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Speaker 1: Remaining unbeaten college basketball teams in the country. They're seventeen

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Speaker 1: and oh after Friday night's win at Toledo. Next up

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Speaker 1: Central Michigan tomorrow night at home, and Malet should be

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Speaker 1: rocking for more on that. Let's go straight to the

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Speaker 1: source and welcome in head coach Travis Steele. How are you.

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Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Lance, Thanks for having me on great catching.

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Speaker 1: Up with you, Travis. I think more and more people

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Speaker 1: around the country are like going, holy crap, Miami seventeen

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Speaker 1: and oh are you? I guess to what extent are

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Speaker 1: Are you surprised you're seventeen?

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Speaker 2: And oh? Not really? You know, I knew when we

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Speaker 2: put this team together we had a chance to be special.

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Speaker 2: And I think what makes us really good We got

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Speaker 2: great We got really talented basketball players, but we have winners.

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Speaker 2: We have guys that are very, very process oriented. They

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Speaker 2: take advantage of every day man, So I'm not surprised

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Speaker 2: with the results that we've gotten.

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Speaker 1: Friday night, you shot better than fifty percent from the

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Speaker 1: field for the thirteenth time this season. Travis, I gotta

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Speaker 1: tell you, in watching you guys, you're like an instructional

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Speaker 1: video of passing to get to the good shot time

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Speaker 1: and time again. It's uncanny to watch.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a it's a fun way to play, right.

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Speaker 2: Our guys pass up good shots to get great shots,

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Speaker 2: and we have very very high i qs out there.

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Speaker 2: We have great spacing and cutting and movement. We play fast,

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Speaker 2: so we're hard to prepare for. You know, we've got

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Speaker 2: seven guys score over twenty points in a game this year,

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Speaker 2: and just the balance itself makes us, I think, very

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Speaker 2: difficult to defend.

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Speaker 1: A couple of games ago, you shoot thirty you're number

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Speaker 1: one shooting team in the country, fifty three percent from

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Speaker 1: the field. A couple of games ago you shoot thirty

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Speaker 1: eight percent, but win at Akron. Did that show you

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Speaker 1: something about your team?

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Speaker 2: It did? You know, we didn't have our a great

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Speaker 2: night offensively, and give Accron credit, you know, like they

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Speaker 2: defended us well, but we also missed a lot of

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Speaker 2: open looks. And you know, for us to be able

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Speaker 2: to win our conference tournament in Cleveland in March, odds

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Speaker 2: are one of the three games we're not going to

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Speaker 2: shoot well and can you win that game? I thought

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Speaker 2: the grit to fight, the toughness that our guys showed

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Speaker 2: against Akron to beat them a week and a half ago. Man,

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Speaker 2: it's going to really serve us well.

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Speaker 1: Moving forward, Travis, with all the public attention that continues

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Speaker 1: to grow and head the way of your guys to

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Speaker 1: talk to me about how big it is from their

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Speaker 1: their maturity and their focus standpoint as a group.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think you know player, I said this before

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Speaker 2: to you, Lance, but I think player led teams are

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Speaker 2: way way better than coach led teams. And you know,

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Speaker 2: Suitor Ipsorrow and Ian Elmer are three captains voted by

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Speaker 2: their teammates, do a great job of helping us lead

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Speaker 2: this team. And we're really focused. It's like we use

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Speaker 2: the we have a picture that kind of stays around

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Speaker 2: our program of a guy driving a car and looking

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Speaker 2: out the front windshield. There's a reason why the rearview

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Speaker 2: mirror is so small because everything that's already happened or seventeen,

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Speaker 2: you know, that's in the past. We're going to look

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Speaker 2: forward for the obstacles that are in front of us,

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Speaker 2: because there's several of them. And starting with Central Michigan. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: tomorrow night you.

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Speaker 1: Mentioned Evan Ipsorrow. You lost him, your point guard, your

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Speaker 1: guy five games ago. Explain to listeners what he meant

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Speaker 1: to this team, and how you've gone about replacing all

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Speaker 1: that he offered your team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Evan is I love him, you know, number one,

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Speaker 2: I just heard fro him as a human being. You know,

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Speaker 2: any time a guy goes down with an injury, it stinks.

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Speaker 2: And he was having a breakout year. I thought he

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Speaker 2: was one of the best mid major point guards in

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Speaker 2: the entire country. He's our heart and soul in a

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Speaker 2: lot of ways. So when we lost them, we knew

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Speaker 2: it was going to be a big adjustment, you know.

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Speaker 2: And we still have a lot of really really good

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Speaker 2: players on our team, so we knew again it wasn't

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Speaker 2: no no one player was going to replace Evan, But

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Speaker 2: we just look a little different. You know. We rebound

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Speaker 2: the ball a little bit better. We're turning it over

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Speaker 2: a little bit more. That's offset, and the rebounds is

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Speaker 2: offset and that, and we're figuring it out. It's kind

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Speaker 2: of by committee the point guard position. And Luke Skaaljack's

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Speaker 2: really done a nice job as a sophomore, you know,

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Speaker 2: kind of leading our play making duties.

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Speaker 1: I follow Pete Suitter closely. He's a Carmel height school

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Speaker 1: guy like me, So I got to follow him. And

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Speaker 1: last year he led you guys in scoring. He had

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Speaker 1: a forty two point game. Now he's I think third

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Speaker 1: on the team in scoring, maybe not shooting quite as much.

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Speaker 1: But here's what jumps out to me, Travis. His field

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Speaker 1: goal percentage, he's up eight percent from last year. His

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Speaker 1: three point is up twelve percent last year. And his

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Speaker 1: as sister up tell me about his change or continued

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Speaker 1: development from last year to this year.

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Speaker 2: Ultimate winner's Pete, you know, coming from a Carmel program.

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Speaker 2: I know, lady, you said you just went there many

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Speaker 2: Carmel wins. It everything. I feel like, you know, Pete's

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Speaker 2: won his whole life. And he understands sacrifice and he's

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Speaker 2: at the very top of the scouting report for every game.

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Speaker 2: You know so, and he just does what the game

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Speaker 2: tells him to do. As simple as that. He doesn't

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Speaker 2: care about scoring, he doesn't care about shots. He is

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Speaker 2: playing to win. And when your best player does that,

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Speaker 2: it permeates throughout the rest of the team.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned the scouting report, and earlier you mentioned and

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Speaker 1: this is where it's going back to. Seven different guys

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Speaker 1: have scored at least twenty points in a game this year.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to prepare a scouting report for against

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Speaker 1: you guys, because I wouldn't know where to begin.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes us hard reguard, you know, just our space,

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Speaker 2: our pace that we play with. We don't run a

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Speaker 2: lot of set plays like at Toledo Lance. You'll laugh,

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Speaker 2: I called. I only called set plays on baseline out

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Speaker 2: of bounds and sideline out of bounds plays. You know,

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Speaker 2: because our group knows how to play the playoff of

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Speaker 2: one another, the red react. It makes it super, super

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Speaker 2: difficult to scout because again we have to play teams

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Speaker 2: three times sometimes in a year in order to win

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Speaker 2: our league in the conference tournament, and we got to

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Speaker 2: be hard to play in that third.

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Speaker 1: Game, Travis, from that standpoint of play calling and backing

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Speaker 1: off that have you have you always been that way

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Speaker 1: or have you evolved into that?

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Speaker 2: I've evolved into it. You know. I used to want

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Speaker 2: to control a lot and again everything's different, you know.

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Speaker 2: But again we've recruited very, very high to skilled guys,

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Speaker 2: guys that I really trust, you know. I use practice

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Speaker 2: as a way, like listen, I teach them how to play,

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Speaker 2: and then during the game, I trust them, I let them,

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Speaker 2: do you know I want them to play with a

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Speaker 2: free mind, a ton of confidence, and just do what

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Speaker 2: the game tells them to do.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm so glad you said that because there

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Speaker 1: and I'm not mentioning specifics here, but there are times

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Speaker 1: I watch coaches who will stand and bark almost one

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Speaker 1: pass to the next passive year pass it there, or

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Speaker 1: do this, do that, And I can't imagine playing Listen

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Speaker 1: to all that. Your guys must love the freedom that

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Speaker 1: you give them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that freedom's earned right every single day with

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Speaker 2: just their process and practice and their work habits. But

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Speaker 2: it's a fun way to play. Man. What happens is,

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Speaker 2: in my opinion, because defense and offense are super connected,

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Speaker 2: so different than football, is that if you're connected on

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Speaker 2: the offensive end, and you're moving and you're cutting and

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Speaker 2: you're touching the ball, you'll give even a better effort

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Speaker 2: on defense, in my opinion, because of your offensive.

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Speaker 1: Then you feel like you're a part of it all right,

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Speaker 1: When you've won seventeen in a row, are you? Are

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Speaker 1: you by nature superstitious in any way? Do you do

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Speaker 1: you wear the same socks? Is there anything going on

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Speaker 1: that you'd like to publicly admit to From a superstition standpoint.

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Speaker 2: You know, so I do. I have this blue shirt

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Speaker 2: that I've been wearing underneath my quarter zip, and my

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Speaker 2: wife last year's like, why are you wearing this? It's

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Speaker 2: not our color. I said, listen, it's been work and

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Speaker 2: we can't change it up now. We got to keep

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Speaker 2: it going. I love that.

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Speaker 1: I love that last thought. And you are. You're not

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Speaker 1: in the top twenty five today, you're close twenty nine.

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Speaker 1: I don't know why you're not. But is that a

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Speaker 1: does that bug you? Is that a talking point? Is

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Speaker 1: it motivation? Or is it just the rankings and they'll

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Speaker 1: work themselves out?

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Speaker 2: You know, I think we use it as motivation. Our

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Speaker 2: guys have a chip on their shoulder. There's no doubt

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Speaker 2: in their mind that started from last year how the

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Speaker 2: last year ended. In the Mac Tournament Championship game, we've

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Speaker 2: used the hashtag unfinished business a lot. We've got a

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Speaker 2: lot to proof, we get a lot to prove. We

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Speaker 2: want the whole world to see it.

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Speaker 1: Tomorrow night, Central Michigan at Mallette Place should be jumping. Hey.

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Speaker 1: I know you're busy, and man, we're twenty four hours

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Speaker 1: from game time. I really appreciate you making time and

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Speaker 1: always enjoy our conversations. Hope we can do it again soon.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Travis, There you go, Travis steel Head, coach seventeen

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Speaker 1: in o Miami RedHawks, one of five remaining unbeatens in

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Speaker 1: the country. You know, it's not just a throw away line.

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Speaker 1: They're a good shooting team. They're the best shooting team

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Speaker 1: in the country. Let me give you some numbers. I

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Speaker 1: like numbers. They're shooting fifty three percent. I think there's

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Speaker 1: only I looked it up this morning. I think there's

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Speaker 1: only twenty five teams out of three hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: Division one that are at the fifty percent mark shooting

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Speaker 1: from the field. Miami is at fifty three percent on

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Speaker 1: two point shots. That means the percentage of shots taken

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Speaker 1: inside of the three point line. They are number two

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Speaker 1: in the country. On three point shots, they are number

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Speaker 1: one in the country, and when standing at the free

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Speaker 1: throw line, they are number eight in the country. So

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Speaker 1: recapping the best shooting team in the country second best

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Speaker 1: from two, first best from three, best from three, and

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Speaker 1: eighth at the free throw line and watching them, as

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Speaker 1: I said, it is uncanny watching them pass to a

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Speaker 1: from a good shot to a better shot, seemingly every

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Speaker 1: single possession. I know it's not everyone, it feels that way,

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Speaker 1: and as he said, it showed a lot when they

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Speaker 1: weren't shooting their their night. They were off from shooting

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Speaker 1: at thirty eight percent against Akron, and yet found a

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Speaker 1: way to win the game Central Michigan Tomorrow night, twenty

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Speaker 1: ninth Today, as mentioned in the AP Top twenty five