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Speaker 1: Let's head to the payless lookers hotline right now. The

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Speaker 1: head coach of the Butler Bulldogs joins us stad Mata

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Speaker 1: here on a Wednesday morning. Coach, I'm guessing you're waking

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Speaker 1: up in Philadelphia this morning and get ready to go

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Speaker 1: for a game tonight.

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Speaker 2: How you doing do well out here in the city

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Speaker 2: of brotherly Love?

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Speaker 1: Are you feeling it? Are you feeling the love out there?

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Speaker 1: Getting ready for this game tonight?

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Speaker 2: I am? I am. We're gonna read all again, that's

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Speaker 2: for sure.

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Speaker 1: How would you describe this season so far? For you know,

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Speaker 1: as we head down the stretch, what's it been like

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Speaker 1: for you as a coach to watch this group? The

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Speaker 1: injuries you've had, the ups, the downs, losing streaks, winning streaks.

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Speaker 1: How would you describe this amongst all the other seasons

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Speaker 1: you've had in your career? What would you How would

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Speaker 1: you say this one's gone?

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you it's funny because I told it's a

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Speaker 2: bit of the day. This has been one of the

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Speaker 2: most challenging seasons I've ever had, and it just from

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Speaker 2: you know, I felt like when we broke camp this

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Speaker 2: summer into the into the fall, that this team had

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Speaker 2: a chance to like being the Sblay tournament team. I

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Speaker 2: really did. And and uh, you know, we've come back

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Speaker 2: from West Virginia and all of a sudden, Jalen's having

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Speaker 2: a season in surgery. And but it's by the same

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Speaker 2: token that has been very gratifying because I think these

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Speaker 2: guys is amazing how much they just continue to work,

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Speaker 2: how much you know better they've got it. And you know,

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Speaker 2: you look at guys and uh, just a growth that

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Speaker 2: they've made, and and uh, you know, from that perspective,

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Speaker 2: it's been a really enjoyable season for.

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Speaker 3: Me again, two wins in a row for the Bulldogs.

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Speaker 3: They are at Villanova, a very good Villanova team here

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Speaker 3: coming up tonight seven o'clock. FS. One coach you saw

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Speaker 3: this morning in the Annapolis Star, King Glaspie covers you

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Speaker 3: guys for the Star. He spoke with Grant line Decker

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Speaker 3: you're a d and mentioning there that you will be back.

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Speaker 3: It sounds like the nil situation, you know, in the

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Speaker 3: first three years wasn't where it needed to be for you,

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Speaker 3: but this past year felt like it was in a

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Speaker 3: much healthier spot. We've seen a lot of coaches, frankly,

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Speaker 3: with your resume or of coach as long as you

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Speaker 3: have maybe not want to experience this new era of

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Speaker 3: how minor minor league bastball is probably the best way

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Speaker 3: to put it. But this new air of college basketball,

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Speaker 3: you clearly have wanted to get back into it and

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Speaker 3: want to continue to do that. Why have you wanted?

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Speaker 3: I would call it a challenge that the new era

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Speaker 3: of college basketball.

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Speaker 2: Is definitely a challenge. And from this perspective, I'm enjoying

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Speaker 2: what I'm doing, and you know, we've got great kids

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Speaker 2: and I enjoyed being around them and and that sort

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Speaker 2: of thing. As long as we're going to continue to

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Speaker 2: make strives to be competitive, that gives me a challenge.

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Speaker 2: That gives me, uh some of the wake up and say, Okay,

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Speaker 2: we're in the game. And it hasn't been that way

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Speaker 2: the entire time. There's there's no doubt about that. But

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Speaker 2: I didn't. Grant's doing a heck of a job, and

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Speaker 2: you know, hopefully you can continue to help us to

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Speaker 2: help Butler.

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Speaker 4: Again, we're talking at that made head coach of the

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Speaker 4: Butler men's basketball team. That along those lines. When you've

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Speaker 4: been doing this for so long, what has changed throughout

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Speaker 4: the years and what would you say or like, hey,

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Speaker 4: every dather ends and why this is how it's going

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Speaker 4: to be.

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Speaker 2: The changes, How long are you guys are on this morning?

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Speaker 1: We'll go forever for you, coach.

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Speaker 2: It's still different just in terms of how it used

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Speaker 2: to be, and that was building relationships, gain trust and

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Speaker 2: kids and their families and you know, selling the academic

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Speaker 2: benefits of what a university can do for a guy

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Speaker 2: for the next forty years of his life. You know,

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Speaker 2: you you would talk about the developmental piece of what

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Speaker 2: we're going to do different than everybody else in terms

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Speaker 2: of making you the best player that you can possibly be,

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Speaker 2: and those days that doesn't exist anymore. I think we

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Speaker 2: almost some of it does, but for the vast majority,

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Speaker 2: it's it's how much money pay it? And you know

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Speaker 2: then they all want the right situation. You know, nobody

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Speaker 2: wants to have anybody else that's a position or anything

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Speaker 2: like that. But but I do think the things that

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Speaker 2: are the same as Hey, tonight, at seven o'clock, I'm

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Speaker 2: going to coach a basketball game. Our guys are going

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Speaker 2: to play a game, and and that to me is

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Speaker 2: kind of the exciting part of it. In terms of

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Speaker 2: UH strategizing coaching and doing the best that we can.

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Speaker 2: They'll know what's really good. We've got to play well.

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Speaker 1: Nite talking to the coach the Butler Bulldogs that of course,

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Speaker 1: that Mata on the Payless Liquors hotline. When you look

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Speaker 1: at this type of this type of season and where

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Speaker 1: you at this time of year, what's your emphasis to

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Speaker 1: the players going to these last few games and then

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Speaker 1: getting ready for the Big East Tournament.

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Speaker 2: You know, honestly, keep getting better and have fun. Let's

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Speaker 2: enjoy every day. And you know, like I've said, these

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Speaker 2: guys come in every day to practice, and you know

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Speaker 2: it's just right now, it's really hard for us to practice.

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Speaker 2: It's the honest thing because we don't have enough guys

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Speaker 2: and we can't get anybody else injured. So we do

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Speaker 2: a ton of Duram and dicover yes against the scout

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Speaker 2: team and like a lot of five on Oh. But

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Speaker 2: you let's let's enjoy this. We things haven't gone the

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Speaker 2: way we all thought they were going to, but we're

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Speaker 2: getting better. Enjoy it and see what we can do.

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Speaker 3: That'll last one from me. And I know you guys

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Speaker 3: have a home game coming up next week, but you

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Speaker 3: honored your seniors. Uh, in that Xavier game and what

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Speaker 3: Michael Ajaia has brought it. I know you've touched on

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Speaker 3: it a couple of different times with us here, but

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Speaker 3: you know from Afar and I go back to the

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Speaker 3: Providence game, you know, your first Big East game of

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Speaker 3: the year, when he got on the floor in double overtime,

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Speaker 3: you know you got that ball out to Evan Haywood

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Speaker 3: for the three. It just seems like he has, you know,

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Speaker 3: really stood for a lot of what you want to

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Speaker 3: be about from an effort standpoint, and I assume that's

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Speaker 3: hugely beneficial when your best player shows up type effort.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's no question. And Michael has been an Asian

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Speaker 2: from of the ages, got here and you know, he

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Speaker 2: just he's relentless in his work ethic. He wants to

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Speaker 2: he wants to play this game for a long time

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Speaker 2: at the highest level. And uh, you know just from

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Speaker 2: you know, I think friends are leading scorer, but sing

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Speaker 2: leading score, leading rebounder. He leaves us in the stift,

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Speaker 2: he leaves the skills. Just it's amazing the passion that

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Speaker 2: he plays with. And we ask him like hey, by

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Speaker 2: the way, we need to score and rebound him. But

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Speaker 2: you also have to guard the other team's best player

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Speaker 2: for forty minutes. He just doesn't. And you know he's uh,

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Speaker 2: we we've been blessed to have.

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Speaker 4: There's no doubt about that last one for me. That

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Speaker 4: and along those same lines about Michael Ja when you're

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Speaker 4: trying to find a guy like him in the portal

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Speaker 4: and you know, like you said, the money is a factor,

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Speaker 4: and you know the fit and my opportunity, but what

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Speaker 4: kind of tells you that beyond some of the maybe

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Speaker 4: superficial things. I don't want to act like money superficial

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Speaker 4: because we probably all will like a little bit more

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Speaker 4: of it, but maybe along those lines, what stands out

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Speaker 4: to what trace do you look for to find guys

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Speaker 4: like that that you can point at even a season

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Speaker 4: like this where you might have started a little bit,

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Speaker 4: but you can point to the next people that are

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Speaker 4: coming in and say, hey, if you want an opportunity

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Speaker 4: to be like that guy, here's our need from you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, I think just Michael as of a really,

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Speaker 2: really good agent and they were looking for the right

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Speaker 2: situation for him to come in and make an impact,

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Speaker 2: and you feel I think they wanted the right fit

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Speaker 2: because you know, this is tim A Pepperdine Gonzaga. You know,

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Speaker 2: he went to Gonzaga and they had like three guys

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Speaker 2: like him, and obviously we didn't have three guys like him.

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Speaker 2: And I think you come in and came in and

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Speaker 2: done a really good job of utilizing what we needed.

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Speaker 2: But he's also gotten better. He's a better player than

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Speaker 2: when he started the season. Coach.

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Speaker 1: Always good to talk to you. Good luck tonight. We'll

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Speaker 1: be listening for you here at ninety three five and

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Speaker 1: one of seventy five the fan. We appreciate you being

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Speaker 1: here every week and we'll talk to you soon.

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Speaker 2: All right, guys, every day. Thanks