,
what about things, it was very oppressive.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
John.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And you know me, I'm not going to bull crap
any buddy. I'm going to tell you what I what I.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
See, and what I saw was most impressive.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
You are not easily swayed, my brother. I can tell
you that I know I'm not from experience right there.
It is interesting too, because the dynamic in those two
Serbian games is you gets down and I mean really
digs themselves a significant hole, and both games were able
to dig out of it and come from behind and win.
(13:43):
So I think with the games itself, and any coach
would want more games like this, especially when there was
so much of an unknown on a new roster. But
you get put into situations that you're you are going
to see like this as well. That has to be
to me something that the coaches like, not just coming
back and winning, but you're getting those situations where you
(14:04):
really have to fight and grind together to get that result.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
And that was what was most impressive about this basketball team.
I mean, think about this, John, these guys have only
been together for a couple of months, they've only practiced
together for a couple of months. For those guys to
get the opportunity to go down there and play three
games against somebody and then look and as cohesive. And
(14:29):
I say that in the sense of not necessarily how
they played, but how important it was from a team
perspective to move the basketball, to have confidence in one another,
and for guys to step up at crunch time when
the game was on the line and they had to
make comebacks and those kinds of things. All the things
(14:49):
that you would like from a coaching standpoint to have
on you know, to have to look at on film
and so on and so forth to get ready for
the season, all of those things to place in these
In these three ball games that they played. They played
a team from Puerto Rico the first time out, a
team that wasn't very good and destroyed them. Then they
come back in the next ball game, they get down
(15:11):
against a really good Serbian team that was very tall, long,
very athletic, great quickness, toughness, those kinds of things. And
you've got ten new players on your basketball team, and
you had eleven actually at this point a couple of
guys are hurt, so you couldn't use those guys, and
(15:32):
basically ten guys played and they all performed. Every single
one of those guys that played these ball games, including
the walk on you and Stevens, he actually had some
very productive minutes for this ball club. So what I
saw was a fight, something that honestly I didn't see
it all last year from an Indiana basketball team. I
(15:53):
didn't see the fight. I didn't see the heart that
these guys had, and this team showed me all that.
And from a coaching standpoint, I think I think Darren
Debreze probably got as much out of this as he
possibly could have imagined and watched his basketball team fight
back from deficits on two different occasions. The second one,
(16:14):
the last game that they played, they were down twenty
at halftime, fifty to thirty. It looked like they're going
to get blown out, and they just kept shipping away,
chipping away, chipping away in the final two quarters of
this ball game against a very physical basketball team and
found a way to win it in the final minute,
and it was really impressive.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
It's a Voice of the Hoosiers. Don Fisher back for
another season, right here. We'll get into the IU football
program on the verge of beginning things here momentarily, but
I didn't want to ask about regarding this roster and
what you witnessed a couple of players here, and one
is the Sam Houston State transfer Lamar Wilkerson. It seemed
like those that were covering those games down there were
(16:55):
pretty impressed with him. Let's let's start with his overall
game for those out there there don that may not
know too much about.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
It, Well, his first game against the Puerto Rican team
that wasn't very good wasn't very good. And the reason
it was is because what is his strength. He is
a shooter and he can flat shoot the basketball. But
he did not perform great in that first ballgame. It
just wasn't his day, so to speak. And likewise, Fortucker
(17:23):
Devreez is the other guy that's classified as an outstanding
outside shooter three point guy. Neither one of those guys
had big ballgames in that first matchup. So what impressed
me though, was that these guys really really came back
and did other things on the floor that factored into
why they won those ballgames. And Wilkerson, there's no question
(17:47):
this guy can flat light it up. When he gets going,
he has something to watch. I mean, he just knocks
down shot after shot once he gets his feet underneath him.
And when he wasn't shooting his best basket ball, he
was still very much a great teammate because he was
talking on the floor, he was passing the basketball, being unselfish, his.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Shots more going down.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
So we helped it in other ways, as did Tucker
to breeze not going to Breeze.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
To me, is the most.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Vocal guy in this ball club, and being the coach's son,
I know he probably gets from his dad that you
better be doing that. You know more about what we
do and how we do it than anybody.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Else, and he takes that to heart.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
And I thought, even though he didn't have a great
first ball game, and he struggled a little bit in
the other two ball games, because he has some kind
of a heel issue. I saw him putting a pad
on the back of his heel after the third ball
game and he was limping pretty hard after the second
ball game down there because he's got some kind of
a foot issue.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I don't think it is a real.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Serious thing because he played, you know, with just two
days rest after the second ballgame, so I don't think
it's a serious thing, but he was lipping around pretty good,
and he actually was in the ballgame at the end
of that contest the third game that they played, and
he got to himself to the free throw line two
or three different times there in the last five minutes
(19:10):
of the ball game that were critical and knocked down
some free tosses that were really needed at that time. So,
I John, I'm just I'm elated with with the way
this team looked and how hard they fought and the
way they played together. Where a ball club it's only
been basically together for two months, with virtually everybody on
(19:31):
the team never having played with each other.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Don Fisher joins us, I want to get your thoughts
quickly on a couple of other players too. You mentioned
Tucker Divrez as being one a couple of transfers, the
big man transfer Reid Bailey from Davidson, Connor Enwright from
Depol has been known as a shooter at guard. And
then you know, obviously the kid from Santa Claus, Indiana,
(19:53):
Trent Sicily and what you witnessed from from their games
in those three games, Well.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Kyle Connor is a battler.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I don't know that he is the greatest shooter in
the world, but he is not afraid to take the
shot and he can make him But he is more
than that. When he's on the floor. You're going to
get a guy that will intrigue Indiana fans and they'll
learn to love this guy because he fights his butt off.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
He works so hard.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Out there to defend people, to play within the teamwork,
of the framework of the team work that they try
to get done. And he's smart because he played for
Debris at Drake and then had a year away from
him at DePaul and came back to Indiana now as
his filing year college basketball. He's a smart kid. He's
a very engaging young man. On top of that, he
(20:45):
is fun to watch because he plays so hard and
he gives you everything he's got when he's out on
the floor. And I think he can handle the point guard.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Position if needed on a consistent basis.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Who are the other guys who wanted to know about
Davidson and Sicily from Santa Claus and Hereded Jills.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Well, Sisly, let's take him first because he's a true
freshman and the stage is not too big for this
kid already, And that really impresses me too, because I
remember him as a high school.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Player in his junior year.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
He was a real slender kid at that time, still
was about six six or six five sixty six at
the time. You think he's up at six seven now,
But he has filled out and he looks the parts
as even as a freshman, as a kid that has
the physical size and the ability as an athlete to
(21:37):
get the job done. And he was not afraid to
take three point shots and he knocked him down. He
was the leading scorer in the first game against Puerto Rico.
He scored twenty one points in that one and had
several rebounds on top of that. He was very impressive
in that game and got plenty of playing time and
did a really nice job in the other two games
against the Serbians. So I think people are going to
(21:58):
love him too because he's a freshman. He's going to
be around a while. I think he loves in the university,
and I know he's excited about being there, but he's
not The game is not too big for head here
as a freshman, at the least in these first games
that they played. And he seemed like he belonged just
like the rest of these guys had. And then in
(22:20):
regard to David the kid from Davidson reed Bailey. He
is not a rim He's not going to be a
block shot guy inside. He's not a Miles Turner or
somebody like that. He is a guy that runs the floor.
He can handle the basketball as a six to ten player,
handles it very well. In fact, he brought the ball
(22:40):
up on many occasions in those three ball games on
fast breaks down the floor and dished them off or
played it all the way to the hope himself. He's
got he can use both hands. He's a tough kid.
He's a physical player, and he's smart. And most are
the kinds of things that you want to see from
the big man. And he's not the biggest guy on
(23:02):
the team by any stretch of the imagination. I mean,
he is the biggest from a tall from a height standpoint.
But but he is really an excellent basketball player. He's
been well taught before he got here to IU at Davidson.
He's smart, he knows the game. I think he's going
to help a lot. And the guy you hadn't mentioned
earlier to talk about was Alex Samba Lexis. Yeah, and
(23:24):
sambull Lexis, to me, probably made the biggest impression because
I hadn't seen him do the things that he did
in a ballgame in practice that much. When you're watching
these guys individually in practice sessions and things like that,
you know there's not a lot you can take from
that other than the fact that they're a really good athlete. Well,
(23:45):
he's not just a good athlete. He can use both
hands around the basket. He is excellent as a rebounder.
He seems to have a knack to find the ball
and go after it. I really liked him a lot.
I was I was probably most impressed as a guy.
That surprised me the most because I did not expect
as much out of him, maybe as I did some
(24:06):
other people on this roster, and yet I saw a
great deal of how hard he played, especially at the
defensive end of the floor. So that was another thing
that really impressed me about this ball club.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Don Fischer, voice of the Hoosiers on the Andy Moore
Auto Motive Group Potline. I was figuring things out in
my head here. We've talked a great deal at our
table together regarding this IU football program, a year two
of Kurt Signetti August the thirtieth Old Dominion and Indiana
two thirty in the afternoon down in Bloomington. In watching
(24:39):
them practice, I think you've discussed with me before. What
has stood out to you majorly is just how much
better the offensive line has been. Is that where we
begin with this?
Speaker 5 (24:51):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
You know, last year they probably had six guys that
could play and be factor, and I would argue that
this year they've got at least eight, And I don't
know if there are more than that at this point,
but I've watched eight different players out there that have
impressed me on the offensive line, and maybe the most
(25:14):
impressive in the sense of newness to the program is
Pat Coogan. This kid's a Notre Dame transfer. He was
a starter last year for the Fighting Guy Irish obviously
in the National Championship Game. He is a talented guy
at the center position, probably the most important offensive line
(25:34):
position out there other than maybe left tackle to protect
the quarterback. But honestly, this guy is smart. He has
tremendous leadership skills. They might him up for a practice
or two that kind of thing, which is interesting if
anybody's gone to their website and kind of watched that.
But more than that, he's a leader and he is
(25:55):
a terrific player.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
But he's a tremendous.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Leader on top of that, I know already has talked
about the fact that he's one of the best leaders
on this football team. So that's a really good thing.
And the rest of the offensive line, they're deeper than
they have been JMV. And there's no doubt in my
mind that's been one of the all time problems for
Indiana University football over the years. They've just never had
(26:19):
enough of the offensive line guys that were as talented
as these guys seem to be. And I give a
lot of that gratification from that standpoint to Bob boss At,
their offensive line coach. Is he's a terrific line coach.
Number one, he's a great teacher of the game. He's
an old school guy, and Sig loves that about him
(26:42):
because he goes after these guys that they're not doing
what they're supposed to be doing. And there's no question
they've made great inroads since bost that's been there in
developing these offensive linemen. And I think They've got at
least eight, maybe nine guys that you could count on
to help this football team, and and the be as
good in the offensive line as you need to be
(27:03):
if you're going to play at a high caliber.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
So Don Fischer with us again. August the thirtieth, things
officially get under way for IU against Old Dominion. Don's
on the Andy Morre Automotive Group potline before I let
you go. You get all these offensive line bodies and
fuel rejuvenated about it, and it is probably a good
thing because you bring in a talented quarterback in Fernando
Mendoza that was absolutely running for his life at Cal
(27:27):
a year ago. It seems so that makes sense. And Don,
I'll tell you what makes sense too. And going back
in history recent history of Kurt Signetti, you know, going
with Curtis Rourke a year ago and how well that
worked out, and even going back to his final two
years that were successful at James Madison, he also went
out and got veteran established quarterbacks to help lead the way.
(27:51):
And I've said this all along to people that ask
if it's you know, they say, if it's not broken,
don't fix it. I say, you know, ride it until
it bucks you or don't don't right at all, And
that's seemingly what he is doing, I think with the
quarterback position, going with what is already established and what
you know and try to cobble things to make it
(28:11):
even better. And I think that's at least how I
have of you Mendoza here at the start of the season.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Well, the one thing about Fernando is that he is
not shy. He's a very engaging young man. I think
that his issues at California were primarily because he couldn't
be protected very well and he was running for his
life so much of the time out there. And I
think the question mark on Fernando coming into this season
(28:37):
was can he get past that and not worry about
They know that he's got an offensive line in front
of him that will give him protection and give him
time to throw the football. And I think he's found
that out a little bit. I watched him in spring practices.
I thought he had a little bit of the nervousness
that the happy feet type of thing that you would
(28:59):
look at to see him try to get rid of
the ball maybe quicker than he needed to, rather than
being able to read the defense and make the right
call right, make the right decision on worry through.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
The football, those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
But I have seen much improvement in that area. I
know Signetti mentioned that at the end of spring that
his last three to five practices were much better than
they were in the early part of the spring. And
I think we've seen that to continue, or that progression
to continue for Fernando here in the last two weeks
of practice. So I think this is a football team
(29:34):
that will have a quarterback that can get the job dot.
I know he's got a he's got a great arm,
he is he runs like a deer. He's sixty five,
two hundred and twenty pounds, and he is fast. When
he gets going, he is really fast. I don't want
to say he's a scatback type of quarterback. He's not.
But if he has to go out and run, he
can flat fly. And that's something that we hadn't had
(29:56):
in Curtis Rourke. Work was playing with a d average
ac L and nobody knew about how damaged it was.
It was torn, It wasn't completely torn, or he wouldn't
have been playing, but obviously he played with it. But
the thing about Curtis was in his strength, in my opinion,
aside from the fact he was tremendously accurate with his
passing arm, the fact that he was able to read
(30:17):
defenses so well was his That's why he was such.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
A great quarterback in Indiana.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
These are the best I've ever seen at making the
right decision in a split second, seeing what the defense
was doing, and then making the right decision to throw
the ball at the right spot.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
He was phenomenal at that.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I don't know until you get in in real fire
where you've got people coming after you and those kinds
of things. We haven't seen Fernando in that situation yet,
so we can't read that as effectively as you might
like to. But here the preseason, I've been really happy
with what I've seen from Fernando Mendoz and I think
he's going to be a tremendous edition.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Can't wait. Can't wait to watch it because it is
on the very just happening so our table tonight. Are
you taking the night off tonight?
Speaker 3 (31:05):
We will not be there, but probably we will be
a couple more times here before football starts.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Because well, I mean, I know you got football to
watch it A Friday night probably next Friday, don't you.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Yeah, yeah, because my son's My son's still coaching dot
at Edgewood this third year there, and this will be
the year that they feel like they can turn things
around a little bit. So we'll be going as many
of his home games as we possibly can, and next
week will be the first walk oh.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
The Stangs, the Stallions, the former home of Lance Ringler.
By the way, there is zero way that that field,
which is red bright red, is not like the Gates
of Hell when it's ninety plus degrees outside down there.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
There's no way.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Well, all every football field that's not natural grass in
its turf, every one of those fields, and this heat
is brutal.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
There's no question.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I don't care if it's red, black, white, green, whatever.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
That just looks like the field's on fire.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Though.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
He just goes, good, lord, my shoes are gonna melt.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
You're right, yeah, it definitely.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
It definitely would be psychologically bad for you.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Do you wonder do they wish they would have just
gone with regular green and said the hell with it now?
Or they're still cool red.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I've never heard any I've never heard anybody say anything
about it, So I'm not going to go there and
be the first.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
It should be green.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Maybe it should just have gone green and not worried
with the red.
Speaker 5 (32:41):
Part of it right there.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
So incidentally, you know you Memorial Stadium has a new
a new turf too, and it's beautiful.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
It is absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
How old was the the old one? I guess in
this case, do you know?
Speaker 3 (32:55):
You know what, I don't know, Probably probably at least
seven to ten years someplace from that neighborhood.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Wow, these things don't last all that long. I can
tell you that.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Hey, don for years, you and I have talked about
fans going to games, getting there on time and not leaving.
Do you think that we'll have that discussion at all
this season? Because it makes you wonder we've had that
discussion that's so familiar that I kind of wonder if
that goes away now.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Well, it certainly did in the last half of last season. Yeah,
because Indiana following that the Maryland game, that was the
last one where the stands weren't completely full, and they've
been full ever since then, and I pray that that's
the way they will be all season long.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
Coming up to Indiana.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Scheduled this year, as you know, is much tougher than
it was a year ago. And I still think this
football team has the confidence, the belief and the coach
to get them a ton of wins this season. And
we'll see how many it is. I'm not going to predict,
but I will say this, this team, I think if
they do what we think they're capable of doing, they're
(34:02):
gonna be competing again for.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
A Big Ten title.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
It should be fun. It's more exciting to start a
season than you felt in a long time, certainly, And
you're two of Kurt Signetti down and put me ten.
Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fisher somewhat fresh back from
Puerto Rico with a breakdown if I use basketball team
down there and a preview a little bit. We'll do
a little bit more defense coming up next Friday. But
just inform me when you guys are back at our
(34:27):
table so I can join and watch you guys eat
while I drink. I'm like Dean Martin.
Speaker 5 (34:34):
No, you're not quite.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
You're not quite in Dean's category.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
I'm still working on that. Don't heard it all that?
Speaker 3 (34:45):
All right?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Buddy tell Susie, I said hello, we'll catch up soon.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Ja yeah, Buddy dot Fisher, Voice of the Hoosiers a
the Andy Moore Automative Group Hotline a twelve
Speaking of joining us and always chilling. I was doing
the math in my head right here, and then I
reached out to Nathaniel and said, what year is this
for Indiana Sports Talk and the return edition with Bob
Lovell at the helm and Bob joins us? Now? Is
this thirty one? Thirty two, thirty two? That's incredible?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Let them.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Have we done any research in this market that who
around here has maintained on the air in any any way,
any form, any fashion in thirty two years like that?
I mean, Chuck Chuck Lofton would have been the last
one that comes to mind, and he retired back in June.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I've not looked at it, John, I have no idea.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I just know that we've been on since nineteen ninety four,
and aside from some heart is shoes, I've made most
of those weekends.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
That's because you're the man.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
It's because I'm not very smart. No giving up every weekend.
I have to talk about the football masses.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, and listen, don't how smart I am. Don't say
that out loud, because you got somebody sitting right here
talking to you, following in your Saturday night footsteps. So yes,
but I just do a music.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, you and I've had that discussion before.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I think you're crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I mean I do, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I love you, I love you, but I still think
you're crazy.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I mean, you have a chance to be at home
and be with the family and get you want to
you want to play.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Music, playing music for the masses, and you're talking sports
for the masses thirty thirty two years. Yeah, I don't.
I don't know. Nobody really doesn't ring a bell here.
I'm sure there's probably probably somebody, but.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, you know somebody you know, I don't you know me.
I don't get caught up in that. Yeah, I just
know that.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Of course we do sports, and so guys like Chuck
and others who do things infinitely more important than what
I do. I'm just having a good time sitting in
my house talking to my friends about sports and getting
paid for it. And so if there's a sweeter gig
around other than maybe yours, I think I'm okay.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Now we have some sweet gigs, no doubt about that.
You are a week away from things being official at
the high school football level, right, you got a lot
of scrimmage. I give you a great example how about
are you jealous that you can't be down at Eastern
Green with a Thunderbirds in Brown County and their scrimmage
and football. Can you imagine how they're tripping the light
(02:39):
fantastic on the grid iron tonight.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well, I'm not jealous. I would. I'd like to be there.
I'd like to That's the one damn side of this
gig that I have, John, is I don't get to
see games. You know, it's kind of hard to squeeze.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
In and beat a game and then be in front
of a microphone and all that stuff, and so it's hard.
It's and I have to talk about twenty or so
games that I haven't seen, But nothing beats being there
in person and getting the emotion and feeling what that's
all about. So I'm sure Green County is the anticipation
(03:18):
is incredibly high down there.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I can't imagine, with all due respect, they could be
worse football viewed than that. To be honest, I don't know.
I might be wrong. There may be something worse out there,
but that seems like, until further notice, not great.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So yeah, there's their most prominent alum.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, I think it's coming upon you to come to
their financial rescue and help them out.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I just I wonder. I don't know if this is
in Eastern green if this is in Eastern Hides, if
this isn't Nashville, I think it'd be worth a trip
to go over there because you can hang around in
Nashville afterwards. But if this is in the Eastern Hids, yeah,
I don't know. I don't know about that. Like hundred
degrees at both places, I think at the beginning of this,
so that should be great.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Sounds to me like you're not also going to come
to their aid financially.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Try you're trying to dodge. You're trying to dodge that.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Hey, I told them not to use the stucco on
that building when they built that thing. Just stick with
the old building. It was made of brick. It has
a long time left in it, right. But we got
to have a new school. We've got a host of
sectional we've got to do. This went against it. Now
kids are poking holes in the side of the building,
the stucco building with their pens. Well done.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's it right there. They need you, they need your leadership.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
That's what we do. Hey, I will I will say this,
do we start at the top of the list in
six A with things getting real next week with Brownsburg,
cg LN, Westfield, Hamilton Southeastern. As they would say, the
usual suspects, Well they really are.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
And that's the one thing about football, John, especially in
our state, it seems quite frankly, that it is the
usual suspects, if you will. And you know, it's hard
to go against the Brownsburg team that won the six
A championship with a tremendously talented group of sophomores, and
l En had a tremendous run. I think everybody understands
(05:15):
that the l N Elsie opener next week is what
could be one of the best games, if not the
best game in the state. Then you know Westfield, everybody
thinks highly of them, as they do Center growing rightfully,
So you hit your central. Bumping up to six A
makes it kind of interesting, quite frankly. And then Hamilton
County just continues to win hs and Fishers.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Carmel.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I think what John Ebert is going to do well
Warren Central, Min Davis, some great six eight teams around
our state, and then and as you pointed out, some
really good ball games next week.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
The elevation of Decatur Central that has been so good
athletically really across the board, but especially in football. What's
that going to do for the southwest side.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I think it's going to get a more even more
energizing what they are, to be honest, I think that
they are. You know, everybody, Look, Decatur Central football's had
a long, long tradition of success dating back to when
I was in school one hundred years ago, and so
they don't need much invitation to go out and have
fun with their hawks.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
But they're good.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
I mean both Polston's as good as it gets a quarterback,
and this should be a fun, fun group to watch.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Quite Franklin so five A New Pal Cathedral, Meryllville, Bloomington South.
He said, I'm kind of going down in some preseason
polls right here. I guess we'll strow it with those
those five particular teams in that class.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It's hard.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I mean New Pal Cathedral if you can, those are
two tremendous teams. You know, New Pal one four got
bumped up to five A. So that's their dynamic going
into a Cathedral had a great.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Run last year. A lot of those guys are back.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I think that clearly you start with those two Merrillville as.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
You mentioned up North Bloomington.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
South haven't hurt much of them lately, but they've got
a good group East Central one in four AS, so
they bump up to five lofty at jeff Castle, Whiteland
Mike Quakers have to be in this discussion in five
A and so there's a lot of good teams, especially
here in Central Indiana.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah. Four A. I didn't want to bring this up
because we talked so much about him a year ago.
It was a renaissance campaign with the artist down in
Morgan County at Martinsville. And I know friend of the
show Ryan Wolf of Son Reese is going to be
a senior down there and as a fantastic player. And
I think they bring back some of what got them
(07:41):
again that renaissance season a year ago. What do you
think about the artis in four.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
That I think, as you point out, they have some
guys back.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I think the one thing is, you know they have
a group that understands what they have to do. They've
gotten better and you get a little bit of taste
of success.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And you want much more. But I think when you
look at four A, I think they.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Have a legitimate chance. But there's some really really good teams.
I mean Hardy Shields with the Goldsbury kids. Jet Goldsbury,
one of the best around is very good.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Star is always good.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
I shall walk back from a great run right Greenfield
Central here locally having a good run added to Danville,
as hard as it is for me to support Danville
from my days back in Plainfield, they have a.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Really really good team. Greenwood Martinsville is right in that discussion.
So I'd be optimistic if I were a fan of
the Artisian's quite frankly.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, So maybe another good season, back to back good
seasons too, ye, Shatard, Heritage Hills, East Noble, Mitchell Walka,
Greenfield Central. You know down in southern Indiana, it's rights
Rod Coley maybe back in the mix a little bit.
I think a year ago there were six and five
with the Royals. So that's all coming up in four
A and bub Lovell's got everything for you later on
(08:57):
tonight as far as Indiana Sports Talk and season number
thirty two for Bob coming up later on tonight. Three
A Leres Memorial, Gibson, Southern Lawrenceburg, Modern Day of Evansville,
Adam Central, and Lynton Lutheran and Ran Central Catholic two
AA and then in Class A Providence North Judson, South
(09:17):
Putt North de Cata among those starting at the top
to start a season. So yeah, there are some good
squads up there, really from class to class to begin
this season, well, there are.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
And I think we have football in our sage gets
better and better. More and more players are recruited by
power conferences. I think it's a reflection on the great
coaching we have, the great players and great support in
institutions and communities around our state, and so this should
be We're hopeful that weather is able to let us
(09:50):
have some great work in the next few weeks and
so excited about season thirty two.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
We started this show John.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
When I when I was twenty, and so.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
It's Bob Lovel Number thirty two starts later on tonight,
back to back Friday and Saturday nights with Indiana Sports
talk around the state of Indiana. It's simply put us
not get any better. And Bob's on the Andy Moore
Automotive Group Hootline per usual, Bob every Friday, this is
your spot. Cannot wait to get it started for real
(10:26):
coming up next Friday Night. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
I appreciate it, John, I have a great weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Great to have him back. Bob Lovel of Indiana Sports
Talk right there, no no Jeremiah Wheatley says that means
Friday night football is almost I'm assuming he probably has
some quality Caribbean photographs too to share on his venture
down there with AU basketball. We'll get into that in
IU football as well. We're glad he is back for
(10:50):
yet another year because we are on the verge of
starting the football campaign. The voice of the Hoosiers, Don
Fisher's on the Andy Moore Automotive Group pot line. Hello, Don,
How are you good?
Speaker 5 (11:01):
John? How you doing?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
When did we get back?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I got back on Monday of this past week from
Puerto Rico, and it was a very very good trip.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
All right, to those that may not understand, because I
think a lot of people think, well, you go down
there and you play like JMV and a bunch of
dudes from Tuesday night at Sinegrove and you feel good
about yourself. But this was far more than what that
would describe with this trip. Was it not for this program?
Speaker 5 (11:32):
There's no question.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
They played three games that we're talking about the IU
basketball team. They played three games down there. It was
fun to be a part of that, and just in
the sense of getting to go get to build relationships
with the coaching staff and the players, which you know,
everybody's brand new except for two walk on kids and
(11:55):
two a couple of managers. That's basically you've got everybody
else new in the program athletically wise with the basketball
team players, and you do have two walk ons that
came back from last year, Ian Stevens and Rayford.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
The other kid that came back.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
But you're trying to build relationships with these guys, and
so you get to know them a little bit and
you talk to them and you just enjoy the experience.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
And then a christ did a little.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Work after ball games, but not a lot sure, So
at any rate, John, it was a very very good
trip from my standpoint, but more importantly from an Indiana
fans standpoint, because at what I saw in those three
ball games that they played against Serbian tea two Serbian
games against the Mega super Bet team, which is a
(12:51):
very good basketball team, would I would say they would
give a lot of Big ten teams trouble and Indiana
was able to win both those ballgames. But more importantly,
watching coach Debris, coach these kids, watching how they're coaching staff,
what about things, it was very oppressive.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
John.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And you know me, I'm not going to bull crap
any buddy. I'm going to tell you what I what I.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
See, and what I saw was most impressive.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
You are not easily swayed, my brother. I can tell
you that I know I'm not from experience right there.
It is interesting too, because the dynamic in those two
Serbian games is you gets down and I mean really
digs themselves a significant hole, and both games were able
to dig out of it and come from behind and win.
(13:43):
So I think with the games itself, and any coach
would want more games like this, especially when there was
so much of an unknown on a new roster. But
you get put into situations that you're you are going
to see like this as well. That has to be
to me something that the coaches like, not just coming
back and winning, but you're getting those situations where you
(14:04):
really have to fight and grind together to get that result.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
And that was what was most impressive about this basketball team.
I mean, think about this, John, these guys have only
been together for a couple of months, they've only practiced
together for a couple of months. For those guys to
get the opportunity to go down there and play three
games against somebody and then look and as cohesive. And
(14:29):
I say that in the sense of not necessarily how
they played, but how important it was from a team
perspective to move the basketball, to have confidence in one another,
and for guys to step up at crunch time when
the game was on the line and they had to
make comebacks and those kinds of things. All the things
(14:49):
that you would like from a coaching standpoint to have
on you know, to have to look at on film
and so on and so forth to get ready for
the season, all of those things to place in these
In these three ball games that they played. They played
a team from Puerto Rico the first time out, a
team that wasn't very good and destroyed them. Then they
come back in the next ball game, they get down
(15:11):
against a really good Serbian team that was very tall, long,
very athletic, great quickness, toughness, those kinds of things. And
you've got ten new players on your basketball team, and
you had eleven actually at this point a couple of
guys are hurt, so you couldn't use those guys, and
(15:32):
basically ten guys played and they all performed. Every single
one of those guys that played these ball games, including
the walk on you and Stevens, he actually had some
very productive minutes for this ball club. So what I
saw was a fight, something that honestly I didn't see
it all last year from an Indiana basketball team. I
(15:53):
didn't see the fight. I didn't see the heart that
these guys had, and this team showed me all that.
And from a coaching standpoint, I think I think Darren
Debreze probably got as much out of this as he
possibly could have imagined and watched his basketball team fight
back from deficits on two different occasions. The second one,
(16:14):
the last game that they played, they were down twenty
at halftime, fifty to thirty. It looked like they're going
to get blown out, and they just kept shipping away,
chipping away, chipping away in the final two quarters of
this ball game against a very physical basketball team and
found a way to win it in the final minute,
and it was really impressive.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
It's a Voice of the Hoosiers. Don Fisher back for
another season, right here. We'll get into the IU football
program on the verge of beginning things here momentarily, but
I didn't want to ask about regarding this roster and
what you witnessed a couple of players here, and one
is the Sam Houston State transfer Lamar Wilkerson. It seemed
like those that were covering those games down there were
(16:55):
pretty impressed with him. Let's let's start with his overall
game for those out there there don that may not
know too much about.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
It, Well, his first game against the Puerto Rican team
that wasn't very good wasn't very good. And the reason
it was is because what is his strength. He is
a shooter and he can flat shoot the basketball. But
he did not perform great in that first ballgame. It
just wasn't his day, so to speak. And likewise, Fortucker
(17:23):
Devreez is the other guy that's classified as an outstanding
outside shooter three point guy. Neither one of those guys
had big ballgames in that first matchup. So what impressed
me though, was that these guys really really came back
and did other things on the floor that factored into
why they won those ballgames. And Wilkerson, there's no question
(17:47):
this guy can flat light it up. When he gets going,
he has something to watch. I mean, he just knocks
down shot after shot once he gets his feet underneath him.
And when he wasn't shooting his best basket ball, he
was still very much a great teammate because he was
talking on the floor, he was passing the basketball, being unselfish, his.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Shots more going down.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
So we helped it in other ways, as did Tucker
to breeze not going to Breeze.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
To me, is the most.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Vocal guy in this ball club, and being the coach's son,
I know he probably gets from his dad that you
better be doing that. You know more about what we
do and how we do it than anybody.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Else, and he takes that to heart.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
And I thought, even though he didn't have a great
first ball game, and he struggled a little bit in
the other two ball games, because he has some kind
of a heel issue. I saw him putting a pad
on the back of his heel after the third ball
game and he was limping pretty hard after the second
ball game down there because he's got some kind of
a foot issue.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I don't think it is a real.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Serious thing because he played, you know, with just two
days rest after the second ballgame, so I don't think
it's a serious thing, but he was lipping around pretty good,
and he actually was in the ballgame at the end
of that contest the third game that they played, and
he got to himself to the free throw line two
or three different times there in the last five minutes
(19:10):
of the ball game that were critical and knocked down
some free tosses that were really needed at that time. So,
I John, I'm just I'm elated with with the way
this team looked and how hard they fought and the
way they played together. Where a ball club it's only
been basically together for two months, with virtually everybody on
(19:31):
the team never having played with each other.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Don Fisher joins us, I want to get your thoughts
quickly on a couple of other players too. You mentioned
Tucker Divrez as being one a couple of transfers, the
big man transfer Reid Bailey from Davidson, Connor Enwright from
Depol has been known as a shooter at guard. And
then you know, obviously the kid from Santa Claus, Indiana,
(19:53):
Trent Sicily and what you witnessed from from their games
in those three games, Well.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Kyle Connor is a battler.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I don't know that he is the greatest shooter in
the world, but he is not afraid to take the
shot and he can make him But he is more
than that. When he's on the floor. You're going to
get a guy that will intrigue Indiana fans and they'll
learn to love this guy because he fights his butt off.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
He works so hard.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Out there to defend people, to play within the teamwork,
of the framework of the team work that they try
to get done. And he's smart because he played for
Debris at Drake and then had a year away from
him at DePaul and came back to Indiana now as
his filing year college basketball. He's a smart kid. He's
a very engaging young man. On top of that, he
(20:45):
is fun to watch because he plays so hard and
he gives you everything he's got when he's out on
the floor. And I think he can handle the point guard.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Position if needed on a consistent basis.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Who are the other guys who wanted to know about
Davidson and Sicily from Santa Claus and Hereded Jills.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Well, Sisly, let's take him first because he's a true
freshman and the stage is not too big for this
kid already, And that really impresses me too, because I
remember him as a high school.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Player in his junior year.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
He was a real slender kid at that time, still
was about six six or six five sixty six at
the time. You think he's up at six seven now,
But he has filled out and he looks the parts
as even as a freshman, as a kid that has
the physical size and the ability as an athlete to
(21:37):
get the job done. And he was not afraid to
take three point shots and he knocked him down. He
was the leading scorer in the first game against Puerto Rico.
He scored twenty one points in that one and had
several rebounds on top of that. He was very impressive
in that game and got plenty of playing time and
did a really nice job in the other two games
against the Serbians. So I think people are going to
(21:58):
love him too because he's a freshman. He's going to
be around a while. I think he loves in the university,
and I know he's excited about being there, but he's
not The game is not too big for head here
as a freshman, at the least in these first games
that they played. And he seemed like he belonged just
like the rest of these guys had. And then in
(22:20):
regard to David the kid from Davidson reed Bailey. He
is not a rim He's not going to be a
block shot guy inside. He's not a Miles Turner or
somebody like that. He is a guy that runs the floor.
He can handle the basketball as a six to ten player,
handles it very well. In fact, he brought the ball
(22:40):
up on many occasions in those three ball games on
fast breaks down the floor and dished them off or
played it all the way to the hope himself. He's
got he can use both hands. He's a tough kid.
He's a physical player, and he's smart. And most are
the kinds of things that you want to see from
the big man. And he's not the biggest guy on
(23:02):
the team by any stretch of the imagination. I mean,
he is the biggest from a tall from a height standpoint.
But but he is really an excellent basketball player. He's
been well taught before he got here to IU at Davidson.
He's smart, he knows the game. I think he's going
to help a lot. And the guy you hadn't mentioned
earlier to talk about was Alex Samba Lexis. Yeah, and
(23:24):
sambull Lexis, to me, probably made the biggest impression because
I hadn't seen him do the things that he did
in a ballgame in practice that much. When you're watching
these guys individually in practice sessions and things like that,
you know there's not a lot you can take from
that other than the fact that they're a really good athlete. Well,
(23:45):
he's not just a good athlete. He can use both
hands around the basket. He is excellent as a rebounder.
He seems to have a knack to find the ball
and go after it. I really liked him a lot.
I was I was probably most impressed as a guy.
That surprised me the most because I did not expect
as much out of him, maybe as I did some
(24:06):
other people on this roster, and yet I saw a
great deal of how hard he played, especially at the
defensive end of the floor. So that was another thing
that really impressed me about this ball club.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Don Fischer, voice of the Hoosiers on the Andy Moore
Auto Motive Group Potline. I was figuring things out in
my head here. We've talked a great deal at our
table together regarding this IU football program, a year two
of Kurt Signetti August the thirtieth Old Dominion and Indiana
two thirty in the afternoon down in Bloomington. In watching
(24:39):
them practice, I think you've discussed with me before. What
has stood out to you majorly is just how much
better the offensive line has been. Is that where we
begin with this?
Speaker 5 (24:51):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
You know, last year they probably had six guys that
could play and be factor, and I would argue that
this year they've got at least eight, And I don't
know if there are more than that at this point,
but I've watched eight different players out there that have
impressed me on the offensive line, and maybe the most
(25:14):
impressive in the sense of newness to the program is
Pat Coogan. This kid's a Notre Dame transfer. He was
a starter last year for the Fighting Guy Irish obviously
in the National Championship Game. He is a talented guy
at the center position, probably the most important offensive line
(25:34):
position out there other than maybe left tackle to protect
the quarterback. But honestly, this guy is smart. He has
tremendous leadership skills. They might him up for a practice
or two that kind of thing, which is interesting if
anybody's gone to their website and kind of watched that.
But more than that, he's a leader and he is
(25:55):
a terrific player.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
But he's a tremendous.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Leader on top of that, I know already has talked
about the fact that he's one of the best leaders
on this football team. So that's a really good thing.
And the rest of the offensive line, they're deeper than
they have been JMV. And there's no doubt in my
mind that's been one of the all time problems for
Indiana University football over the years. They've just never had
(26:19):
enough of the offensive line guys that were as talented
as these guys seem to be. And I give a
lot of that gratification from that standpoint to Bob boss At,
their offensive line coach. Is he's a terrific line coach.
Number one, he's a great teacher of the game. He's
an old school guy, and Sig loves that about him
(26:42):
because he goes after these guys that they're not doing
what they're supposed to be doing. And there's no question
they've made great inroads since bost that's been there in
developing these offensive linemen. And I think They've got at
least eight, maybe nine guys that you could count on
to help this football team, and and the be as
good in the offensive line as you need to be
(27:03):
if you're going to play at a high caliber.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
So Don Fischer with us again. August the thirtieth, things
officially get under way for IU against Old Dominion. Don's
on the Andy Morre Automotive Group potline before I let
you go. You get all these offensive line bodies and
fuel rejuvenated about it, and it is probably a good
thing because you bring in a talented quarterback in Fernando
Mendoza that was absolutely running for his life at Cal
(27:27):
a year ago. It seems so that makes sense. And Don,
I'll tell you what makes sense too. And going back
in history recent history of Kurt Signetti, you know, going
with Curtis Rourke a year ago and how well that
worked out, and even going back to his final two
years that were successful at James Madison, he also went
out and got veteran established quarterbacks to help lead the way.
(27:51):
And I've said this all along to people that ask
if it's you know, they say, if it's not broken,
don't fix it. I say, you know, ride it until
it bucks you or don't don't right at all, And
that's seemingly what he is doing, I think with the
quarterback position, going with what is already established and what
you know and try to cobble things to make it
(28:11):
even better. And I think that's at least how I
have of you Mendoza here at the start of the season.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Well, the one thing about Fernando is that he is
not shy. He's a very engaging young man. I think
that his issues at California were primarily because he couldn't
be protected very well and he was running for his
life so much of the time out there. And I
think the question mark on Fernando coming into this season
(28:37):
was can he get past that and not worry about
They know that he's got an offensive line in front
of him that will give him protection and give him
time to throw the football. And I think he's found
that out a little bit. I watched him in spring practices.
I thought he had a little bit of the nervousness
that the happy feet type of thing that you would
(28:59):
look at to see him try to get rid of
the ball maybe quicker than he needed to, rather than
being able to read the defense and make the right
call right, make the right decision on worry through.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
The football, those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
But I have seen much improvement in that area. I
know Signetti mentioned that at the end of spring that
his last three to five practices were much better than
they were in the early part of the spring. And
I think we've seen that to continue, or that progression
to continue for Fernando here in the last two weeks
of practice. So I think this is a football team
(29:34):
that will have a quarterback that can get the job dot.
I know he's got a he's got a great arm,
he is he runs like a deer. He's sixty five,
two hundred and twenty pounds, and he is fast. When
he gets going, he is really fast. I don't want
to say he's a scatback type of quarterback. He's not.
But if he has to go out and run, he
can flat fly. And that's something that we hadn't had
(29:56):
in Curtis Rourke. Work was playing with a d average
ac L and nobody knew about how damaged it was.
It was torn, It wasn't completely torn, or he wouldn't
have been playing, but obviously he played with it. But
the thing about Curtis was in his strength, in my opinion,
aside from the fact he was tremendously accurate with his
passing arm, the fact that he was able to read
(30:17):
defenses so well was his That's why he was such.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
A great quarterback in Indiana.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
These are the best I've ever seen at making the
right decision in a split second, seeing what the defense
was doing, and then making the right decision to throw
the ball at the right spot.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
He was phenomenal at that.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I don't know until you get in in real fire
where you've got people coming after you and those kinds
of things. We haven't seen Fernando in that situation yet,
so we can't read that as effectively as you might
like to. But here the preseason, I've been really happy
with what I've seen from Fernando Mendoz and I think
he's going to be a tremendous edition.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Can't wait. Can't wait to watch it because it is
on the very just happening so our table tonight. Are
you taking the night off tonight?
Speaker 3 (31:05):
We will not be there, but probably we will be
a couple more times here before football starts.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Because well, I mean, I know you got football to
watch it A Friday night probably next Friday, don't you.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Yeah, yeah, because my son's My son's still coaching dot
at Edgewood this third year there, and this will be
the year that they feel like they can turn things
around a little bit. So we'll be going as many
of his home games as we possibly can, and next
week will be the first walk oh.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
The Stangs, the Stallions, the former home of Lance Ringler.
By the way, there is zero way that that field,
which is red bright red, is not like the Gates
of Hell when it's ninety plus degrees outside down there.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
There's no way.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Well, all every football field that's not natural grass in
its turf, every one of those fields, and this heat
is brutal.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
There's no question.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I don't care if it's red, black, white, green, whatever.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
That just looks like the field's on fire.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Though.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
He just goes, good, lord, my shoes are gonna melt.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
You're right, yeah, it definitely.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
It definitely would be psychologically bad for you.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Do you wonder do they wish they would have just
gone with regular green and said the hell with it now?
Or they're still cool red.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I've never heard any I've never heard anybody say anything
about it, So I'm not going to go there and
be the first.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
It should be green.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Maybe it should just have gone green and not worried
with the red.
Speaker 5 (32:41):
Part of it right there.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
So incidentally, you know you Memorial Stadium has a new
a new turf too, and it's beautiful.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
It is absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
How old was the the old one? I guess in
this case, do you know?
Speaker 3 (32:55):
You know what, I don't know, Probably probably at least
seven to ten years someplace from that neighborhood.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Wow, these things don't last all that long. I can
tell you that.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Hey, don for years, you and I have talked about
fans going to games, getting there on time and not leaving.
Do you think that we'll have that discussion at all
this season? Because it makes you wonder we've had that
discussion that's so familiar that I kind of wonder if
that goes away now.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Well, it certainly did in the last half of last season. Yeah,
because Indiana following that the Maryland game, that was the
last one where the stands weren't completely full, and they've
been full ever since then, and I pray that that's
the way they will be all season long.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
Coming up to Indiana.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Scheduled this year, as you know, is much tougher than
it was a year ago. And I still think this
football team has the confidence, the belief and the coach
to get them a ton of wins this season. And
we'll see how many it is. I'm not going to predict,
but I will say this, this team, I think if
they do what we think they're capable of doing, they're
(34:02):
gonna be competing again for.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
A Big Ten title.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
It should be fun. It's more exciting to start a
season than you felt in a long time, certainly, And
you're two of Kurt Signetti down and put me ten.
Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fisher somewhat fresh back from
Puerto Rico with a breakdown if I use basketball team
down there and a preview a little bit. We'll do
a little bit more defense coming up next Friday. But
just inform me when you guys are back at our
(34:27):
table so I can join and watch you guys eat
while I drink. I'm like Dean Martin.
Speaker 5 (34:34):
No, you're not quite.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
You're not quite in Dean's category.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
I'm still working on that. Don't heard it all that?
Speaker 3 (34:45):
All right?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Buddy tell Susie, I said hello, we'll catch up soon.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Ja yeah, Buddy dot Fisher, Voice of the Hoosiers a
the Andy Moore Automative Group Hotline a twelve
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