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Speaker 1: So you're real at this point, Steven.

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Speaker 2: Always great to catch up with you have yourself a day, buddy.

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Speaker 3: We'll see us soon, all right, see you guys.

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Speaker 2: I've been gonna asked it this morning. Not only are

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Speaker 2: we the home of the Indiana Pacers, the Indianapolis Colts,

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Speaker 2: the Indy five hundred Indiana University, but Indianapolis's own Butler

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Speaker 2: Bulldogs once again airing here on ninety three five and

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Speaker 2: one O seven to five of the fan. We're gonna

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Speaker 2: be excited at that. And coming up in a minute,

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Speaker 2: we'll talk to the head coach, Thad Mata, who joined

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Speaker 2: us on the Payless Liquers Hotline. Now, coach, it's we're

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Speaker 2: ready for another season. I know you're just a couple

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Speaker 2: of weeks away, and we're happy to have you guys back.

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Speaker 2: We're excited about it. How excited should we be this year?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? I think I know. I'm excited. And uh, isn't

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Speaker 1: it It's September seventeenth and we're talking college basketball? Love it,

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Speaker 1: I know, right' It's amazing how it's become just, you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of year round for us. And we've got ten

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Speaker 1: new guys on the roster and and Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: now in college basketball you can practice in the summer

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Speaker 1: and even into the fall. You get like time limitations.

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Speaker 1: But I think these guys have made great strides. I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm excited. I liked the group that we got. I

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Speaker 1: think there were athletic is as we've been. We've got lengths,

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Speaker 1: we've got size, and and uh, just a really really

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Speaker 1: good group of guys that have done a great job

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Speaker 1: so far.

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Speaker 3: Coach, great to hear your voice, thanks for hopping on.

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Speaker 4: And James and I were fortunate to come to practice

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Speaker 4: probably about a month ago, and you know, the the

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Speaker 4: amateur eye did indicate definitely some more athleticism as you

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Speaker 4: mentioned and length. How big of a focus was that

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Speaker 4: and retooling your roster here this offseason.

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Speaker 1: Well, it was very very important to us. I think,

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Speaker 1: you know that was the thing that I said, is

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Speaker 1: we've got to add athleticism. You know, you have had

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Speaker 1: the pleasure of coaching some really, really good college basketball teams,

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Speaker 1: and we were we were athletic because when you play

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Speaker 1: in the biggiest conference and you've got to go through

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Speaker 1: twenty games, you know in the end that that adds

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Speaker 1: up for you of just you know, having guys. You

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Speaker 1: look at last year, we I think led thirteen to

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Speaker 1: twenty games at halftime in the Big East, and a

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Speaker 1: lot of times we ran out of gas. We want

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Speaker 1: as deep. You know, Jamie Kaiser not playing for us

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Speaker 1: last year set us back a little bit. But uh,

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Speaker 1: I think just from the standpoint of of you know,

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Speaker 1: we we wanted speed of positions at the point guard position.

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Speaker 1: We wanted, you know, longer athletic guys, and I think

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Speaker 1: we did that, and especially at the center position. We're

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Speaker 1: much much more athletic there.

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Speaker 5: You talk about that a lessons and coach. What has

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Speaker 5: the addition of Michael Jaii been, at least just early

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Speaker 5: on as far as you getting him out, getting him

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Speaker 5: aclimated to your program, and what's been your impression of

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Speaker 5: the form agan Zaga product.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I love Michael. I mean, his his work work

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Speaker 1: ethic is second to none. He's done a great job

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Speaker 1: with his body. I mean, he's one of those guys

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Speaker 1: he's in the gym for hours every day. He just

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Speaker 1: just trying to get better. He's very focused. He's he's

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Speaker 1: a cerebral kid, and and I've enjoyed just sitting and

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Speaker 1: talking with him and getting his thoughts and you know,

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Speaker 1: trying to shape his mind. You know, we're going to

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Speaker 1: need him to be a really really good player for

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Speaker 1: us this year. And and I think that's what he's

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Speaker 1: looking for when he when he left on Zaga to

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Speaker 1: come here, and and uh expecting big things from Michael Well.

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Speaker 2: The head coach the Butler men's basketball team, Thad Mana

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Speaker 2: joining us on the Payless Liquors Hotline. It's such a

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Speaker 2: special place for college basketball, and the conference is no

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Speaker 2: joke for you as a coach and coming back and

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Speaker 2: been back for a bit now, But what what makes

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Speaker 2: it so special to you Butler basketball? Why is it

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Speaker 2: just different there?

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't know, It's it's odd, you know,

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Speaker 1: being a guy who who played here and then obviously

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Speaker 1: coached here as an assistant and second stint as a

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Speaker 1: head coach, you know, there's just there's I don't know

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Speaker 1: what it is. It's hard to explain. I tell recruits

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Speaker 1: and I try to get him to do it. They

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Speaker 1: never do it. But I remember my father and I

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Speaker 1: and I think it was like eighty six back in

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Speaker 1: the late nineteen hundreds, we walked into Hinko and I

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Speaker 1: just looked around and said, I'm coming here, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I'm more of a throwback old school you know,

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Speaker 1: raised in a small town. But I don't know, I

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Speaker 1: find myself at times in practice kind of just looking

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Speaker 1: around Hinko and being like, wow, you know, just everything

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Speaker 1: that's ever occurred in this building, and it's it's still

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Speaker 1: it's it's pure. That's I think the thing that I

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Speaker 1: love about Butler. And you know, college athletics has become

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Speaker 1: a business. It is what it is, and but I

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Speaker 1: think there's still pureness at Butler in terms of the

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Speaker 1: type of kids that we you know, I tell recruits like, hey,

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Speaker 1: we we go to class here, it's still college, you know,

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Speaker 1: and it's not online and all that stuff. And I

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Speaker 1: don't know, it's just it is. It is a special,

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Speaker 1: special place and will always be special to me, that's

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Speaker 1: for sure. And and you know, we get to do

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Speaker 1: a better job of protection our home court. We haven't

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Speaker 1: been good of that in three years. And you know,

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Speaker 1: that's something that is very very important to me.

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Speaker 3: Co It's kind of big picture and this is probably

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Speaker 3: more of a college basketball question. Obviously, you've been in

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Speaker 3: the game for a long time from a college standpoint.

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Speaker 3: One of the more popular storylines we've seen in recent

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Speaker 3: offseasons about the nca Tournament and potential expansion to it.

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Speaker 3: We will not get that this year. It is sticking

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Speaker 3: to sixty eight. I know coach's opinion might differ than

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Speaker 3: some others in the business. Do you have an opinion

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Speaker 3: on whether or not the tournament should expand I do.

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Speaker 1: I think that. I remember, I think it was Bob

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Speaker 1: Knight back in the eighties and led everybody in. And

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Speaker 1: you know, I just I've I've always been a comb

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Speaker 1: let as many as you can because it's so subjective

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Speaker 1: now and when you think about it, you know, the

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Speaker 1: all the you know, it's basically like computers that are

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Speaker 1: deciding who goes and and me not being a tech guy,

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Speaker 1: that's probably not a good thing. But you know, you

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Speaker 1: look at at some of these conferences now, they don't

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Speaker 1: even go to the conference tournament, and like, what do

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Speaker 1: you go to college for? Uh? Or you know, I

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Speaker 1: know who to go to college for. I mean that,

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Speaker 1: but like, you know, the team that doesn't get to

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Speaker 1: go to the conference tournament, that's like I don't know,

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Speaker 1: I mean that is that truly March madness, no doubt

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Speaker 1: about that.

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Speaker 3: Coach. One last one from me.

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Speaker 5: I had a chance to watch Think Robinson last year

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Speaker 5: at Lawrence Norrith and I was like, man, they're getting

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Speaker 5: a good one over at Butler because this guy can

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Speaker 5: fill it up with some buckets. What's been your impression

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Speaker 5: of him? And obviously to break that record at l

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Speaker 5: an you got to be pretty good, because I believe

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Speaker 5: he broke Greg Golden's record.

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Speaker 1: He did. He did. Yeah, there's there's been a player

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Speaker 1: to come through Lawrence Snorts and that's for sure. But

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Speaker 1: Xavier has been I love him and and I'll be

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Speaker 1: honest with you, he's he's adapting to the college game

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Speaker 1: really well. He's he's uh, he wants to be a player,

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Speaker 1: he wants to be coached, and and you know, he's

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Speaker 1: got some some things that have, you know, god given

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Speaker 1: abilities that I don't have drills to create, just with

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Speaker 1: his speed and his his you know, ability to get

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Speaker 1: up and guard. And like I said, I've been very

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Speaker 1: pleased with him and old the freshmen to be honest

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Speaker 1: with you, it's funny. Yesterday we were practicing and as

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Speaker 1: we got going fast, the game really got sped up.

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Speaker 1: And I told the coaches after I said, well, you

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Speaker 1: can see who the freshmen were today because it was

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Speaker 1: going so fast. But no, he has been really, really

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Speaker 1: good and you know, one of those guys that wants

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Speaker 1: to know everything, which is is what you want in

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Speaker 1: a point guard.

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Speaker 5: So follow up on that real quick. What because you've

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Speaker 5: been around the game so long, what has it been

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Speaker 5: like to see the team building sort of shift? Because

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Speaker 5: now if you get a transfer, he can play that year.

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Speaker 5: So what's that balance of like the old teams winning college,

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Speaker 5: but you still want to have that pipeline of your

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Speaker 5: own talent coming through your program.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's such a fine line, to be honest with you,

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Speaker 1: and you know we laugh about it in recruiting meetings.

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Speaker 1: You know, back in the day, you could look three

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Speaker 1: years ahead and say, you know, Xavier is going to buy,

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Speaker 1: but the time he's the junior, he's gonna be an

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Speaker 1: All league player, you know whatever. And now it's kind

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Speaker 1: of like I have to coach this team and see

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Speaker 1: what the spring brings. But uh, I think in terms

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Speaker 1: of the team building, the one thing that we've really

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Speaker 1: tried to do is is hanging on guys character and

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Speaker 1: and trying to find the right fit for our locker room.

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Speaker 1: And and for Butler, and and I think you know,

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Speaker 1: the cohesiveness we have right now with ten new players

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Speaker 1: on the roster has been tremendous. And you know, the

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Speaker 1: one thing you do get when you bring in older guys,

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Speaker 1: you get a certain level of maturity, and and our

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Speaker 1: older guys, even though that maybe the first time here,

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Speaker 1: have have done a really really good job of forming

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Speaker 1: some cohesiveness in terms of the locker room and practice

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Speaker 1: habits and and that sort of thing. So I've been

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Speaker 1: very very pleased with that because that that is a

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Speaker 1: that is something that you're a lot of times you're

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Speaker 1: you're tooling a whole new team. And you know, fortunately

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Speaker 1: for us, having Finley back for his third season is

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Speaker 1: a good thing for US coach.

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Speaker 2: Last thing for me, amongst your returners, Mark Minner and

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Speaker 2: Nick Gardner, how's that pair working out for you?

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Speaker 1: I tell you what, those guys are great. They they

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Speaker 1: they'll do a you've heard them. And you know, two

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Speaker 1: special guys that both obviously love Butler, they love Butler basketball,

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Speaker 1: and they want us to do as well as they can.

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Speaker 1: And and you know, I think just from from that standpoint,

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Speaker 1: they make my life easier in terms of the interviews

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Speaker 1: and stuff that I have to do and and you know,

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Speaker 1: very excited to work side by side with us two.

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Speaker 2: Always good to talk to you, coach. Can't wait for

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Speaker 2: another season to get going. It'll be here before you

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Speaker 2: know it. And uh, we'll talk to you probably weekly.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate it, all right, guys, thank you,