WEBVTT - Cavs Guard Matt Mooney Discusses Improbable NBA Path, College Transfer, Texas Tech Title Game Run, Coach Beard 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.080 Hey, welcome to the All Ball Podcast. I'm your boy, 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.879 Doug Gotlie Man Man Man, are you gonna love this? 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:17.520 The all of this? Uh, Matt Mooney is, uh, we're 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.840 always seen in basketball, said a kid, right. He's a 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.320 kid from about forty five minutes outside of Chicago, Wakonda. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.000 I swear to God, that's what's called different spelling what 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:29.800 Conda Chicago and I went to Notre Rain Prep and 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:33.839 his journey to the NBA to the Cleveland Cavaliers is 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.840 nothing shorter. For Markable, I want you to think about 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.760 this for a second. He had one scholarship offer out 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:41.760 of high school that was to go to the Air 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.040 Force Academy. But he didn't get to go to Air 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:46.640 Force right away to go to their prep school, which 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.360 is on the campus in Colorado Springs. I don't want 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:53.000 to give away what happened, but crazy story what happened. 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.000 Then he he go was prepped for a year, plays 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:57.640 there for a year, and then decides I want to 0:00:57.680 --> 0:00:59.320 leave Air Force. He goes to the University of South 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.920 Dakota place for Craig Smith, who's now the head coach 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:05.520 at Utah State. Goes to South Dakota, sits out for 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.720 a year, then tears it up for two years, and 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.279 then he transfers again. Was close to going to Craighton, 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.240 decided to go to Texas Tech. And at Texas Tech 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.000 he had a dream season. They go to a national 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.319 championship game. They were tied with the ball out of 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.440 bounces underneath their own basket with a couple of seconds remaining, 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:27.200 and obviously they lost in overtime to Virginia. Then he 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:31.959 goes to the Hawks summer. I'll let him tell the story. Nonetheless, 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.240 it's a story of perseverance, of hard work, work ethic, 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.800 and self belief. Um, there's also a personal side to 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:42.560 it with his father. You're gonna love this, pot Um. 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.320 A couple of quick thoughts basketball wise, Obviously, college basketball 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.600 starting to come together. And it's interesting that we're talking 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:53.640 to Matt Money, who ended one of Glenzaga's dream seasons 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:55.800 that the preseason number one. I mean, think about this. 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:00.440 It's been twenty years now of Golenzaga dominance in college askedball, 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.200 but only recently they have they made deep runs or 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.000 deeper runs in the n s A Tournament final four, 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.200 the national Championship game a couple of years ago, which 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.280 they end up losing by one possession. So now like 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.960 Gonzaga has a legit shot to win it, to win 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:15.560 the whole thing, and that would be the last thing 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.239 to accotomplish the dominate the conference, dominator, conference tournament, set 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.200 one and done of the NBA. They're now a preseason 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.440 number one team in the country. They've been to a 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.480 Final four, been new national championship game. The only thing 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.000 left is to actually win that last game on Monday Night. 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:30.840 We'll see this year if they can do it. We'll 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.440 talk more about the teams. Baylor also right there as 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.959 a almost like a cod number one. Fascinating what Scott 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.160 Drew has been able to do. If you remember he 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:44.760 took over Dave Bliss was caught an audio tape putting 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.480 the blame on one of his players who was shot 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:49.480 dead by one of his other players. I mean, they 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.680 had recruited guys off campus, no scholarships this first year 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.120 to building Baylor into being an Elite eight team, several 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.160 times over losing the Duke a couple of questionable calls. 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.040 Could this be the year that Scott Drew lives the 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.359 impossible dream, gets to Final four or maybe wins the 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.079 national championship at Baylor's. That's kind of what's in front 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.040 of us with college basketball. The rest is a little 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.280 bit messy, right. We think we're a couple of weeks 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.000 away from college basketball starting, but the COVID numbers continue 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.520 to rise, the restrictions get a little bit tighter, and 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:23.920 we still don't have true clarity on how many of 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.560 these events will absolutely positively go off. There's gonna be 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.799 a season. What it looks like, I can't honestly tell you. 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:33.640 But the other part that's interesting is here we are 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.600 a week away from the NBA Draft, and how many 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:40.760 of these guys can you recall at the top of 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.160 your head. Now, many of you know that covering college 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.400 basketball a huge proponent of sport, but of the value 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.760 of the promotion of the sport. Now, I think, how 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:51.440 many these guys can you actually name? Because you didn't 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.680 see Anthony Elberts playing the n c term probably win't 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.320 of anyway, but you didn't see you name the player, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.400 and you didn't uh the a choral kid from Auburn 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.240 will be a top seven pick. Didn't see him play, 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.080 not because of anything he did, but because of COVID. 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.160 It shows the value of the n c A Tournament, 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.000 So we'll get to some of that with Matt Mooney. 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.880 Last thing, boy, the NBA is in a pickle. They're 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.920 gonna start before Christmas, play those Christmas games. And that's 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.280 great for the Golden State Warriors, who also get a 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.599 little bit of tax relief with some of the CBA 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:22.760 rules that have been up put down. But what do 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:24.400 you do with Lebron James and what do you do 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.880 with the heat those teams that just got done playing 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.720 and now have such a limited offseason. My guess is 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:32.839 the Lebrons of the world will suddenly take a lot 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.880 more breaks, not just in December, in January, in the 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.640 February and slow rollout how much they played this NBA season. 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:41.480 All right, let's get to our discussion with that money. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.000 All right, let's welcome in. He's uh Matt, Matt Mooney 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.719 joins us. I want to get to your life and 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.279 and and everything. But it's fascinating like this, just like 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:55.599 this is what I really want, like basketball, and I 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:57.520 think you're starting to you probably already know this and 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:01.599 you're starting to figure it out. There's so much connectivity 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:06.799 right Like it's it's interesting. My guaranty is the player 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:11.279 development coach. That was his term. His name is right there. Yeah. Okay, 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:15.360 so my garitty grew up in Orange County. When he 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:20.599 was just a little twarp, he was probably six seventh grade. 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:25.599 My dad used to have um a basketball academy workout 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:30.600 Sundays at Woodbridge High School in Irvine, California, and there 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.800 used to be this little kid and the dad was like, 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.240 this guy is gonna be a player. He wants to 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.520 be the next Gottlieb Mike Gary war forty four. Because 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.760 I was this guy and now he's he's your developmental 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.480 coach and he played at USC stud player good Year. 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.320 He's great. Isn't that funny that? Yeah, that's a no. 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.440 It is a small world. I heard that he was 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.440 out training Mike Brown's son, and then when Mike Brown 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.200 got the job here, he brought him on just because 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:58.640 you know, he uh he liked what he was doing. 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:00.880 But he's really good at what he does. Yeah, it's 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.840 it's it's really amazing. Um, Okay, where in Chicago did 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.960 you go up? So? I grew up in Wakonda. It's 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:14.320 uh forty five minutes northwest. What kinda man forever? Yeah, 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:19.040 now that's the joke people mate different spelling. Okay, So 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:24.640 it's it's forty five minutes from Chicago, which which direction northwest? Okay, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.839 so that's like so that's not like glenn Brook North 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.560 and all that. That's past that, right past that. Have 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.040 you been out that way? Yeah? Yeah, I mean I 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.840 was born in Milwaukee, I spent I have friends a 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:39.400 lot of friends from from that part of around there 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.119 in Chicago. Whatever. Done some work there as well at 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:46.039 times is awesome, I mean. Okay, so your first memory 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:50.640 of basketball is where? What do you like? First memory? 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.320 What kind of park district? Uh? Just playing? Like I 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.920 think I was probably in kindergarten, first grade. My dad 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.560 was coaching. I know your dad was coaching, Uh you 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:02.719 growing up. I've listened to your stuff. My brother listens 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.479 to a lot of your stuff actually, Um, but my 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:07.960 dad was coaching kind of park district, you know, playing 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:11.720 on those eight foot goals and uh, you know, everybody 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.040 just runs to the ball type of thing and every 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:15.680 time you get it, you shoot it. That's probably what 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.320 I first memory. Okay. So then as you as you 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.160 grew up, were you only a ball guy? Did you 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.880 play baseball, football? Other sports? No? I played other sports, 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.960 but I loved basketball. Um and I was small. I 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.400 was real small, so like football. I love football. I 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.120 liked football, but I was like I was too skinny. 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.960 Uh So in baseball, I was pretty good at baseball. 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.080 I like soccer too, But around fifth grade I gave 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.200 everything up. I played football eighth grade, but fifth grade 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:46.760 I gave everything up because you know, baseball in the 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.320 summer conflicts with you, and uh I gave it up, 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.320 you know. And my dad was always trying to think, like, 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:53.880 all right, what's the best way we can get him 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.360 a scholarship, So he was trying to keep me in 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.680 baseball or other sports because he didn't know, you know. 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.320 So basketball ended up working out, but I I just 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:06.280 loved it. I I understand. So Okay, so you're like 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.280 fifth grade, sixth grade, You're you're little, and you're like, dad, 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:10.840 this is what I want to do. He wants to 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:12.560 like this is by the way, it's like a snapshot 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:14.760 of my life. My son's left hand. And I'm like, bro, 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.800 you ain't given up baseball. But he loves he loves 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.480 huh yeah, he loves he loves Hooper. But I don't know, 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:23.800 like I'm I'm smaller than you, and I don't know 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:29.440 if he's gonna beat my size. Um, so, uh were you? 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.600 Were you really good? Did you blossom? Like? Okay, middle 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.160 school type type age? Were you? How good were you? 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.640 I was good? Um, I was good in middle school 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:43.840 and high school was where you know, I just didn't hit. 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.760 I didn't hit my gross furred and you know I 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:48.960 was I was still good, but I wasn't You remember 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.600 how big you were when you entered high school? Yeah? 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:55.560 It was five five five five or five six. Yeah, 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.920 so here's so here's my So I was five ft 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.760 tall at the end of eighth grade, five ft a 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.240 hundred five pounds. And my dad the whole year was like, 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.760 he's staying back because I grew late. He's gonna be late. 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.880 So I stayed back and end up I stayed in 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:12.720 the same school district with different school and then I 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:16.880 switched school district, school to high school. And I entered 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.840 high school at like five so fifteen months, I grew 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.319 nine inches and I was like and I was during 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:25.840 the year. I grew so much. I was terrible when 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.320 I was okay as as a freshman. So, uh, you're 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.600 a freshman. You played JV freshman team, like what will 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:34.880 we use a freshman? Well, so I ended up going 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:37.520 to high school like right on the north side of Chicago. 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.120 I went kind of far away because my dad was, 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:42.640 you know, trying to figure out where to where to 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.080 send me because we're trying to get a scholarship, right. Um, 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.040 So I went to play for tom Less Notre Dame 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.559 High School there on the north side, and I was 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.520 a basketball school. So it was just you know, I 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:57.560 was gonna be Uh that was the focus. And you know, 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:59.040 we we were going to play against kids in the 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:03.440 city better company Titian. So he sent me there, and uh, 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.120 I mean we were good. So I played sophomore as 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:10.600 a freshman, and then I played sophomore as a sophomore, 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.200 and I played varsity as a junior. I didn't really 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:17.360 even start my junior year until like halfway through. So, okay, 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.440 so in your senior year, how good were you? My 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.640 senior year? I was good. I mean we were we 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:25.240 were like top five, top ten in the state in Chicago. 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.520 You know, it's pretty good. And you know I was 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.280 our best player. Um. We didn't have any other Division 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:34.040 one guys. We had some talented guys. Uh, we had 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.160 some good players, some other college players. We had really 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.160 good like high school players. But my senior year, I 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:42.559 think my my senior I average almost twenty a game, 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.120 you know, and five something something along those lines. But 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:51.240 I wasn't All state or anything. What are you program? 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:58.000 Shot down? Diablos? Who's on the team? Um? You know 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.360 nobody that you would know, you know, Chris A Breath. 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.040 He ended up going Juco and then went to Sam 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.400 Houston State. Uh, Josh daus when of my team end 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:07.600 up playing at with me at the University of South Dakota. 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.760 We had a little point guard who played Division two ari. 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.920 We were you know. We we had a dude, Gavin Shilling, 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.720 who left our team end up playing at Michigan State, 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:23.000 but he went to Mcurvan Fire. My coach, Chuck Demons, 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:24.800 he just put together some guys in the city and 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.280 made a team and we weren't sponsored or anything like that. 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:30.920 So then, um, how did so then from there you 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:32.680 went to did you got the Air Force? Prep? Would 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:35.000 you got the Air Force? Right away? I went to 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.520 Prep because I broke my ankle out of high school. 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.600 So yeah, I was around for a little while in 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.160 college out of high school, right before I was gonna 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:48.160 go to the uh to the academy. I was supposed 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.800 to just go to the academy. And I was being stupid. 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:56.600 I mean, I wasn't being stupid, but I was, what 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.640 were you doing? I was being stupid. I was I 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:00.920 was right the bike. You know, I was trying to 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.040 get ready for basic training and I had like a 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:06.560 something wrong with my foot. So the doctor told me 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.280 just just ride a bike to stay in shape. So 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.400 it's raining outside and me and my brother we we 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.439 grab our we grab our bikes, and we're going for 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:17.440 a bike ride. And we get to this, uh, this trail. 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.480 It's like a one mile loop, and you know, I'm 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.640 pretty competitive, and I'm like, all right, Joe, you go, 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:25.719 you go left, I'm gonna go right. We're gonna race. 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.720 The first one to get back here wins. So I 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:30.640 start going I'm going way too fast. We got these 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:32.839 really old bikes that you know, they're not very good. 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.000 We we don't bike ever, and uh, I start going 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.280 down this hill and you know, I get to the 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:41.959 bottom of the hill, my back tires slips out. I 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.800 smashed my foot in the ground, break my ankle. So 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:46.720 then air Force was like all right, you can't do 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.480 basic training with the busted ankle. So they sent me 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:53.319 to the press school, who recouged you to Air Force. Uh, 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:58.120 Steve Snell and Dave Pulpovic coach PIO. So when they 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.280 came to your house, was or any was there ever 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:03.520 a point where like, I do not want to be 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.440 in the Air Force. So I, I know, you want 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.240 to play hoop and I've called games air Force, like 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.439 I actually kind of dig the place. It's beautiful, and 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:13.160 like you want to hoop. You want to hoop, but 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.360 they're like, hey, by the way, afterwards, you're gonna have 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.280 to be in the Air Force. Although air Force is 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.240 kind of cool, the chance of maybe fly a plane. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.560 I don't know. No, I never wanted to be in 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.880 the military. It wasn't like, uh you know, I didn't 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.440 come from a military family. I didn't want to fly plane. 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:32.160 But that was my only Division one offer, and you 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.240 know my dream was always Division one. So I went 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:35.840 on a visit. They never came to my house, but 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.199 I went on the visit, and uh, you know, I 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.760 like the facilities, I like the coaching staff, I like 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.320 coach p So I just decided, you know, this is 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.800 if this is what I gotta do to to fulfill 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:49.720 my dream of Division one. Then I'm gonna do it. 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:51.679 I'm gonna go through the basic training and all the 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:56.400 military and all that stuff. And uh so I took it. 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:58.000 And plus they're in the Mountain West, which is a 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.000 good league, and he's a good league. It was really 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.480 a good league at the time. Yeah, not not as good, 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.320 not as good when you left it was. And that's 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.160 why I got bad. Was you left? Really that's that's 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:10.800 that's good. Okay. So so you you can't do basic, 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:12.360 you go and now all of a sudden, you're an 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.040 Air Force prep now for people who don't know to 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.520 prep school is literally on the same campus, right like 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.080 where you guys have your own dorms or you're intermingled 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:26.240 with with regular cardads. Like what's that existence? Like, no, 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.760 I'm surprised you know that that much about it. It's uh, 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.360 it's on the base and it's like three miles away 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:33.920 from the academy. And then we're I mean we're in 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:35.880 the military. We had to do basic training as well, 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.400 but they allowed me to do it with the broken leg, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:44.840 and uh it was hardening. It was hard, well, hardest 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.480 things hardest to do, hardest thing I had to do. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:53.040 Yeah there, Yeah, well, so I went through three weeks 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.680 of basic training at the prep to go through that 0:14:55.760 --> 0:15:00.520 school year and then yeah, that year was tough, but 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.160 and I only played about half the season because I 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.040 was still getting healthy. And then the next year I 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:08.920 went through basic training again for six weeks. But the 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.880 hardest thing you have to do is you just the thing. 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.360 The thing about Air Force and like the military and 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.240 basic training is like you're constantly doing things you don't 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.880 want to do. When you don't want to do them, 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:21.440 you know, you just have no say, you just got 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.120 to do it. And you know you're up at four 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.320 thirty in the morning and first thing you're doing, you know, 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.440 sirens are going off, beating on the door, and you're 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.000 just going for like a ten mile run and you're 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.040 doing pushups, and you know, there was a time, there 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:35.680 was a time we literally you're not gonna believe this, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:37.560 people probably are gonna believe this, but we did a 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.400 hundred my squadron, we did a d twenty push ups 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.760 in a row without stopping. Like the forum Pride wasn't great, 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:45.920 but I never would have thought I could do that, 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.400 and it's just like you push yourself past your your 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:52.200 limits mentally you're you're a lot stronger than you realize. 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.480 It's more it's one of those if you can do this, 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.440 there's nothing you can't do. Right, It's doesn't I mean 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.120 that's look in no way does it compared to what 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:03.880 does it said? It's a pleave in the army? What 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.080 does it call when you're a freshman at at a 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:10.680 deer force? Well, I can't believe. I can't think of 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:16.960 it right now. You can't remember. Oh man, it's gonna 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:21.800 come to me during this conversation. You will, okay. So um, 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:25.000 But like so when I went to Oklahoma State, we 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:29.360 we decided with my first time running, I get there, 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.840 it's like August and August in Oklahoma's hot at balls, right, 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:35.200 So we're running and we had we had to run 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:39.040 from the weight room to the track, which is like 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.600 a half mile, like just a jog to warm up, 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:43.320 and then we did our sprints and stuff on the 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:47.000 track and then we run back, right remember, and we 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.160 were running back, dudes, you're just thrown up. And I 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:52.920 was like, and I told coach, I was like, hey man, 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.440 it is not safe. Is a hundred degrees and you 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.920 got some big dude. He's like, all right, were you 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.000 running six? And the more ring We're like okay. So 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.879 it kind of became our thing, and it's like, dude, 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:08.520 And the worst part this is what I'm interested in, right, 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.080 and I guess I don't know. They do the bugle whatever. 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:16.000 The worst part is not getting up. It's the fear 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.560 of not waking up, which wakes you up, like at 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.280 three in the morning, at four in the morning, at 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:22.840 four three in the morning, at five in the morning, 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.160 and five through Oh ship, Now I gotta get up, right, 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.399 So how do you how do you overcome that? The 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.200 idea it's not the oversleeping, because everybody gets up and 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.760 waits up, but it's the mindset of, oh God, I 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.040 can't oversleep or then there's going to be hell to pay. 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:41.160 How do you overcome it? When it where an air force? Yes, well, 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.119 in basic training you have no choice like that. You 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.119 don't have your phone, so they're banging and sirens are 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.840 going off. But then in the school year, yeah, if 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.760 you if you do not wake up, what they do 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:54.760 is they just punish everybody else and they may keep 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:59.120 staying there and watch so you feel terrible about it. Um. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.080 I I don't know if I ever missed it because 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.680 I was so afraid of not waking up. I was 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.600 already in trouble. You know. They didn't like me, you 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:10.720 know from the jump there, so I knew, like I 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.320 can't miss this. Um. And it's crazy like how our 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.600 bodies work. We just kind of automatically wake up. But 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.720 nowadays we got the cell phones and we can set 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.199 the alarms. So I don't think I ever missed one. 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:29.680 What what do you remember about playing there? Uh, Princeton offense. Heah, 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.320 I don't like it. I didn't enjoy the Princeton Uh. 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:36.959 And I like and I just you know, I've had 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:41.639 David on the pod, like David gil okay and and 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:44.880 and so. But and this goes back to I used 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.200 to cover Air Force when because Delik was there and 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.159 before him when uh, when Chris Mooney was the head 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.200 coach there. I guess Mooney's my guy. He's been on 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.800 the pod and he's a Princeton guy. And I just 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.920 that's just not my jam. It's just it's it's it's 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.840 so um like I've always I've always been I always 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:04.959 think it's funny that guys that run Princeton like they 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:09.000 can't even function in normal pickup basketball because they're so 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:14.280 kind of programmed to elbow sin. You know, when you 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:15.800 when you if you've been in a couple of years, 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.800 you can play you can play basketball, but you struggle 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.960 to play basketball sometimes. Yeah, And that's the hard thing 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:23.400 with the Prince. And I agree with you. I don't 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.800 want to bass the Princeton or Coach p. Know, Coach 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.120 pe was a good coach and he had some success 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:32.600 over there, um, but it takes away your instincts. Like basketball, 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:34.600 the thing that I love about the game is the 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:38.200 creativity that you can, you know, use your instincts and 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.280 read and react to what the defense does. With the Princeton, 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:46.120 it's just already kind of premeditated. And I didn't enjoy it, um, 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.080 you know, and I think there's a way to run 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:54.199 it with a little bit more Dully's that's what they 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.320 call you a duelli right now now, it's not a dutey, 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:03.240 that's what it says. Just uh is it a dutey Yeah, yeah, 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:08.960 which means like servant. It's I need a text. One 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:11.920 of my guys. I can't believe I can think about 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.159 it's not a plea plea of his army telling you 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:21.680 is a duey anyway, it's not huh, it's not. We 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.600 were cadets, but they call us something else. How how 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.560 did you play it? One or two years? One year? 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:33.400 So you're there two years? Right, you're in the Springs 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:36.920 for two years? What's the decision like to leave? Like 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:41.040 to take me through? How was it hard? Did you 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.320