March 26, 2019 • 34 mins
Doug thinks Devin Booker’s huge scoring night while getting blown out by the Jazz is a bad look for the Suns. He also thinks it’s absurd for anyone to say Zion Williamson is already a top player in the NBA. Plus he talks to Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams and Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard about their journey through the tournament.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlap
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best
(00:21):
of the Doug Gotleiave Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Off America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. M M.
I hope you're having a splendid day, fantastic day. We
(00:43):
got an unbelievably well planned show for you. I'll get
to that in a moment. First, Doug gotlap Show brought
to you by Farmers. At Farmers, we've seen almost everything,
so we're not cover almost anything. When it's game time,
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put their experience in the play at Farmers dot com.
Buzz Williams. Buzz Williams, head coach of the Hokeys of
(01:06):
Virgin Tech, will join us upcoming in uh oh just
more than ten minutes, about fifteen minutes. We'll talk with
the hokey head coach Buzz Williams. Then Chris Beard would
join us shortly thereafter. Texas Tech not related to Virginia Tech, right,
same last name, kid, Chris Beard will join us. I
believe he just got off the plane in Orange Counties.
They're playing in Anaheim. Will be at those games. Doug Ferrar,
(01:28):
who's an author covers the NFL for USA Today, is
gonna join us, and then Chris Hanes will join us
for his weekly visit the NBA Inside from Yahoo Sports,
who was a big time podcast knows everything going on
inside the NBA. Connor McGregor has retired, and we're supposed
to believe it. We'll get to that Colin Coward things.
Zion Williamson is already a top twenty player in the NBA.
(01:51):
Huh kai and um, we got a bunch of other
stuff to get to. Major League Baseball's uh Opening day
is this Thursday. Ramos trying to play hookey, all right,
Ramos is gonna have a he I heard he hired
a look alike to sit in the chair on Thursday
so he can go out to Chevez Ravine and watch
the Dodgers take on the Diamondbacks at one o'clock local time.
(02:15):
Don't worry. Our boss isn't here, so if no one is,
no one is the wiser because of it. We'll get
you ready for Major League Baseball season with a couple
of sizeable extensions, including Noah's Syndergard re ups with the
New York Mets. But last night, Devin Booker was amazing,
(02:36):
amazing fifty nine points, four rebounds, four assists, and he
shot a good percentage that's uht of his team's points.
They scored ninety two. He scored fifty nine. That's the
most since Kobe Bryant scored sixty six percent versus the
raptors of his team's points, fifth most all time. He's
(02:56):
the fifth player to lose two games in which he
scored fifty points or more, joining Lebron, Bob McAdoo a
chimalized one, and Michael Read. It's the most points scored
in a thirty plus point loss. Huh. And most teams
when when they have a player score fifty let alone
(03:17):
sixty all time in the history of the NBA, teams
are fifty two and nineteen. When someone scores sixty points,
the Suns, well, the Sun's got blown out by thirty
three points. And what happened at the end of the
game was the Jazz started fouling other players so they
couldn't get the ball to Devin Booker, so that he
(03:38):
couldn't get sixty points. It seems like weak sauce, right, man,
you can't look what You can't stop me? You can't
stop me? Why are you fouling? Ramos was at your
takeaway when you when you saw that. I'm sure you've
seen the highlights of the Jazz fouling the Phoenix Suns.
Stop fouling, is what I said. Stop play defense. Your
(04:00):
man be a man like Ramos in his seventies, got
his wife pregnant, right, That's that's who Ramos is. Ramos
is a good looking seventy five year old man. He
he's the only guy who looks younger and is as
old as Ramos as learn Hamilton's the coach of Florida State.
But dude, I look at it completely the opposite way,
(04:23):
completely opposite way. By the way they were stopping them.
The Sun's only had eighteen points in the fourth quarter,
and all they were trying to do was get Devin
Booker to sixty that's because the Sons are a complete
and total joke. And while you might say, hey, man,
why don't you stop him, there's a reason that most
(04:43):
guys aren't in the game when they're down thirty, because
it's called garbage minutes for a reason. And when you're
scoring during garbage time and you're a star player. I
don't actually think the Jazz were wrong for what they
were doing. Like, look, the Suns can the Suns want
(05:04):
to trot out there and be the champions of nothing
and win things like this. Fine, have fun, that's cool,
but how many times have we seen this? And we've
seen him before. He had seventy and they got blown
out in a loss to the to the Boston Celtics.
They're beaten by ten. He had seventy points, eight rebounds,
(05:27):
six assists. You can sit here and tell me, hey,
your team stinks or your team was too concerned with
getting one player some record that doesn't mean anything, getting
into some some demarcation instead of actually winning the basketball game,
actually winning the game. It's not a shot of Devin Booker. Like,
(05:48):
Devin Booker is a really talented player, and he's still
super super young and has the chance most people think
to be a superstar, and right now he's just a
really good player to kind of borderline star. But who
cares how many points a guy scores? When your team
gets beat by thirty three points? Man? Who? Who? Who cares? Zero?
(06:13):
People care garbage time points? Like, yeah, I got fifty nine, dude,
you got run out the gym. You have the second
worst record in the NBA. Like, whether letting you score
or not, you're playing against their backups, backups, like this
(06:34):
is call up time. If anything, If anything, the Sun's
we're in the wrong. You know, the Sun's went wrong,
not the jazz, Like, look, do I love the jazz? Fouling?
Like no, but I gotta get it. They're sitting there
(06:55):
going like, well, what what are you guys doing? You're
gonna play yourself are and he's gonna get these hollow
stats because he's running a fever. You guys are getting
run out, run out the building, Pull him and just
play basketball with the backups. That's what everybody, literally everybody does,
except Phoenix, because they're so used to winning that they've
(07:18):
actually made it where it's okay if you lose as
long as you look pretty doing it. Oh, don't worry
about he lost by thirty three. Our guy had fifty
nine points. It wasn't just fifty nine, it was statistically
a good fifty nine, right. He was nineteen of thirty
four and sixteen and seventeen from the line, Like that's
(07:39):
that's a that's a crazy good stat line to lose
and to be that efficient only shows you that one
And by the way, Jimmer for Debt was the opposite
one of ten oh of five in his first game
back in the NBA in Utah, former player for b
y U. But this is exactly what you thought. I
think it is. He was the only guy scoring, and
(08:01):
they were so concerned with with Devin Booker getting his
points that they forgot about trying to even compete to
win the basketball game. So I don't think they did
anything wrong. Be sure to catch live editions of the
Doug Dot Leaps Show weekdays at noon eastern three pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
(08:23):
Whoever he goes, we end up seemingly trying to talk
to him in March because he takes his teams afar.
In the n c A terms, teams play with toughness
and with pride, he does a hell of a job.
He's Buzz Williams. He joins us on the Doug Gottlip
Show on Fox Sports Radio. Virginia Tech advances to the
Sweet sixteen to take on a CEC rival, Duke and
(08:44):
Buzz kind of to spend some time this year on
Fox Sports Radio. Buzz, how are you? I'm doing good?
How you doing dog? Good? Man? Um? First, you know
your team is you know when you when you lose
your most important player for a good portion of the season. Um.
Obviously it's hard for people who don't follow Virginia Tech
to understand how that affects you. But did it did
(09:04):
it make you actually a better team because you had
to play without him? You know, you played the position
and we're one of the better ones in the country
at that time. Uh. I think when five got hurt, Doug,
we were, we were if you were to listen to others,
we were on our way to the c I t
or the c v I. UM. During the twelve games
(09:26):
that he missed, he missed over of a c C
play and then obviously missed the two games two weeks
ago in the a c C tournament. Everything that we did, um,
none of it was what we ran. When Five played,
we did not change anything defensively, we changed one of
(09:47):
what we did offensively, and then with each passing day
in practice, we just continued to kind of evolve and
morph and try to figure out what gave us our
best chance. We played twelve games without him, and six
of those games we only played we only had seven guys.
P J Horn, our backup five, had torn his meniscus
(10:10):
and he missed six games, which was a portion of
the stretch that Five missed, So we completely had to
transform our team. It was a completely different team. UM
But I do think the connectivity of that group was
as good as I've ever seen during that span. How
how did that happen? Was that something you you tried
(10:32):
to build or was it something organic to the to
the players themselves. Yeah, I think I think it was organic.
I think it was the players. I think our staff
did a really good job of trying to boil down
what the opponent was best at, and instead of having
four or five things that we need to try to
(10:53):
um take away or give us our best chance, we
kind of brought it down even further to one or
two things. And then I think offensively They knew that
we were going to have um a challenge to score
no matter where we played or who we played. And
I think they understood the importance of the reps every
day we were taking in practice. We didn't even we
(11:15):
couldn't even play five on five. So we're trying to
figure out in breakdown situations how to make sure they
understood the shots that we were going to get from
the new offense we were running. Because with with five
plan obviously makes the game easier for them, and of
them collectively had to split up that responsibility, and I
(11:36):
thought they did a really good job with five. Obviously
Justin Robinson people haven't fallen through. No, It's okay, you
and I know who you're talking about. I think most
basketball fans, but for for uh for another for not
whop had Justin Robinson outstanding point guard playing for you
for four years? I mean, he is your he is
he is your leader, he is your your go to guy. Okay,
(11:57):
so then how do you manage him coming back right
like right like a guy like that? Also, it's it's
it's one thing to come back and you know you're
playing Alabama and m it's a whole other thing. To
come back and you're in a tournament. Yeah, that's right. Well,
I don't think that there's a book on how to
(12:17):
manage it the right way. We took pictures right before
we went to the a c C tournament in hopes
that maybe he could be released maybe on a minute restriction,
and the medical team did not think that he was
ready for the wear and tearror um. So that was
on the before the CEC tournament started, and then we
(12:40):
took pictures again Doug on selection Sunday morning, and that
was nine days and that that time frame really allowed
the healing process to maybe continue on the path that
it was on. I think he's kind of been ahead
of scheduled the whole time. So we found out on Sunday,
(13:00):
and we practiced on Monday and Tuesday, which were the
first two practices he had been a part of since
late January. We trampled all the way out to California
on Wednesday and didn't practice, So I don't know that. Um,
it was collective, you know what is best for five um,
how is he going to handle things? But just as
(13:21):
important as you know, is what is best for our
team and how are they going to handle things. So
I think it was the combination of the two. I
thought against St. Louis's physicality and their pressure. I thought
having another fascot on the floor helped another guy that
could pass in dribble for sure. Health I thought he
was better on Sunday against Liberty just because he had
(13:44):
actually played um and I hope that because we're able
to play again at least until Friday, with a couple
of more practices here, he'll be even better, honestly, relative
to his word or his flow. But I think, uh,
we probably managed it, considering all that transpired, as best
(14:07):
we could. Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams, our guest
in the Doug Gotlip Show Hookeys have had an incredible
season eight and and doing so without Justin Robinson, the
point guard, first substantial at a time with a foot injury. Alright,
so you get another shot at the Duke Blue Devils,
a team that you've you've already beaten this year. Of
(14:28):
course you beat them, uh in February. And you know,
anybody who was a Duke fans like, well we we
we didn't have Zion. You're like, well, hold on, we didn't.
We didn't have Justin Justin Robinson. How different is the
matchup considering each team was without a start. Well, it's
hard to say. I don't think. You know, when we
(14:49):
played them, Doug, it was there um second full game
without him playing, So I haven't studied them uh since
that time in the games that he didn't play. I
don't know that schematically that they changed much. Obviously is
the best player in the country, um, So it's a
(15:10):
very talented piece that they lost. UM. I don't think
Justin Robinson's talent is that of Zion, but relative to
his importance to our team, UM, I think they're relatively
the same. So we're a different team. They're a different team.
I think the same concerns that everybody in the country
(15:33):
that's played Duke has had, we still have those same
concerns UM, with their size and their length and their talent. UM.
But there, I for sure think that they're a different team.
But in defense of us, I understand the storyline as
Duke as it should be, in the storyline of Zion
as it should be. I do think that we're different.
That does not necessarily mean that I think that we're
(15:56):
the odds on favorite to win, but I think that
we're different, so we're excited that we at least have
another chance with both good players back on the floor. Well, look,
I mean part of the deal is buzz. Like I
guess us in the media, we're supposed to a lot
of people, um and I don't know whether they played
or haven't played, but you know this idea of you
going everybody goes. I've never been in the locker room
(16:17):
where I didn't think I was gonna win the game, right,
So anytime a coach says, well, we think we're gonna win,
it's like supposed to be some or players says we're
gonna win in some sort of guarantee. But I have
also been in locker rooms where a coach is sitting
there going like, look, these guys, you can beat them,
and you're watching the tape. You're like, damn, but you
guys actually have beaten them, right, you actually heard? Like Okay,
So I remember I was a Notre Dame and we're
(16:39):
watching tape, and you know, we're watching Yukon and they
got they got Ray Allen and Travis Knight and Ron Scheffer,
and I was just going like, who am I gonna guard?
You know? But but but but having having seen them,
that's that's not part of the sales. So what is
the like? I just feel like it's easy, but it's
(17:00):
hard to be duke. Right. The duke thing is you
can't turn it over like no pick six is. Are
they gonna they're gonna pressure you out of your offense?
You know you gotta you gotta make them shoot jump
shots and contested, and then you gotta rebound and take
care of the basketball and fight like hell and not
expect to get a call down the stretch. Right like,
am I am I missing anything? No? I think you're
spot on. Uh. I can hire you to be an
(17:23):
assistant on if you want to come, you can do
the pregame speech. I think you have to shoot more
field goal attempts than they do. A lot of that
is having a low turnover rate. I think the other
piece of that, which has always been our Achilles heel,
is only allowing them a maximum of one shot per possession. Uh.
(17:44):
Any time you allow a team that's as talented as
they are to have more shots, there's always a by
product or a derivative of how did that happen? And
you can't you can't turn the ball over at a
high rate. But you also, you know, we held them
to seven offensive rebounds when we played them, we had
the same number. That's really really important. We only had
(18:06):
six turnovers when we played them, that's really really important. Uh,
they blew us out when we played at their place
the last time. But the last three years we've beaten Duke,
and it's always kind of boiled down to those same
things that you're missing in UM And I think, as
you know, you could probably sub in any opponent at
(18:29):
a high level of teams that are still playing in
the last week of March, and kind of a recipe
for winning is always going to stay the same. But
if you looked at the last three years that we've
beaten Duke, it's always can we get more field goal attempts?
Can we not turn the ball over? We need a shot,
even if it's a bad shot, we at least need
(18:49):
a shot. And if it's gonna be a turnover, literally
just hold the ball so that they gotta take a
lot of bounds and then when they shoot, it's that's
probably for us, that's when the real game begins. I think, Uh,
what we try to do defensively is like most teams
try to keep the ball out of the paint, but
(19:10):
the real game is gonna shot start on the rise
of the shot. Can we keep them from getting another opportunity?
And that will be just as important on Friday Night
as it has been every time we played him. Yeah,
Kerry blast year was so much better than the second
game than he was the first game. He's you know,
he's gonna have to be as good as he was
last last time he played Duke and and getting some
offensive boards and securing the defensive rebounds. Last thing, buzz this,
(19:33):
This is not your first go around with it, but
you know there is there is talk of a potential,
uh future destination for your services. How have you handled that?
Have you handle it with with your guys because the
other stuff of the media and the fans that doesn't matter,
But with your players when they hear it, what's your
message to them? Yes, sir, I haven't addressed to any
(19:54):
of that stuff. I think I think similar Doug. Within
our culture, how we handle any thing that's going on
outside in the world that we can't control, or what's
said on Twitter or what's written, we handle it all
the same. It doesn't affect us our job is to
get better today. Our job is to do the things
(20:14):
that we can control. And obviously I have been asked
the question a couple of times. I have no problem
answering it. But as far as the relationship with our guys,
to be honest, I think there's a lot of coaches
still coaching that are way more gifted as coaches than
I am. But one thing that I take great pride
in is the relationships built on trust and love that
(20:36):
I have with our players and with our staff. And
so we haven't addressed it at all because that's how
we handle anything relative to the outside noise in our program. Buzz,
I wish you nothing but the best of luck. Man.
You got a hell of a team. Your team is
fun to watch. And uh you guys, you guys get
after it the right way. Good luck, good luck. I'm
both the first and the second shot defensively against it.
(20:56):
And we'll talk to you soon. Great talking to you.
I did, I didn't get the chance to see it.
Did your sister win last night? She's not my sister.
She she's my sister from another mother, but but she's
If she won last night, then we'll take credit for if.
If she didn't, then she's not your brother, obviously, But
I didn't know that she was not your sister. I
(21:18):
have a sister who lives right down the street from
cal It's not but but it's not Coach Gottli bid Cow.
But she is not there. Go anytime, Buzz, be sure
to catch live editions. So The Doug Got Leaps show
week days at noon eastern three pm Pacific. Let's catch
up with Chris Beard, who he just tatched down in
(21:38):
southern California. And nobody knows more about southern California than
Chris Beard. He just you hear his voice, he hears
axe and you think southern California. Bear, do you love
it out here? Right? If you hit the beach yet?
If not, Doug, but we're staying in one of these
Disney hotels. You know, is amazed and you can't find
your room. So it took me ten minutes to find
the second flour. That took me, minister, find my room.
(22:02):
I'm on video of how long it took Seawn Sutton
to find his room. That's that's that's the that's the
video I want. Still hasn't Chris Beer joining us on
the Doug gotlip show on Fox Sports Radio. I don't
want to ask you some we were just talking about
Duke saw their n c A tournament lives flash before
their eyes right down ones. I missed the free throw,
probably a push off. They end up getting a bucket
(22:23):
and then somehow getting to stop at the end. Um.
You know you've been last year in the Elite eight
and obviously you gave Villanova their toughest challenge. You know
you've been this thing before as a coach, previously going
back to Arkansas a little rocket assistant coach before that.
Do you believe it helps the team to win a
close game to help push them forward? Does that does
that change you at all? Or is that just Hey,
it's just one close game, that's all that matters. I
(22:47):
think it definitely can You know, it's get your guys
to understand that it's uh do or die. You know,
everybody's season and caused basketball comes down to one game.
The very fortunate teams comes down to that Monday night. Um.
But you know would say with our team, we went
to the Big Twelve tournament and got beat by West
Virginia in the first round. And even though it was
obviously really disappointing. We try to just kind of flip
(23:09):
it back into a positive and you know, reminded the
guys with that emotion, you know, when they thought it
was over unfortunately or fortunately it wasn't over for us
because we had such a good year. We got that
large bit. But um, yeah, I think when you're in
a close game like that, you can constantly remind your
guys because they've been there before. You You do have
you know, Jared Culver has been there before, but you
(23:30):
also have a couple of you know, older guys. You know,
Mooney comes in like this is these are this his
first experience at this level transfers from South Dakota. I'm
just wondering what you learned about some of the other
guys that had not played in an n c A
tournament having watched them performed last week. Yeah. The best
thing about our our new guys to the tournament, and
(23:52):
two of those guys are seniors, are they've been great followers.
I mean they listen, you know, a guy like Matt Tree.
They're listening to Nance who's played in ultiple in C
tournament games. They're listening to Cobra, who played in the
four games last year. So it's kind of been the
tell of our team. We're unselfish, these guys are connected,
they're locked in together. Um. I told guys all the
(24:13):
time and sometimes the best part of being a leader
is to be a follower. I think Matt three has
done that. They don't they don't act like they know
all the answers. They don't act like they've been here before.
They haven't. And they really did a really good job
listening to our vets. And Nornas is the man. I mean,
he's he's our core leaders, the toughest scout our team.
He's the most experienced guy we have. He goes for
(24:34):
fifteen and fourteen last game double double and we needed
it most. And he's done a great job with the
leadership of this team. Chris Beard, Texas Tech head coach,
joining us on the Doug Outlim Show. You guys get
ready from Michigan Outstanding Club. And I've told people all year, like,
what's remarkable is they foul. They just don't get called
for fouls, right, they're like fourth few as fouls in
college basketball. There's three three teams. Anybody does the math,
(24:57):
that's really really good. They're similar in that fashion and
a little bit in their defensive style. To Villanova, who
you lost to last year, and you came on with
us and you're like, look, we just we missed so
many layups. How do you what can you do differently
in preparing for Michigan knowing that they're going to be physical,
(25:17):
but they're not going to get called for fouls even
though they will they will make contact. Well, we've been
working on it for a year, so hopefully we'll have
a little bit of payback from our investment. But last
year when we got beat by Villanova, we get back.
We watched the film. There's four or five things that
we look at immediately, as do most coaches. One of
our dealers finished shots. Um, you know, we're just convinced
(25:38):
at the three point shot. It's just a part of basketball.
You can win games are nights where you don't hit it,
but you gotta hit the small shots around the basket.
We called finished shots in our program, and against Villanova
we missed almost twenty shots around the basket. Um, you know,
they just do a great job. They're physical with a
lower body, but do such a good job showing their
hands that the rest can't call anything. You know, we're
(26:01):
no excuse, guys, We're not gonna sit around a wine
up on it. We just basically tried to get better,
and so uh we call it Villanova finishes. We've been
doing them all year in practice, and uh, you know
this Michigan game, it's already been up on the board
this morning. We have to we have to execute some
Villanova finishes against this good Michigan team. What about you?
You know what your team has to do in those
Villanova finishes? What have you challenged yourself personally to do
(26:24):
better to get past, to get past kind of this weekend. Yeah,
that's a great question, and that's exactly right. You know.
I mean you got to coach better too. When our
season ended last year, you know, we started that first
team meeting about ten days later, I said, guys, look,
we've gotta have better players next year. Of course, the guys,
I'll look at you and I said, no, it could
be the same people. It just has to be better players.
(26:47):
And obviously Jared Colver and Morrow and Brandon, these guys
are better players than they were last year. And I
think it's always true as as coaches, Uh, there's no
doubt about it. Our staff is better having coached in
the Big Two against Lon Cruiser, Bob Huggins, Scott Drew.
I mean, all these guys make you better on a
night in, night out basis, and so this year we
(27:08):
just try to do the best job we can. You know,
as coaches, always still responsibility to try to have the
right guys in the game, try to be in the
right coverages. Um one thing we really try to do
is take advantage of these n c A timeouts too.
You know, the time outs are basically twice as long,
it feels like then the normal season. I guess because
of commercials and this and that, but um, so we've
(27:29):
actually been practicing that as well. And let's practice the
longer time out so we don't get in the game.
Our first year in the tournament all there, forget it,
we got in the game. Like we get down with
our time out, we're just sitting there and looking at
each other. You know, we're out there running into the
band and cheerleaders. So just things like that. From a
coaching standpoint, you try to get the guys everything you have,
and you know, we tried to do a good job coaching.
Chrispierre's the Big Twelve Coach of the Year and Jared
(27:51):
Culver the Big Twelve Player of the Year getting a
chance to to travel here out in Anaheim take on
Michigan John b Line the Sweet sixteen. Last year. Of course,
they gave villan Over their toughest challenge in the Elite Eight.
Coming up. Just short, Chris, we'll let you go. We
know you've got a ton of preparing to do. Plus
you still gotta find that room or find your way
back to the lobby from that room. Thanks for joining us.
(28:13):
All right, that's Chris Beer joining us. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app search f s
R to listen live. And now say okay, it's Zion
williams Son and here's Colin Cowherds take Top fifty. Of
(28:37):
course he's a top fifty player. The question is is
he a top twenty basketball player in the world. Okay,
all you need to know is this USA Today before
the season started, came out with a list. They came
out with a list of the top fifty NBA players.
Gordon Hayward was thirty one and Brandon Ingram was thirty three,
(29:00):
Steven Adams, T J Warren, Kyle Lowry, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green.
You don't think NBA teams tomorrow would trade those players
for Zion? I mean, you really think today Gordon Hayward
Zion Williamson, who's better Toronto Raptors tomorrow could trade Kyle
(29:26):
Lowry for Zion? Are you kidding me? They couldn't pick
up the phone fast enough. And Kyle Lowry is a
nice player. Okay, stop it. You're conflating two different things.
First of all, I love Paul Pierce. I do. I
played with them a little bit in high school. We
were kind of contemporaries, graduated high school the same time. Um,
(29:49):
it's Zion Williamson and he's not a top fifty player.
He's definitely not a top twenty player. And what what
what can one's doing is he's complating would a team
want him over their player? Yes, I'm not denying like
that's in terms of value of an asset, he would
be more valuable and have a greater potential than Kyle Lowry,
(30:13):
But he's not better than Kyle Lowry. Right now, has
been an NBA All Star and Kyle Lowry is not
having nearly as good a year, and he may start
at some point be over the hill, but like, what
are we doing? Like, do you know how you lose
games in the NBA without trying to lose games in
the NBA? You know you tank? What do you do
(30:37):
you play your young players? Do you know why? Because
they're not as good as the older players. They don't
know how to win basketball games. They're not as strong
and as smart, and as we're fined, they don't make
his high percentage of shots. They make less fewer mistakes.
That's why, Like, I'll just be honest, he's not right now.
I do. I think eventually he could be. Eventually he
(30:57):
could be at the level of the second best player
on the Raptors. But he's not better than Kawhi Leonard of,
Pascal siakum Um, Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry, like all of
those guys are better. Bass Marcus Saul is a better
basketball player right now just because he can't. Like, what
are we doing? This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
(31:20):
College basketball is way more water down than it's ever
been and design is gonna be awesome, But we just
can't control ourselves. Oh my goodness, this is like the
college quarterbacks who combined Like, man, he's this, he's that. Like, hey,
Baker Mayfield was really good. Baker may was great. Is
(31:41):
he one of the top ten quarterbacks the NFL. No,
he played against good defense. He through the same number
of touchdowns he did interceptions against bad teams. He lit
up bad teams. Why because they're bad teams. But like
this idea, I mean, he's not in the he's not
(32:02):
in the stratosphere of the elite players. He's not an
n like that would make him an NBA All Star
better than NBA All Stars. He's not, nor should he
be expected to be. He's eighteen years old, he's six
ft five and a half two five pounds. He's not
a top twenty. He's not a top fifty player. And
(32:23):
anyone who says that everyone in basketball just goes like
you're either saying it for the hot take or you're
not very smart. Right, You're not very smart. Here's a guy.
Remember when Justice Winslow came out. You're like, man, Justice
Winslow is gonna be awesome. And Justice Winslow has become
(32:45):
a good NBA player. He was the fourth pick in
the draft. Now that he's more refined NBA player and
he's a small ball four, you know, and what is
this Like his fourth year in the NBA he averages
thirteen points a game. You know, Like you may not
(33:09):
know Josh Richardson or remember from what or Goran Dragic,
but they're better than Zion Williamson right now. Now, would
I'd rather have Zion Williamson? Sure, because I think in
five years, four or five years, Zian Williamson could be
very very good, potentially an All Star. But at eighteen
years old, Like, do you do you think he's take
(33:31):
the Detroit Pistons? Okay? Could he start in the Detroit
Pistons ahead of Andre Drummond or Blake Griffin? Like, come on, dude,
Blake Griffin was a dominant college player. He red shirted
his first year in the NBA. Do you think that
(33:53):
he would Blake Griffin would be slightly better? And Blake
Griffin his rookie year average twenty two and a half
points a game. That was after sitting out a year,
and even then, Blake wasn't considered a top twenty player
in the NBA. No, Blake Griffin does not jump like
he used to. But he's ten times the player that
Zion is right now because he's played a lot more
(34:14):
in the NBA, and he's a better shooter, and he's
a better passer, and he has, you know, better court
court sense to him, like, what are we doing? Why
don't we have the tendency to do? This is so dumb,
smart people saying dumb things is really odd to me,
really really odd to me. The way you lose in
the NBA is play younger players. Why because they're not
(34:36):
as good. It's not a shot at Zion to say
he's not as good. Eventually he may be as good
or better than the elite players. And that's why he's
valuable to these teams, not because he's better than these
guys now
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlap
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best
(00:21):
of the Doug Gotleiave Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Off America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. M M.
I hope you're having a splendid day, fantastic day. We
(00:43):
got an unbelievably well planned show for you. I'll get
to that in a moment. First, Doug gotlap Show brought
to you by Farmers. At Farmers, we've seen almost everything,
so we're not cover almost anything. When it's game time,
have an experienced player help you stay ahead of the game,
put their experience in the play at Farmers dot com.
Buzz Williams. Buzz Williams, head coach of the Hokeys of
(01:06):
Virgin Tech, will join us upcoming in uh oh just
more than ten minutes, about fifteen minutes. We'll talk with
the hokey head coach Buzz Williams. Then Chris Beard would
join us shortly thereafter. Texas Tech not related to Virginia Tech, right,
same last name, kid, Chris Beard will join us. I
believe he just got off the plane in Orange Counties.
They're playing in Anaheim. Will be at those games. Doug Ferrar,
(01:28):
who's an author covers the NFL for USA Today, is
gonna join us, and then Chris Hanes will join us
for his weekly visit the NBA Inside from Yahoo Sports,
who was a big time podcast knows everything going on
inside the NBA. Connor McGregor has retired, and we're supposed
to believe it. We'll get to that Colin Coward things.
Zion Williamson is already a top twenty player in the NBA.
(01:51):
Huh kai and um, we got a bunch of other
stuff to get to. Major League Baseball's uh Opening day
is this Thursday. Ramos trying to play hookey, all right,
Ramos is gonna have a he I heard he hired
a look alike to sit in the chair on Thursday
so he can go out to Chevez Ravine and watch
the Dodgers take on the Diamondbacks at one o'clock local time.
(02:15):
Don't worry. Our boss isn't here, so if no one is,
no one is the wiser because of it. We'll get
you ready for Major League Baseball season with a couple
of sizeable extensions, including Noah's Syndergard re ups with the
New York Mets. But last night, Devin Booker was amazing,
(02:36):
amazing fifty nine points, four rebounds, four assists, and he
shot a good percentage that's uht of his team's points.
They scored ninety two. He scored fifty nine. That's the
most since Kobe Bryant scored sixty six percent versus the
raptors of his team's points, fifth most all time. He's
(02:56):
the fifth player to lose two games in which he
scored fifty points or more, joining Lebron, Bob McAdoo a
chimalized one, and Michael Read. It's the most points scored
in a thirty plus point loss. Huh. And most teams
when when they have a player score fifty let alone
(03:17):
sixty all time in the history of the NBA, teams
are fifty two and nineteen. When someone scores sixty points,
the Suns, well, the Sun's got blown out by thirty
three points. And what happened at the end of the
game was the Jazz started fouling other players so they
couldn't get the ball to Devin Booker, so that he
(03:38):
couldn't get sixty points. It seems like weak sauce, right, man,
you can't look what You can't stop me? You can't
stop me? Why are you fouling? Ramos was at your
takeaway when you when you saw that. I'm sure you've
seen the highlights of the Jazz fouling the Phoenix Suns.
Stop fouling, is what I said. Stop play defense. Your
(04:00):
man be a man like Ramos in his seventies, got
his wife pregnant, right, That's that's who Ramos is. Ramos
is a good looking seventy five year old man. He
he's the only guy who looks younger and is as
old as Ramos as learn Hamilton's the coach of Florida State.
But dude, I look at it completely the opposite way,
(04:23):
completely opposite way. By the way they were stopping them.
The Sun's only had eighteen points in the fourth quarter,
and all they were trying to do was get Devin
Booker to sixty that's because the Sons are a complete
and total joke. And while you might say, hey, man,
why don't you stop him, there's a reason that most
(04:43):
guys aren't in the game when they're down thirty, because
it's called garbage minutes for a reason. And when you're
scoring during garbage time and you're a star player. I
don't actually think the Jazz were wrong for what they
were doing. Like, look, the Suns can the Suns want
(05:04):
to trot out there and be the champions of nothing
and win things like this. Fine, have fun, that's cool,
but how many times have we seen this? And we've
seen him before. He had seventy and they got blown
out in a loss to the to the Boston Celtics.
They're beaten by ten. He had seventy points, eight rebounds,
(05:27):
six assists. You can sit here and tell me, hey,
your team stinks or your team was too concerned with
getting one player some record that doesn't mean anything, getting
into some some demarcation instead of actually winning the basketball game,
actually winning the game. It's not a shot of Devin Booker. Like,
(05:48):
Devin Booker is a really talented player, and he's still
super super young and has the chance most people think
to be a superstar, and right now he's just a
really good player to kind of borderline star. But who
cares how many points a guy scores? When your team
gets beat by thirty three points? Man? Who? Who? Who cares? Zero?
(06:13):
People care garbage time points? Like, yeah, I got fifty nine, dude,
you got run out the gym. You have the second
worst record in the NBA. Like, whether letting you score
or not, you're playing against their backups, backups, like this
(06:34):
is call up time. If anything, If anything, the Sun's
we're in the wrong. You know, the Sun's went wrong,
not the jazz, Like, look, do I love the jazz? Fouling?
Like no, but I gotta get it. They're sitting there
(06:55):
going like, well, what what are you guys doing? You're
gonna play yourself are and he's gonna get these hollow
stats because he's running a fever. You guys are getting
run out, run out the building, Pull him and just
play basketball with the backups. That's what everybody, literally everybody does,
except Phoenix, because they're so used to winning that they've
(07:18):
actually made it where it's okay if you lose as
long as you look pretty doing it. Oh, don't worry
about he lost by thirty three. Our guy had fifty
nine points. It wasn't just fifty nine, it was statistically
a good fifty nine, right. He was nineteen of thirty
four and sixteen and seventeen from the line, Like that's
(07:39):
that's a that's a crazy good stat line to lose
and to be that efficient only shows you that one
And by the way, Jimmer for Debt was the opposite
one of ten oh of five in his first game
back in the NBA in Utah, former player for b
y U. But this is exactly what you thought. I
think it is. He was the only guy scoring, and
(08:01):
they were so concerned with with Devin Booker getting his
points that they forgot about trying to even compete to
win the basketball game. So I don't think they did
anything wrong. Be sure to catch live editions of the
Doug Dot Leaps Show weekdays at noon eastern three pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
(08:23):
Whoever he goes, we end up seemingly trying to talk
to him in March because he takes his teams afar.
In the n c A terms, teams play with toughness
and with pride, he does a hell of a job.
He's Buzz Williams. He joins us on the Doug Gottlip
Show on Fox Sports Radio. Virginia Tech advances to the
Sweet sixteen to take on a CEC rival, Duke and
(08:44):
Buzz kind of to spend some time this year on
Fox Sports Radio. Buzz, how are you? I'm doing good?
How you doing dog? Good? Man? Um? First, you know
your team is you know when you when you lose
your most important player for a good portion of the season. Um.
Obviously it's hard for people who don't follow Virginia Tech
to understand how that affects you. But did it did
(09:04):
it make you actually a better team because you had
to play without him? You know, you played the position
and we're one of the better ones in the country
at that time. Uh. I think when five got hurt, Doug,
we were, we were if you were to listen to others,
we were on our way to the c I t
or the c v I. UM. During the twelve games
(09:26):
that he missed, he missed over of a c C
play and then obviously missed the two games two weeks
ago in the a c C tournament. Everything that we did, um,
none of it was what we ran. When Five played,
we did not change anything defensively, we changed one of
(09:47):
what we did offensively, and then with each passing day
in practice, we just continued to kind of evolve and
morph and try to figure out what gave us our
best chance. We played twelve games without him, and six
of those games we only played we only had seven guys.
P J Horn, our backup five, had torn his meniscus
(10:10):
and he missed six games, which was a portion of
the stretch that Five missed, So we completely had to
transform our team. It was a completely different team. UM
But I do think the connectivity of that group was
as good as I've ever seen during that span. How
how did that happen? Was that something you you tried
(10:32):
to build or was it something organic to the to
the players themselves. Yeah, I think I think it was organic.
I think it was the players. I think our staff
did a really good job of trying to boil down
what the opponent was best at, and instead of having
four or five things that we need to try to
(10:53):
um take away or give us our best chance, we
kind of brought it down even further to one or
two things. And then I think offensively They knew that
we were going to have um a challenge to score
no matter where we played or who we played. And
I think they understood the importance of the reps every
day we were taking in practice. We didn't even we
(11:15):
couldn't even play five on five. So we're trying to
figure out in breakdown situations how to make sure they
understood the shots that we were going to get from
the new offense we were running. Because with with five
plan obviously makes the game easier for them, and of
them collectively had to split up that responsibility, and I
(11:36):
thought they did a really good job with five. Obviously
Justin Robinson people haven't fallen through. No, It's okay, you
and I know who you're talking about. I think most
basketball fans, but for for uh for another for not
whop had Justin Robinson outstanding point guard playing for you
for four years? I mean, he is your he is
he is your leader, he is your your go to guy. Okay,
(11:57):
so then how do you manage him coming back right
like right like a guy like that? Also, it's it's
it's one thing to come back and you know you're
playing Alabama and m it's a whole other thing. To
come back and you're in a tournament. Yeah, that's right. Well,
I don't think that there's a book on how to
(12:17):
manage it the right way. We took pictures right before
we went to the a c C tournament in hopes
that maybe he could be released maybe on a minute restriction,
and the medical team did not think that he was
ready for the wear and tearror um. So that was
on the before the CEC tournament started, and then we
(12:40):
took pictures again Doug on selection Sunday morning, and that
was nine days and that that time frame really allowed
the healing process to maybe continue on the path that
it was on. I think he's kind of been ahead
of scheduled the whole time. So we found out on Sunday,
(13:00):
and we practiced on Monday and Tuesday, which were the
first two practices he had been a part of since
late January. We trampled all the way out to California
on Wednesday and didn't practice, So I don't know that. Um,
it was collective, you know what is best for five um,
how is he going to handle things? But just as
(13:21):
important as you know, is what is best for our
team and how are they going to handle things. So
I think it was the combination of the two. I
thought against St. Louis's physicality and their pressure. I thought
having another fascot on the floor helped another guy that
could pass in dribble for sure. Health I thought he
was better on Sunday against Liberty just because he had
(13:44):
actually played um and I hope that because we're able
to play again at least until Friday, with a couple
of more practices here, he'll be even better, honestly, relative
to his word or his flow. But I think, uh,
we probably managed it, considering all that transpired, as best
(14:07):
we could. Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams, our guest
in the Doug Gotlip Show Hookeys have had an incredible
season eight and and doing so without Justin Robinson, the
point guard, first substantial at a time with a foot injury. Alright,
so you get another shot at the Duke Blue Devils,
a team that you've you've already beaten this year. Of
(14:28):
course you beat them, uh in February. And you know,
anybody who was a Duke fans like, well we we
we didn't have Zion. You're like, well, hold on, we didn't.
We didn't have Justin Justin Robinson. How different is the
matchup considering each team was without a start. Well, it's
hard to say. I don't think. You know, when we
(14:49):
played them, Doug, it was there um second full game
without him playing, So I haven't studied them uh since
that time in the games that he didn't play. I
don't know that schematically that they changed much. Obviously is
the best player in the country, um, So it's a
(15:10):
very talented piece that they lost. UM. I don't think
Justin Robinson's talent is that of Zion, but relative to
his importance to our team, UM, I think they're relatively
the same. So we're a different team. They're a different team.
I think the same concerns that everybody in the country
(15:33):
that's played Duke has had, we still have those same
concerns UM, with their size and their length and their talent. UM.
But there, I for sure think that they're a different team.
But in defense of us, I understand the storyline as
Duke as it should be, in the storyline of Zion
as it should be. I do think that we're different.
That does not necessarily mean that I think that we're
(15:56):
the odds on favorite to win, but I think that
we're different, so we're excited that we at least have
another chance with both good players back on the floor. Well, look,
I mean part of the deal is buzz. Like I
guess us in the media, we're supposed to a lot
of people, um and I don't know whether they played
or haven't played, but you know this idea of you
going everybody goes. I've never been in the locker room
(16:17):
where I didn't think I was gonna win the game, right,
So anytime a coach says, well, we think we're gonna win,
it's like supposed to be some or players says we're
gonna win in some sort of guarantee. But I have
also been in locker rooms where a coach is sitting
there going like, look, these guys, you can beat them,
and you're watching the tape. You're like, damn, but you
guys actually have beaten them, right, you actually heard? Like Okay,
So I remember I was a Notre Dame and we're
(16:39):
watching tape, and you know, we're watching Yukon and they
got they got Ray Allen and Travis Knight and Ron Scheffer,
and I was just going like, who am I gonna guard?
You know? But but but but having having seen them,
that's that's not part of the sales. So what is
the like? I just feel like it's easy, but it's
(17:00):
hard to be duke. Right. The duke thing is you
can't turn it over like no pick six is. Are
they gonna they're gonna pressure you out of your offense?
You know you gotta you gotta make them shoot jump
shots and contested, and then you gotta rebound and take
care of the basketball and fight like hell and not
expect to get a call down the stretch. Right like,
am I am I missing anything? No? I think you're
spot on. Uh. I can hire you to be an
(17:23):
assistant on if you want to come, you can do
the pregame speech. I think you have to shoot more
field goal attempts than they do. A lot of that
is having a low turnover rate. I think the other
piece of that, which has always been our Achilles heel,
is only allowing them a maximum of one shot per possession. Uh.
(17:44):
Any time you allow a team that's as talented as
they are to have more shots, there's always a by
product or a derivative of how did that happen? And
you can't you can't turn the ball over at a
high rate. But you also, you know, we held them
to seven offensive rebounds when we played them, we had
the same number. That's really really important. We only had
(18:06):
six turnovers when we played them, that's really really important. Uh,
they blew us out when we played at their place
the last time. But the last three years we've beaten Duke,
and it's always kind of boiled down to those same
things that you're missing in UM And I think, as
you know, you could probably sub in any opponent at
(18:29):
a high level of teams that are still playing in
the last week of March, and kind of a recipe
for winning is always going to stay the same. But
if you looked at the last three years that we've
beaten Duke, it's always can we get more field goal attempts?
Can we not turn the ball over? We need a shot,
even if it's a bad shot, we at least need
(18:49):
a shot. And if it's gonna be a turnover, literally
just hold the ball so that they gotta take a
lot of bounds and then when they shoot, it's that's
probably for us, that's when the real game begins. I think, Uh,
what we try to do defensively is like most teams
try to keep the ball out of the paint, but
(19:10):
the real game is gonna shot start on the rise
of the shot. Can we keep them from getting another opportunity?
And that will be just as important on Friday Night
as it has been every time we played him. Yeah,
Kerry blast year was so much better than the second
game than he was the first game. He's you know,
he's gonna have to be as good as he was
last last time he played Duke and and getting some
offensive boards and securing the defensive rebounds. Last thing, buzz this,
(19:33):
This is not your first go around with it, but
you know there is there is talk of a potential,
uh future destination for your services. How have you handled that?
Have you handle it with with your guys because the
other stuff of the media and the fans that doesn't matter,
But with your players when they hear it, what's your
message to them? Yes, sir, I haven't addressed to any
(19:54):
of that stuff. I think I think similar Doug. Within
our culture, how we handle any thing that's going on
outside in the world that we can't control, or what's
said on Twitter or what's written, we handle it all
the same. It doesn't affect us our job is to
get better today. Our job is to do the things
(20:14):
that we can control. And obviously I have been asked
the question a couple of times. I have no problem
answering it. But as far as the relationship with our guys,
to be honest, I think there's a lot of coaches
still coaching that are way more gifted as coaches than
I am. But one thing that I take great pride
in is the relationships built on trust and love that
(20:36):
I have with our players and with our staff. And
so we haven't addressed it at all because that's how
we handle anything relative to the outside noise in our program. Buzz,
I wish you nothing but the best of luck. Man.
You got a hell of a team. Your team is
fun to watch. And uh you guys, you guys get
after it the right way. Good luck, good luck. I'm
both the first and the second shot defensively against it.
(20:56):
And we'll talk to you soon. Great talking to you.
I did, I didn't get the chance to see it.
Did your sister win last night? She's not my sister.
She she's my sister from another mother, but but she's
If she won last night, then we'll take credit for if.
If she didn't, then she's not your brother, obviously, But
I didn't know that she was not your sister. I
(21:18):
have a sister who lives right down the street from
cal It's not but but it's not Coach Gottli bid Cow.
But she is not there. Go anytime, Buzz, be sure
to catch live editions. So The Doug Got Leaps show
week days at noon eastern three pm Pacific. Let's catch
up with Chris Beard, who he just tatched down in
(21:38):
southern California. And nobody knows more about southern California than
Chris Beard. He just you hear his voice, he hears
axe and you think southern California. Bear, do you love
it out here? Right? If you hit the beach yet?
If not, Doug, but we're staying in one of these
Disney hotels. You know, is amazed and you can't find
your room. So it took me ten minutes to find
the second flour. That took me, minister, find my room.
(22:02):
I'm on video of how long it took Seawn Sutton
to find his room. That's that's that's the that's the
video I want. Still hasn't Chris Beer joining us on
the Doug gotlip show on Fox Sports Radio. I don't
want to ask you some we were just talking about
Duke saw their n c A tournament lives flash before
their eyes right down ones. I missed the free throw,
probably a push off. They end up getting a bucket
(22:23):
and then somehow getting to stop at the end. Um.
You know you've been last year in the Elite eight
and obviously you gave Villanova their toughest challenge. You know
you've been this thing before as a coach, previously going
back to Arkansas a little rocket assistant coach before that.
Do you believe it helps the team to win a
close game to help push them forward? Does that does
that change you at all? Or is that just Hey,
it's just one close game, that's all that matters. I
(22:47):
think it definitely can You know, it's get your guys
to understand that it's uh do or die. You know,
everybody's season and caused basketball comes down to one game.
The very fortunate teams comes down to that Monday night. Um.
But you know would say with our team, we went
to the Big Twelve tournament and got beat by West
Virginia in the first round. And even though it was
obviously really disappointing. We try to just kind of flip
(23:09):
it back into a positive and you know, reminded the
guys with that emotion, you know, when they thought it
was over unfortunately or fortunately it wasn't over for us
because we had such a good year. We got that
large bit. But um, yeah, I think when you're in
a close game like that, you can constantly remind your
guys because they've been there before. You You do have
you know, Jared Culver has been there before, but you
(23:30):
also have a couple of you know, older guys. You know,
Mooney comes in like this is these are this his
first experience at this level transfers from South Dakota. I'm
just wondering what you learned about some of the other
guys that had not played in an n c A
tournament having watched them performed last week. Yeah. The best
thing about our our new guys to the tournament, and
(23:52):
two of those guys are seniors, are they've been great followers.
I mean they listen, you know, a guy like Matt Tree.
They're listening to Nance who's played in ultiple in C
tournament games. They're listening to Cobra, who played in the
four games last year. So it's kind of been the
tell of our team. We're unselfish, these guys are connected,
they're locked in together. Um. I told guys all the
(24:13):
time and sometimes the best part of being a leader
is to be a follower. I think Matt three has
done that. They don't they don't act like they know
all the answers. They don't act like they've been here before.
They haven't. And they really did a really good job
listening to our vets. And Nornas is the man. I mean,
he's he's our core leaders, the toughest scout our team.
He's the most experienced guy we have. He goes for
(24:34):
fifteen and fourteen last game double double and we needed
it most. And he's done a great job with the
leadership of this team. Chris Beard, Texas Tech head coach,
joining us on the Doug Outlim Show. You guys get
ready from Michigan Outstanding Club. And I've told people all year, like,
what's remarkable is they foul. They just don't get called
for fouls, right, they're like fourth few as fouls in
college basketball. There's three three teams. Anybody does the math,
(24:57):
that's really really good. They're similar in that fashion and
a little bit in their defensive style. To Villanova, who
you lost to last year, and you came on with
us and you're like, look, we just we missed so
many layups. How do you what can you do differently
in preparing for Michigan knowing that they're going to be physical,
(25:17):
but they're not going to get called for fouls even
though they will they will make contact. Well, we've been
working on it for a year, so hopefully we'll have
a little bit of payback from our investment. But last
year when we got beat by Villanova, we get back.
We watched the film. There's four or five things that
we look at immediately, as do most coaches. One of
our dealers finished shots. Um, you know, we're just convinced
(25:38):
at the three point shot. It's just a part of basketball.
You can win games are nights where you don't hit it,
but you gotta hit the small shots around the basket.
We called finished shots in our program, and against Villanova
we missed almost twenty shots around the basket. Um, you know,
they just do a great job. They're physical with a
lower body, but do such a good job showing their
hands that the rest can't call anything. You know, we're
(26:01):
no excuse, guys, We're not gonna sit around a wine
up on it. We just basically tried to get better,
and so uh we call it Villanova finishes. We've been
doing them all year in practice, and uh, you know
this Michigan game, it's already been up on the board
this morning. We have to we have to execute some
Villanova finishes against this good Michigan team. What about you?
You know what your team has to do in those
Villanova finishes? What have you challenged yourself personally to do
(26:24):
better to get past, to get past kind of this weekend. Yeah,
that's a great question, and that's exactly right. You know.
I mean you got to coach better too. When our
season ended last year, you know, we started that first
team meeting about ten days later, I said, guys, look,
we've gotta have better players next year. Of course, the guys,
I'll look at you and I said, no, it could
be the same people. It just has to be better players.
(26:47):
And obviously Jared Colver and Morrow and Brandon, these guys
are better players than they were last year. And I
think it's always true as as coaches, Uh, there's no
doubt about it. Our staff is better having coached in
the Big Two against Lon Cruiser, Bob Huggins, Scott Drew.
I mean, all these guys make you better on a
night in, night out basis, and so this year we
(27:08):
just try to do the best job we can. You know,
as coaches, always still responsibility to try to have the
right guys in the game, try to be in the
right coverages. Um one thing we really try to do
is take advantage of these n c A timeouts too.
You know, the time outs are basically twice as long,
it feels like then the normal season. I guess because
of commercials and this and that, but um, so we've
(27:29):
actually been practicing that as well. And let's practice the
longer time out so we don't get in the game.
Our first year in the tournament all there, forget it,
we got in the game. Like we get down with
our time out, we're just sitting there and looking at
each other. You know, we're out there running into the
band and cheerleaders. So just things like that. From a
coaching standpoint, you try to get the guys everything you have,
and you know, we tried to do a good job coaching.
Chrispierre's the Big Twelve Coach of the Year and Jared
(27:51):
Culver the Big Twelve Player of the Year getting a
chance to to travel here out in Anaheim take on
Michigan John b Line the Sweet sixteen. Last year. Of course,
they gave villan Over their toughest challenge in the Elite Eight.
Coming up. Just short, Chris, we'll let you go. We
know you've got a ton of preparing to do. Plus
you still gotta find that room or find your way
back to the lobby from that room. Thanks for joining us.
(28:13):
All right, that's Chris Beer joining us. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app search f s
R to listen live. And now say okay, it's Zion
williams Son and here's Colin Cowherds take Top fifty. Of
(28:37):
course he's a top fifty player. The question is is
he a top twenty basketball player in the world. Okay,
all you need to know is this USA Today before
the season started, came out with a list. They came
out with a list of the top fifty NBA players.
Gordon Hayward was thirty one and Brandon Ingram was thirty three,
(29:00):
Steven Adams, T J Warren, Kyle Lowry, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green.
You don't think NBA teams tomorrow would trade those players
for Zion? I mean, you really think today Gordon Hayward
Zion Williamson, who's better Toronto Raptors tomorrow could trade Kyle
(29:26):
Lowry for Zion? Are you kidding me? They couldn't pick
up the phone fast enough. And Kyle Lowry is a
nice player. Okay, stop it. You're conflating two different things.
First of all, I love Paul Pierce. I do. I
played with them a little bit in high school. We
were kind of contemporaries, graduated high school the same time. Um,
(29:49):
it's Zion Williamson and he's not a top fifty player.
He's definitely not a top twenty player. And what what
what can one's doing is he's complating would a team
want him over their player? Yes, I'm not denying like
that's in terms of value of an asset, he would
be more valuable and have a greater potential than Kyle Lowry,
(30:13):
But he's not better than Kyle Lowry. Right now, has
been an NBA All Star and Kyle Lowry is not
having nearly as good a year, and he may start
at some point be over the hill, but like, what
are we doing? Like, do you know how you lose
games in the NBA without trying to lose games in
the NBA? You know you tank? What do you do
(30:37):
you play your young players? Do you know why? Because
they're not as good as the older players. They don't
know how to win basketball games. They're not as strong
and as smart, and as we're fined, they don't make
his high percentage of shots. They make less fewer mistakes.
That's why, Like, I'll just be honest, he's not right now.
I do. I think eventually he could be. Eventually he
(30:57):
could be at the level of the second best player
on the Raptors. But he's not better than Kawhi Leonard of,
Pascal siakum Um, Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry, like all of
those guys are better. Bass Marcus Saul is a better
basketball player right now just because he can't. Like, what
are we doing? This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
(31:20):
College basketball is way more water down than it's ever
been and design is gonna be awesome, But we just
can't control ourselves. Oh my goodness, this is like the
college quarterbacks who combined Like, man, he's this, he's that. Like, hey,
Baker Mayfield was really good. Baker may was great. Is
(31:41):
he one of the top ten quarterbacks the NFL. No,
he played against good defense. He through the same number
of touchdowns he did interceptions against bad teams. He lit
up bad teams. Why because they're bad teams. But like
this idea, I mean, he's not in the he's not
(32:02):
in the stratosphere of the elite players. He's not an
n like that would make him an NBA All Star
better than NBA All Stars. He's not, nor should he
be expected to be. He's eighteen years old, he's six
ft five and a half two five pounds. He's not
a top twenty. He's not a top fifty player. And
(32:23):
anyone who says that everyone in basketball just goes like
you're either saying it for the hot take or you're
not very smart. Right, You're not very smart. Here's a guy.
Remember when Justice Winslow came out. You're like, man, Justice
Winslow is gonna be awesome. And Justice Winslow has become
(32:45):
a good NBA player. He was the fourth pick in
the draft. Now that he's more refined NBA player and
he's a small ball four, you know, and what is
this Like his fourth year in the NBA he averages
thirteen points a game. You know, Like you may not
(33:09):
know Josh Richardson or remember from what or Goran Dragic,
but they're better than Zion Williamson right now. Now, would
I'd rather have Zion Williamson? Sure, because I think in
five years, four or five years, Zian Williamson could be
very very good, potentially an All Star. But at eighteen
years old, Like, do you do you think he's take
(33:31):
the Detroit Pistons? Okay? Could he start in the Detroit
Pistons ahead of Andre Drummond or Blake Griffin? Like, come on, dude,
Blake Griffin was a dominant college player. He red shirted
his first year in the NBA. Do you think that
(33:53):
he would Blake Griffin would be slightly better? And Blake
Griffin his rookie year average twenty two and a half
points a game. That was after sitting out a year,
and even then, Blake wasn't considered a top twenty player
in the NBA. No, Blake Griffin does not jump like
he used to. But he's ten times the player that
Zion is right now because he's played a lot more
(34:14):
in the NBA, and he's a better shooter, and he's
a better passer, and he has, you know, better court
court sense to him, like, what are we doing? Why
don't we have the tendency to do? This is so dumb,
smart people saying dumb things is really odd to me,
really really odd to me. The way you lose in
the NBA is play younger players. Why because they're not
(34:36):
as good. It's not a shot at Zion to say
he's not as good. Eventually he may be as good
or better than the elite players. And that's why he's
valuable to these teams, not because he's better than these
guys now
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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