December 13, 2024 • 8 mins
"Mr. College Basketball," Paul Fritschner, joined us to talk XU basketball and the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout, on ESPN1530.
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Instagram too: @MoEgger
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Paul is part of the Sean Miller podcast, which, by
the way, the episode came out last week with Amy
Miller was awesome and Paul was a part of that.
He's we've dubbed a mister college Basketball and he's on
the verge of becoming like one of those regulars that
we asked to come on all the time. We'll see
how he does. As we get said for the shootout
on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hi, Paul Mo, it's an honor. How are you. How's
everything going?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm good. Has the mister college Basketball thing taken off?
You know?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I would say, we haven't done a podcast since you
dubbed me that, so we're still workshopping it with Sean
like you ask me too, But I would say, you know,
it's got a nice little ring too, if we can
work with that.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Are you starting to like introduce yourself to people as
like mister college Basketball.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, you know, I think it's got to come naturally, right.
I don't think I can do that myself. It's got
it's got to fit in. But yeah, no, I think
to your point about the show with Amy Miller, I
thought it was fantastic. I thought it was a good
look into a different side of coaching. Right, You always
see what is public like, you always see what's going
on on the sidelines or anything like that. But to
(01:03):
hear the family side of it, it's a little bit different,
and it shows the realities of the highs and the
lows of what this industry can be like.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And you showed the audience the picture of Shawn dressed
up like a cowboy when he got the job at Arizona,
which I really enjoyed. If Xavier wins this game on Saturday,
how do they do it?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You know? I think I heard Rick on the air
with Tony and Austin earlier and he made a great
point that I think is exactly what Xavier's key is
today and are on Saturday, and that is limiting turnovers.
And it's not rocket science, but you saw in that
three game stretch against Michigan and South Carolina State and
then the other day against TCU, Xavier fifty turnovers in
(01:47):
those three games. And that's uncharacteristic for a Shawn Miller
team and uncharacteristic for this Xavier team, at least in
the games that we're leading up to that three game stretch.
Zavi took pretty good care of the basketball. Now, they
did that against Morgan's eight the other day. They only
turned it over six times, only had two turnovers in
the second half. But you can't turn the ball over
against Cincinnati. Both of these teams like to get out
(02:08):
and run, they like to play fast, they like to score.
But can Xavier take care of the ball against the
defense in Cincinnati? That matches up pretty well with Xavier
and gives them a lot of issues. I mean, it
really does. Out on the perimeter. Athleticism, all of that,
I mean you see is going to present a lot
of issues for Xavier out there. And if you can
limit the ability to give Cincinnati more possessions, that's going
(02:33):
to be a huge factor for Xavier if they want
to come out on top on Saturasy.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You know, I was I was talking about this with
Chad Breundle from Bearcat Journal last hour about how, you know,
from a UC perspective, it just it feels like the
Eras come out of the balloon a little bit. Were
they these last three games that they played okay in
the second half against Howard, But these last three games
the performance is kind of underwhelming, obviously, including the loss
to Villanova. When you were last with me. It was
(03:00):
in the hours leading up to the second game in
Fort Myers where they had just played South Carolina kind
of ugleaed it up but figured out a way to win.
Then they lose that game to Michigan, which you know
was not as lopsided as a final score with indicate,
but still a pretty decisive loss, a really uneven performance.
And I'm being kind there against South Carolina State and
(03:23):
then the TCU loss. Right, So, like the Eras also
come out of the Xavier balloon. Why is that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Again, I think it goes back to a lack of
offensive cohesion. Right. This is a Zager team that we
thought going into this season was going to be an
offensive juggernaut, and we saw it against Dayton. We heard
about it from the secret scrimmage that they played against
Notre Dame that they just put up a ton of points.
They could shoot the ball exceptionally well, there was a
lot of flow to the offense. The guards were playing well,
(03:53):
the ball was moving, as Sean always says, you know,
the ball having energy, constant flow, constant motion. And then
it became and it just didn't look like the guys
were playing at that same pace and that same offensive
style that we were so used to, and because of that,
things just sort of sagged off and the offense suffered. Well,
(04:13):
now here you go against Cincinnati where you have to
try and get back to that and you try to
kind of get some of the win back into your sales.
And I think that's where I look for some encouragement
from that Morgan State game the other day, because Cincinnati,
you know, generally doesn't play that midweek by game and
West talked about that in the press conference the other day.
(04:36):
Cincinnati doesn't play that by game in a week leading
up to the shootout Xavier, except for two years ago.
That's kind of a program staple was to play that
midweek by game. And yeah, Morgan State was not a
very good team and they didn't close out hard, and
Xavier had a ton of open looks and they dominated
on the boards. But still, if you're a Xavier you
feel a lot better going into this game having just
(04:59):
put up one hundred and nineteen points winning by sixty one.
Then if you're coming into this game on Saturday off
a crushing loss on the road against another big twelve
team in TCU, that quite frankly, anybody would tell you
on this team that they should have won that game.
You're up with the ball with eighty one seconds left
and you lose the game. Instead, you come back, you
(05:19):
beat Morgan State, you get a little bit of momentum back,
and now you try and carry that into Saturday.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I think what's interesting about this game from a Xavier
perspective is is what it starts. Because you know they
haven't played great and look, you're you're right. I mean,
I think there were some things to gain or some
things to clomb onto from the Morgan State game, and
I don't think they were terrible against TCU. But you're
going into a stretch now where it's a road game
(05:47):
against a Big twelve team, a ranked Big twelve team
on Saturday, and then, regardless of what happens the turnaround
where you got to go to Connecticut. I don't know
if that game is in Stores or Hartford, but still
it's a road game against Connecticut and then come back
and play the time that I think is the best
of the three, and that's Mark Keed And so I
kind of look at this and go from an xt
FW perspective, Boy, you get this one. You feel a
(06:08):
little bit better about the next two. Lose this one
and all man things really then may start to snowball.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
No, you're exactly right, mo. I think from a micro perspective,
looking at just this season, there's more pressure on Xavier
to win this game. I think looking at it from
a macro perspective, just from a program standpoint, there's more
pressure on Cincinnati to win this game. And you can
argue which one is more important, But at least in
the grand scheme of this season, no, Cincinnati. They'll have
(06:37):
another opportunity next weekend against a really good dating team,
and then they'll go play their Big twelve schedule. There
are plenty of opportunity. Take the rival reaspect out of it, right,
just take the emotions out of it, take the rival
reaspect out of it. Just from a pure selection s
Sunday resume standpoint, this is not a soul crushing loss
for Cincinnati if you lose this game, just purely based
(06:59):
on the result on the court. But this is a
game that Cincinnati obviously hasn't won in six years, and
they're trying to snap the skid. West Miller's trying to
win this for the first time. So from a program perspective.
That's where it's huge for Cincinnati this season. I mean,
you hit the nail on the head. Mo Zavier doesn't
really have a lot to show for this non conference
so far, and this is their last non conference game.
(07:21):
You don't win against Michigan, you don't win against a
TCU team that quite frankly was not great. Came back
after that Xavier win and lost to Vanderbilt basically at
home and down there in Fort Worth in Dallas. So
it's just like, if you can't win this one, you
have a lot of work to do in the Big East.
And who do you start off with? The two best
teams in the Big East? And if you lose three straight,
(07:43):
it's again all games that you're going to be probably
a significant underdog in. So it would take a lot
to win even one of these games, much less two,
much less three. But you don't want to go into
the Holidays on an zero to three skid, right, It
just doesn't feel good?
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Uh? Have you nailed down my date for the appearance
on the podcast?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Does does does my appearance hinge on the results of
the game on Saturday?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I don't think your appearance hinges on the results of
the game on Saturday. Will make it happen. We'll make
it happen, I would. I would say in the next
I would say in the next two weeks. With the holidays,
things are a little hectic. But let's maybe let's, you know,
let's celebrate the new year and we'll check back in.
How about it might be.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Best for well, I mean it could be best for
all parties involved if we let a little distance you know,
happened between the game and my my appearance. I mean
that just might be best for the viewers, the listeners,
for coach, and and for myself.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Sure, yeah, absolutely, but we will have you on though.
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
All right. Well, I'll be waiting for my for my invitation.
Uh I enjoy the game on Saturday. I appreciate you
doing this. We'll chat again soon. Man, Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Thanks, look forward to it.
Paul is part of the Sean Miller podcast, which, by
the way, the episode came out last week with Amy
Miller was awesome and Paul was a part of that.
He's we've dubbed a mister college Basketball and he's on
the verge of becoming like one of those regulars that
we asked to come on all the time. We'll see
how he does. As we get said for the shootout
on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hi, Paul Mo, it's an honor. How are you. How's
everything going?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm good. Has the mister college Basketball thing taken off?
You know?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I would say, we haven't done a podcast since you
dubbed me that, so we're still workshopping it with Sean
like you ask me too, But I would say, you know,
it's got a nice little ring too, if we can
work with that.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Are you starting to like introduce yourself to people as
like mister college Basketball.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, you know, I think it's got to come naturally, right.
I don't think I can do that myself. It's got
it's got to fit in. But yeah, no, I think
to your point about the show with Amy Miller, I
thought it was fantastic. I thought it was a good
look into a different side of coaching. Right, You always
see what is public like, you always see what's going
on on the sidelines or anything like that. But to
(01:03):
hear the family side of it, it's a little bit different,
and it shows the realities of the highs and the
lows of what this industry can be like.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And you showed the audience the picture of Shawn dressed
up like a cowboy when he got the job at Arizona,
which I really enjoyed. If Xavier wins this game on Saturday,
how do they do it?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You know? I think I heard Rick on the air
with Tony and Austin earlier and he made a great
point that I think is exactly what Xavier's key is
today and are on Saturday, and that is limiting turnovers.
And it's not rocket science, but you saw in that
three game stretch against Michigan and South Carolina State and
then the other day against TCU, Xavier fifty turnovers in
(01:47):
those three games. And that's uncharacteristic for a Shawn Miller
team and uncharacteristic for this Xavier team, at least in
the games that we're leading up to that three game stretch.
Zavi took pretty good care of the basketball. Now, they
did that against Morgan's eight the other day. They only
turned it over six times, only had two turnovers in
the second half. But you can't turn the ball over
against Cincinnati. Both of these teams like to get out
(02:08):
and run, they like to play fast, they like to score.
But can Xavier take care of the ball against the
defense in Cincinnati? That matches up pretty well with Xavier
and gives them a lot of issues. I mean, it
really does. Out on the perimeter. Athleticism, all of that,
I mean you see is going to present a lot
of issues for Xavier out there. And if you can
limit the ability to give Cincinnati more possessions, that's going
(02:33):
to be a huge factor for Xavier if they want
to come out on top on Saturasy.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You know, I was I was talking about this with
Chad Breundle from Bearcat Journal last hour about how, you know,
from a UC perspective, it just it feels like the
Eras come out of the balloon a little bit. Were
they these last three games that they played okay in
the second half against Howard, But these last three games
the performance is kind of underwhelming, obviously, including the loss
to Villanova. When you were last with me. It was
(03:00):
in the hours leading up to the second game in
Fort Myers where they had just played South Carolina kind
of ugleaed it up but figured out a way to win.
Then they lose that game to Michigan, which you know
was not as lopsided as a final score with indicate,
but still a pretty decisive loss, a really uneven performance.
And I'm being kind there against South Carolina State and
(03:23):
then the TCU loss. Right, So, like the Eras also
come out of the Xavier balloon. Why is that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Again, I think it goes back to a lack of
offensive cohesion. Right. This is a Zager team that we
thought going into this season was going to be an
offensive juggernaut, and we saw it against Dayton. We heard
about it from the secret scrimmage that they played against
Notre Dame that they just put up a ton of points.
They could shoot the ball exceptionally well, there was a
lot of flow to the offense. The guards were playing well,
(03:53):
the ball was moving, as Sean always says, you know,
the ball having energy, constant flow, constant motion. And then
it became and it just didn't look like the guys
were playing at that same pace and that same offensive
style that we were so used to, and because of that,
things just sort of sagged off and the offense suffered. Well,
(04:13):
now here you go against Cincinnati where you have to
try and get back to that and you try to
kind of get some of the win back into your sales.
And I think that's where I look for some encouragement
from that Morgan State game the other day, because Cincinnati,
you know, generally doesn't play that midweek by game and
West talked about that in the press conference the other day.
(04:36):
Cincinnati doesn't play that by game in a week leading
up to the shootout Xavier, except for two years ago.
That's kind of a program staple was to play that
midweek by game. And yeah, Morgan State was not a
very good team and they didn't close out hard, and
Xavier had a ton of open looks and they dominated
on the boards. But still, if you're a Xavier you
feel a lot better going into this game having just
(04:59):
put up one hundred and nineteen points winning by sixty one.
Then if you're coming into this game on Saturday off
a crushing loss on the road against another big twelve
team in TCU, that quite frankly, anybody would tell you
on this team that they should have won that game.
You're up with the ball with eighty one seconds left
and you lose the game. Instead, you come back, you
(05:19):
beat Morgan State, you get a little bit of momentum back,
and now you try and carry that into Saturday.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I think what's interesting about this game from a Xavier
perspective is is what it starts. Because you know they
haven't played great and look, you're you're right. I mean,
I think there were some things to gain or some
things to clomb onto from the Morgan State game, and
I don't think they were terrible against TCU. But you're
going into a stretch now where it's a road game
(05:47):
against a Big twelve team, a ranked Big twelve team
on Saturday, and then, regardless of what happens the turnaround
where you got to go to Connecticut. I don't know
if that game is in Stores or Hartford, but still
it's a road game against Connecticut and then come back
and play the time that I think is the best
of the three, and that's Mark Keed And so I
kind of look at this and go from an xt
FW perspective, Boy, you get this one. You feel a
(06:08):
little bit better about the next two. Lose this one
and all man things really then may start to snowball.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
No, you're exactly right, mo. I think from a micro perspective,
looking at just this season, there's more pressure on Xavier
to win this game. I think looking at it from
a macro perspective, just from a program standpoint, there's more
pressure on Cincinnati to win this game. And you can
argue which one is more important, But at least in
the grand scheme of this season, no, Cincinnati. They'll have
(06:37):
another opportunity next weekend against a really good dating team,
and then they'll go play their Big twelve schedule. There
are plenty of opportunity. Take the rival reaspect out of it, right,
just take the emotions out of it, take the rival
reaspect out of it. Just from a pure selection s
Sunday resume standpoint, this is not a soul crushing loss
for Cincinnati if you lose this game, just purely based
(06:59):
on the result on the court. But this is a
game that Cincinnati obviously hasn't won in six years, and
they're trying to snap the skid. West Miller's trying to
win this for the first time. So from a program perspective.
That's where it's huge for Cincinnati this season. I mean,
you hit the nail on the head. Mo Zavier doesn't
really have a lot to show for this non conference
so far, and this is their last non conference game.
(07:21):
You don't win against Michigan, you don't win against a
TCU team that quite frankly was not great. Came back
after that Xavier win and lost to Vanderbilt basically at
home and down there in Fort Worth in Dallas. So
it's just like, if you can't win this one, you
have a lot of work to do in the Big East.
And who do you start off with? The two best
teams in the Big East? And if you lose three straight,
(07:43):
it's again all games that you're going to be probably
a significant underdog in. So it would take a lot
to win even one of these games, much less two,
much less three. But you don't want to go into
the Holidays on an zero to three skid, right, It
just doesn't feel good?
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Uh? Have you nailed down my date for the appearance
on the podcast?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Does does does my appearance hinge on the results of
the game on Saturday?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I don't think your appearance hinges on the results of
the game on Saturday. Will make it happen. We'll make
it happen, I would. I would say in the next
I would say in the next two weeks. With the holidays,
things are a little hectic. But let's maybe let's, you know,
let's celebrate the new year and we'll check back in.
How about it might be.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Best for well, I mean it could be best for
all parties involved if we let a little distance you know,
happened between the game and my my appearance. I mean
that just might be best for the viewers, the listeners,
for coach, and and for myself.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Sure, yeah, absolutely, but we will have you on though.
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
All right. Well, I'll be waiting for my for my invitation.
Uh I enjoy the game on Saturday. I appreciate you
doing this. We'll chat again soon. Man, Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Thanks, look forward to it.
Mo Egger News
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