October 30, 2025 • 12 mins
XU Head Coach Richard Pitino previews the 2025-26 season.
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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
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Twenty six from four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moeger,
thank you for listening. Anything you might have missed on
this show, you can go get on the iHeartRadio app quickly.
Sports Headlines and service a Kelsey cheval a home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. Joe Flacco was
throwing at the beginning of Bengals practice today, warming up,
(00:25):
so that would suggest he's going to at least give
it a go on a limited basis.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Injury report not out yet.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Kickoff Sunday at one against the Bears on ESPN fifteen thirty.
We have our guests, very goody good. We'll do the
rest of sports headlines here in a few minutes. We're
not going to make our guest wait though. Richard Patino
is set to begin year one as the head coach
of the Xavier men's basketball program, as the Musketeers will
host Marist on Monday night. That is a seven to
(00:52):
fifteen tip off at the Centaz Center. And it's awesome
to have coach Patino with us. Richard, It's good to
have you. How are you doing great?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Mother? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
You have even in an era where there's more turnover
than ever before, more player movement, This isn't easy. Twelve
new players, one freshman, eleven transfers for a coach in
year one at the program, over the weeks of practice,
the exhibition game, all the offseason workouts. What have you
come to learn about your team?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, the attitude and the effort is great, you know,
I think that's what you're trying to establish early in
this process. I mean, it's certainly never ideal to add
twelve new players, but you know, I think whenever there's
a coaching change now that's going to be more frequent,
you know. But they've been very, very consistent with the attitude.
The effort's been really good. Now now it's about the
(01:48):
execution of just like what goes into winning collectively as
a group, and you know, that's what we're going to
have to figure out kind of on the fly, you know.
So it's a challenge, but it's a fun challenge.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
What are you looking for to finding out about your
team starting on Monday?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, I mean, certainly getting the win. You know, we
can't take anything for granted as we as we build
this thing, and you know, it's it's you can't reference
back to the past of last year. I can only
really do it with Philip Rvishi and Joma Malichvis who
were on my team last year New Mexico. So you know,
it's all kind of it's a blank canvas. But you know,
(02:25):
can we put together a great game plan over the
next couple of days for Maris? You know, Maris is
a team with some returners, so it's a team that
won twenty games last year, So we can't take anything
for granted. And you know, we've just got to We're
starting at the bottom right there now, and we're gonna
have to earn everything.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
So what you're doing is difficult, right And I could
say that, but take me and take me inside. What's
been the most difficult part of trying to form a
team together with twelve guys from other places?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Always say, the biggest difference between where I was at
in the stage in New Mexico and where I'm at
the stage in Xavier is just the confidence of the group,
you know, I think, and it takes time to build that.
We were in my last year or two at New Mexico,
extremely confident. You know that we can beat anybody, and
(03:22):
that's because we were able to beat some really good teams,
you know. So it's you can't really fake it. You know,
as a coach, you've got to put them in a
position to succeed. But they need to see it, they
need to feel it. And you know, it's like anything
else that you do. You taste a little bit of success,
you want more of it, you know, so you do
your very best to kind of draw from past experiences,
(03:45):
but they're going to have to go through it collectively
as a group on the court. And that's why. You know,
as many of these early games as you can play,
they're really really beneficial for your program.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I know you want to play fast, can you with
this bunch?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well, I would tell you this. Everybody says they want
to play fast. Everybody says it, but when it's time
to do it, it's not as easy. And that's what
I've seen. You know, what I've drawn from the two
Exhibition games was fatigue was absolutely a factor. So whether
that's for me as a coach, Okay, we got to
get him out of the game, or the player needs
(04:24):
to push through it a little bit. That's kind of
the balance that I'm trying to figure out right now.
So you know, we've got we've got a lot of
guys that are injured, interchangeable, so I think maybe early
in the year I'm going to have to sell a
little bit more, which is fine. But you know, it's
certainly the style that we want to play. But you're
going to have games where you're playing too fast, and
(04:46):
I think the thing you're trying to figure out or
explain to them is we do want to play fast,
but that does not mean that we want to shoot fast.
That does not mean that we want to be, you know,
all over the place defensively, but certainly is a big
part of our game plan.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
No question about that. Richard Patino is with us.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
The Musketeers begin year one of the Richard Patino Era
on Monday hosting Marist. That is a seven to fifteen
tip off at the Centas Center. I think a lot
of what you're talking about to me sounds like trying
to find out who can do what and who can
do what in actual games the count how how fluid
are the roles on your team? With the opener less
than a week away.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I think they're very fluid right now. I mean I
would say I have switched lineups. You know, we didn't
do a lot of practicing over the summer. Who's more
install stuff and you know, skill development. But I think
everybody's got to be ready. You know, our system offensively
is pretty interchangeable, where like ones, twos, and threes are
(05:46):
all kind of the same, and the fours and the
fives are kind of the same. But yeah, I mean,
everybody's so unproven that I'm going to have to be
you know, I'm going to have to be open to
giving everybody a shot early to see kind of what
they have.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
You talk about playing fast, I know there's also a
way you want to play defensively, right you're always putting
ball pressure on opposing team's high turnover margin at New Mexico.
Are you able to replicate that style on the other
end with these guys.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
That's a work in progress for sure. You know. Last
year at New Mexico we've built you know, we were
nineteenth in the country and defense, which is obviously terrific.
The year before we were twenty three in defense, So
you know, we're certainly working towards that. You know, I
think we can certainly loot more shots than we've done,
(06:40):
you know, and again we want to turn teams over,
but not at the you know, expense of good solid
defense either. So you know, it's we're trying to speed
up the ball, we're trying to get it to the
rim and then disrupt it at the rim. But you know,
I would say the first two games definitely not where
(07:01):
we need to be with that.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
What are the twenty four to forty eight hours before
a season opener light for you?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
You know, the good part about the exhibition games is
you kind of get out of the way about, Hey,
this is what the game, the routine is going to
look like. You know, this is the time we want
you at the arena, this is what time we want
you on the court, all those things. But you know,
by the time you get to the game, the hey
is kind of in the barn, so to speak. You know,
you've done all your your scouting and your preparation, and
(07:34):
you know, you go shorter and shorter with your practices.
You know, you really try to keep it as light
as you possibly can game before so that everybody's healthy
and ready to go. But I think more than anything.
It's building confidence. But the way that you building confidence
is obviously through preparation and her work in practice. So
you know, for me personally, it's just getting my my
(07:57):
mind right. You know, I asked them to be at
their best, and you know I also need to be
at my best. So just blocking out all distractions, whether
it's you know, media obligations, tickets, all those things, so
that game day we can really relock in on getting
a win.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You mentioned the preseason.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
It's it's been interesting to watch college basketball evolve where
you know, the exhibition season used to be a couple
of games against you know, traveling squads of former college players,
athletes and actions squads like that, and then D one
teams could play D two teams, and then we have
the era of secret scrimmages, which would you guys still
do even though we're not supposed to know about them,
And now we're playing full scale exhibition games high major
(08:37):
versus high major in some instances. If I made you
college basketballs are, what would the preseason look like?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I would say three to four exhibition games. You know,
I think they're really really beneficial. You know, if I
was in charge of everything, I'd probably say the more
that you play, the less media and fans start to
under did. They start to realize like they don't really
mean anything. I think the beauty of college basketball is
you don't play eighty two games, so every game counts.
(09:08):
The tough part right now is you know, you have
the social media outrage if you lose a game, You've
got the media coverage because it is kind of cool, like,
you know, you see some cool games and you want
to but like the coaches are not really trying to win.
They're tinkering with things, they're they're playing different lineups. So
you know, if I had my way, it would be
(09:29):
let's go play four of them and let's all collectively
understand that the games don't mattter, you know. But that's
obviously tough to get people to figure out because they're
excited about it and they're eager to talk about their teams.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You were kind enough to join me the day after
you were formally introduced as Xavier's head coach. So it's
been seven months. What have you come to learn about
Xavier University and the men's basketball program.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
I think the biggest difference professionally for me now I
went to Providence College, so that was a school very
similar to Xavier and size and no football, but it's
it's the no football thing that is really really different.
We are the football program to Xavier University, so it's
a big deal. And you know, when you're at these
(10:20):
football schools, you kind of understand the give and take
of you know, football needs some more resources, and you
understand it because it's an expensive sport to run. So
just the dynamic of not having football being at a
smaller school, that's definitely been unique. You know, you used
(10:43):
to have kind of you would have your fall schedule,
You're going to these football games, You're bringing recruits into
those things, and it really would take up a whole day,
where now, whether it's recruiting visits or just your your
weekend schedule certainly feels a lot different.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Makes sense. I can't thank you enough. I know you
got a full plate. Best of luck on Monday and
all season long, and hopefully we can do it occasionally
as a season on folds.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Thanks so much, coach, absolutely thanks for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
You got it.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Richard Patino, the head men's basketball coach at Xavier University.
By the way, the first week at the Cintas Center.
There are two men's games, two women's games, so they
the men play Marist on opening night Monday and then
have a game against Lemoyne on Thursday. The women's team
will play on Tuesday against New Haven and then a
game on Friday against Perdue Fort Wayne. And for all
(11:34):
of that hometown friendly pricing, you know, it's five to
one three week, so you can get five dollars twelve
ounce draft beers, you can get one dollar small popcorns.
You can get bottle water for three bucks, and that's
available for all those games.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
And they have three dollars beer a night.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I think I'm going to this game November tenth, eight
thirty tip off against Santa Clair three dollars beers, bud
like cans for three bucks.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Can't be that.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And each purchase comes with a Xavier bud like Kancuzi
or T shirt while supplies last. While we are talking
about the Musketeers, congratulations go out to Drew Lavender, obviously
a terrific player who came to Xavier and helped them
get to the Sweet sixteen to the lead eight in
two thousand and eight. Melanie Balcom the Pride of Trenton,
(12:21):
New Jersey, did an awesome job with the women's basketball program,
and Andy Pope from the men's golf program. Those three
individuals today were announced as the twenty twenty six Hall
of Fame Induction class for the XU Athletics Hall of Fame.
There you go, It is thirteen away from four o'clock.
Jake zivin MLS season pass Apple TV is going to
(12:43):
join us at four h five on FC Cincinnati versus Columbus.
Robert Weintraub on the Bengals at four to twenty. We'll
talk kats v use with Chad Brendle next
Twenty six from four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moeger,
thank you for listening. Anything you might have missed on
this show, you can go get on the iHeartRadio app quickly.
Sports Headlines and service a Kelsey cheval a home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. Joe Flacco was
throwing at the beginning of Bengals practice today, warming up,
(00:25):
so that would suggest he's going to at least give
it a go on a limited basis.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Injury report not out yet.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Kickoff Sunday at one against the Bears on ESPN fifteen thirty.
We have our guests, very goody good. We'll do the
rest of sports headlines here in a few minutes. We're
not going to make our guest wait though. Richard Patino
is set to begin year one as the head coach
of the Xavier men's basketball program, as the Musketeers will
host Marist on Monday night. That is a seven to
(00:52):
fifteen tip off at the Centaz Center. And it's awesome
to have coach Patino with us. Richard, It's good to
have you. How are you doing great?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Mother? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
You have even in an era where there's more turnover
than ever before, more player movement, This isn't easy. Twelve
new players, one freshman, eleven transfers for a coach in
year one at the program, over the weeks of practice,
the exhibition game, all the offseason workouts. What have you
come to learn about your team?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, the attitude and the effort is great, you know,
I think that's what you're trying to establish early in
this process. I mean, it's certainly never ideal to add
twelve new players, but you know, I think whenever there's
a coaching change now that's going to be more frequent,
you know. But they've been very, very consistent with the attitude.
The effort's been really good. Now now it's about the
(01:48):
execution of just like what goes into winning collectively as
a group, and you know, that's what we're going to
have to figure out kind of on the fly, you know.
So it's a challenge, but it's a fun challenge.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
What are you looking for to finding out about your
team starting on Monday?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, I mean, certainly getting the win. You know, we
can't take anything for granted as we as we build
this thing, and you know, it's it's you can't reference
back to the past of last year. I can only
really do it with Philip Rvishi and Joma Malichvis who
were on my team last year New Mexico. So you know,
it's all kind of it's a blank canvas. But you know,
(02:25):
can we put together a great game plan over the
next couple of days for Maris? You know, Maris is
a team with some returners, so it's a team that
won twenty games last year, So we can't take anything
for granted. And you know, we've just got to We're
starting at the bottom right there now, and we're gonna
have to earn everything.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
So what you're doing is difficult, right And I could
say that, but take me and take me inside. What's
been the most difficult part of trying to form a
team together with twelve guys from other places?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Always say, the biggest difference between where I was at
in the stage in New Mexico and where I'm at
the stage in Xavier is just the confidence of the group,
you know, I think, and it takes time to build that.
We were in my last year or two at New Mexico,
extremely confident. You know that we can beat anybody, and
(03:22):
that's because we were able to beat some really good teams,
you know. So it's you can't really fake it. You know,
as a coach, you've got to put them in a
position to succeed. But they need to see it, they
need to feel it. And you know, it's like anything
else that you do. You taste a little bit of success,
you want more of it, you know, so you do
your very best to kind of draw from past experiences,
(03:45):
but they're going to have to go through it collectively
as a group on the court. And that's why. You know,
as many of these early games as you can play,
they're really really beneficial for your program.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I know you want to play fast, can you with
this bunch?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well, I would tell you this. Everybody says they want
to play fast. Everybody says it, but when it's time
to do it, it's not as easy. And that's what
I've seen. You know, what I've drawn from the two
Exhibition games was fatigue was absolutely a factor. So whether
that's for me as a coach, Okay, we got to
get him out of the game, or the player needs
(04:24):
to push through it a little bit. That's kind of
the balance that I'm trying to figure out right now.
So you know, we've got we've got a lot of
guys that are injured, interchangeable, so I think maybe early
in the year I'm going to have to sell a
little bit more, which is fine. But you know, it's
certainly the style that we want to play. But you're
going to have games where you're playing too fast, and
(04:46):
I think the thing you're trying to figure out or
explain to them is we do want to play fast,
but that does not mean that we want to shoot fast.
That does not mean that we want to be, you know,
all over the place defensively, but certainly is a big
part of our game plan.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
No question about that. Richard Patino is with us.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
The Musketeers begin year one of the Richard Patino Era
on Monday hosting Marist. That is a seven to fifteen
tip off at the Centas Center. I think a lot
of what you're talking about to me sounds like trying
to find out who can do what and who can
do what in actual games the count how how fluid
are the roles on your team? With the opener less
than a week away.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I think they're very fluid right now. I mean I
would say I have switched lineups. You know, we didn't
do a lot of practicing over the summer. Who's more
install stuff and you know, skill development. But I think
everybody's got to be ready. You know, our system offensively
is pretty interchangeable, where like ones, twos, and threes are
(05:46):
all kind of the same, and the fours and the
fives are kind of the same. But yeah, I mean,
everybody's so unproven that I'm going to have to be
you know, I'm going to have to be open to
giving everybody a shot early to see kind of what
they have.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
You talk about playing fast, I know there's also a
way you want to play defensively, right you're always putting
ball pressure on opposing team's high turnover margin at New Mexico.
Are you able to replicate that style on the other
end with these guys.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
That's a work in progress for sure. You know. Last
year at New Mexico we've built you know, we were
nineteenth in the country and defense, which is obviously terrific.
The year before we were twenty three in defense, So
you know, we're certainly working towards that. You know, I
think we can certainly loot more shots than we've done,
(06:40):
you know, and again we want to turn teams over,
but not at the you know, expense of good solid
defense either. So you know, it's we're trying to speed
up the ball, we're trying to get it to the
rim and then disrupt it at the rim. But you know,
I would say the first two games definitely not where
(07:01):
we need to be with that.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
What are the twenty four to forty eight hours before
a season opener light for you?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
You know, the good part about the exhibition games is
you kind of get out of the way about, Hey,
this is what the game, the routine is going to
look like. You know, this is the time we want
you at the arena, this is what time we want
you on the court, all those things. But you know,
by the time you get to the game, the hey
is kind of in the barn, so to speak. You know,
you've done all your your scouting and your preparation, and
(07:34):
you know, you go shorter and shorter with your practices.
You know, you really try to keep it as light
as you possibly can game before so that everybody's healthy
and ready to go. But I think more than anything.
It's building confidence. But the way that you building confidence
is obviously through preparation and her work in practice. So
you know, for me personally, it's just getting my my
(07:57):
mind right. You know, I asked them to be at
their best, and you know I also need to be
at my best. So just blocking out all distractions, whether
it's you know, media obligations, tickets, all those things, so
that game day we can really relock in on getting
a win.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You mentioned the preseason.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
It's it's been interesting to watch college basketball evolve where
you know, the exhibition season used to be a couple
of games against you know, traveling squads of former college players,
athletes and actions squads like that, and then D one
teams could play D two teams, and then we have
the era of secret scrimmages, which would you guys still
do even though we're not supposed to know about them,
And now we're playing full scale exhibition games high major
(08:37):
versus high major in some instances. If I made you
college basketballs are, what would the preseason look like?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I would say three to four exhibition games. You know,
I think they're really really beneficial. You know, if I
was in charge of everything, I'd probably say the more
that you play, the less media and fans start to
under did. They start to realize like they don't really
mean anything. I think the beauty of college basketball is
you don't play eighty two games, so every game counts.
(09:08):
The tough part right now is you know, you have
the social media outrage if you lose a game, You've
got the media coverage because it is kind of cool, like,
you know, you see some cool games and you want
to but like the coaches are not really trying to win.
They're tinkering with things, they're they're playing different lineups. So
you know, if I had my way, it would be
(09:29):
let's go play four of them and let's all collectively
understand that the games don't mattter, you know. But that's
obviously tough to get people to figure out because they're
excited about it and they're eager to talk about their teams.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You were kind enough to join me the day after
you were formally introduced as Xavier's head coach. So it's
been seven months. What have you come to learn about
Xavier University and the men's basketball program.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
I think the biggest difference professionally for me now I
went to Providence College, so that was a school very
similar to Xavier and size and no football, but it's
it's the no football thing that is really really different.
We are the football program to Xavier University, so it's
a big deal. And you know, when you're at these
(10:20):
football schools, you kind of understand the give and take
of you know, football needs some more resources, and you
understand it because it's an expensive sport to run. So
just the dynamic of not having football being at a
smaller school, that's definitely been unique. You know, you used
(10:43):
to have kind of you would have your fall schedule,
You're going to these football games, You're bringing recruits into
those things, and it really would take up a whole day,
where now, whether it's recruiting visits or just your your
weekend schedule certainly feels a lot different.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Makes sense. I can't thank you enough. I know you
got a full plate. Best of luck on Monday and
all season long, and hopefully we can do it occasionally
as a season on folds.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Thanks so much, coach, absolutely thanks for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
You got it.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Richard Patino, the head men's basketball coach at Xavier University.
By the way, the first week at the Cintas Center.
There are two men's games, two women's games, so they
the men play Marist on opening night Monday and then
have a game against Lemoyne on Thursday. The women's team
will play on Tuesday against New Haven and then a
game on Friday against Perdue Fort Wayne. And for all
(11:34):
of that hometown friendly pricing, you know, it's five to
one three week, so you can get five dollars twelve
ounce draft beers, you can get one dollar small popcorns.
You can get bottle water for three bucks, and that's
available for all those games.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
And they have three dollars beer a night.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I think I'm going to this game November tenth, eight
thirty tip off against Santa Clair three dollars beers, bud
like cans for three bucks.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Can't be that.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And each purchase comes with a Xavier bud like Kancuzi
or T shirt while supplies last. While we are talking
about the Musketeers, congratulations go out to Drew Lavender, obviously
a terrific player who came to Xavier and helped them
get to the Sweet sixteen to the lead eight in
two thousand and eight. Melanie Balcom the Pride of Trenton,
(12:21):
New Jersey, did an awesome job with the women's basketball program,
and Andy Pope from the men's golf program. Those three
individuals today were announced as the twenty twenty six Hall
of Fame Induction class for the XU Athletics Hall of Fame.
There you go, It is thirteen away from four o'clock.
Jake zivin MLS season pass Apple TV is going to
(12:43):
join us at four h five on FC Cincinnati versus Columbus.
Robert Weintraub on the Bengals at four to twenty. We'll
talk kats v use with Chad Brendle next
Mo Egger News
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!