Interview with Donovan Clingan

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All right, we're back February 11, 2024 Super Bowl Sunday, the Taylor Swift Bowl, the Bristol

(00:12):
Boys in the studio.
Lottie and Mack, Angry J, ready to swear today he's been given permission.
The commission applied for Major League Baseball Commissioners job, everybody knows that, the
Don Fathers actually not working this weekend.
The tax man blew us up, a crocker is here, and our sponsor, Capital Security, Joe Morello,
a life well planned.

(00:32):
Guys, if you have some extra cash laying around, I suggest you give Joe a call and
plan for your future.
Joe, where are you?
Right back here.
Joe, you're a Yukon alum, right?
Sure am.
Holy Cross, Waterbury, Yukon, do you like college basketball?
Love college basketball.
And who's your favorite squad?
The I go with Holy Cross High School class of 1991.
Okay, how about college?

(00:53):
College, I'm a big Yukon fan.
Really?
Speaking of big in Yukon, executive producer Kevin Ross has brought in our special guest
today.
We're not going to waste your time today, we're going to have real content with our guest,
Donovan Klingon, DC, Kling Kong.
Welcome Donovan to the studio.
Appreciate you, thank you.

(01:15):
You probably don't like it and nobody knows it, but we have our own nickname for you,
the charter oak, the most famous tree in Connecticut.
Donovan, that's a good one.
We're going to, oh that's what we call you on here.
Yeah, we don't know Kling Kong now.
No, that's too easy.
We don't do easy.
John Kennedy.
What the other things cause they're hard.

(01:35):
As a youngster, overlooked baseball.
Can you talk about how your experiences in baseball and your passion for other sports
besides basketball?
Yeah, I mean I miss baseball.
I'll tell everyone that to this day.
As boring as it was at times, sit at first base, I loved pitching and hitting and growing

(01:57):
up playing overlook, a couple Bristol guys that I used to play with and then moving on
to rivals and then once COVID hit, I had to just move my focus to basketball, but I miss
baseball a lot.
It was just another sport to look out to and there was times where I loved baseball more
than basketball.
I heard a great story from Brookfield's athletic director Steve Baldwin who was your coach

(02:18):
back in the day and you guys were at a tournament and these baseball parents are nuts and it's
a constant two hours of complaining because you have nothing else to do.
So the parents drinking out of their yatties on the sidelines like they're fooling somebody
and complaining.
They're like standleys now.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, big stupid cup.

(02:41):
They were screaming and hollering about you not being the age, I'm going to say 10 or
whatever and you know, coach Baldwin, real, real level headed guy.
After about two or three innings, he finally screamed back.
He's like you're right, he's not 10.
He's eight or something like that.
Yeah, I mean, I always played up even basketball, but baseball too.
I was like, play a year up and people would say I'm not the age that everyone else is

(03:03):
and I was like, yeah, I'm not maxi younger.
That's a big strike zone in the batter's box.
Oh yeah.
So just watching you from a distance as a kid, like, and I'm really interested to hear
this like obviously, stereotype wise or whatever you're tall, so you should be playing basketball.
I looked at you at a young age and I was like, I wonder if even likes basketball and we don't

(03:28):
know what we like when we're little.
We like to just play, right?
When did it click that you're like, this is awesome.
This is a cool sport.
They probably like my eighth grade.
My eighth grade going to my freshman year of high school, I was really like, I'm seven
feet now and I'm really starting to get taller and it's starting to have fun with this.

(03:48):
I really locked in just trying to work out, get better and better every day.
I still love baseball.
Then walking away from baseball was hard, but I realized I had a big future ahead of
me on the basketball court and really once I got to high school, I really enjoyed playing
basketball.
Did other sports stick out?
Did you try football?

(04:09):
No, never did.
Goalie?
Soccer?
No.
Could have caught Harry a thing or two.
Is fishing a sport?
Fishing a sport?
Oh, fishing is a sport.
I'd say it's a sport.
I have to disagree there.
I do a lot of that.
I do both tech.
Ted Williams and Donovan say it's a sport and Bobby say it's a freaking sport.
I don't disagree with the fact that it's an activity and it might be fun, but like your

(04:29):
opponent doesn't always play and so it can't be a sport.
Angling is a sport.
There you go.
That's what we call it.
You ever watch Jaws?
Is that a sport?
That guy had an opponent.
That thing ate the boat.
You better get a bigger boat.
You said once it clicked and you started really putting work in and I know that it seems like

(04:54):
legend, but you got up every morning and went with your high school coach and got after
it before anyone else thought about getting up.
Can you tell us about those workouts?
Yeah.
I was in high school for four years at high school.
I was at Bristol Central working out at 5.45 every morning before school started and with
my assistant principal, Ryan Broderick and also my high school coach, Tim Barrett.

(05:15):
It was 30, 45 minutes in the weight room getting stronger and then going on the court for however
long and however much time I had.
It was just the grind, but I knew it would pay off when I got to this level.
I wake up early still, but it's not 5.45 really.
Donovan, I don't know if you know this, but everybody had an opinion in Bristol back in

(05:37):
the day.
Should you stay at Bristol Central?
Should you go here?
Should you go there?
How hard of a decision was it to stay at BC?
Tell us a little bit about that process in your mind.
Yeah.
It was a difficult decision just because I knew the competition level elsewhere would
have been a little bit better and it would have prepared me for the next level.

(05:57):
I tried to be as loyal as I can and I stayed with my AU team throughout the whole year
of my span in high school.
Tim Barrett, I knew he pushed me to the level that I needed to be pushed to to make it to
the next level.
I was still learning.
I was still working hard.
I was playing at a high level with my AU team.

(06:18):
I knew just practicing and staying at Bristol Central.
I'll still be alright at the next level.
It's just a lot of a loyalty thing.
And most importantly, you got a chance to stay and play with Vic and Carson and some
of the guys you grew up with from the Boys Club days.
That had to be special for you too to win a title with those guys.
Yeah.

(06:38):
I mean, just playing Bristol Boys and Girls Club with Carson, Victor, Sean and all those
guys and be able to play with them in middle school and then go on and play in high school
when the state championship.
I should remember that forever.
Hey, guys, hold on, one more thing about that.
And you don't have to sell anyone out, but feel free to.

(06:59):
Any programs or coaches that might have implied or said directly, you know, we're not going
to recruit you as hard if you don't leave that little band back school.
Really no.
I mean, there was a lot of schools, I feel like we're trying to tell you to stay here
just because they didn't want me going elsewhere and get more of a national brand.
Oh, okay.
That's a good point.

(07:19):
I mean, really just stay there.
Listen, I've been saying to these guys since we started doing this, like I give you huge
credit because nobody does that anymore.
Like most of the kids in high school, they go to one of these elite prep schools.
I mean, did you have them like constantly calling you guys and trying to get you to leave?
Yeah.
I mean, it was like multiple days a week.

(07:40):
You know, I was getting phone calls from different prep schools, you know, Brewster,
Oak Hill, you know, those types of prep schools, you know, but I told them, I told them I was
just like, I want to stay here.
I remember because I was asking your high school coach, there was a kid that right before,
I think you were an eighth grader kid, Jake Wann Spencer, went to Bristol Sensory and
I was trying to recruit him for division three and he said to me, he's like, well, I got

(08:03):
this big kid coming in eighth grade.
I'm like, well, how good is he?
He's like, no, he's legit.
I'm like, well, is he going to stay there?
And then I was saying to these guys all along, like I got to give this kid credit because
most of them, they leave, you know, they leave.
Most of you guys leave.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, it's, it's, it was a big loyalty thing for me and, you know, I just
trusted the development process and, you know, I stuck it out.
Good old steamer.
So I was reading an article in a Connecticut online magazine the other day talking about

(08:27):
how enrollment for high school sports is down.
And I mean, I'm talking about, I'll talk about girls basketball for a second.
A lot of high schools can even field teams like Valley Regional made it to the state
finals last year.
They only had four girls try out for the varsity team this year.
You can't.
No, they don't have a team this year.
And a lot of that is due to specialization, more girls playing volleyball, trying to go
to college.
You're obviously a freak athlete.

(08:48):
Like what are your thoughts about kids in specialization?
Like do you think they should play additional sports or if you're totally locked in?
Like cause it's, it's killing enrollment for a lot of these other sports.
I mean, yeah, especially like through, you know, the high school days where you're growing
as a person and like as an athlete, really just trying to find out what you love and
like what sport you love.
Um, you know, I feel like it's important to, you know, expand your interests and try to

(09:11):
go, you know, try and do sports.
If you don't like it, you don't like it.
You know what I mean?
You know, but it's, it's important to go out there, you know, expand your mind and expand
your options and try to see what fits best for you.
You know what?
Like, I don't know how you guys feel.
This is a hot one now because sports is taking a nose dive overall.

(09:31):
But you know, for a situation like Donovan and he realized that at a point and he's
bigger than everybody else, that's the, that's the time you go to one sport.
All these kids that, and here's a crazy thing with parents.
I've been hearing this like they're stuck in the 1980s and like, oh, it's your junior
year where you get recruited.
That's the most important year.

(09:52):
My travel coach said, I got to play one sport because that's when you get recruited.
Don't you get recruited as soon as you're good?
Like it doesn't matter.
You're recruited at the level you can play at.
Yeah.
I mean, this kid from Northwest Catholic, I watched yesterday, the coach's son.
I mean, no love anywhere just because of the kids.
I mean, it's hard to play somewhere.
Yeah.

(10:13):
It's hard to play.
Do you know who I'm talking about?
The little Maribel?
Yeah.
He's good man.
I played against her.
Yeah.
Speaking of, we're moving into high school now, a storied career interrupted by COVID.
You know, we got to go to some games during the COVID year.
They let like two parents in or whatever.
My son was filling up Gatorade jugs so that, you know, a bottle so they let us come in.

(10:34):
But do you remember the Windsor team that you guys played in that, then whatever postseason
thing they called?
Yeah.
Was that at home?
Yeah.
So they had a kid, I mean, obviously they were loaded.
They had McCoy's son.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tyler Betsy.
Betsy was a freshman.
Do you talk about Betsy a little bit?

(10:54):
I mean, is he going to be okay?
And did you think he might be a Yukon guy?
I mean, I thought that we had a chance, you know, but I feel like the type of player he
is and the way he plays, I feel like, you know, he made the decision obviously to go, I think
he's going to Cincinnati, but, you know, he's a great shooter.
You know, one thing that I feel like everyone worried about is just the toughness and the

(11:15):
defense and the skinny.
So it's just, you know, I think we had a chance, but you know, obviously he chose what
he thought was best for him.
Yeah.
He worked out hard at the Bristol Sports Armory during COVID.
Tyler Betsy as before he was six, eight.
Another six, eight shooter.
Gavin Griffiths.
He's a good striker either.
Struggling.
You played with him, AAU, right?
Yeah, I did.

(11:36):
You played with him?
Yep.
Did you play together?
Yeah.
I hope he gets over this hump because as soon as he gets it on a defensive end, man, he'll
be fine.
Yeah, he's good.
Donovan, talk a little bit about staying with BC, your junior and senior year, you guys
didn't lose a game.
Donovan, obviously your junior year, you would have been state champions.
That was probably one of the best two year runs in the history of the state.

(11:58):
You got a ton of games taken away from you and you still put up prolific career scoring
numbers.
Talk a little bit about the last two years and especially your senior year after not
being able to win at all your junior year.
Was that a little bit of motivation for you guys going into that fall?
Yeah, I mean, if you look at our junior season, the one in the postseason was much stronger

(12:19):
and it looked much better for us.
The teams we won, but it really didn't feel like a state championship where there wasn't
fans there.
The hype around it wasn't there.
So our senior year, I really motivated to go out there and play at Mohegan, not at
the opposing teams gym.
That was really important to us.

(12:42):
I miss it.
It was much easier practices where I were too shorter.
I wasn't waking up next day, sore every single day, but it all paid off.
I don't think people realize the pressure you guys were under your senior year in high
school to win the whole thing because everybody across the state thought it was a foregone
conclusion and that semi-final game at Hill House was a bloodbath.

(13:07):
You had four guys hanging on you the whole game.
To get through that, and it's almost like Northwest Catholic was at that point of formality.
We were all there and the game was never in doubt, but a lot of pressure on that team.
I give you guys credit and coach credit for that.
I want to go back to that Wilton game.
I think they took a shot at the under regulation from D to win.
And everyone let out a collective gas.

(13:30):
That's really the only time I've ever seen the main court in that facility.
Usually it's that AU site.
I was behind a basket with Crocker and a tax man and Woj.
I swear my heart left my body when that kid shot that ball.
It did draw iron, right?

(13:50):
How deep was it?
Where was it from?
It was from the right wing deep, but they had two guys that were making weird stuff.
And that game, I love, you know, we all do, I love high school basketball.
I've never ever seen what happened that day ever.

(14:11):
In pickup with dirty pickup old asshole guys that are like, oh, right, you never see that.
That was the one game where I was like, I don't like this sport.
They were hooking the back of his leg and pushing him over.
Like he hit the ground double digit times.
The team goal was for me not to get a single dunk in the game.
And, you know, the goal worked, but like I just got.

(14:31):
You know how like later in life, you know, you're running into these people that were
your adversaries and they end up being decent guys.
You ever seen anyone with a Wilton basketball?
Because it's got to be on, right?
Like, you could call us, the Godfather, or they don't want his pomade like.
I want to ask you, what did it feel like to bring that state championship home to Bristol?

(14:55):
And also at that point, did you think, man, I can't get any better from you here?
Yeah.
This is a championship that I'm going to remember forever and maybe the biggest thing that happens
in basketball as far as winning.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, I thought of that as like, you know, people think of college national
championships.
You know, in high school, I was just like, I want to win a state championship.

(15:15):
It's cool.
I get to go play at Mohegan.
I get to go to a crazy venue and stuff like that and like, you know, it was just, you
know, I saw Coach Barrett worked hard.
He was trying the best, like, trying to make our team, you know, great and do everything
he can.
So I want to win for him and, you know, just, you know, the guys I was playing with, you
know, we all grew up playing together and, you know, just try to win one together one

(15:36):
last time before, you know, we never, never touched the court again.
You know, so it was just a special team.
You know, I just, you know, I love winning.
I hate losing and, you know, so just, just trying to win everything I can is, it's what
I do.
I got a bone to pick with you.
So we're at the state finals.

(15:57):
I go every year.
Yeah.
Mac here was coaching it all the time too.
So I was sitting in section 13, right?
You know, it's one of the corners, right?
So I'm sitting there all day pretty much by myself.
Bristol Central walks in and you walk in and sit like literally two rows in front of me.
You stay fine.
You remember how many pictures you took?

(16:19):
Like a hundred.
Yeah.
It was, it was kind of annoying.
I couldn't see anything.
So.
And you also always gave him credit for not saying no to anybody.
Yeah.
Like at some point, like Barry actually got up in satin.
I was like, I don't know who you were sitting with, but might have been.
Huh?
I think it was Victor.

(16:40):
Yeah.
Somebody got up and gave him like the cutthroat sign, like told everybody's like, get out
of line.
Like, you know, it was actually kind of cool.
But anyway, how can you tell us about your recruitment?
Like we kind of all followed it and there was five schools.
How do you narrow it down to five?
How many actually contacted you?
Was it a hundred?
And how do you ultimately decide?

(17:01):
Is it just the loyalty thing you want to be close to home?
Yeah.
I mean, I probably had, I think it was somewhere between like 20 or 30 offers.
And you know, there's a lot of schools calling me every day, a couple times a week.
You know, but like, you ignore some of the calls sometimes.
If I was like able to answer, I'd answer.

(17:24):
You know, but it was, it was hard.
It was stressful because I was still in high school.
I was still, you know, still playing basketball stuff.
So, you know, I was still busy, but you know, the recruitment process, you know, I went
to Yukon a lot.
You know, I was up there watching practices, you know, on official visits once, twice a
week, like just try to get as much as I can.

(17:44):
You know, every time I stepped on campus, it felt like home.
And you know, it was just, you know, I could just always see myself in there.
There was a, you know, obviously I liked Michigan, Ohio State.
I saw the picture.
They took a picture with the uniform on?
Where, Michigan?
Yeah.
Yeah, I went to Michigan for a...
Yeah, I went to the most bombarded myself.
I went to Michigan, Ohio State, Syracuse and Yukon for official visits.

(18:09):
And, you know, really just, I went to Ohio State and Syracuse, then Michigan.
And then I ended with Yukon.
And, you know, after all those visits, it was like, you know, I really feel at home
at Yukon.
You know, I feel safe.
Like it's just the place I want to be.
So, you know, that's something that really stood out to...
So, did you want to have...

(18:29):
I know you did it early in your senior year.
Is that something you wanted to do, or you just...
Yeah, I wanted to play my senior year just be able to, you know, just play basketball
and not have to worry about where I want to do the next year and just focus on, you know,
what I have to do right now.
So how close was Eastern Connecticut to making your top five?
They never called me.
Oh, England J not doing his job.

(18:50):
Hey, you recruited at the level you play at, so we had no shot.
Hey, was Q's the first offer?
Q's was, yes.
And I remember that.
But if I got to spend my time at the Word Center, is that what it's called?
Yes.
You know, you feel like home pretty easily, right?

(19:11):
You take that kind of facility and availability to what you have there for granted, or like,
is it just so cool to like swipe your thing and go in and shoot or eat or whatever?
We talk about it in a car?
Yeah.
The practice facility?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's unreal.
You know, we've practiced at a couple NBA practice facilities and, you know, we've got,

(19:31):
you know, the best of the best, you know, something...
We've got our practice facilities better than some of the NBA guys, you know what I mean?
So every day I get to go upstairs and I get to, you know, it's what I want for breakfast.
There's a chef there and I get to, you know, go eat and then I go downstairs.
You got the training room to, you know, just get yourself ready for practice.
And then, you know, we got like 25 to 35 student managers who are there all day long who can

(19:54):
rebound for us.
You know, every, you know, we got the shooting guns that can rebound for you.
You want to come get late shots at night.
You got 24, our key cards have 24-hour access.
You know, we're very, very blessed and, you know, it's a great opportunity.
We're very, very thankful.
That's awesome to hear because I've been in it a few times and I'm like, whoa, like

(20:15):
this is not the field house.
Remember Matthew Geary, right?
Yeah.
You know what I'm telling you?
Matt, who was a walk on there, he would tell us all, he brought us on a few tours and
told us exactly the stuff that you said, three catered meals and...
Yeah.
Well, we just got a chef.
They just built a brand new kitchen.
So we got three chefs who...
You know, Roderick...
Well, Audrey's done for you.
We got the same problem at Eastern.
That's how pop-darts are.

(20:36):
Yeah, peanut butter and jelly 24 hours a day.
Hey, yo, I never realized the manager's played against other teams.
No, we don't.
Oh, you don't?
No.
I was going to ask you if Bristol's own Dom Amaro lights it up in those games.
Why don't you?
I don't...
So two years ago, I guess the manager beat another team and we ended up...

(20:57):
The team actually lost.
So I think coach shut it down.
That's right.
I'm not sure the true story.
That's a good segue into your coach.
Obviously, we see what we see on TV, the intensity and the passion.
Tell us a little bit about what drew you to coach Hurley and what's he like a little

(21:19):
bit at practice and off the court for you?
Yeah, I mean, you know, he puts on a show, you know, but he's, you know, something that
really drew me to coach Hurley is how badly he wants to win and, you know, he's not there
for himself.
He's there to, you know, push you to make you the best version of you and try to push
you to that next level.

(21:39):
I'll never talk about the NBA and getting you to the NBA.
Like, obviously, you know, we're recruiting you.
That's the ultimate goal is trying to get to that level.
But, you know, when you're here at school, he's worried about winning.
He's worried about, you know, developing.
You as a player and just trying to, you know, turn you into a man.
You know, he's the most intense coach in college basketball.

(22:00):
There's no team in the country that practices like us.
And I promise you that, you know, day before game, we're going two hours and 45 minutes.
I promise you, there's no other team doing that.
You know, that's why, you know, you see some of these guys on the team were playing 39,
40 minutes and look like they could go play another 40, you know, so it's just.
Do you usually say two hours and 45 minutes a day before game?

(22:21):
Two hours and 15 minutes, 230.
I love it.
And yeah, I mean, it's just, it's the level that, you know, he pushes us to, you know,
we'll never get tired in the game.
And, you know, that's just something he emphasizes.
You know, I want the practices to be harder than the games, you know, so, you know, I
love Coach Hurley.
He's, you know, supports me on and off the court every way possible.

(22:43):
He'll never, he'll never take it easy on me in the court.
And, you know, I could have 40 points and then I promise you the next day I'll go in
there and there's something I did wrong.
You know, but that's just the coach you want, you know, he's just trying to push you to
be the best version of yourself.
And, you know, you look at a great example is like Jordan Hawkins, his freshman year
to sophomore year.
I mean, he was.
Good point.

(23:03):
He was, you know, he struggled his freshman year a lot, beginning his sophomore year,
got hurt with the concussion last year.
And then, you know, coach really got on him when he started to come back and, you know,
look where he is now.
What you're singing that Taylor Swift song, are you worried that Hurley is going to come
over and strangle you?
I mean, the guy is nuts.
Is he not?
I don't know about nuts.

(23:23):
He's just so intense, you know, but, you know, one thing that really stood out to me and
they are what's one thing I really love about Hurley is, you know, in practice, don't get
me wrong.
He'll let you know where you mess up and he'll get, he'll get on your ass and just, you know,
just try to, you know, push you to be the best version.
You know, you got to practice well every day, you know, but one thing about the games is

(23:43):
he'll never, he'll never turn his back on you and never yell at you.
You know, I could go out there and go 0 for 12 and, you know, he'll tell me to go out
there and keep shooting.
So, you know, he'll never yell at you for messing up.
Obviously, he'll yell at the group, you know, if we're playing like yesterday, second half,
you know, we're not playing the great start to half and, you know, he's yelling at us
as a team, but he'll never look at you in the vision and be like, yo, what are you doing?
You need to step your, you know, step your game up right now.

(24:05):
This is, this is not who you are.
You know, he'll always be pushing you to motivate you and try to, try to just, you know, get
you back on track.
That's interesting, man, because I've never seen him light one guy up.
No.
He's cool.
You know, it's funny too, because a couple of years ago, people wanted to run him out
of town if you remember, you know, now you can't imagine, you know, someone replacing,
you know, a legend like Calhoun and Holly, but, you know, just he's been a perfect fit

(24:28):
for this program.
Well, he's embraced coach Calhoun and vice versa, right?
Oh yeah.
One more thing before we get onto the coaches that, and boy, are you in a blessed situation?
You obviously know it.
In two hours and 45 minutes, I got it down to, you could probably set 16, 1700 screens
how many shots do you get to take during that?

(24:48):
Like four?
I mean, Jesus, coach, can we get you involved?
Anyway, no, sorry, not glazing.
So coach Calhoun, is he walking to practice on a regular or what?
I mean, I'd say we've probably seen once every two weeks, once every, you know, twice every
two, three, two, three weeks.
You being from Connecticut, you understand him, but do the rest of the guys understand

(25:09):
it?
This guy's like the best builder of a college basketball program in history?
Yeah, I think they do.
I mean, coach Calhoun comes in, he'll give us a message and I think it really wakes
people up and realize, yo, this dude's a boss.
That's cool.
This dude started us.
He ran the show and coach Charlie's just taken over.
How about coach Charlie's father?

(25:29):
Coach Charlie's father, one thing about coach Charlie's father, he actually watches every
single practice and he watches every single game of ours on film.
Jesus.
He probably gets to Arizona a little bit.
He watches all coach Charlie's game and his brother's game.
He watches all practices and just lets coaches know he's great to us.
What a drunky.
He's out with all the home games.

(25:52):
He's anything, foul shots with me.
Obviously, I'm struggling, but he's always trying to give me little tips to help me with
my foul shooting and he's coach got a great family.
I mean, he's a Syracuse fan.
I want you to know that right off the bat.
We're not on the same conference anymore.
We're on the same platform.

(26:16):
What a perfect situation to programs in with you being the centerpiece of it and a local
guy because when it was built and we got the Christmas and the Scoperels and Steve
Peicolm and now the local guys from Torrey Williams.
Yeah.
Chris Smith was the first guy.
Right.
He was the first one.
He was still around.
But, well, round.
Sorry.

(26:36):
Love him enough.
The Prada Colby Cathedral.
But like, I never thought the program could ever be better than it was.
And I'm not saying it is because of one Natty, but like, we're a brand and like, it only
was a wave.
It went away for a minute, but like, is it better than it was?

(26:58):
I mean, like, I don't want to hear this Kansas and this other crap like it's you.
Right.
The best program in the country.
It is like, they've won five national titles in 25 years.
And people talk about Duke and Carolina and stuff.
That's terrific.
Toosh, Shmoak.
Like win, like win the title, dude.
You know,
Do you notice?
Doug Fouke.
Donovan, do you notice like now the intensity of teams, how they approach you?

(27:20):
Because you guys are now the, got the bullseye in your back, right?
Do you notice that when you walk in?
Yeah, we're going to get every single team's best shot.
You know, you see that every single game.
You know, we'll go, when we go play out there, you know, obviously not yesterday against Georgetown,
but you know, we go play at, you know, a wager and we're going to get sold out crowd
every single time.
We're going to get, you know, the best, the most, you know, the hate we could get.

(27:46):
They're loud, you know, some fans, some places are brutal.
Does that fire you up more?
Yeah, it gets us, you know, especially, you know, we got some kids who are, who love just
going against, you know, the fans and, you know, this team special.
We know that, you know, we have to stick together on the road and, you know, we know we're going
to get the best shot from everyone.
I was laughing my ass off last year when you were giving the Gator Trump back today.

(28:08):
Yeah, a little bit of a shit talker out there.
We'll try.
A little bit.
If I hear something, I mean, those fans for the last year, our warmups were brutal.
We got brutalized for 90, 90 minutes.
So you know, after we, you know, after we did what we did, I had to, had to give it back.
I saw Cam, I can say, Johns gave them the, get them.
Get it again.

(28:29):
Hey, which fans are the worst?
I haven't guessed which fans are the worst.
I actually loved the one thing.
Me too.
He's saying the best in the way.
One thing I'll say is, you know, not in the big East, but, but Kansas fans are the most
respectful fans.
You know, they, they go there, they chant, they cheer for their team.
You know, they're not out there trying to hate on, hate on, you know, the other, the

(28:50):
other team, you know, they're there, cheered for their team, trying to, trying to support
their team.
And that's one thing I respected.
Although loud, I have never played in a gym like that.
I will never play in a gym like that.
You know, I was running around the court and my ears were ringing.
I was sitting there, I'm next to my teammate and all I just, just, just see lips moving,
can't hear a thing.
And it's just like, all right boys, we just, let's go, let's go do this.

(29:13):
I mean, it was unreal in there.
Donovan McCabe, little leagues own and Holy Cross his own capital security show, Mariello.
He went to that game to support you and the boys.
Did you have bad seats like everyone else?
Bad seats like everyone else?
I was in, I was in tours behind your dad.
I was in tours behind.
I was in the family section and shout out to Andre Johnson for, for helping me get out

(29:34):
there and get those seats.
My, the tickets I bought were better seats than the ones that the family said.
And so I should have kept my original seats, but most intense place I've ever been going
to a lot of games, a lot of big East tournament games.
Those are the national championship game in 99.
Unbelievable crowd.
And I'm glad to hear you say that because I thought they were respectful, knowledgeable,
but it was so loud and intense there.
I was kind of curious, what, how did coach early, did he prepare you guys for what it

(29:58):
was going to be like?
What did you say during the first time out?
Um, I, it's hard to remember.
It was loud.
I couldn't even hear the timeouts.
It was, you know, yes coach, but we, we, we kind of came up with a couple of hand signals
just trying to get a plays in, but you know, really it was, it was just going to be a man's
game.
We had to go out there and you know, I just fortunately, you know, I was unhealthy.

(30:20):
I heard my, I actually heard my left foot, that game and you know, Cam actually heard
his toe that game.
So it was just a battle and it was a tough atmosphere and you know, it was, it was a
great game.
You know, they're a great team and you know, it's, I got a hand signal for Dickinson.
I like to give it to him.
Who are the worst fans, Donovan?
Who are the toughest, the worst fans?

(30:40):
I got to guess.
I'm going to say Providence having been there before the pretty nasty.
Providence.
Providence was the one thing last, last, yeah.
Providence last year was bad.
But one, you know, one slept on crowd last year was at Xavier last year.
They were brutal.
Um, creating, seeing Hall, seeing Hall, they heckled us bad.

(31:02):
You know, um, basically every road game is tough.
That's brutal.
Yeah.
Let me see.
Not going to get any better, body.
Uh, Donovan, just one more question about last year, like we went into the tournament
and you know, Iona was a little bit of struggle in the first half.
But you guys expect to just take off those next four or five games because the margin

(31:24):
of victory in anger, Jay, you're really good at stuff like this might have been the most
or second most, uh, point differential throughout a, uh, an NCAA tournament in the history of
the game.
Did you guys see something building or was it just like that perfect storm or everything
clicked?
Yeah.
I mean, I think it was our defensive intensity.
Um, you know, every day in practice, you know, coach was kind on practices just because

(31:47):
like, you know, we're rolling, we're playing so well.
And you know, we were just practicing to keep things sharp and keep things tight, like just
make sure everything's on point.
But dude, our defense was something that, you know, not too many teams go out there and
beat Gonzaga by 30 and the, and you know, the lead eight, um, you know, so, you know,
it was just, and you could tell by the energy, we don't have to be lost to, um, Marquette.

(32:09):
You know, it was, it was, it was, it was no one sad or mad.
It was just like a, it was like, all right, let's go.
Move on next day.
We're going to win this national championship.
You know, that's the biggest of the biggest of the, you know, the year.
And, um, you know, it was, you know, I give a lot of credit to Andre Jackson.
You know, he's, he's motivated every single person on that team.
One, one of anyone realizes, um, you know, that's, that's the true definition of a leader.

(32:34):
Um, you know, I'll never play for a leader like I did for Jack.
That came across too on the, on the sidelines, on the floor, but I also got to give you credit
when you were, when you were hurt or in foul trouble.
You're always up on that bench and you are very, very invested on your teammates as well.
So if you picked up anything from him, that definitely was Andre.
What last night was at the Marquette St. John's game.

(32:55):
I'm like, what the hell is he doing there?
And then I remember Deline is to Johnny's.
Obviously plays in Milwaukee, right?
So that's, that's an easy one.
He actually called me right after the game.
That's cool.
Yeah.
He's a missed that kid.
What, what, what did he do?
Was it what he said by his actions?
What, what, how was he leaving you guys?
Yeah, I mean, you know, like if, if you're, you know, messing around in practice, you're

(33:18):
not doing it.
Andre, getting your face, he's in yell at you.
But, you know, sometimes by being a leader, it's, it's by how you play and how hard you
play and you're the way you carry yourself on the floor.
You know, Andre carried himself on the floor differently than anyone I've ever seen.
He brought his A game and he brought everything he had to practice every single day and that
intensity, like him and Coach Earl, he's the butt heads.

(33:40):
They used to, you know, team up and just try to go at everyone, like, like in a way like
you're trying to motivate everyone.
You know, Dom was the same way, but Dom was a different type of leader.
He just, you know, he led by dominating every single day.
You know, Dom gave me 50 points in practice every single day.
He make your jump.
No problem.
Just any way he wanted to score every single day.

(34:02):
You know, if Jackson, if Jackson was just a little better on athlete, you guys would
have been all set.
I've been telling you guys this, like, and Dom just said it like you kinds defense.
Yeah, like legit.
I remember like it's fun watching them guard.
Like we talk about you kind of all the time, like guard national title compared to a state
title.

(34:23):
Is there any, oh my God, like I bring a state title to Bristol.
What was a big deal here?
The national title is at any comparison.
Yeah.
I mean, that was, did you guys go to sleep afterwards or no?
You dream of that stuff.
You know, we got back from the game back to hotel.
It was 12 o'clock in the morning, I think.

(34:43):
And I was like, all right, it's the morning.
Let's go.
Time to get going.
I mean, like, I think I was supposed to be on CBS, the Good Morning show at 6.30 in the
morning and I ended up falling asleep at 5.50 and I woke up at like 6.45.
I'm like, looking around, I'm like, oh, damn, I missed it.
But, you know, it was those two days, I think I slept for a total of like, it was like three

(35:08):
hours.
I didn't sleep on the plane, you know, but that was, I planted in front of 75,000 people.
It was unreal, unreal.
And, you know, just like that whole experience from the police escort, it's like, we're driving
down Houston Highway and there's four lanes of bumper to bumper traffic, cars not moving.

(35:28):
And it's just, we have 50 motorcycles we registered and clear out of the lane down
the middle of the highway and we're going 70.
You might buy everyone.
It's just unreal.
There's a whole state, like, I mean, we don't have a professional support team, like a whole
state cares about you, yeah.
So we got back.
So we, we actually took the, the Patriots plane.
We flew back in, we landed in Bradley.

(35:49):
The airport was packed, people right outside the fence and then we're driving down.
I think we went, we went 84 all the way up to God of Exes 68.
And when we got off.
Right there, right?
It's actually 68 right to the left.
It's like the only business there, right?
There's a subway and there's like a restaurant.
I drive there every day.

(36:10):
I take it right.
Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, but like you found probably like exit 64, 63, people lined up on the side of the
highway just cheering the whole way down.
We get off the exit and we probably went from there, you know, like it's like 15 minutes
from the exit to school.

(36:31):
We probably went 10 miles per hour from the exit all the way back to school and it was
one lane and people were just in there just going crazy.
Why not?
And it was, it was something I'll never forget.
It was, it was an unreal experience.
You know what?
Then we're going to do it again this year.
Yes.
Yes.
Try our best.
Yeah.
Let's fast forward to this year's team.

(36:51):
Cam Spencer.
We are huge Yukon fans and huge Rutgers fans obviously because of the Steve Pico allegiance.
Did you know what you were getting with him?
Obviously, everybody knows he can shoot.
He's shown he could put the ball on the deck, but I'm talking like the mental and physical
toughness that he brings.
Yeah.
Anyway, that we can see at the TV screen.

(37:13):
Yeah.
Tell me about practice with him and games and what he's like in the huddles and locker
room.
I mean, that guy has a chance to go.
Well, is it like 50, 40, 90 or something like that?
I mean, he's shooting 50% from the field, 40% from three, almost 90% from the foul line.
I mean, that's impressive, but he's like if you want to see someone who hates losing,

(37:35):
like that is like definition of the kid.
He hit me culturally on the perfect match.
You know, what you see on the game floor is what you see in practice.
I mean, it'll be a live segment practice.
We're down 18 to 16 and Cam hit a three and he's going to go pump the crowd like exactly

(37:55):
like he's pumped the crowd, he's throw something off the wall, he's a kicker ball across
Campbell.
He's going to, but when he misses a shot, you know about it too.
You know, we'll go through shooting drills and he'll miss two shots in a row and like
you don't even have to watch him.
You know, he missed two shots in a row.
He'll let you know, he'll let the whole gym know.
But he is such a competitor.

(38:16):
You know, he just wants to win so bad and he's always willing to make the right plays.
I mean, there's games like yesterday.
I don't even know how many shots he took, but you know, he had what five, six assists
he had, you know, rebounds.
He was just moving the ball, played great defense and that's just one thing about him
is, you know, his night, if he's got to go out there and get 25 on seven threes, he's
going to do it.
Or if he has to take three shots of the whole game, you know, he'll, he's okay with that.

(38:39):
You know, he just wants to win.
He's willing to do whatever it takes their team to win.
And you know, I'll continue to say is he's the best transfer in the portal last year.
I think we agree.
So when Jackson steps out and he steps in, what a, what a frickin, yeah, I mean that's
that was the biggest thing.
You know, Andre, Andre had that fire in him.
And you know, that was one thing that we had to look for this year and definitely getting
cam was, was a big pickup for us.

(39:00):
You still live with Alex or did I know you did last year?
Yeah.
What's, he's so important to that team.
Can you talk a little bit about his personality, how you guys get along?
How you, what's it like living together?
Yeah.
I mean, he's a, he's quite kid, but you know, he, he loves basketball.
You know, that's all he thinks about.
It's all he watches.
That's all he does.
He's either playing video games, playing 2k.
He's either watching the Celtics or watching another big East game or he's at the gym

(39:22):
shooting.
I mean, he just does basketball, basketball, basketball and you know, he's the smartest,
probably one of the smartest players in the country.
He always knows what to do on the floor.
He's always, he always knows what position he's supposed to be in.
You know, he knows every single one of our plays, one through five, you know, he'll know
every position, everywhere he's supposed to be.
You know, he's just, he's, he's a big time.

(39:45):
You know, he's just very, very smart.
So besides the addition of like Cam and Castle, what makes this team different from, from
Lashley's team and how do you compare where you are at this point in the season to where
you were last year?
I mean, you know, Steph is, Steph's the best freshman in the country and there's no, there's
no freshmen out there who are, you know, doing what he's doing while, you know, their team

(40:07):
is winning like we are.
Um, you know, Steph is, you know, six, six, six, seven, 215 pounds and you know, it's
all muscle.
Um, you know, he could guard the ball and he guard one through five, you know, we saw
him at Soriano, we, when me and Samson were in file trouble, he had to go in there and
you know, guard Soriano for a little bit, but you know, he's, he's changed, you know,

(40:28):
this aspect of the team, the way he's been playing on offense recently.
Um, you know, 21, 2017, I think in the past three out of four games and you know, he's,
he's shooting the ball at a high level with past four games and, um, you know, if he continues
to get better and you're not going to get complacent, you know, that's just one thing
is, you know, we can't get complacent and you know, this team is going to be very, very
special.

(40:48):
Hey, we talked a lot about, uh, defense wins championships and you got your guys, D did.
Um, well actually our defense did everybody here, but the Don father, who's a Syracuse
fan, we got a lot of Yukon alums in the house here.
Um, we consider ourselves, uh, on the team.
Yeah, we're on it.
Let's go.
But you're, uh, the Huskies offense.

(41:09):
Yeah.
Like when you watch a lot as much high school as we do, and it's just, it's tough.
It's like, you know, monkeys humping a football sometimes with like the sets and the bad execution
of sets and whatnot.
You guys just seem so smooth running offense, like almost like to a Princeton level back

(41:32):
in the, what do you call it?
Days?
What's that dude's name?
P girl.
Yeah.
So much time is spent on the, the little things at, even at your guys level, such as how to
use screens and like, do you do like three or four or five on zeros?
Just run offense with no defense.
Oh yeah.

(41:52):
Can you just talk a little bit about, we probably do like a total between like going
on three on, oh four and oh five on, oh I'd say probably a total of 45 minutes to an hour
every practice, every practice.
High school coaches take note guys.
I mean, I was, I was, I was actually, that was the last thing this morning I was looking
at on my phone of, you know, where all our film is and we have like a breakdown of every

(42:13):
single play we have.
It was like 131 plays we have and I could tell you where I'm supposed to be on every single
play.
That was my question.
I was going to ask you, you have that many sets and stuff?
It's just like, but you know.
They're not called though, right?
You just, it's based on what the defense is telling you what to do?
No, yeah.
And no, it's like, it sets, every, every one has a different name.
Yeah.
I said, we got like 50 minutes.

(42:34):
There's just, well.
Yeah.
It's like, it's just because like sometimes, you know, differences play you switch one
through four.
They may only switch on certain guys like shooters.
They may only switch, you know, triple handoffs.
They may not switch daggers.
They might switch, you know, there's all these different types of things and, you know, there's
got to be, you know, when they're switching, when are you slipping screens?

(42:55):
Where are you fading?
When are you slipping and stepping to the wall?
When are you butt cutting and trying to back door?
You know, it's just like all these different things.
And, you know, coach, coach early and coach Luke, you know, that's all props to them.
Those two on, you know, and with the X's and O's, it's impressive.
I want to ask you one more thing about, so as far as like games, like, like yesterday,

(43:15):
like, yeah, scouting reports, they're, they're like book reports.
We, we're just division three and ours is like a book report.
So is it, you guys are getting clips of what George down does and you whoever, you know.
Yeah.
So what we do is we'll, we'll watch, we'll have a breakdown of a sheet and it's every
single player is on there.

(43:36):
What they do well, how to stop them and all their percentages from the whole year.
Yeah, we got to see.
So we'll go do, we'll go do every player.
We'll probably show like five or six clips of what they do.
And we probably watch like on the team, it's probably like 30, 40, 30 minutes before each
practice we'll watch of, you know, scout.
And then, you know, it's, it's after you watch individuals, it's a couple categories of how

(43:58):
to stop them, what to do.
So like, you know, one thing that we were emphasizing at Georgetown was attack the rebounding
wars, stopping styles, stopping cook and stopping Wayne Bristol, you know, those are three offensive
rebounders.
So, you know, it was a category of just watching offensive rebound.
Um, you know, like we, we are very bus, you know, coach, he's a great coach.
Oh, you know, he gets all the respect, like all credit, you know, great coach, but you

(44:21):
know, we got three, three assistant coaches or all head coaches.
Um, you know, Luke Murray is one of, if not the smartest, you know, assistant coach
when it comes to X's and O's, you know, he knows everything.
Like, like it's something I've seen in Kamani is also, you know, a high level assistant
coach.
If not, you know, he should be a head coach, so I'm high major program.
Um, and you know, in Tom war already was a head coach, you know, so, you know, we have

(44:46):
a coaching staff, you know, we have the best coaching staff in the country.
Donovan, did you ever see that YouTube clip of Coach early in his brother?
I think they were at Buffalo at the time.
Wagner Wagner.
Wagner Wagner and Luke Murray's behind them just cracking up because the two of them
were just fighting demon and official so bad.
I saw that.

(45:07):
I remember that.
They're, it's that early family man there.
It's special.
I love him.
Yeah.
I have a quick thought.
Um, it's obvious to everyone that you guys have not had the I've arrived syndrome.
You guys are playing as hard now as you have ever have having won the national championship
last year, um, you know, does that give you an advantage that you've experienced the high

(45:27):
pressure playing for the 70,000 people?
And how have you guys really sort of maintained that, uh, that hunger to win again?
Because I mean, there's a reason that never happens at the Florida's the only team to
ever repeat.
I'm not putting that expectation on you guys, but, um, you know, it seems like you really
have to mentally overcome that idea.
And what do you guys do?
And what are the coaches saying about that?

(45:47):
Yeah, I mean, you know, playing for the 75,000 people definitely helps us, you know, in the
environment world and, you know, going to play at arenas that are, you know, crazy, but,
you know, coach early, what makes us like, not that makes us, but he, you know, instills
in us like, you know, to be hungry and we can't, we can't be happy with, you know, where
we've gotten to and, you know, we can't get bored of winning.

(46:10):
Um, you know, it's easy to, you know, human nature, just, you know, the way he always says
is let your guard down and, you know, you can't let your guard down, you know, obviously,
you know, we got a big part of the schedule coming up.
Um, you know, obviously got trapped, not a trap game, but, you know, at the pool and,
you know, Wednesday night.
Um, and then after that, you got Marquette, you know, so, um, you know, we just can't

(46:34):
let our guard down and we got to, you know, stay hungry.
You know, one thing that, you know, me, Alex, Haas, um, Tristan, Samson, all those returning
guys from last year, we could like, you know, we're trying to just, you know, win it for
these young guys, win it for these transfers.
You know, Cam wants to win one, you know, that kid, that kid wants to win badly.
You know, we're trying to win it for him.
And, you know, he, you know, he's last year at college, you know, it's his last chance.

(46:57):
Um, you know, obviously he has an opportunity to go play at the next level, you know, without
Willie's playing and, um, you know, but just to, just stay hungry and, you know, it's,
it's a great, it's a great feeling.
I promise, you know, I tell all these guys, I promise you, you know, if you give everything
you got, it's going to pay off.
And, you know, you'll have a great, April will be the best month of your life.
Um, you know, and not to be Debbie Downer, but obviously the, the, the odds never favors

(47:24):
anyone winning this tournament because it's so freaking crazy, but you guys are getting
fastball after fastball after fastball, like from these opponents, man, there's, you know,
teams would, would like to knock you guys off and then get blown out the next game because
they beat them, you know, the Natties, but, um, um, the big East tournament, can you speak

(47:45):
about like what that kind of experience is?
It's that it's in the garden again, right?
Is that right?
Yeah.
Always, always.
Well, well, we weren't into it.
So we didn't.
Yeah, we weren't in the big East.
Yeah.
So like when we were in that other, what was the stupid conference?
Yeah.
Like we grew up, grew up going to that thing.
Like as kids, adults, and then, you know, there's nothing like the final, the garden

(48:06):
on the side.
I promise you, it's crazy to semi-nights crazy.
This year's biggest tournament is going to be a legit war.
It's going to be every single game is going to be, you know, decided by one possession
and, um, you know, it's just the way these teams are playing at the level and how tough
and physical this league is.
I mean, you go watch these other games.
There's a lot of fouls called there.
Hey, you can go tackle someone in the big East.

(48:27):
You ain't getting called.
I mean, like it's, it's a war.
So you know, I, sorry, I know that.
I mean, that was, it was that, that, that, that atmosphere is going to be unreal.
It's going to be loud in there.
Um, you know, in the battles that are going to be on the court is just, you know, I'm,
I can't wait to big East is back.
I mean, we grew up big East in the 1980s.

(48:48):
Well, before you were born in, uh, you know, the Georgetown Syracuse and St.
John's stuff was unbelievable.
Um, I want to just want to pivot a little bit off the court.
If you can talk about this and the ever changing landscape of college sports and college basketball
in particular, can you talk at all about like the NIL stuff?
Is it time consuming for you?
Do you have people that help you with that kind of thing?

(49:09):
And if you can expand upon that a little bit.
Yeah.
I have an agent and people who help me out a lot and take a lot of the time consuming
part off my hands.
Um, you know, but it is time consuming.
It can be, especially if you're playing at a high level game, high level deals that require
a lot of work.
Um, you know, like just, you know, the photo shoots, the production time, recording videos,

(49:33):
trying to, you know, the easiest thing is, you know, posting on social media and putting
up content like that.
But you know, you got to find time to record all of that.
You got to find time to, you know, get the shoots done.
Sometimes you got to travel.
Um, you know, but, you know, it's really changed the game and it's, it's, it's making it hard
for, you know, coaching and, you know, recruiting.
Um, you know, coach early has done a great job.

(49:55):
You know, obviously, you know, helping us with NIL, but you know, he's, you know, he
shows the money, you know, the money will be there one day.
You know, you don't have to make all your money right now in college.
If you work to make it to the next level and make it to the highest level, you'll make,
you know, 10 times the money you're making right now in college.
So, um, you know, the NIL is, you know, it's, it's a great thing.
Don't get me wrong.

(50:15):
Um, you know, I love it, but you know, it's, it's, it's, it can get difficult at times.
You know, it's, you know, sometimes, you know, you get back from a road trip, you have a
off day next day and you know, your off days on off days, you know, those are the work days.
So those are, those are your off days are going to be the days you go and you try to
take as much NIL stuff you can take care of.
I appreciate, appreciate your honesty with that question because, uh, it's been a little,

(50:37):
uh, not a boner contention, but just something we were curious about here.
And how it's changed the game a little bit.
It's changed the whole landscape.
I drive to the Eastern every day and I, I passed a couple of billboards where you're
pointing at me.
So I know what it is.
Ion basketball uniform, right?
That's what it is.
Yeah.
So let me ask you something.

(50:58):
So I know you're concentrating on the end of the season.
Is there, there's a big decision coming up about as far as do you enter, do you not,
do you wait, is there something can you talk about something that you thought about at
all?
I mean, I discuss it with coach Hurley and the staff or anything.
Never, never.
I mean, obviously, you know, everyone has dreams to go to the NBA.

(51:20):
I did too.
I didn't work out for it.
You know, we all, we all have dreams of going to the NBA.
Um, you know, but that's, that's, you know, we all really worry about what you, where
you are in the moment.
Um, you know, we're trying to compete for, um, you know, you coach Hurley wants to know
you go win games, you go with him, championship, you're going to put yourself in a better position

(51:41):
to go play in the NBA.
You know, think about some of us who were here last year and say we go win a note like
I got what, you know, we're going to do everything that we can to go, you know, try and win a
national championship.
But you know, that puts us in the way better spot.
We would be in, you know, win two national championships or, you know, whatever we do
this year.
Um, you know, so, you know, I really don't think about the NBA.

(52:01):
Um, you know, I'm really just thinking about what I could do today, what can I do tomorrow
to get better and try to help my team and, you know, try to go on and just swing games
because that will, you know, winning games will help my future.
That's a great answer and great advice from Coach Hurley because you got to think Hawkins
and Jackson that run that three week run they had just elevated their status nationally

(52:24):
with the scouts and the experts.
So wonderful answer.
And we agree with that.
If you win, you're going to get noticed right at Yukon.
Yeah, and I played with, you know, obviously I played with Dahma, I played with Hawkins,
sorry, and Dre, but, you know, they're, they're three, you know, I talked to them all the
time, you know, like I said, I was on the phone with Dre yesterday and, you know, he
misses, misses college.

(52:45):
You know, I think it was, you know, we tried to, everyone was really trying to push him
to go to the NBA.
He really wanted to stay, but we were pushing him because, you know, we knew it was best
for him and, you know, it was his time, but, you know, Hawkins was at the Xavier game at
the Excel Center and, you know, he came to locker room and he's like, yo, I missed this.
You know, like NBA's flying, the money's nice, but, you know, this is like a team.
This is like, you know, you're competing with everything you've got and there's everyone

(53:08):
who's on the same level and mentally and just trying to win everything.
Other than Yukon Dahma, who's the best college team you've either played against or seen
on TV this year?
This year?
Yeah, this year.
I mean, Kansas, Kansas was, they're tough, you know, Creighton.

(53:30):
Creighton's a very good team.
They got three NBA players on that team.
You know, it's, it's, we played, we played a very, very tough schedule this year.
Thank you.
That's awesome though.
You're supposed to.
Oh yeah.
You want to know why?
Because you're Yukon, right?
I know.
I know.
Man.
We could do this forever.

(53:52):
Yeah, so I want to talk about, I don't know if there's still like, if it's still the thing
it was, but when, before you were probably born, Yukon was on the way up and we had this
thing called The Horde.
It was all the journalists.
Okay.
A member of it.
Right.
Oh, you blew it because I was going to ask if there still is dorky today as they were

(54:13):
back when the, because the commission, this part of the horde.
So, I left it got dorkier.
Yeah.
No, like, in today's day and age where a newspaper print isn't like the thing.
I mean, when we were following Yukon, like any sports, I mean, we had the newspapers
piled up in our houses.
Yeah.

(54:33):
Is the coverage still pretty intense on a daily?
Yeah, it's, you know, you do it after every game.
You do it before every game.
So, and you know, one thing.
Do you have to, do you guys have things you have to do?
Are you cultured on that?
Just a couple of us who are there every single time, you know what I mean?
It's, it's, it's, it's difficult sometimes.

(54:55):
Um, you know, you really have to pay attention when doing media.
Um, you really have to listen to what they're actually asking.
They, some of the people are trying to get you some trap questions and you know, there's
a couple of us who have felt those questions and you know, messed up with their answering,
but like not, it's not in a bad way.
You know, it's just the way they try to, they try to get certain answers out of you.
So you know, one thing I try to do is when someone asks me a question, I, I give it three

(55:18):
seconds and just try to think about, all right, what are they saying?
What answer am I going to say?
Like, you know, they can wait on me cause I'm, I'm trying, they're, you know, they're
asking me the question.
So I'm really trying to think about like, cause you know, you can mess anything up like
less, you know, one answer that's wrong, boom, like, you know, it could be a reputation thing.
You know, it could be something that, you know, the coach staff may not like and, or

(55:40):
you know, just something that, you know, looks bad for yourself.
So you really just kind of think with the media about what you say.
How about, how ironic is it that the center takes three seconds?
You know what I'm saying?
I'm so done with that rule, by the way, because unless you're, you like, why, why, why, why
is it still a rule?
Good officials beg you out of there if you're abusing it.

(56:01):
And like on a high school level, like, camp there, dude, like you, they don't throw it
in there anyway.
Look at this guy.
He said, send a million screens a second here.
Like, can we throw it in there and bead through shoots, threes, man.
Can you get in there when you're back to the basket?
Like in high school, you know, and like, you know, coach girls high school, like they're
calling three seconds.

(56:22):
Why?
Like we got like, I mean, come on, man, get rid of that rule.
I mean, I'm sick of that rule.
And I wanted to ask you, I tried to rope don't want to stalking you, but I did go on your
Instagram during this week.
And even with social media been like, I see, how do you, how do you have to have tough
skin, thick skin?

(56:43):
I'm imagining, cause there's always comments that I'm like, that would drive me insane.
But how do you deal with social media and the negativity?
I mean, Instagram, I throw up my posts and I don't go back.
I usually don't really go back and look at the comments.
You know, I'll just stick to, you know, just go post, I like it.
I'll go, you know, repost.
I repost some things if I have to repost, but you know, it's, you know, Twitter is,

(57:05):
is brutal.
You know, there's a lot of brutal fans out there, but I don't, I don't listen.
I, you know, I laugh at it cause they don't know what I go through every day.
They don't know what any of us go through every day, you know, and the same people that,
you know, if you go win a game, they're going to be your best friend.
But then when you lose the game, they're actually, you know, crap all over you and
just, you know, talk, talk so badly about you.
And it's like, you know, you just supported me when I won, but like now I'm losing and

(57:28):
you're not happy.
So what you're just going to, you'll be mad at me now.
Like you, it's, it's, it's a different world.
It's a different world, you know?
So it's, it's, it's, it's social media has definitely changed the landscape.
Um, you know, and I give, I give a lot of credit to Ken Spencer.
Um, you know, he has zero social media and those know Instagram, no Twitter, no nothing,
no TikTok, nothing and nothing zero, zero.

(57:49):
Oh, he has his, he's different.
That guy's different.
Like he's locked in.
Yeah.
He's locked into the level you never seen.
He ever comment on Rutgers at all?
Yeah.
Yeah.
He loved Rutgers.
I mean, I've said it cause you know, I obviously, I, I talked to Steve, well, being recruited
and he was a good guy and you know, I had nothing against them.
Um, you know, Cam, Cam said, you know, I love the coach, Michael, you know, he was, I

(58:10):
was great, he's very intense and I love that about him.
Um, you know, but he's just, you know, he had me, he could win a Natty here.
Like, yeah.
Go to the winning Natty.
Yeah.
Where do you keep, you don't have to say specifically, but your national championship
bring how often you wear that?
And do you ever wear a fishing?
No, you wouldn't wear a fishing.
I never wore it.
I never wore it.
Yeah.

(58:30):
I've worn it once.
I think, yeah, like the day we got it.
Do you like it or what?
Yeah.
I love it.
It sits right in my room.
Yeah.
Look at it every day.
At school or at home?
School.
I think you got good locks on those doors.
Oh yeah.
Lock them every day.
Damn.
I hope they'll be locked ours in four years.
Lock our doors.
Well, you only went for four years.
For me.
For six years you locked the door.

(58:51):
A couple of us were on a six year plan in towers.
Towers?
I mean, who was better in towers?
Hey, Don, I know you're getting better every day, working hard.
What particular areas of your game are you working on getting a little better at right
now?
It's physical around the rim, working on my quick touch shots and just trying to, you
know, just be consistent.
My foul shots, foul shots have been terrible.

(59:13):
I'm shooting 50% of the line.
It's embarrassing.
Come on, set that up too.
I know, right?
Except for three point line too, I think.
No, three point line.
I'm not worried about that.
I know I can shoot the three well.
You know, one thing coach really emphasizes to us, you have to fall in love with the offense
and everything will come to you.
You know, that's one thing you saw.

(59:33):
I don't know if you watched the first half of the game yesterday.
Every single one of us fell in love with the offense.
We were up by 30 a half time and everyone played a little role.
I got to pass the ball yesterday, it was a lot of fun.
Four assists, I think.
Six.
Six assists, four blocks.
Excuse us.
Six assists, four blocks.
I also play football, by the way.
I'm shooting a thousand from three.
I was diving up.

(59:53):
Yeah, I love passing.
That's one of my favorite parts of my game.
You are a great pass.
Did you get the goggles off?
I don't know what the goggles are.
It was that kind of game that one time though.
Yeah, I love passing.
I'm not sure if I'm going to get the goggles off.
Yeah, I love passing, but really just trying to get a dominant post game and trying to
really just score any way I want in the post.

(01:00:15):
Yeah.
This guy doesn't want three seconds.
That's a stupid rule.
Maybe for high school.
What has it been like having Victor on the football team there too?
I mean, a Bristol kid there doing that.
Yeah, I mean, obviously he's in different position than I am.
He's really trying to help build that program.

(01:00:36):
That's my best friend.
We still hang out all the time.
We still talk every week.
And I'm just watching how he's getting better every day.
I actually went through some injuries,
so it was a hard friend to really get into every game
and stay in the groove.
But talking to him, there's a lot of hopes for this year.
There's a lot of good guys coming in, coaches bringing in

(01:00:58):
a couple new guys on the staff.
I'm really excited to see what he does this year.
Hey, are those Bristol boys' t-shirts still for sale?
I think so.
I'm sure.
We got to pedal those on this thing.
We have six followers, so we're trying to get rid
of at least six of those.
Let's do it.

(01:01:18):
So what do we got?
March 16th for the Big East Final.
Is that right?
Saturday night?
It's 15th or 16th, yeah.
Friday night's a 16th, because the same home was day.
Let's concentrate on the game on Wednesday.
No, no, no, man.
I'm looking for bigger things, man.
You heard them?
That's all the game is about.
Can we just talk, kick it back to high school for a minute,
because I know you have tremendous loyalty

(01:01:39):
to your high school.
Your story, we don't have to get into all that,
because it's been written about in a way or not.
What a class way you handled staying at Bristol Central
and the real reasons why.
But I see you at the fall games, the summer games,
and come back to see coach and the players and stuff like that.

(01:02:00):
A message to the CIC, right?
Those kids right now, it's not a good team.
They're playing a schedule, because you guys were so dominant.
I'm sorry.
Like, what do you know?
No apologies, man.
You had to do what you had to do.
Like, that's why we play high school sports, right?
But like, message to the CIC.

(01:02:21):
That's terrible, right?
Yeah, I mean, it's brutal.
It's brutal.
I mean, these kids, obviously, when my team was special,
we had a special team.
We were 48 straight games.
I mean, and then we lose how many players we lost,
the whole starting five.
And then you come out and give them a harder schedule
than you gave us.
That's unbelievable.
Mikey McMahon is getting in the brunt of it.

(01:02:43):
Yeah.
And executive producer Kevin Ross's son, Harry.
Had a good day yesterday in Northwest Catholic, though.
That's what I heard.
Yeah, it's just a brutal gauntlet of teams and our schedule.
And I think it's really the conference at this point, right?
Isn't the conference given a tier one,

(01:03:03):
they call it schedule?
Let me throw this to Donovan.
We talked about this a couple of podcasts ago.
And I was actually talking to John Marabello, the coach
at Northwest Catholic, about this.
What do you think about, and now it's set, how it finished.
So they're getting the brunt of it now.
What do you think about the Visual 1 tournament going to,
like in February or the beginning of March,

(01:03:25):
when the state tournament is going to start,
ranking almost like the NCAA tournament?
They should.
You think that could work?
Yeah, I mean, you know, honestly, you know, just taking,
like you're saying, like taking the whole state of correct.
Yeah, well, just the Visual 1 teams.
The Visual 1 teams.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like that would be making more competitive
and making more, you know, more of the rights.

(01:03:45):
You know, you get the 1 versus, you possibly get the 1 versus 15
in the final.
You never know, like it could be cool runs
and you could be special teams that you
would make a little history run.
You know, it'll be cool.
So, you know, I think that would be a good idea.
I mean, are you aware, like, so last year,
we had talked about this, West Hill High School went 0-1-20.

(01:04:06):
And they were in the state tournament.
Oh, wow.
And they had to drive across the state to play East Catholic.
Yeah, in the first round.
That's why we were suggesting, like,
it didn't go well for West Hill.
No.
So that doesn't mean we were just,
we were talking about our previous podcast, maybe,
like, ranking the Visual 1 teams, like, Bristol Central.
Like, so they would be, obviously, like, lower and stuff.
Even his year, though, like, that was Division 2, right?

(01:04:28):
Yeah.
So after you're gone, they went to Division 1?
I mean, CIC, wake up.
I mean, they're about to close your doors anyway,
because you make no money.
But, like, and thanks for the $10 ticket
for the state tournament.
That's cool.
That's what you pass.
I used to, I mean, dude, I'm getting, getting porked here.
But, like,
Yeah, you spent, what, $1,000 this year

(01:04:49):
watching your kids play?
No kidding.
Three different venues.
Talk about our games, though.
Oh, I take it so far.
Yeah.
And we don't get extra.
So you gotta pay for extra tickets.
The man is high.
How many of you get?
Four.
OK.
So if I want 90 people out of the game,
I'm paying Gabel Bill.
Four right behind the bench.
$200.
One more bill, boy.
Wow.
Spend that, boy.
Welcome to the tag-on.

(01:05:10):
I see Coach Pham and Coach Beirut behind that bench.
They get their high school ticket.
They get their high school ticket.
High school coach ticket.
Hey, Donovan, what's it like to go into a mall?
I know it just crammed.
Do you like that?
The attention too much?
You know, just everywhere you go,
are people trying to get a piece of your talk to your?
You know, it's cool.

(01:05:32):
I'll never be mad about it.
You know, I think about it the way
if you're known who knows who I am,
then what the hell am I doing?
It's like things aren't going great for you.
But you know, sometimes it's like, you know,
like today is an off day.
I'm not going to want to go around and get harassed.
It was my only off day in three weeks.

(01:05:54):
So, you know, but, you know, at the same time, it's like,
you know, I'm here for the fans.
You know, I have a chance to, you know,
make a little kid's life, you know,
the memory will remember forever.
So it's like, you know, I'm going to take a picture of this kid.
I'm going to, if he wants something signed, whatever,
you know, I'll sign. I have no problem with that.
You know, and, you know, it's just sometimes
it's just one person after another.
Heck, I get a picture. Heck, I get a picture.
Hey, I'll tell you, I'll tell you.

(01:06:15):
Like, it's just like one person after another.
And I'm trying to go do something,
they'll walk around somewhere.
It's like, oh, you come to our podcast.
You want to buy a pair of jeans? What's that like?
I threw a mine.
Most schools are online.
We're going to wrap this up, man.
We appreciate your time.
Angry Jays has got a couple of questions
that we all are going to answer if you wouldn't mind.

(01:06:36):
That's round of Robin.
Yeah, let's go.
All right, we're going to start with football.
I hope you don't mind. So now we'll get the basketball.
Who's going to win today?
Who's going to win? Who do I want to win?
Yeah, give me both.
All right. So I obviously, you know,
I'd like to see the 49ers win,
but it's hard to go against.
Patty Patty's.
That's not the exact opposite.
T-Swift, baby, let's go.

(01:06:56):
Now we're going to start over school.
Who's your other?
We'll start with Donovan.
We'll go Donfather. We'll go that way.
Just one word.
I was going to tell you.
Yeah.
So I hope you know a couple of these guys are.
John Elway, Steve Young.
Who are you taking?
John Elway.
Elway.
Elway.
The lefty.
Young.
We're going Elway too.
We're going Young.
All right.

(01:07:17):
The last older one.
From Connecticut.
Lawrence Taylor, Ray Lewis.
Ray Lewis.
Lawrence Taylor.
LT.
LT all day.
Thysman.
I'm going LT.
LT.
We're just older.
We used to be.
We don't want to run the Ray Lewis.
All right.
This is newer guys.
CJ Stroud, Jordan Love.
Oh, CJ Stroud.
Stroud.
Dog.
Stroud.

(01:07:38):
All day, Stroud.
I'm going Love.
Stroud killed my team.
So no brainer for me.
All right.
This is a tough one.
Joe Burrow, Josh Allen.
Josh.
All right, quickly.
Quickly.
All right.
Josh.
Really?
Josh Allen.
I got to go Burrow because of the get the get, get the get,
get the get.
You know that thing?
I'm going Burrow.

(01:07:58):
He's a big, he's a big.
I'm going Burrow too.
We already played in the big game, right?
Yep.
Allen hasn't gotten there.
All right.
We'll go basketball.
John Stockton.
That's old school for you.
Chris Paul.
Chris Paul.
Whoa.
Stockton.
Chris Paul.
Stockton all day.
Stockton too.
Short shorts.
Yeah.
I have a little more for you.
Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard.

(01:08:21):
Dude.
That's insane.
Kyrie Irving is the best score of all time.
Sorry.
Jesus.
Kyrie's better by his game.
Top three score of all time.
Sorry.
Lillard.
Dame time.
I'm going Lillard because I don't want the headache Irving.
Well, Greedy Rath, his skill level is off the charge.
I would agree with Donovan.

(01:08:42):
If Kyrie was ever invested or he's
one of the best five 10 players of all time.
All right.
So we got, we threw this one out at an earlier podcast.
All these guys, I'm going to give you a second chance.
Anthony Edwards, SGA.
Oh.
Yeah.
This was a tough one.
Like who know what my team, like you say.

(01:09:02):
Whatever you are.
Or the coach going forward.
What do you want, your team?
It's right now it's very hard to go against SGA.
SGA.
I would agree with that.
SGA.
Yeah, I was SGA and then you got me
watching these highlights of this other guy.
I know.
He's almost like a cart, like a space jammed guy.
Jumps to the gym.

(01:09:23):
To the gym.
And can shoot it.
Like I got to go Edwards man.
He's sick.
He's got that little elf one.
It might be him.
I'm taking Edwards.
He might be him.
I'm going to echo Bobby Mack just for the reasons you said it.
As soon as you brought it up a few weeks ago,
I started studying it and watching it a little bit.
He's top five in the game.
He's dunking the ball with his bicep.
I'm not worried about that.
I'm worried about winning.
I know.

(01:09:44):
I'm getting arguments with people all the time now.
And Jason Tatum, you're a Celtic fan.
So Jason Tatum, Luca Danzig.
Who do you want going forward on your team?
So you got to think about it.
I'm sorry.
The Mavericks haven't done well.

(01:10:05):
Like the record's not that.
I don't see them winning every time.
The Celtics, the state's team has won.
I'm a Celtics fan.
I want Luca.
I'll say Tatum.
He's lazy.
I got to go Tatum.
I got lazy.
Again, arguments.
I think Tatum's talented.
He's a lazy.
They have a better chance of winning.
Luca is unbelievable, but I'm going to Tatum.

(01:10:28):
Tatum, yeah.
All right.
I'm shocked.
Can we take Luca's mom?
Is she coming?
Yeah, I mean, yeah.
Luca.
Hi.
Just ask.
Don't get old.
It's simple, right?

(01:10:49):
Trying to be honest, they universally
support Divine.
Why do they always compete?
What do you guys think?
Really?
Well, it was pretty quickly because Anastasiq
first started off as, would she?
He might have to release his feet up of that ball
and hit the ball in.
So his stats are always going to look a little better.
I didn't expect Halbert to be this good, but he is.

(01:11:11):
So yeah, I'm going with him.
I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit.
Morant or Zion going forward?
Who do you mind?
I'm thinking John Morant.
Speaking about getting gas.
I'm taking neither, but I'll take John.
I'll take John as well.
I will never take John anything based
on his stupidity and his father.
So put him up against anyone.
I'll take the white mamba over him.

(01:11:33):
What scale of a person?
I'm pretty sure Zion is not my mamba, but I'll take Zion too.
No, I'm saying I'll take anybody over.
Bless her.
Bless her.
The two evils.
I'll go Zion as well.
All right, last basketball one.
Trey Young, De'Eron Fox.
Oh, that's a tough one.
What do you want passing ball to, Nick?

(01:11:54):
No, that eliminates.
That eliminates.
Three years.
No.
He's not getting a ball for me to one of those guys.
Oh, that's true.
I mean, like, Trey Young shoots a ball.
De'Eron Fox is a dog.
Trey Young.
Trey Young.
I'll go Swiper.
Trey Young.
Fox all day.
I'm going Fox too.

(01:12:15):
Nice hair.
I feel like Trey Young is almost underrated now.
Nobody talks about him, maybe because it's basketball
in Atlanta and they're not very good.
But when he came in the first couple of years.
He was a dog.
Yeah.
Trey Young.
They hate him at the guard, by the way.
He doesn't guard.
All right, last one.
So you're done with a two hour and 45 minute practice.
And you're going back to your dorm.
You don't have your chef.

(01:12:36):
This is old school, where you got to go back to towers
and make your own sandwich.
Grilled cheese or peanut butter and jelly?
Go cheese.
Go cheese.
Peanut butter and jelly.
Do I get tomato soup or no?
No.
No.
Toasted cheeses have to be grilled.
You got to make it.
What the hell?
Cheese.

(01:12:58):
I eat three a day.
Go cheese.
I'm going to go cheese.
If I could, I would.
Time to do some more jelly.
Peanut butter guy.
Got it.
Last thing, best teammate of all time.
You've been blessed with good ones, so.
It's hard not to give to Andre.

(01:13:18):
That's great to hear.
As a fan of basketball and Yukon,
like that's just a special thing to hear.
Your love for him is definitely coming across.
Last year's team.
Special this year's team.
Special.
I mean, I missed a lot of those guys from last year.
Joey California.
Dahmer.
Oh, I forgot about him.
Jordan.
But this year, we got a lot of special guys too,

(01:13:39):
but it's just got special guys.
Donovan.
Oh, man, we're rooting for you.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
We didn't want to take your time up,
but to be here in person, man, it's crazy.
To us, you're the charter oak.
That's going to catch on.
I'm telling you, man.
We've stopped him.
You and I have tried.
From the beginning.

(01:14:00):
Yeah, from the beginning.
No, we're going to now make the t-shirts.
All the proceeds will go NIL to this guy.
You'll get the first one.
What do you get?
Double X?
Double X.
Tall?
Sure.
If you get too tall, it'll lose all.
Oh, we're going to do that.
Do you know what a narpus?
Narp?
Yeah, a non-athletic, regular person.
Yeah.
So that's what these college athletes call the people, man.

(01:14:22):
Are you surrounded by narpus?
All right, well, you're known nart, man.
Go chiefs or whatever.
Go patty.
Go niners.
Thank you.
Red Sox Yankees.
I'm the Yankee fan.
Let's go.
So do it in your house.
All right, man.
Thank you so much.
Thanks a lot, Don.
Super Sunday boys, great job.

(01:14:42):
We've got your producer, Kevin Ross,
round-mounted sound, AJ Bonnell.
Capital securities.
Guys, you got money kicking around.
Call Joe Morello.
He's going to make your life well planned.
Go on.
Go on.
Later.
Let's go.

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