July 16, 2024 • 17 mins
Tony talks with former Bearcat Kevin Johnson about the Nasty Nati team in the upcoming TBT, on ESPN 1530!
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(00:00):
Sponsored in part by Penn Station EastCoast Subs, handcrafted hot grilled subs,
fresh cut fries and lemonade. It'sall about good taste. Pennstation East Coast
Subs order online today. This isESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. All
right, welcome back. It's ournumber three since e three to six,
(00:20):
the ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Thank you to our friends at Penn
Station. Here as we get rollingin hour number three. And speaking of
getting something rolling, this has beennow a couple of years in the making.
If you're not familiar with the TBT, the Basketball Tournament, this is
something that's been around now for awhile. They dangled out one million dollars
first prize finish in second place youget nothing, which increases the intensity builds
(00:43):
up a lot around. But inrecent years Cincinnati is Nasty Nadi that they're
named, has started to make moreof a name for themselves in the TBT.
I remember early on a couple frustratingfinishes. Last year TBT comes on
the scene, they actually beat zipthem up. And this year it has
progressed as Nasty Natty. As aone seed, they're playing games at fifth
(01:07):
Third Arena, So some very excitingtimes with the basketball tournament right around the
corner, the GM of Nasty Natty, former Cincinnati Bearcat and doing some good
things still in the city. KevinJohnson in studio joining us right now.
Kevin, what's going on? Man? What's going on? Tony? Man?
I want to say I appreciate youfor having me. Oh yeah,
Man, sitting here. I wastelling me when you shot me a text.
(01:29):
I said, Man, you don'teven know. I'm a fan girl
watching Tony Pike in the UC Jerseyand it was some good times, dog,
So a pleasure to be here,which absolutely before we dive into the
tvt What are you doing right nowoutside of GMing this roster? Yeah,
Man, I work in development atthe Summer Country Day High School, which
is also my lum yes sir aswell and my armor mater, and I'm
(01:51):
also the head basketball coach there too. So we had some success last year.
Man. We lost in districts.Man, we won our league.
I got Coach of the Year.I got a Hunter freshman coming in.
It's been making some noise, soprogram has a good hands many I'm trying
to go win me a title herethis year. You watch and you talk
programs in good hands, it feelslike you see is there with Wes Miller
right now? Just the landscape fromyour point of view as a I look
(02:15):
at the football side and what football'sdoing in NIL in today's world. You're
a local product, you stayed local, you played at the University of Cincinnati.
I'm sure you'd have loved NIL tobe a part of your time at
UC. But what are your thoughtsof the direction? They return A ton
of starters, They've added some reallycool pieces, good pieces in the transfer
(02:35):
portal. Your thoughts on where WesMiller's got the Bearcats heading? Obviously year
two of the Big twelve is amuch different task. Man. Well,
like I said about Wes is first, first off, his support to even
have his TBT thing at fifth thirdArena. Thank you Wes Miller. He
was the lum to be a partof this. So I just definitely got
to shout that out. As faras the team, man, hey,
(02:58):
I got to chuck them out abouta week or two ago. I will
say, Man, this is oneof the biggest teams as far as size,
length, athleticism. I've seen ita long time. What I say
is we got the talent, wegot the pieces. Now you know,
it's putting the puzzle together. AndI think Wes right now is learning how
to put that puzzle together. Yougot four returning starters, five over today
(03:22):
and that gives you an edge.And I think that right there when you
talk about leadership culture, now you'restarting to feel like this Wes Miller era
can take off. So I'm veryexcited man. I mean really great returner,
young youth, young guys like GiselJames, and you know you got
day back, but then you gotyour vets and seems and skilling. So
you bring the de Mitchell kid fromTexas. I mean pieces, Rayvon griff
(03:44):
is a young one. I likedwhat I saw man. As we know,
Big twelve is tough basketball night andout, so you gotta bring it.
But when I look at the pieces, man, we got them to
compete. And it starts there.As you know, basketball tournament gets underway
July nineteenth, so we're right aroundthe corner mentioned before, Fifthird Arena is
(04:04):
hosting. Let's start at the groundstages of that. How does it come
about that you put this roster together? How does it come about to be
a site that gets to host aswell on the TVT. Well, I'll
tell you one thing you need todo is win and seal some tickets.
Winning everywhere that works, you knowthat the good thing is TVT And I'll
(04:28):
be honest. If you look atthe eight regions this year, they're all
collegiate regions. And as you starttalking about nil partnerships, advertisement sponsorships,
look, man, college sports arebooming right now, and I think TBT
seeson opportunity with so many alums playerscoming in and playing their professionals but played
at these high level colleges. Theytrying to mix and mingle that and find
(04:50):
that balance to generate some more money. So two years ago, man,
just talking to Troy Copaine, O, Shack, you name it, just
sitting on face these dudes overseas allthe time, and I'm like, yo,
man, since Mick left, wedon't really got a connection. Like
you know, as a hometown.I was working doing ESPN Plus for the
(05:10):
basketball games and I'm like, guys, man, they over a centas.
It's a great opportunity for us toget back together, get involved with the
university. As you said, yearone, we got popped in the mouth
by fort Wayne chance. We didnot take the tournament a series as we
thought it was. It was andit felt like we lost like the NCAA
tournament. We walked in the lockerroom that first year, it was like
the heads was down. Oh man, people was hurt. I remember the
(05:34):
first year after getting beat, Itook it like a UC basketball season loss.
Like I was distraught for like aday after and I'm like, man,
what is going on? But I'malways I'm a diehard Cincinnati sports fan,
so anything that's going on. Butto hear you say that that they
took it hard, that's good becauseI took it hard. And then you
(05:54):
come back to year two, yougot a little chip on your shoulder,
right, And as we know,experience tell everything and it makes a difference.
We didn't know that this tournament.I want people to understand, this
is not like a typical summer league, the Drew League and some of these
other league. We know that gota lot of talent. This has some
structure to it. We know it'sgot the elam inning to it, which
(06:15):
is also some strategy there. Butlike you need to prepare, you need
to have a staff, you needto have some offense, you need to
be on the same page and gameby game you just build chemistry right off
the bat. So year two,Man we went the quarterfinals and that wasn't
because of anything else but a mindsetchange. We were all accountable for our
actions. The staff was a lotmore prepared. I shifted it, made
(06:38):
some different changes, saw some success. I think TBT saw the success as
far as the zip them Up NascyNatty game, which had a tremendous amount
of fans in airfit to be someJuly basketball. Then we traveled up to
date Man and we had about athousand Cincinnati fans and attendance. So it
just made us wonder what if wecould host and shout out to John Cunningham,
(07:00):
Wes Miller, Andre those people helpedme, along with TBT man make
this deal happen and push through.And TBT is excited. We're excited.
I think it brings momentum to ourbasketball program. Karen players are excited,
and uh, I know as thelums Man, we're happy to be back
in our gym. All right,I'm looking through the roster of name Tray
Scotten, who's playing really good basketball, Troy copains Ellis, Jared Cumberland Keith
(07:26):
Williams, cause the list goes onon. Jacob Evans was our first round
draft pick in the NBA. Asthe team has started to find ways to
win as TBT continues to grow fromyour role, are you having to recruit
these guys or these guys reaching outto you and wanting to be a part
of it is an easier self foryou. Now, how does the roster
come together? The biggest thing isI was able to cheat a little bit.
(07:48):
A lot of these dudes you seeon there I played with right,
so that bond of brotherhood is there. Whether some is old, like Octavius
Zealous was older than me, butwe got two years in Jarring Kumba with
Jacob Bebmans. Were you younger thanme? But we got a year or
two in. So it's naturally gravitatingtowards me as a guy that I've played
with each and every one of them. The thing is, man, it's
(08:09):
tough because they are professionals. Scheduledleagues, yeah, Summer league, other
league. So you know, thebiggest thing is trusting each other. I
gotta trust them as GMS and sayhey, look I want you to play,
even if you miss a couple ofdays. Are you going to be
here? And that's what you're talkingabout, that trust, accountability that plays
a huge role in this and thisyear. I'm sticking with our guys.
(08:31):
It's hard to turn you back withquarterfinals. Let's be honest. During Cumberland
led to TBT, I think twentyfive points a game and Jacob Edwins was
fifth in scoring I think like nineteena game. So I mean I had
the two top scoring guards, MarkQuiz, Letcher Ellis, who wasn't a
bear Cat but played at Rice,played professional. He led in TVT and
blocks. So you think about youknow what I had. I'm like,
(08:54):
shoot, I got to bring theseguys back. Then we're reloaded with some
extra guards. Abrought you Alen adamsIn, which is the cousin of Troy
Copaine, played at Saint Bonaventure.Isaiah Miller as we know as a UNCG
product under Wes Miller. So broughtNazir Brooks in. Yeah, was playing
in France this year at a highlevel. So I think we got one
of the best front courts and twoleading scorers in the tournament. Troy Copene,
(09:18):
as we know as a great passer. I like our chances. I
like our chances, Tony, Ireally do. When you look at this
spending a few more minutes here withKevin Johnson the GM this year of the
Nasty Natty. What is it aboutthat bond? Because I'm assuming it's hard
because of all these guys other commitmentsto get a ton of practice time in.
So you got to feel that thatcamaraderie of knowing who you're playing with.
(09:43):
How do you navigate getting practice in? Are you able to get a
ton of practice time in leading intothe tournament coming up? We are?
So we got seven guys here already, we've been doing two a day.
So we go at eleven, andwe go again at five. We actually
got a scrimmage today. We gottwo guys right now summer league, so
we waiting to see how the chipsfall there. And we got most of
our guys will be full team.I think full team of ten missing two
(10:07):
will be fully equipped by Thursday.So we'll have one really good practice.
The good thing and Tony is Idon't got guys getting off the couch.
I got them getting off the planefrom playing. So game ready and you're
talking about pros. Look, man, they go to these different countries,
different teams, and they and theygotta find their role. So we asking
(10:28):
them to do the same thing.Be a professional, be here to win.
You talk about bonds, man,like the bond of winning is true.
You know, I want a lotof games with these guys. They
won a lot with each other.It's funny how you can not talk to
each other for months, maybe noteven see each other for years. When
you come back together, you justremember how you were winning, and that's
(10:48):
what you get to see about thisteam. And when I think of the
future, that's why it's so hardfor me to change the roster, because
that chemistry comes back home like thisand make for and we able to make
a run right away without having aton of practice ahead of us. But
I love it. We here towin it. I think this year,
Tony, as you keep playing init, the guys get closer and closer,
(11:11):
a little bit more eager to winthat million dollars. Right. We
sniffed it a little bit last year. Yeah, I think this year we
like Look fellas, it's at home. No chance. You mentioned something earlier
that I think is really important andvital in all of this. You mentioned
John Cunningham. More importantly, youmentioned Wes Miller, and I've always thought
from being on the football side,it's it's hard, it's a bigger roster.
(11:33):
But the coaches that I've seen thatembrace the past and embrace those past
players, it creates more of afamily atmosphere and it builds the program up.
You mentioned Wes being on the forefrontof wanting to get this yere and
wanting those guys. How much ofa difference have you seen. And that's
not a knock on any other formercoach. That's Wes trying to find his
role. But how have you seenWes embrace former players and want something like
(11:58):
the TVT to be hosted right herein Cincinnati. I couldn't think of enough.
I mean, he invited us upto the gym all the time.
We never have problems getting in thegym, watching practice. I mean,
talking to the staff, you nameit. He is open to it.
You know one thing I respect outof West and it may be a young
coach thing, but tells me allthe time, like keV Man, ain't
(12:20):
that far apart. I remember watchingy'all and y'all with some dogs man,
and hey, look I want thisthing back where we was going to the
tournament every year, we was winningconference championships and we just like Wes,
look, we just love the program. We want to support you too.
And he just opened arms man,and without his support, you know,
Tony, this stuff don't ride rightnow. He is the boss to head
(12:41):
man, to charge the program.So him support, man. I mean
from gear to just love the currentplayers, they embrace. We have a
good relationship as from a lums tocurrent players. We talked to each other
via internet, get in the gymwith each other, so talk about culture.
Man. Hey, we just wantto see us back on top and
anyway we can help, that's whatwe're here to do while we in town.
(13:01):
I look at now the bracket andit's hard press. As someone that
grew up on Cincinnati sports and Cincinnatibasketball. The one seed you get to
play about billions that Adrian Browners.Okay, so you get AB's teams starting
off, and you don't have tolook far to see the number two seed.
And I know you don't want tooverlook and look ahead, but if
(13:24):
things were to play out the waythe seating is set up, you could
see a quarterfinal matchup with Zip themup and Nasty Natty again. And I'm
just envisioning that at Fifth Third Arena, the atmosphere that it can create there.
They're smart in the scheduling as well, because I know Friday night is
the second session and you get bothzip them up and Nasty Natty. So
(13:45):
I know why they're doing it.But how do you find yourself not to
look ahead and try to take careof about billions? And then I believe
it'd be the winner of the brownBallers in Red Roast Thunder. Yes,
you can't overlook. You gotta treatthis just like you would in an NCAA
tournament. One game at a time. And uh so we're now looking past
agew Browder. They got some goodguys on the squad, and we were
(14:07):
just prepping to beat them first.Uh and and then we talk about our
next matchup. Shoot, we haven'tdone a scout for that, but I've
seen the rosters and they got somegood stuff going on. So one game
at a time, Tony, Andlike I say, we still get guys
in. We may be missing twoguys from Summer League. We'll have them
on that second game, and Ithink we'll be rocking and rolling I'm not
(14:28):
really worried about our roster and talent. I'm more so trying to make sure
our mentality in our culture is inthe right direction. I think the rest
man these boys will take care ofbusiness. Uh. It's the the tournament
dot com And if you follow alongjust to that website, there's there's nasty
natty gear that you can get onthere and you can get merchandise. Uh,
(14:48):
you can also get tickets. Ibelieve it's Friday Sundays. How the
games will set up at Fifth ThirdArena. But you can get on there
right on the website buy tickets thatway. For those that have not been
to a TVT, Austin producer,my co host went to the TVT and
talked about the games in the atmosphere. For those that haven't been to a
(15:11):
TVT tournament yet, what is theatmosphere, what is the vibe? What
are they going to be seen comeFriday night? This atmosphere you get to
see some high level pros come allover the place to play for a million
dollars, and you talk about intensity. Look, just put yourself back into
the college realm. That that's whatwe want to create. A no money
for second, you know, nomoney. So if you know college sports,
(15:37):
pandemonium is part of what the journeyis all about in college athletics.
So man, just look for athrill. Elam ending to end on a
game winning shot. Every play towin the game is fun. I think
that is huge itself. We'll havea Bearcat out. We got the dance
team, we got the cheerleaders,you know, so we're gonna have some
fun and a good cool part aboutit, Tony is also so if you
(16:00):
haven't been, there's no upper levelseats. Yeah, you know, the
coolest thing is sometimes you never getto sit close in arena all lower level
seats including court side and club seats, and you know, you just get
that up close and personal experience thatyou may not always experience through the year
of a University Cincinnati basketball game.So make sure you come out. It'll
be a good time and as somehigh level talent will be in town.
(16:23):
Obviously there's ways to watch on TV, but the best way is going to
go down and watch in person,especially if it's right here in your own
backyard. Whether you're a UC fan. Obviously you see had a good contingent
when it was at the Centas Center. So you're going to have Xavier fans
coming over to fifth third Arena.It's going to make for an awesome,
awesome environment. Appreciate all the workyou've put into the TBT and getting this
(16:47):
and helping bring this to fifth thirdArena and more excitement around the basketball program.
And certainly thanks for stopping by today. Man. Thank you Tony,
and for everybody, please just followus on Instagram and Nasty Natty Underscore TBT.
Just want to continue to build thepage and just check out the players.
We'll be pushing out a lot ofcontent, just fun stuff for you
guys to learn about the alums andall the cool stuff we're doing moving forward.
(17:10):
Awesome, Kevin, thanks for comingby, man, this was awesome.
Catch up soon man. That isKevin Johnson, the GM of Nasty
Natty, also all over for USSummit Basketball as well. The alumni of
Summit. Kevin Johnson appreciate his time. We'll be back. We've got more.
We've got some Li de la Cruzaudio. We've got some more reds
to get to as we go tillthree o'clock. Since he three sixty ESPN
(17:32):
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station thanks toPenn Station
Sponsored in part by Penn Station EastCoast Subs, handcrafted hot grilled subs,
fresh cut fries and lemonade. It'sall about good taste. Pennstation East Coast
Subs order online today. This isESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. All
right, welcome back. It's ournumber three since e three to six,
(00:20):
the ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Thank you to our friends at Penn
Station. Here as we get rollingin hour number three. And speaking of
getting something rolling, this has beennow a couple of years in the making.
If you're not familiar with the TBT, the Basketball Tournament, this is
something that's been around now for awhile. They dangled out one million dollars
first prize finish in second place youget nothing, which increases the intensity builds
(00:43):
up a lot around. But inrecent years Cincinnati is Nasty Nadi that they're
named, has started to make moreof a name for themselves in the TBT.
I remember early on a couple frustratingfinishes. Last year TBT comes on
the scene, they actually beat zipthem up. And this year it has
progressed as Nasty Natty. As aone seed, they're playing games at fifth
(01:07):
Third Arena, So some very excitingtimes with the basketball tournament right around the
corner, the GM of Nasty Natty, former Cincinnati Bearcat and doing some good
things still in the city. KevinJohnson in studio joining us right now.
Kevin, what's going on? Man? What's going on? Tony? Man?
I want to say I appreciate youfor having me. Oh yeah,
Man, sitting here. I wastelling me when you shot me a text.
(01:29):
I said, Man, you don'teven know. I'm a fan girl
watching Tony Pike in the UC Jerseyand it was some good times, dog,
So a pleasure to be here,which absolutely before we dive into the
tvt What are you doing right nowoutside of GMing this roster? Yeah,
Man, I work in development atthe Summer Country Day High School, which
is also my lum yes sir aswell and my armor mater, and I'm
(01:51):
also the head basketball coach there too. So we had some success last year.
Man. We lost in districts.Man, we won our league.
I got Coach of the Year.I got a Hunter freshman coming in.
It's been making some noise, soprogram has a good hands many I'm trying
to go win me a title herethis year. You watch and you talk
programs in good hands, it feelslike you see is there with Wes Miller
right now? Just the landscape fromyour point of view as a I look
(02:15):
at the football side and what football'sdoing in NIL in today's world. You're
a local product, you stayed local, you played at the University of Cincinnati.
I'm sure you'd have loved NIL tobe a part of your time at
UC. But what are your thoughtsof the direction? They return A ton
of starters, They've added some reallycool pieces, good pieces in the transfer
(02:35):
portal. Your thoughts on where WesMiller's got the Bearcats heading? Obviously year
two of the Big twelve is amuch different task. Man. Well,
like I said about Wes is first, first off, his support to even
have his TBT thing at fifth thirdArena. Thank you Wes Miller. He
was the lum to be a partof this. So I just definitely got
to shout that out. As faras the team, man, hey,
(02:58):
I got to chuck them out abouta week or two ago. I will
say, Man, this is oneof the biggest teams as far as size,
length, athleticism. I've seen ita long time. What I say
is we got the talent, wegot the pieces. Now you know,
it's putting the puzzle together. AndI think Wes right now is learning how
to put that puzzle together. Yougot four returning starters, five over today
(03:22):
and that gives you an edge.And I think that right there when you
talk about leadership culture, now you'restarting to feel like this Wes Miller era
can take off. So I'm veryexcited man. I mean really great returner,
young youth, young guys like GiselJames, and you know you got
day back, but then you gotyour vets and seems and skilling. So
you bring the de Mitchell kid fromTexas. I mean pieces, Rayvon griff
(03:44):
is a young one. I likedwhat I saw man. As we know,
Big twelve is tough basketball night andout, so you gotta bring it.
But when I look at the pieces, man, we got them to
compete. And it starts there.As you know, basketball tournament gets underway
July nineteenth, so we're right aroundthe corner mentioned before, Fifthird Arena is
(04:04):
hosting. Let's start at the groundstages of that. How does it come
about that you put this roster together? How does it come about to be
a site that gets to host aswell on the TVT. Well, I'll
tell you one thing you need todo is win and seal some tickets.
Winning everywhere that works, you knowthat the good thing is TVT And I'll
(04:28):
be honest. If you look atthe eight regions this year, they're all
collegiate regions. And as you starttalking about nil partnerships, advertisement sponsorships,
look, man, college sports arebooming right now, and I think TBT
seeson opportunity with so many alums playerscoming in and playing their professionals but played
at these high level colleges. Theytrying to mix and mingle that and find
(04:50):
that balance to generate some more money. So two years ago, man,
just talking to Troy Copaine, O, Shack, you name it, just
sitting on face these dudes overseas allthe time, and I'm like, yo,
man, since Mick left, wedon't really got a connection. Like
you know, as a hometown.I was working doing ESPN Plus for the
(05:10):
basketball games and I'm like, guys, man, they over a centas.
It's a great opportunity for us toget back together, get involved with the
university. As you said, yearone, we got popped in the mouth
by fort Wayne chance. We didnot take the tournament a series as we
thought it was. It was andit felt like we lost like the NCAA
tournament. We walked in the lockerroom that first year, it was like
the heads was down. Oh man, people was hurt. I remember the
(05:34):
first year after getting beat, Itook it like a UC basketball season loss.
Like I was distraught for like aday after and I'm like, man,
what is going on? But I'malways I'm a diehard Cincinnati sports fan,
so anything that's going on. Butto hear you say that that they
took it hard, that's good becauseI took it hard. And then you
(05:54):
come back to year two, yougot a little chip on your shoulder,
right, And as we know,experience tell everything and it makes a difference.
We didn't know that this tournament.I want people to understand, this
is not like a typical summer league, the Drew League and some of these
other league. We know that gota lot of talent. This has some
structure to it. We know it'sgot the elam inning to it, which
(06:15):
is also some strategy there. Butlike you need to prepare, you need
to have a staff, you needto have some offense, you need to
be on the same page and gameby game you just build chemistry right off
the bat. So year two,Man we went the quarterfinals and that wasn't
because of anything else but a mindsetchange. We were all accountable for our
actions. The staff was a lotmore prepared. I shifted it, made
(06:38):
some different changes, saw some success. I think TBT saw the success as
far as the zip them Up NascyNatty game, which had a tremendous amount
of fans in airfit to be someJuly basketball. Then we traveled up to
date Man and we had about athousand Cincinnati fans and attendance. So it
just made us wonder what if wecould host and shout out to John Cunningham,
(07:00):
Wes Miller, Andre those people helpedme, along with TBT man make
this deal happen and push through.And TBT is excited. We're excited.
I think it brings momentum to ourbasketball program. Karen players are excited,
and uh, I know as thelums Man, we're happy to be back
in our gym. All right,I'm looking through the roster of name Tray
Scotten, who's playing really good basketball, Troy copains Ellis, Jared Cumberland Keith
(07:26):
Williams, cause the list goes onon. Jacob Evans was our first round
draft pick in the NBA. Asthe team has started to find ways to
win as TBT continues to grow fromyour role, are you having to recruit
these guys or these guys reaching outto you and wanting to be a part
of it is an easier self foryou. Now, how does the roster
come together? The biggest thing isI was able to cheat a little bit.
(07:48):
A lot of these dudes you seeon there I played with right,
so that bond of brotherhood is there. Whether some is old, like Octavius
Zealous was older than me, butwe got two years in Jarring Kumba with
Jacob Bebmans. Were you younger thanme? But we got a year or
two in. So it's naturally gravitatingtowards me as a guy that I've played
with each and every one of them. The thing is, man, it's
(08:09):
tough because they are professionals. Scheduledleagues, yeah, Summer league, other
league. So you know, thebiggest thing is trusting each other. I
gotta trust them as GMS and sayhey, look I want you to play,
even if you miss a couple ofdays. Are you going to be
here? And that's what you're talkingabout, that trust, accountability that plays
a huge role in this and thisyear. I'm sticking with our guys.
(08:31):
It's hard to turn you back withquarterfinals. Let's be honest. During Cumberland
led to TBT, I think twentyfive points a game and Jacob Edwins was
fifth in scoring I think like nineteena game. So I mean I had
the two top scoring guards, MarkQuiz, Letcher Ellis, who wasn't a
bear Cat but played at Rice,played professional. He led in TVT and
blocks. So you think about youknow what I had. I'm like,
(08:54):
shoot, I got to bring theseguys back. Then we're reloaded with some
extra guards. Abrought you Alen adamsIn, which is the cousin of Troy
Copaine, played at Saint Bonaventure.Isaiah Miller as we know as a UNCG
product under Wes Miller. So broughtNazir Brooks in. Yeah, was playing
in France this year at a highlevel. So I think we got one
of the best front courts and twoleading scorers in the tournament. Troy Copene,
(09:18):
as we know as a great passer. I like our chances. I
like our chances, Tony, Ireally do. When you look at this
spending a few more minutes here withKevin Johnson the GM this year of the
Nasty Natty. What is it aboutthat bond? Because I'm assuming it's hard
because of all these guys other commitmentsto get a ton of practice time in.
So you got to feel that thatcamaraderie of knowing who you're playing with.
(09:43):
How do you navigate getting practice in? Are you able to get a
ton of practice time in leading intothe tournament coming up? We are?
So we got seven guys here already, we've been doing two a day.
So we go at eleven, andwe go again at five. We actually
got a scrimmage today. We gottwo guys right now summer league, so
we waiting to see how the chipsfall there. And we got most of
our guys will be full team.I think full team of ten missing two
(10:07):
will be fully equipped by Thursday.So we'll have one really good practice.
The good thing and Tony is Idon't got guys getting off the couch.
I got them getting off the planefrom playing. So game ready and you're
talking about pros. Look, man, they go to these different countries,
different teams, and they and theygotta find their role. So we asking
(10:28):
them to do the same thing.Be a professional, be here to win.
You talk about bonds, man,like the bond of winning is true.
You know, I want a lotof games with these guys. They
won a lot with each other.It's funny how you can not talk to
each other for months, maybe noteven see each other for years. When
you come back together, you justremember how you were winning, and that's
(10:48):
what you get to see about thisteam. And when I think of the
future, that's why it's so hardfor me to change the roster, because
that chemistry comes back home like thisand make for and we able to make
a run right away without having aton of practice ahead of us. But
I love it. We here towin it. I think this year,
Tony, as you keep playing init, the guys get closer and closer,
(11:11):
a little bit more eager to winthat million dollars. Right. We
sniffed it a little bit last year. Yeah, I think this year we
like Look fellas, it's at home. No chance. You mentioned something earlier
that I think is really important andvital in all of this. You mentioned
John Cunningham. More importantly, youmentioned Wes Miller, and I've always thought
from being on the football side,it's it's hard, it's a bigger roster.
(11:33):
But the coaches that I've seen thatembrace the past and embrace those past
players, it creates more of afamily atmosphere and it builds the program up.
You mentioned Wes being on the forefrontof wanting to get this yere and
wanting those guys. How much ofa difference have you seen. And that's
not a knock on any other formercoach. That's Wes trying to find his
role. But how have you seenWes embrace former players and want something like
(11:58):
the TVT to be hosted right herein Cincinnati. I couldn't think of enough.
I mean, he invited us upto the gym all the time.
We never have problems getting in thegym, watching practice. I mean,
talking to the staff, you nameit. He is open to it.
You know one thing I respect outof West and it may be a young
coach thing, but tells me allthe time, like keV Man, ain't
(12:20):
that far apart. I remember watchingy'all and y'all with some dogs man,
and hey, look I want thisthing back where we was going to the
tournament every year, we was winningconference championships and we just like Wes,
look, we just love the program. We want to support you too.
And he just opened arms man,and without his support, you know,
Tony, this stuff don't ride rightnow. He is the boss to head
(12:41):
man, to charge the program.So him support, man. I mean
from gear to just love the currentplayers, they embrace. We have a
good relationship as from a lums tocurrent players. We talked to each other
via internet, get in the gymwith each other, so talk about culture.
Man. Hey, we just wantto see us back on top and
anyway we can help, that's whatwe're here to do while we in town.
(13:01):
I look at now the bracket andit's hard press. As someone that
grew up on Cincinnati sports and Cincinnatibasketball. The one seed you get to
play about billions that Adrian Browners.Okay, so you get AB's teams starting
off, and you don't have tolook far to see the number two seed.
And I know you don't want tooverlook and look ahead, but if
(13:24):
things were to play out the waythe seating is set up, you could
see a quarterfinal matchup with Zip themup and Nasty Natty again. And I'm
just envisioning that at Fifth Third Arena, the atmosphere that it can create there.
They're smart in the scheduling as well, because I know Friday night is
the second session and you get bothzip them up and Nasty Natty. So
(13:45):
I know why they're doing it.But how do you find yourself not to
look ahead and try to take careof about billions? And then I believe
it'd be the winner of the brownBallers in Red Roast Thunder. Yes,
you can't overlook. You gotta treatthis just like you would in an NCAA
tournament. One game at a time. And uh so we're now looking past
agew Browder. They got some goodguys on the squad, and we were
(14:07):
just prepping to beat them first.Uh and and then we talk about our
next matchup. Shoot, we haven'tdone a scout for that, but I've
seen the rosters and they got somegood stuff going on. So one game
at a time, Tony, Andlike I say, we still get guys
in. We may be missing twoguys from Summer League. We'll have them
on that second game, and Ithink we'll be rocking and rolling I'm not
(14:28):
really worried about our roster and talent. I'm more so trying to make sure
our mentality in our culture is inthe right direction. I think the rest
man these boys will take care ofbusiness. Uh. It's the the tournament
dot com And if you follow alongjust to that website, there's there's nasty
natty gear that you can get onthere and you can get merchandise. Uh,
(14:48):
you can also get tickets. Ibelieve it's Friday Sundays. How the
games will set up at Fifth ThirdArena. But you can get on there
right on the website buy tickets thatway. For those that have not been
to a TVT, Austin producer,my co host went to the TVT and
talked about the games in the atmosphere. For those that haven't been to a
(15:11):
TVT tournament yet, what is theatmosphere, what is the vibe? What
are they going to be seen comeFriday night? This atmosphere you get to
see some high level pros come allover the place to play for a million
dollars, and you talk about intensity. Look, just put yourself back into
the college realm. That that's whatwe want to create. A no money
for second, you know, nomoney. So if you know college sports,
(15:37):
pandemonium is part of what the journeyis all about in college athletics.
So man, just look for athrill. Elam ending to end on a
game winning shot. Every play towin the game is fun. I think
that is huge itself. We'll havea Bearcat out. We got the dance
team, we got the cheerleaders,you know, so we're gonna have some
fun and a good cool part aboutit, Tony is also so if you
(16:00):
haven't been, there's no upper levelseats. Yeah, you know, the
coolest thing is sometimes you never getto sit close in arena all lower level
seats including court side and club seats, and you know, you just get
that up close and personal experience thatyou may not always experience through the year
of a University Cincinnati basketball game.So make sure you come out. It'll
be a good time and as somehigh level talent will be in town.
(16:23):
Obviously there's ways to watch on TV, but the best way is going to
go down and watch in person,especially if it's right here in your own
backyard. Whether you're a UC fan. Obviously you see had a good contingent
when it was at the Centas Center. So you're going to have Xavier fans
coming over to fifth third Arena.It's going to make for an awesome,
awesome environment. Appreciate all the workyou've put into the TBT and getting this
(16:47):
and helping bring this to fifth thirdArena and more excitement around the basketball program.
And certainly thanks for stopping by today. Man. Thank you Tony,
and for everybody, please just followus on Instagram and Nasty Natty Underscore TBT.
Just want to continue to build thepage and just check out the players.
We'll be pushing out a lot ofcontent, just fun stuff for you
guys to learn about the alums andall the cool stuff we're doing moving forward.
(17:10):
Awesome, Kevin, thanks for comingby, man, this was awesome.
Catch up soon man. That isKevin Johnson, the GM of Nasty
Natty, also all over for USSummit Basketball as well. The alumni of
Summit. Kevin Johnson appreciate his time. We'll be back. We've got more.
We've got some Li de la Cruzaudio. We've got some more reds
to get to as we go tillthree o'clock. Since he three sixty ESPN
(17:32):
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station thanks toPenn Station
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