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Speaker 1: At sports station ESPN fifteen thirty. All right, it's fix

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Speaker 1: after four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Speaker 2: Good afternoon, I'm oegor. You're having an awesome Friday afternoon.

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Speaker 2: Good start to the weekend. This is the ESPN fifteen

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Speaker 2: thirty Ernst and Associate's Final Four show. We are presented

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Speaker 2: today by duimatt dot Com. Dui Matt is on the

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Speaker 2: front lines of your legal battle. We are broadcasting from

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Speaker 2: the airport paint and body quality of yesterday, Knowledge of

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Speaker 2: Today broadcast area from here in Indianapolis, just down the

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Speaker 2: street from Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Final Four will

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Speaker 2: be held tomorrow. Indy buzzing with fans, as you might imagine.

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Speaker 2: Illinois fans seem to have taken over the downtown area.

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Speaker 2: You certainly might imagine that. And you know I said

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Speaker 2: this on our show yesterday in Cincinnati. We're supposed to

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Speaker 2: look down our noses at other regional cities, cities that

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Speaker 2: were compared to India's cool man. It's cool if you

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Speaker 2: come up for like a a Bengals Colts game, or

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Speaker 2: a Pacers game, even though the Pacers aren't very good

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Speaker 2: this year, or a show at the Pacers Arena, which

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Speaker 2: I'm not being paid to mention the name of it.

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Speaker 2: It's cool for events like this. I was lucky enough

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Speaker 2: fifteen years ago to do our show from Radio Row

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Speaker 2: at the Super Bowl, and it's got a great downtown

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Speaker 2: and always equipped to handle events like this. There's a

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Speaker 2: reason why folks love coming here for the Combine, the

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Speaker 2: NFL Combine every late February early March, and a great

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Speaker 2: host to this event. This weekend, Reds are about to

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Speaker 2: get underway in Texas. It is the home opener for

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Speaker 2: the Rangers. Brady Singer is pitching for Cincinnati. We will

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Speaker 2: obviously keep you up to date on how that game

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Speaker 2: is unfolding throughout the course of the afternoon CEE. Cincinnati

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Speaker 2: is coming off the winter break, getting set to play

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Speaker 2: in New York tomorrow. Steve Cangelosi has that match for

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Speaker 2: Apple TV. He is going to join us coming up

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Speaker 2: in just about fifteen minutes plus him in Jones on

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Speaker 2: Baseball and Uh, I don't know if we're gonna have

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Speaker 2: time to squeeze in some phone calls. I've had some

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Speaker 2: emails suggesting we take some phone calls. I'll see what

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Speaker 2: we can do. If I do I'll throw out the

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Speaker 2: phone number right now.

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Speaker 1: Though.

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Speaker 2: Jake Diebler is with us, the head coach at Ohio State.

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Speaker 2: The Buckeyes made the NCAA Tournament this year. It's it's

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Speaker 2: awesome of you to sit down, and I appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: You've got You've had the the enviable task of coaching

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Speaker 2: Bruce Thornton over the last couple of years, a player

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Speaker 2: that I've become a big fan of, and now you've

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Speaker 2: got to figure out a way to coach without him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think we got a great foundation with a

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Speaker 3: Mauri Byingham and John Mobley junior coming back. Really excited

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Speaker 3: about you know, Anthony Thompson, who's from down in that area, right.

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Speaker 3: McDonald's all American joining us next year. So I love

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Speaker 3: the foundation we have. But yeah, we got to be

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Speaker 3: aggressive in the portal and kind of finish out the

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Speaker 3: roster the right way. But it's gonna it's gonna take

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Speaker 3: some getting used to. But I love just the guys

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Speaker 3: we got coming back, so we'll we'll build it from there.

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Speaker 1: All right. But we're gonna talk about Bruce.

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Speaker 2: Huge fan and for a lot of different reasons, not

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Speaker 2: the least of which is not many guys like that

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Speaker 2: to stick around long enough to become a program's all

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Speaker 2: time leading scorer. And I know you quote inherited him

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Speaker 2: as a head coach, but just what made him special?

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Speaker 3: Well, I recruited him, you know I was. I was

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Speaker 3: talking to him every single day since before his junior

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Speaker 3: year of high school. And and so the relationship we

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Speaker 3: had is special.

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Speaker 1: What makes Bruce special as a player?

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Speaker 3: You know you hear the same everyday, guys, Bruce is

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Speaker 3: an every rep guy.

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Speaker 1: Every single rep he goes hard.

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Speaker 3: He he has gotten better every single year. Like you

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Speaker 3: don't hear about development as much anymore. He's developed, and

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Speaker 3: he's right, he's what everything that's right about college basketball, Like,

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Speaker 3: that's him.

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Speaker 1: And so.

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Speaker 3: He's we can do a whole segment on him, right,

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Speaker 3: but he just the way he works. He's a talented player. Certainly,

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Speaker 3: he's tough. He's got all the characters that you won

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Speaker 3: in a point guard. And you know, when you're a

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Speaker 3: head coach and you're for the first time, I was

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Speaker 3: looking around saying, Okay, who's going to help me establish

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Speaker 3: a new standard right and get Ohio State basketball move

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Speaker 3: in the direction he needs to. Bruce was the first

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Speaker 3: guy I went to and so we've kind of built

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Speaker 3: it from there.

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Speaker 2: Before we look ahead, let's look back. The season was

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Speaker 2: weird because it felt like every time you're about to

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Speaker 2: get going, you slip up. And it kind of felt

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Speaker 2: like every time the season was going to go sideways,

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Speaker 2: you can pull yourselves off the mat, and then at

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Speaker 2: the very end you had that three game winning streak

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Speaker 2: at the end of the regular season beat Purdue. When

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Speaker 2: you look back, how do you sort of encapsulate the

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Speaker 2: year that was?

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Speaker 1: We had a resilient group.

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Speaker 3: You know, you're right, like every time we felt like

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Speaker 3: we were getting some momentum, someone would get hurt or

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Speaker 3: someone missed a game because they were sick. I mean,

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Speaker 3: you couldn't make it up, and then you know, we

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Speaker 3: would win and then we'd be faced with new and

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Speaker 3: make no mistake, the Big.

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Speaker 1: Ten is is an absolute gauntlet.

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Speaker 3: It's the deepest league in the country, So that has

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Speaker 3: something to do with you know, I think our win

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Speaker 3: lot we had it was like people go pass, we

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Speaker 3: keep winning and losing, winning and losing winning, and you know,

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Speaker 3: I'm like, I don't really look at it that way, right,

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Speaker 3: but I think what I look back and reflect on

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Speaker 3: this team. We had a resilient group who stayed close,

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Speaker 3: had real chemistry, and when we got healthy and we

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Speaker 3: were able to stay healthy, we were able to take off.

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Speaker 3: I wish it would have happened a little earlier, we

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Speaker 3: would have been, you know, had a better seed. But

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Speaker 3: you know, we we got off the bubble, like we

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Speaker 3: weren't a bubble team no more.

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Speaker 1: And you know, our resiliency was a big part of that.

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Speaker 2: All right, from your perspective to Big ten teams playing

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Speaker 2: this weekend. I've remarked to a few different coaches what

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Speaker 2: impressed me about Illinois in the tournament was they out

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Speaker 2: Houston to Houston. I knew offensively they were talented. I

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Speaker 2: knew they can go get it off the glass, they

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Speaker 2: don't turn it over a bunch, But it's what they

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Speaker 2: did defensively in that game that stood out to me.

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Speaker 2: Having seen the Aliane I up close. What's going to

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Speaker 2: be the big challenge for Ukon?

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Speaker 3: You know, I think dealing with their size, and it's

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Speaker 3: not just at the center position.

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Speaker 1: They can be big really across the board. That certainly

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Speaker 1: you know allows them to be.

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Speaker 3: Disruptive defensively, and you know they can protect the rim.

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Speaker 1: They rebound really well.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think people because of their three point

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Speaker 3: shooting and things that people immediately talk about their offense,

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Speaker 3: but their defense has been really good. And you know,

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Speaker 3: coach Underwood's a ton of great job with this team.

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Speaker 3: They have depth, Like when they sub they're really good. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: So I think that depth is something that you know,

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Speaker 3: allows them to play at a high level on both

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Speaker 3: sides of the ball too.

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Speaker 2: You're gonna have to say some nice things about Michigan,

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Speaker 2: I guess, but similar challenges for Arizona tomorrow night.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean again, the size, right, you look at.

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Speaker 3: The team up north, I'll say you look at you

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Speaker 3: look at their size and their versatility defensively, like you

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Speaker 3: essentially have to scheme for two separate defenses, you know,

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Speaker 3: with Mara and Johnson out there on the court at

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Speaker 3: the same time. Then when they take Mare out and

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Speaker 3: then they can switch one through five at that point.

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Speaker 3: I think what Yaxel has has done from the standpoint of,

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Speaker 3: you know, seemingly sacrificing what he maybe individually could do

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Speaker 3: to help the betterment of that team has been impressive.

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Speaker 1: So both teams rebound really well.

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Speaker 3: Both teams have an ability to hang a ton of

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Speaker 3: points on the board, and I think that's going to

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Speaker 3: be a problem, present a real problem for Arizona.

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Speaker 2: And you kind of you mentioned what you have to

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Speaker 2: start by building next year's team, but portal opens up

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Speaker 2: next week. Do you have a checklist where you go,

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Speaker 2: these are the two positions I need or here's what

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Speaker 2: I the roles I.

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Speaker 1: Want to fill.

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Speaker 2: Is it just grabbing talent and then just try to

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Speaker 2: make the pieces fit.

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Speaker 1: What's the approach? We want fit, but we need talented fit. Right.

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Speaker 3: We got to add some size and we got to add,

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Speaker 3: you know, some some real depth in our backcourt. And

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Speaker 3: so I feel really good about where we're at and

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Speaker 3: kind of the between part. I like versatility, you know,

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Speaker 3: so having more size helps with that, but again, like

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Speaker 3: we're gonna have to go in and get some starter

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Speaker 3: quality in the portal, but also continue to shape up

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Speaker 3: our depth in the portal as well. So it's going

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Speaker 3: to be an important, you know, a few weeks that

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Speaker 3: you will benefit from for the rest of the season.

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Speaker 3: But I love again where we're starting at going into

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Speaker 3: the portal. I think that's always really really important. Some

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Speaker 3: team's got to go turn around seven eight nine, you know,

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Speaker 3: spots we're not. We don't have to do that. So

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Speaker 3: that's a great place to start.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to be the envy of so many

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Speaker 2: of your peers where you go into the off season

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Speaker 2: and at the very least, like I'm starting from here,

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Speaker 2: here's who I have and that foundation's really good.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, And you know, it's why we put such

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Speaker 3: a value on relationships because what we've seen is that

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Speaker 3: matters and retention, and so we'll continue to put relationships

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Speaker 3: at the forefront of our program, and we'll continue to

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Speaker 3: push guys to help them develop because part of the

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Speaker 3: reason guys want to say because they feel like they're

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Speaker 3: getting better. And Ohio State's a special place that helps too.

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Speaker 3: But you know, we'll always be a program that kind

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Speaker 3: of builds and takes care of its own and then

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Speaker 3: adds the right pieces.

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Speaker 1: To that to help us push towards the championship.

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Speaker 2: Jake Diebler, the head coach at Ohio State, kind enough

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Speaker 2: to join us. We appreciate the time joining us here

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Speaker 2: in Indianapolis Radio Row at the NABC Convention. Reds don't

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Speaker 2: score in the top of the first inning, three up,

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Speaker 2: three down against Mackenzie Gore. Brady Singer said to take

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Speaker 2: the hill Reds playing the first road game of the season,

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Speaker 2: the home opener for the Rangers, who won four of

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Speaker 2: their first six on the road. Quota rap for four

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Speaker 2: on ESPN fifteen thirty. We've been sort of knee deep

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Speaker 2: in college basketball with an eye on baseball. FC Cincinnati

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Speaker 2: is coming off an international break. I feel like looking

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Speaker 2: for a reset. Can they hit the reset button against

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Speaker 2: New York tomorrow? Steve Canjelosi has the call for Apple TV.

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Speaker 2: He'll join us when we come back on ESPN fifteen thirty,

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Speaker 2: Cincinnati Sports Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic, Well.

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Speaker 4: Mean you see Health Traffic Center. When it comes to

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Speaker 5: There's an ongoing accident on seventy one northbound before one

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Speaker 5: twenty seven. Police on the same watch out for delays,

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Speaker 5: and there's also stop and go traffic on seventy five

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Speaker 5: southbound between Western Avenue and for Washington Wade. You're looking

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Speaker 5: at a seven minute delay. Amanju Jones with Traffic This

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Speaker 5: report is sponsor,