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Speaker 1: Hey, what I'm welcome in. I'm Doug gottliebiss is a

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Speaker 1: Final four edition of All Ball, and we got a

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Speaker 1: great guest boy, says Mike hen Mikey henn't is. He's

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Speaker 1: the Tommy Boy of college basketball, all right, seven years,

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Speaker 1: five schools. We take you through each water film and

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Speaker 1: I will tell you that, you know, talking to his

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Speaker 1: coaches de Penn State, I loved him. But if you

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Speaker 1: listen to his tale, I'm sure there's probably all the

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Speaker 1: classic signs which many of us had when we played,

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Speaker 1: where you don't know where the relationship went bad with

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Speaker 1: your coach, but you end up ending on terms that

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Speaker 1: you don't like. So I mean, there's not a true

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Speaker 1: pattern there because some schools he went to in their

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Speaker 1: first building and some one he had to leave when

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Speaker 1: it was all and when the coaches run was ending.

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Speaker 1: But there's a COVID you're in there. There's a little

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Speaker 1: bit of everything. So we'll get to that in a moment.

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Speaker 1: Let me first give you my thoughts on this Final four.

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Speaker 1: You know we're going to do this thing in the

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Speaker 1: in the sugar I'm going to start calling things the

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Speaker 1: sugar media, right, and the sugar media is the what

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Speaker 1: a sugar right makes you feel good in a very

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Speaker 1: short period of time, you know, fills you up with

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Speaker 1: those with those weak carbs. It makes it makes you

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Speaker 1: feel good for just a short short period of time

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Speaker 1: when the reality is that I don't want to say

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Speaker 1: traditional media whatever, but the way I look at it,

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Speaker 1: you have to tell the entire story. Even the entire

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Speaker 1: story isn't great. In this case, the entire story is

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Speaker 1: very different from the one that you're going to be

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Speaker 1: told or the one that some college coaches want to

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Speaker 1: convince themselves of. And maybe maybe what Miami has created

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Speaker 1: with the help of John Louise, maybe that's the future.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to be a dinosaur and sit here

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Speaker 1: and tell you that you aren't buy a team, But

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Speaker 1: there are plenty of teams that we're put together through

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Speaker 1: NIL that didn't accomplish not just what Miami has accomplished

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Speaker 1: and get into the Final four, but even what Alabama

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Speaker 1: accomplished or Arkansas accomplished get into the Sweet sixteen. But

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Speaker 1: Arkansas is a great example of two things. Obviously NIL,

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Speaker 1: but I would also point out that it's really hard

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Speaker 1: to win with young players because of the Mike Hens

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Speaker 1: of the world, right, I mean a nineteen year old

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Speaker 1: kid who's going to be a very good player versus

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Speaker 1: a twenty four year old kid who's going to be better,

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Speaker 1: who's going to be better than one game. And that's

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Speaker 1: a better answer than oh, the team that spent the

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Speaker 1: most in NIL. What I think the new NIL rules

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Speaker 1: are going to try to accomplish, although my guess is

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Speaker 1: they don't accomplish is limiting to one transfer. That's the

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Speaker 1: big thing, the one transfer. And if you're listening to

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Speaker 1: this and you're a basketball coach in college, you already

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Speaker 1: know what the deal is, right. Kids who are highly recruited,

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Speaker 1: they try and you know, draw out the biggest number

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Speaker 1: in NIL, and then after spending as short period of

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Speaker 1: time at one school as possible, then they put themselves

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Speaker 1: in the market. And once they get with on the market,

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Speaker 1: then they try and get on the market again and

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Speaker 1: again and again. It's not dissimilar from what professional athletes

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Speaker 1: should do, which is be a free agent as often

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Speaker 1: as possible. But that's where a collective part in agreement

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Speaker 1: already has things set in place where you're not a

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Speaker 1: free agent year after year after years. There's a narrative

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Speaker 1: out there that this is like professional sports, and the

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Speaker 1: answer is that's not true because professional sports you're not

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Speaker 1: a free agent every year, and you know, depending upon

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Speaker 1: the sport baseball, you don't reach any sort of free

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Speaker 1: agency until year four. They make very little money throughout

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Speaker 1: that that process of time, but ultimately there can be

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Speaker 1: a payoff for stars. So we're in this weird time

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Speaker 1: where nobody knows what anybody's actually truly making. Coaches aren't

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Speaker 1: supposed to that, ministrators aren't supposed to know what the

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Speaker 1: NIL would actually be paying. NIL is supposed to be

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Speaker 1: for your name, image and likeness, but really mostly let's

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Speaker 1: pay for play, and the numbers being thrown around are obscene,

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Speaker 1: but we don't know of the reality to them at

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Speaker 1: all places because many claim they got half or even

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Speaker 1: a quarter of what they thought they were going to

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Speaker 1: get before going to said school. So there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of different aspects of this out there, But the big

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Speaker 1: one I want to get to is can we point

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Speaker 1: out that while Miami does have Nigel Pack, there are

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Speaker 1: some you know, Wong was clearly taken care of because

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Speaker 1: he had an outstanding year last year, and the NIL

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Speaker 1: is having on many levels a positive impact in keeping

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Speaker 1: Hunter Dickinson at Michigan for example, and manymore. But the

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Speaker 1: other part too, it is, hey, look, Yukon was a

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Speaker 1: recruited team. They're not going out spending in nil. San

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Speaker 1: Diego State had transfers, but it's they're not transfers based

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Speaker 1: upon nil and going for some big check. He got

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Speaker 1: many guys who they just wanted to step up a

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Speaker 1: level and maybe they aren't at the highest level on

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Speaker 1: their own before they got to San Diego State, but

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Speaker 1: with the tenacity they play, with playing to their strengths,

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Speaker 1: the depths and the numbers, they're able to finally get

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Speaker 1: breakthrough and get to a final four. I would say

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Speaker 1: that the reason San Diego State hasn't achieved this in

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Speaker 1: the NCAA term previously is they just haven't had that

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Speaker 1: good a player. And you say, well, there's Kawhi letter.

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Speaker 1: Outside of Kawai, I love Zabra things, he's awesome, but

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Speaker 1: there's a reason he was in the NBA, right. So

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Speaker 1: if and I mean, what's the difference thing Gonzaga this

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Speaker 1: year and the two previous Gonzaga years. You had a

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Speaker 1: pro you had a dude, Santa State has been this good,

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Speaker 1: if not even better, defensively for years. What's the difference

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Speaker 1: this year, Well, they don't really have a pro. But

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Speaker 1: also the teams they went against outside Alabama was just

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Speaker 1: too young and shot the ball poorly. You know, they're

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Speaker 1: just stupacating defensively. It's not like Creighton has pros that

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Speaker 1: are just putting the ball on the deck and making

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Speaker 1: you one on one. They're able to win a game.

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Speaker 1: But the bigger thing is that between Yukon and Santyu,

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Speaker 1: Stay and Fdu okay, these are not high level buy

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Speaker 1: a team and I and IL guys, And it's very important.

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Speaker 1: The sugar media is going to buy into the Hey,

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Speaker 1: look what Miami's doing. This is what everybody's doing. The

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Speaker 1: reality is that's not what's been done. Now again, I'm

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Speaker 1: not a dinosaur. It's not that I don't know what's

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Speaker 1: going on in the market, at the transfer market. How

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Speaker 1: times are changed. I'm just telling you the reality is

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Speaker 1: that that thing putting together a team by buying a

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Speaker 1: player from another team is a lot harder, clearly than

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Speaker 1: anyone could conceptualize before it started happening. All right, let's

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Speaker 1: let's get you to my Ken just finished up his

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Speaker 1: career at Penn state. He joined me from his apartment

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Speaker 1: and take a listen to his tale. Um, it looks

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Speaker 1: like you're an apartment. You're not in a dorm, are you? No,

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Speaker 1: I'm in an apartment. Okay, I just just just check in. UM,

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Speaker 1: you're a Bellevue kid, right, Like? What was your what

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Speaker 1: was high school? A you like to? Yeah? So I played? Um,

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Speaker 1: I went to Bellvie High School. UM, I had some

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Speaker 1: opportunities to go play in the Metro League. Bring your

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Speaker 1: Beach wanted me to come play with him. I decided

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Speaker 1: to stick it out all four years of Bellevue and

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Speaker 1: then AU. I played for FOH Friends of Hoop all

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Speaker 1: growing up and US and Rotari where the two top

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Speaker 1: teams in the area for a long long time and

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Speaker 1: still are you know? Rotary tried to get me to

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Speaker 1: come play UYBL but I just stayed true with FOH

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Speaker 1: and had a great experience with both programs. Honestly, So

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Speaker 1: your friend your Friends of Hoop program? Who was on

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Speaker 1: your team? Uh, Corey Kispers the name that everybody's gonna know.

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Speaker 1: We had other players too. Michael Carter ended up going

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Speaker 1: to UM University Washington. Before he bounced around a little bit.

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Speaker 1: We had other guys go Division two. We had a

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Speaker 1: we had a really good team, but we had a

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Speaker 1: lot of us had played together all of high school

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Speaker 1: in au so that's why we had the success that

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Speaker 1: we did. My seventeen year year you um, so, so

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Speaker 1: your senior year, how good were you get in high school? Are?

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Speaker 1: My best high school team was my junior year. We

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Speaker 1: had the MVP of our league on our team, Ganther,

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Speaker 1: he went to the Army m California, ended up going

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Speaker 1: to Boston University, and then Zach Moore played at Seattle.

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Speaker 1: You in a couple other schools, and then Treffe went

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Speaker 1: to Seattle Pacivic as well. Do a good Division two.

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Speaker 1: So our starting five was we were as good as

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Speaker 1: anybody in the state. UM. We ended up playing Rainier

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Speaker 1: Beach and the district championship when I had it was

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Speaker 1: de Johnson, Murray, Idy Smith, Kevin Porter, Shadiabas. They were

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Speaker 1: really good. UM lost to them in our district championship,

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Speaker 1: and just how the wis set up, we ended up

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Speaker 1: playing them in the first round of the state tournament

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Speaker 1: and lost again. So that was our probably our best

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Speaker 1: high school team. So what was your what was your

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Speaker 1: recruitment like recruitment was it was pretty slow until my

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Speaker 1: seventeen you summer Camera Dollar in Seattle U. They were

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Speaker 1: kind of on me the whole time since I was

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Speaker 1: a freshman. I don't know if Cam ever like gave

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Speaker 1: me a formal offer, but it was always kind of like, hey,

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Speaker 1: come play for me. But in once that seventeen you

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Speaker 1: year hit, we ended up playing in all those tournaments

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Speaker 1: in July and we went down to Anaheim, made it

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Speaker 1: all the way to the championship game. We beat we

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Speaker 1: were the last team to beat the ball Brothers All

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Speaker 1: High School. We beat Access from Zacoma, Washington, who had

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Speaker 1: Corey Gloughlin and Malachai Flynn, and lost to Cali Supreme.

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Speaker 1: But in those in that tournament, I was just I mean,

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Speaker 1: I was going crazy. I was hitting threes, dropping dimes,

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Speaker 1: I was dunking on people, and like at that point,

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Speaker 1: when the scouts started to see me like really play

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Speaker 1: like that, they got excited and that's when a bunch

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Speaker 1: of my offers began to come in. So why did

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Speaker 1: you choose Denver? Uh? Well, I started that. I started

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Speaker 1: UC Davis in other Okay, Okay, it's your first Okay,

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Speaker 1: So that's right, Okay, so I got I got the

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Speaker 1: order confused. So so okay, so jim lest what what

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Speaker 1: about jim Less? And UC Davis was like, I want

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Speaker 1: to go there? Yeah. So it was just unique opportunity

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Speaker 1: the they had. They had been putting a really good

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Speaker 1: program together before I got there. Um, they had won

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Speaker 1: the regular season in the Big West and had been

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Speaker 1: real competitive, and just the makeup of the team. We

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Speaker 1: had a lot of experience. We had a fifth year

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Speaker 1: point Gerard, we had a six year big guy, really

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Speaker 1: good junior college players, UM, and some people that had

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Speaker 1: just been in the program, and it was just the fit,

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Speaker 1: the way they played UM and just what my role

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Speaker 1: was going to be within that. I just I knew

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Speaker 1: we were gonna have a special team. And so I

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Speaker 1: ended up committing before my senior year high school started.

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Speaker 1: I committed early and you know, went to Davis. Had

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Speaker 1: a great year. They're awesome, awesome school. Basketball wise, we

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Speaker 1: were finished second in the conference. We lost to UC

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Speaker 1: Irvine on the last day of the regular season by

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Speaker 1: thirty at their place. Came back the next week beat

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Speaker 1: Fullerton in the semi finals of our conference tournament, and

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Speaker 1: then beat Irvine to go to the dance and from

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Speaker 1: there we played played the play in Dayton, played North

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Speaker 1: Carolina Central took care of that one, and then got

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Speaker 1: matched up with Kansas and Tulsa played Josh Jackson, Spee, mccailloch,

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Speaker 1: Frank Mason, DeVante Graham. They had a great team. So

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Speaker 1: that was that was quite an experience my first year.

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Speaker 1: What what was your role like on the team? H

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Speaker 1: so early on, you know, roles kind of get determined

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Speaker 1: as the year goes on. Early on in the year,

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Speaker 1: I was playing really well, Like first ten twelve games

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Speaker 1: of the season, I was averaging between ten and twelve points,

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Speaker 1: about five or evounds fifty shooting. So I played really

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Speaker 1: well to start the season. And then as it went on,

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Speaker 1: coach Less leaned on the older guys. I was still

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Speaker 1: in the rotation, playing but not quite as much. And

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Speaker 1: you know, Connor groove and played well. So I was,

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Speaker 1: you know, I was in that position and I was playing.

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Speaker 1: I was the only guy on our team playing as

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Speaker 1: a freshman, and you know I was. I was excited

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Speaker 1: for what was to come. So what I leave so

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Speaker 1: got into it. Um, you know, go finish up at

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Speaker 1: the tournament. All is good, all is happy. We have

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Speaker 1: our end of season meetings, and like you know, when

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Speaker 1: of the meeting, head held high, like just excited for

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Speaker 1: what was to come, and we began talking about things,

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Speaker 1: and I don't know what made the meeting go south,

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Speaker 1: but all of a sudden, Coach was just saying some

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Speaker 1: things to me that I didn't agree with, and the

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Speaker 1: meeting ended with him saying he'd be happy for me

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Speaker 1: to enter the portal. So that went on in that meeting.

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Speaker 1: I still don't really know what triggered all that. However,

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Speaker 1: you know, I had some time to reflect and think

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Speaker 1: about it before I entered the portal, and Coach Less

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Speaker 1: wouldn't even give me a conversation after that meeting, So

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Speaker 1: I felt like that was where I stood with him,

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Speaker 1: that you know, trying to pursue something else probably would

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Speaker 1: better suit me. And so ended up entering the transfer

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Speaker 1: portal and then transferred down to uh Cow Baptist played

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Speaker 1: for coach Roy. So do you think he ran you off?

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Speaker 1: Like he had somebody else in mind for your scholarship?

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Speaker 1: And that's that's that's why Ilson and went went from

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Speaker 1: you playing to now ask telling you to go into portal.

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't, I don't I don't. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if it was that. I don't know if just

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Speaker 1: tensions were high, or if pride was a thing or

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Speaker 1: you know. Still to this day we I haven't spoke

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Speaker 1: to him since that really, so, UM, I'm sure someday

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Speaker 1: we will have a talk about it, but UM, at

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Speaker 1: this point in time, I'm not entirely sure. Because after

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Speaker 1: after my class, we had my class at the time

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Speaker 1: of the highest scruity class at Davis was me and

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Speaker 1: my roommate Peter Hewitt. They essentially asked us both to league.

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Speaker 1: We left, and the two classes after everybody also transferred,

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Speaker 1: so he lost three classes in a row. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of a wild time, honestly. So what what

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Speaker 1: what was the portal like your first portal experience? What

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Speaker 1: was that like? My first portal experience? It was, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was good. I had some I had some good opportunities.

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Speaker 1: It was you know, it was nice. I had some

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Speaker 1: really good tape together as a freshman playing on an

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Speaker 1: NCAA tournament team. So I had some programs that we're interested.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't. It wasn't Power five interests, but they were

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Speaker 1: good teams. Um, and I ended up heading down to

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Speaker 1: cal Baptist because I just kind of knew the situation

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Speaker 1: the year that I transferred down there. Um, I knew

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Speaker 1: I was gonna probably end up red shirting, and then

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Speaker 1: I was gonna be you know, playing significant minutes in

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Speaker 1: their first year at Division one, and it was exciting.

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Speaker 1: You know, it was brand new arena going into the whack,

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Speaker 1: and you know I was familiar with coaching staff, so

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Speaker 1: I ended up heading down there. What was what was

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Speaker 1: he like as opposed to coach less? Right, Like, what

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Speaker 1: was the difference in styles in terms of coaching and approach? Um?

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Speaker 1: So I would say coach less like coach less phenomenal

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Speaker 1: X andos Like X and os, if you need to

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Speaker 1: play for a bucket, he's gonna draw something up and

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Speaker 1: you're gonna get something great. Um. Croix is a lot

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Speaker 1: more of a motivator, Like you're gonna want to run

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Speaker 1: through a brick wall for him. But you know XS

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Speaker 1: and os and that type of thing, it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: more delegated to UH staff. Um. You know if they're

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Speaker 1: both very competitive, very like fierce competitors, so like you

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Speaker 1: don't want to be on either of their bad sides.

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Speaker 1: But when you're on their good sides. It's a pretty

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Speaker 1: good thing. So you what was it year like when

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Speaker 1: you sat? Uh, you're like when I say, I was like,

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Speaker 1: it was pretty tumultuous. Actually. So I got down there

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Speaker 1: and I had been having a little bit of trouble

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Speaker 1: with my ankle. Had an ankle sprain during the season

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Speaker 1: at Davis, and it kind of it nagged me, but

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Speaker 1: it eventually got better. And then when I went down,

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Speaker 1: right before I was going down to CBU, I had

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Speaker 1: just slightly tweaked it again. And when we got into

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Speaker 1: training camp and everything working out, I just I realized

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Speaker 1: that something was wrong, and so we began to get

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Speaker 1: some get some tests done and just see what was

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Speaker 1: going on with it. And I had a bunch of

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Speaker 1: bone spurring and my ankle joint. So I ended up

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Speaker 1: having a surgery with a doctor I would say got

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Speaker 1: into it too fast. I probably should have gotten to

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Speaker 1: somebody else who had a clear direction with what they

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Speaker 1: were going to do with the surgery, but it was local.

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Speaker 1: Ended up having that surgery rehab my way all the

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Speaker 1: way back into the spring, and unfortunately my foot was

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Speaker 1: still bad. Um they hadn't taken care of what they

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Speaker 1: needed to take care of so I was in line

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Speaker 1: for another operation, which I got done that spring in April. Um.

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Speaker 1: So that was you're, yeah, you're just kind of rehabbing

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Speaker 1: the whole year and not playing right, so what do

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Speaker 1: you do with your time? Yeah, so I was, well,

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Speaker 1: I was, you know, like coach Croy, he's not one

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Speaker 1: of those coaches where he's like, hey, we're gonna practice,

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Speaker 1: you go rehab. He's like, hey, we had practice, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna come watch practice. So watched every single practice, every

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Speaker 1: every single day, rehab before and after. So my days

323
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:58,480
Speaker 1: were long days. But that group of that group of

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Speaker 1: kids that we had on that team, the older guy,

325
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Speaker 1: it was a good group. It was a really good

326
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Speaker 1: team to be a part of because they went all

327
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Speaker 1: the way to the Elite eight for Division two. So

328
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Speaker 1: it was good to be a part of that winning culture. Um.

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Speaker 1: It was unfortunate that I was dealing with my foot,

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Speaker 1: um because you know, in your retro year, you're just

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Speaker 1: trying to get better and get in great shape and

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Speaker 1: do all those things. And I was, you know, back

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Speaker 1: and forth due to the injury troubles. So you so

334
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Speaker 1: you come back for your second year, right, you get

335
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Speaker 1: a chance to play right, yeah, or your foot or

336
00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:34,920
Speaker 1: is your foot still messed up? Well, my foot, Well

337
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,359
Speaker 1: that's the craziest part about it, was my foot was

338
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Speaker 1: still messed up. But I played that entire year. Um,

339
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Speaker 1: we got back. So we got got out there in

340
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Speaker 1: the summer, trained all summer. It was getting in great shape.

341
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Speaker 1: Wasn't doing a lot of like team on the court

342
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Speaker 1: stuff because I was still already having um and you know,

343
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Speaker 1: eventually eventually got back, had a great fall training session,

344
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Speaker 1: gotten some of the best shape I've been in my life.

345
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Speaker 1: I was playing playing the three four, and I was

346
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Speaker 1: you know, I was set to set to have a

347
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Speaker 1: good year. And I did have a good year there,

348
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Speaker 1: but my foot nagged me the whole time, like I

349
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:20,879
Speaker 1: can just tell something still wrong with it. You know,

350
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Speaker 1: we had we had a great, great year that first

351
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Speaker 1: year at CBU. I think still to this day we

352
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:31,600
Speaker 1: have the best first year record of a incoming Division

353
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Speaker 1: One team. I think we're like sixteen and fifteen. But

354
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Speaker 1: I mean we came in and we battled. We played

355
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Speaker 1: New Mexico State our first game in conference at home,

356
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Speaker 1: and we beat them, and they didn't lose a game

357
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Speaker 1: the rest of the season. You know, we had some

358
00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 1: had some good wins like that, and went through some

359
00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 1: growing pains as a team, because that transition front division

360
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:58,000
Speaker 1: to Division one is a real thing, you know. Yeah,

361
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Speaker 1: But all in all, all in all, was a good year.

362
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Speaker 1: We were eligible for postseason tournament, all that type of deal.

363
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,800
Speaker 1: But unfortunately I was still dealing with my ankle during

364
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Speaker 1: that time. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk

365
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:17,800
Speaker 1: lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at

366
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 1: Fox sports Radio dot com and within the iHeart Radio

367
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,920
Speaker 1: app search f SR to listen live. OK, so then

368
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Speaker 1: you go come back for nineteen twenty and what happens? Yeah,

369
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Speaker 1: So nineteen twenty. So in the so in the spring,

370
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Speaker 1: in the spring of that year, after I had played

371
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Speaker 1: that season at Kyle Baptist, the staff kind of they

372
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,520
Speaker 1: knew that my foot was still messed up, and so

373
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Speaker 1: did I. And I mean ultimately, just like everything I

374
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:55,400
Speaker 1: had gone through there, I it kind of from both parties,

375
00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:00,320
Speaker 1: we decided that like it was best for me to

376
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Speaker 1: be with the team the next year. UM A lot

377
00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,359
Speaker 1: of stuff that went into that. I was welcome back,

378
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: but it was it was no longer a work environment

379
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Speaker 1: for me that was going to be conducive for my

380
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,959
Speaker 1: basketball career, my health, and so I ended up um

381
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 1: stepped away from the team, got my got my surgery

382
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,440
Speaker 1: on the calendar to finally fix my ankle um. That

383
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:34,400
Speaker 1: wasn't until September, so I got to get home. I

384
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:38,880
Speaker 1: was home during the summer, taking junior college classes, just training,

385
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Speaker 1: had my surgery in September, went back down to cal

386
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,199
Speaker 1: Baptist just as a student in the fall, and I

387
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,119
Speaker 1: graduated in December. So so you weren't even part of

388
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: the team. So what what happened? You're growing up now,

389
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: like Jim, last thing you thought it was good, then

390
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,439
Speaker 1: all of a sudden it went back like were you

391
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 1: super defensive? Were you defiant? You know? Like what what

392
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,400
Speaker 1: what I was? You know, I was, I was young

393
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:08,280
Speaker 1: at the time, Like but Croy just in the way

394
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 1: that he was doing things then and I don't know

395
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,679
Speaker 1: if he's still acting that way now, but it was

396
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 1: his way of the highway a lot of stuff, And

397
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,359
Speaker 1: you know, I felt like the two prior surgeries that

398
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Speaker 1: I had had, I didn't have too much say and

399
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 1: who I was going to see for my doctor, and

400
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:36,360
Speaker 1: it just wasn't It was back and forth like determining

401
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:38,440
Speaker 1: whether or not they wanted me back. One day, they

402
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,119
Speaker 1: were like, God, you had such a great year for us.

403
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,159
Speaker 1: You're such a big part of this team. We're so

404
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,919
Speaker 1: excited to have you back. And the next day it

405
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: was like, well, you need to do this and that

406
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 1: and that and this, and I'm like, it was so

407
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:55,000
Speaker 1: bipolar and it was just unhealthy. You never knew what

408
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,199
Speaker 1: you were gonna what you were gonna expect out of it,

409
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: and what you were gonna get from them on any

410
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,680
Speaker 1: given day. And I just knew for me, the best

411
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:06,360
Speaker 1: thing for my basketball career in my life was just

412
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 1: to finally fix this injury because it was holding me

413
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 1: back from what I really needed to be doing. And

414
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 1: I thought, in order to do that, getting the surgery

415
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,240
Speaker 1: done on my own terms and rehabbing on my own

416
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,159
Speaker 1: terms was going to be the best outlet for me.

417
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Speaker 1: And so I basically just basically just chose myself, bet

418
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: on myself, and you know, separated myself from a shirt

419
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 1: thing to something that was very much up in the air.

420
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Speaker 1: And you know, during that during that year, it was difficult,

421
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,480
Speaker 1: you know, third surgery, having to come back, my rehab.

422
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: I mean it was from I damn me rehab. The

423
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,120
Speaker 1: whole year to get back healthy. It was pretty much

424
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,919
Speaker 1: from September when I had the surgery till August right

425
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 1: before I reported out to the University of Portland. But

426
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,800
Speaker 1: it was a big year, right, So you with all

427
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,400
Speaker 1: these things you're doing right now, you're now you're by yourself.

428
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 1: What was it like at cal Baptist when you have

429
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 1: you're not part of a team. You're still like on scholarship,

430
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: but you're not on the team. It was it was different.

431
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: It was different, um, you know, being a part of

432
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,400
Speaker 1: the team in college, that's what you were used to. UM.

433
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: But at the same time, like, it was different. I

434
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,360
Speaker 1: would say something it could be uncomfortable, but my teammates

435
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:34,680
Speaker 1: had so much love for me that it wasn't in

436
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:41,040
Speaker 1: that aspect um, did you did you live withol? No.

437
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: I lived in my own space, lived in my own space,

438
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,160
Speaker 1: and so I mean from a school from a school standpoint,

439
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 1: it was great because for the first time in my

440
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 1: whole college career, I could really just lock in on school, right,

441
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:59,359
Speaker 1: So that piece was easy. Um. Having the free time

442
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 1: was nice because you know how demanding individual on schedule is,

443
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 1: you know, So that was another piece that a lot

444
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:08,159
Speaker 1: of that a lot of that gave me a lot

445
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 1: of perspective. And you know, even once I graduated and

446
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 1: went home, Um, I was working. I was driving. Not

447
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 1: only was I rehabbing, working on my game, doing all

448
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,400
Speaker 1: these things. I was driving Uber because my uh my

449
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:27,399
Speaker 1: mom was unemployed at the time, so I was helping

450
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:29,880
Speaker 1: I was helping us out driving Uber, doing that type

451
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: of thing. So I'll kind of we'll kind of cut

452
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 1: what'll kind of carver you an Uber driver in I

453
00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:39,720
Speaker 1: was driving a Chrysler, driving in Chrysler. Yeah, but I

454
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: mean it was cool. It was like I had all

455
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: this college stuff, graduated and you know, stepped into the

456
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 1: real world for a second. So my eyes opened up

457
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,679
Speaker 1: to a lot of things before the second phase of

458
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:56,360
Speaker 1: my college career. What what was that? What was give

459
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,840
Speaker 1: me give me an Uber, give me an Uber story? Story?

460
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:03,679
Speaker 1: You driving Uber and them? What's the story? Man? It

461
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 1: was great. It was great, Like it was just it's

462
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 1: just fun. I'm a people person, so you're having all

463
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 1: types of people in your car all the time. Some

464
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 1: people want to talk, some people don't. And this is

465
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 1: during COVID too, so like the mask thing was crazy.

466
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:21,120
Speaker 1: People were all bundled up like they didn't really want

467
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,200
Speaker 1: any Some people didn't want a piec of you. Other

468
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 1: people were like, oh my god, I get to talk

469
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,879
Speaker 1: to somebody. Like they loved it, you know. Um, but

470
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,120
Speaker 1: I mean really all the all the fun stories are

471
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:33,919
Speaker 1: just like you know, you go like in Seattle, you

472
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,000
Speaker 1: go pick people up in Capitol Hill and they're like

473
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,840
Speaker 1: they're drunk out their minds and you're trying to They

474
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:41,720
Speaker 1: got like six people trying to pile in your car,

475
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,760
Speaker 1: and I'm like I'm like whatever, like y'all, y'all good,

476
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,840
Speaker 1: Like let's go. We're playing music, like we're just you know,

477
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 1: having a good time with people. So did anybody ask?

478
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 1: And they asked like what what do you do? Like

479
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 1: what do you do? Like I'm a basketball player? Like

480
00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 1: why are you driving over? Yeah, because like I had,

481
00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: I had a picture of me and my jersey is

482
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 1: my uber pictures. So they were like they're like what

483
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: are you doing driving uber? Like you don't you play basketball?

484
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 1: And I was like yeah, like yeah, man, like I

485
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,440
Speaker 1: just you know, I just finished up and I gave

486
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 1: my story like finished up my undergrad I'm about a

487
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 1: grad transfer, I'm rehabbing, doing all this stuff, and you know,

488
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: right now, I'm just driving uber making some money. So crazy. Um, okay,

489
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 1: so how did you how did you did you go

490
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:26,760
Speaker 1: in the portal to go to Portland? How did you

491
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:28,640
Speaker 1: come to kind of go to Portland? Yeah, yeah, so

492
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: I went, I went in the portal. I went in

493
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 1: the portal. So I went in the portal that past spring,

494
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen spring, I went in the portal. But I

495
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: knew that my foot was bad. I knew that I

496
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 1: needed to have my surgery. I knew all that stuff. So,

497
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: like schools had reached out to me initially, but it

498
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,800
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna be the best option for me to transfer

499
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,800
Speaker 1: and try to finish my undergrad um. So right when

500
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:04,160
Speaker 1: I when I finished up at CVUM, that's really when

501
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 1: my recruiting picked up. And I think I think that

502
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 1: COVID helped me as well, because all of a sudden,

503
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:17,760
Speaker 1: it was like high school seasons got short, you know,

504
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,960
Speaker 1: the college season got cut off. And I had this

505
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 1: all this film from this full season from before. So

506
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 1: by the time Marsh rolled around, I'm probably talking to

507
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 1: thirty programs and like it was, you know, everything from

508
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:37,800
Speaker 1: Power five to the lowest major you could think of,

509
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:42,440
Speaker 1: right and it was just it was crazy. But Portland,

510
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:46,120
Speaker 1: they they began to get real serious about me in

511
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: like April May, and I liked the I liked the

512
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: thought of playing close to home. Um. I always thought

513
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,960
Speaker 1: the WCC would be a good conference for me, and

514
00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:01,160
Speaker 1: it was. And this is during this was during this

515
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 1: was during COVID, right, yeah, but you know that was

516
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 1: that was the tricky part. I had all these you know,

517
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 1: I had had all these schools talking to me. I

518
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 1: wasn't real familiar with any of them except Portland. I

519
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 1: had been on their campus in high school, you know,

520
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 1: like I had a I had a feel and just

521
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 1: seeing talking to the coaches and stuff, I knew that

522
00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,600
Speaker 1: it would be a good um place for me to be.

523
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 1: And so I ended up going there. You know, no

524
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 1: business enough, a lot of okay, so so but you

525
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 1: you go there. But what were you doing during COVID,

526
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 1: because that year where years out during COVID, I was.

527
00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough to have a great, great, great

528
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:51,400
Speaker 1: like rehab team working with me. UM one of my

529
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 1: family friends since I was young. They run a they

530
00:31:55,640 --> 00:32:01,080
Speaker 1: run a rehab facility and UH in Belgaria, in Mercer Island,

531
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 1: and so I got linked up with them, and I

532
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 1: was fortunate enough that you know, cal Baptists had paid

533
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 1: for my surgery and paid they've been paying for my

534
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:17,680
Speaker 1: my visits to the rehabilitation so that whole time I'm

535
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 1: in there two three times a week, getting my strength back,

536
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 1: getting my like, getting back into running, doing all these things.

537
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:30,160
Speaker 1: And initially I had time to you know, go to

538
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,440
Speaker 1: my gym at home, work with some of my trainers,

539
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,520
Speaker 1: just start to get some of my skill work back in.

540
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,520
Speaker 1: But once COVID hit, I mean, we had to figure

541
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:39,640
Speaker 1: it out, like we just had to figure it out.

542
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 1: So I had a couple of my buddies from you

543
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 1: dubbed Noah new Bauer ORNs Carter. We would go, I mean,

544
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:50,360
Speaker 1: we'd go to any park we could, every single day

545
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 1: and we were just we were just playing ball. Didn't matter.

546
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 1: Were they open the courts that we were at. Yes,

547
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 1: So like nas and them where they lived, they had

548
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 1: a court right out back from their house, so we'd

549
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: go play there. There was a court at the middle

550
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 1: school down from my house, Chinook Middle School where I

551
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 1: went to middle school, covered area, double rims, whatever. But

552
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 1: we just we got working and so we just we

553
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,640
Speaker 1: just pulled together as many players as we could from

554
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,160
Speaker 1: the area. As this progression went on, and like we

555
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,280
Speaker 1: were playing threes and we were playing fours, we were

556
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,719
Speaker 1: playing ones, we were getting shots up and it was

557
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:36,800
Speaker 1: like it was competitive. And then Towards like towards May

558
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 1: started working with this pro group in Seattle too that

559
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,440
Speaker 1: I worked with, and we ended up getting gym space

560
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 1: at this elementary and this backdoor gym, and I mean

561
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 1: we were just we just found our way to get

562
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:57,720
Speaker 1: our working, like any which way we could, didn't matter

563
00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 1: what the ball was, didn't matter what the court was,

564
00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: none of that. We were just trying to get better. Okay.

565
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 1: So then what was but the city of Portland, like

566
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 1: again COVID and then all the riots, Like what was that?

567
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 1: Like yeah yeah, So so right when we got out there, uh,

568
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:19,879
Speaker 1: they were like they were like, yeah, it's probably best

569
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,520
Speaker 1: if you stay away from downtown. And I'm thinking, like okay,

570
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,239
Speaker 1: like it like it's bad whatever, but you know, because

571
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:28,520
Speaker 1: Seattle was bad at the time too, But I was like,

572
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:30,879
Speaker 1: there's no way it could be that bad. And then

573
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:34,280
Speaker 1: one night we went down there. We were just picking

574
00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:38,440
Speaker 1: up some food and like it was like Gotham City,

575
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 1: Like it was there was so many, so many people

576
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 1: in ten so many people just like streaking walking down

577
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:50,359
Speaker 1: the street. Like couldn't even couldn't even fathom because growing

578
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:52,520
Speaker 1: up in the Seattle area, you're down in Portland playing

579
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 1: and tournaments all the time. You're used to that city

580
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 1: being so nice, and to see that it was just crazy.

581
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,600
Speaker 1: So we ended up like we go down there to

582
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 1: get food sometimes, but I mean for the most part,

583
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,920
Speaker 1: we just stayed around campus for most of that year. Honestly,

584
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 1: did you have did you have in person classes? No?

585
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: In person classes? Everything was online. Um so I began

586
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:21,760
Speaker 1: began my MBA online and they were great classes. Actually,

587
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,000
Speaker 1: the teachers did a really good job of getting that

588
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,640
Speaker 1: all together because there was That was a really good

589
00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 1: year of learning for me on that side of it.

590
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: Did you did you ever attend a class on campus

591
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:40,440
Speaker 1: at the University of Portland? No, sir, no one. That's amazing.

592
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,399
Speaker 1: All these you went to five schools you actually never

593
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,000
Speaker 1: went to. Okay, what was what was practice like for

594
00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:49,839
Speaker 1: with all the protocols that year? Because because I did,

595
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: I did. I did a WCC game at Lola Merrimut

596
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,279
Speaker 1: that year and they tested me. I had descended my

597
00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:58,480
Speaker 1: test stuff. But then right before I got into the

598
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,760
Speaker 1: gym they tested me, so and I couldn't park anywhere

599
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:03,359
Speaker 1: near the gym, so I was like all the way

600
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,319
Speaker 1: over to So. Like I normally get to the game

601
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,120
Speaker 1: like hour and a half before whatever, got into traffic

602
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,480
Speaker 1: little late. It was like an hour before the game.

603
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,040
Speaker 1: So then I got to walk like thirty twenty minutes.

604
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 1: Then they got tested then like waiting outside, They're like

605
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 1: waiting to come get me. I mean, it was crazy.

606
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 1: What was it like for you? So for me, I mean, yeah,

607
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:27,759
Speaker 1: Rogan got a campus tested And initially all we could

608
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:33,120
Speaker 1: do was two players at a hoop with one coach,

609
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 1: so me and our other big Diabata. We were just

610
00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:42,520
Speaker 1: getting one on one working pretty much wearing wearing a

611
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:47,840
Speaker 1: mask whatever. And then eventually it progressed from that. We could,

612
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,840
Speaker 1: you know, practice as a team, but not really practice.

613
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:53,920
Speaker 1: It was like you could do five on over. That

614
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: was the max you could do. And that year in

615
00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 1: Portland US in Portland State were the last two teams

616
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,239
Speaker 1: that weren't practicing, like the I don't know if it

617
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 1: was a governor or the mayor, but decided that it

618
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:12,360
Speaker 1: was the mayor. They decided that we just couldn't practice basketball,

619
00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:14,360
Speaker 1: and so we didn't have a We didn't have a

620
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:19,400
Speaker 1: real official practice until it was like two weeks or

621
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,840
Speaker 1: ten days before our first game. Like it was nuts.

622
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: So we're just we our first official official practice where

623
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:34,240
Speaker 1: we could get after was ten days or two weeks

624
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,279
Speaker 1: before our first game. And then did you just have

625
00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:38,840
Speaker 1: to wear masks or anything or did you just go

626
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 1: regular practice? Yeah? Yeah, we had to. I think I

627
00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:44,919
Speaker 1: think at that point we're still wearing masks. I don't

628
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:47,719
Speaker 1: know when that stopped, because we were wearing them for

629
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,120
Speaker 1: the longest working out and that is so uncomfortable. What

630
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 1: what was okay? So what was Terry porterlay? Terry Porter

631
00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 1: is one of the best human beings ever been around, great, great,

632
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,680
Speaker 1: great human being? Like what what made him since a

633
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:08,239
Speaker 1: great human He just like he's just so like so charismatic,

634
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:12,840
Speaker 1: like really loves his guys and like he cares about

635
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,480
Speaker 1: you more than hoops. Um. You know, he has all

636
00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,520
Speaker 1: that experience being in in the NBA, just sitting around him,

637
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 1: listening to all his stories and everything that all his

638
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:25,920
Speaker 1: knowledge on the game, Like I soaked it up like

639
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:30,120
Speaker 1: a sponge. And I think I think some guys on

640
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:34,719
Speaker 1: our team. They they didn't soak up as much as

641
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 1: I did. UM, But I love being around TP and

642
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,960
Speaker 1: I love playing for TP because he counted on me

643
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,920
Speaker 1: and I was one of his guys, and it was

644
00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:48,800
Speaker 1: it was easy to play for him, um, just because

645
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,640
Speaker 1: of the concepts we ran and his trust that he

646
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:53,879
Speaker 1: put in his players. And I really did enjoy playing

647
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:58,760
Speaker 1: for Terry Porter. So had the year go. We started

648
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:03,279
Speaker 1: off great. We were six and two with wins over

649
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: one arrivalry game against Portland State, beat a good Montana

650
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,880
Speaker 1: State team, and then we went to Oregon State and

651
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:18,560
Speaker 1: beat them as well early on, and so, I mean,

652
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:23,000
Speaker 1: we were real confident going into WCC play and then

653
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:28,040
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened, but things went south after

654
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:34,040
Speaker 1: Christmas break. We it just it just stopped clicking. And

655
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:35,960
Speaker 1: I don't really know what it was, to be honest,

656
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,200
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was personalities, I don't know

657
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: buy in. I couldn't really tell you. But we ended

658
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:48,879
Speaker 1: up losing all these games in the WCC, and right

659
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: when we got into a rhythm down the stretch of

660
00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:55,120
Speaker 1: the year, we went down to San Diego, were supposed

661
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:58,160
Speaker 1: to play San Diego that night, and then Santa Clair.

662
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:01,839
Speaker 1: The next day go to shoot around come back. We

663
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 1: had flown one of our players out because he was

664
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:08,040
Speaker 1: sick at home with the flu. We get his COVID

665
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:10,839
Speaker 1: test back and it comes back positive, so they sent

666
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 1: us home and a day later they tell us that

667
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 1: it was a misprint on the COVID test and that

668
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,479
Speaker 1: it was you know, it was false. So we could

669
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:25,799
Speaker 1: have played those games. Those games would have been big

670
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 1: for us. And then we got a tough matchup in

671
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:31,760
Speaker 1: the first round at WC WCC tournament against Santa Clara,

672
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:36,080
Speaker 1: and Jaylen Williams pretty much buried us. He's like eight

673
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 1: for nine shooting with some free throws and had about

674
00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: twenty two points. And we're close, but we just what

675
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,000
Speaker 1: started off so well, it just never came together down

676
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:51,040
Speaker 1: the stretch of the year. So years over then what

677
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:56,520
Speaker 1: happens yep, years over going through coaching change. TP had

678
00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 1: gotten fired with a few games left and they end

679
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:06,640
Speaker 1: up bringing in Shantelegans from East from Washington, And you know,

680
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,440
Speaker 1: I was I've been familiar with with Shanta. He had

681
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:13,600
Speaker 1: recruited me at Eastern UM, you know, so I was

682
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:16,839
Speaker 1: I was excited, right, I was excited about the opportunity,

683
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:23,040
Speaker 1: and we end up meeting as a team on a

684
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:26,879
Speaker 1: zoom and you know, like introductory you think your coach

685
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,080
Speaker 1: is gonna speak for you know, speak for a good

686
00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:36,600
Speaker 1: amount of time. Chante comes into the meeting and goes, yeah, uh,

687
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 1: don't really know shit about you guys. Um, you know,

688
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 1: watched a couple of games here and there, but you know,

689
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:50,799
Speaker 1: we'll have individual meetings with you guys and we'll just

690
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:56,400
Speaker 1: figure this out. Like and we were like, okay, like

691
00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 1: you're a new coach, it's all you gotta say, like,

692
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,720
Speaker 1: we're like, what is going on? And so the meeting

693
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:04,960
Speaker 1: was about eight minutes long. About it was an hour,

694
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:07,719
Speaker 1: and he goes he ended the meeting saying, all right,

695
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:09,160
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna get on the phone with each

696
00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 1: of you by the end of the night, just to

697
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:15,839
Speaker 1: circle back. So you know, all of a sudden, days

698
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:19,600
Speaker 1: are going by and we're like, okay, where's this call

699
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,080
Speaker 1: from coach Legans. He said he was gonna call us,

700
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:30,239
Speaker 1: like what's going on? And so one by one he

701
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:35,240
Speaker 1: basically just cut everybody on the team, and some people

702
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:42,560
Speaker 1: he was you know, nicer about it too. I think

703
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,640
Speaker 1: those were some of the guys that they were already

704
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 1: probably intending on entering the portal and transferring. But other

705
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:53,319
Speaker 1: guys like myself and our point guard I met, who

706
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:57,279
Speaker 1: averaged like eighteen a game the year before. I mean,

707
00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:01,839
Speaker 1: he was just such a dickhead to us, like he

708
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:05,399
Speaker 1: was he was telling us how bad a players we were.

709
00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:09,040
Speaker 1: He was telling us how everybody he's bringing in better

710
00:43:09,080 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 1: than like the way, like how far he took it

711
00:43:11,239 --> 00:43:16,960
Speaker 1: with us, Like I just I couldn't even believe that,

712
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 1: Like the athletic director was letting this stuff go on

713
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,520
Speaker 1: because the professionalism, the professionalism of hiring a candidate like that,

714
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,200
Speaker 1: like you gotta come in and you can't come in,

715
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 1: and you know, so how did he how did how

716
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:35,160
Speaker 1: did he cutch you? Specifically? So he finally called me,

717
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:36,880
Speaker 1: I was like, I was like out with my girlfriend

718
00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:41,839
Speaker 1: at the time, and he just beat around the bus

719
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,239
Speaker 1: for like fifteen minutes. I was like, you know, like

720
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:49,000
Speaker 1: I'm excited to play it for you, blah blah blah,

721
00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:53,200
Speaker 1: and you know, he was just he didn't say it

722
00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 1: for a while, and then finally he's like, yeah, we

723
00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:58,799
Speaker 1: don't need you on this team, Like we don't think

724
00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:03,080
Speaker 1: you're good enough. We you know, you won't play like

725
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:07,400
Speaker 1: there's no point and just like the way he did it,

726
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,239
Speaker 1: it just wasn't right. What's what's what's the right way?

727
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:14,960
Speaker 1: The right way to do it is just to be like,

728
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:17,480
Speaker 1: just to be straight up with the kids, Like if

729
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 1: you're gonna come in and act a program and start new,

730
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:24,160
Speaker 1: if like you come in in that first meeting and

731
00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:28,920
Speaker 1: you tell like you tell everybody, hey, I'm new, Like

732
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 1: I want to bring in my people. We have the

733
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:34,640
Speaker 1: luxury doing that with the transfer portal. Now, I'm sure

734
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:38,520
Speaker 1: you guys are great kids. Um, I will help you

735
00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:40,719
Speaker 1: guys find a new home, right right, That's all. That's

736
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 1: all you want to hear. It's like, hey man, listen, listen.

737
00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:46,839
Speaker 1: Let's all let me listen. All right, right, It's like, look,

738
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:48,600
Speaker 1: you tell me what you what level do you think

739
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:50,920
Speaker 1: you can play at. I'll do my absolute best to

740
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:53,239
Speaker 1: make sure you have a place to play that that

741
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:55,200
Speaker 1: you can continue your career. Right, that's the right way

742
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:58,200
Speaker 1: to do it. Yeah, exactly, because at the end of

743
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:00,000
Speaker 1: the day, it's it's a business just like anything else.

744
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:02,799
Speaker 1: And you know, moves like that are understandable if you're

745
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:09,920
Speaker 1: able to just communicate properly. Um, So now you're back

746
00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:13,520
Speaker 1: in the portal, back in the port Okay, but do

747
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 1: you know, do you know how many years you have?

748
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 1: Like I don't. I mean I thought I knew for

749
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:21,719
Speaker 1: sure I had one. I knew for sure I had one.

750
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 1: But I had thought that that COVID year was potentially

751
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 1: an opportunity. But at this point I was just taking

752
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:33,720
Speaker 1: it a year at a time. And so recruiting process goes,

753
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:36,680
Speaker 1: going through the recruiting process again, I'm like, God, I

754
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:41,200
Speaker 1: don't want to do this anymore. Like um, but I

755
00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:44,880
Speaker 1: ended up, you know, getting a call from coach Dunson

756
00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 1: at Denver. Coach Wolvern had come in. Dunson was his

757
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:52,400
Speaker 1: first assistant, he was had assistant and he's kind of

758
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:54,720
Speaker 1: hit it off on our first phone call, like good people.

759
00:45:55,360 --> 00:46:00,239
Speaker 1: And I knew how prestigious academically Denver was and that

760
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:04,279
Speaker 1: was a big piece for me as well. And you know,

761
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:06,680
Speaker 1: during this process, I was just like, you know, if

762
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:08,239
Speaker 1: I can go somewhere work, I'm gonna have a great

763
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:10,279
Speaker 1: opportunity to play and I can get another degree, Like

764
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,279
Speaker 1: it's gonna be great. And so ended up, you know,

765
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:16,800
Speaker 1: choosing to go to Denver played for coach Wolburn and

766
00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:24,439
Speaker 1: m pursuing other masters. So yeah, twos okay, so I'll

767
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:26,360
Speaker 1: give you the whole rundown. When it's all said and

768
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:30,040
Speaker 1: done for me, I will have my undergraduate degree in

769
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:37,360
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship from California Baptist. I will have I'm already completed

770
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:41,400
Speaker 1: with my Masters in Real Estate and the Built Environment

771
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:46,160
Speaker 1: from the University of Denver. Okay, I and I'm currently

772
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:49,560
Speaker 1: to be completed, which will all be completed by June.

773
00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:54,440
Speaker 1: I will have my MBA with Specification in Entrepreneurship and

774
00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:59,080
Speaker 1: Innovation Management from the University of Portland and a graduate

775
00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:05,040
Speaker 1: Certificate Business Sustainability Strategy from Penn State. Damn um. No

776
00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:07,640
Speaker 1: doctorate though, let's kind of a letdown. No doctorate. I

777
00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:10,239
Speaker 1: thought you'd bring home a doctor by now. Yeah, well

778
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:16,359
Speaker 1: maybe something maybe something okay. So so so Denver's all good? Right?

779
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:18,600
Speaker 1: How was your tea? How was your team? That was

780
00:47:18,600 --> 00:47:21,680
Speaker 1: the first year? How was your team? Yeah? So, I

781
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:25,279
Speaker 1: mean it was a complete rebuild in that program. The

782
00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:28,080
Speaker 1: year before we got there, they only won they won

783
00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:31,480
Speaker 1: a game or two, like it was like bottom of

784
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:35,400
Speaker 1: the bottom of the bottom. And so we had we

785
00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:36,880
Speaker 1: had a lot of good players come in. You know,

786
00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:42,000
Speaker 1: we had grad transfers myself, kJ Hunt, Paydon Moore, and

787
00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:44,279
Speaker 1: then we had we had a great freshman class and

788
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:46,840
Speaker 1: there was some in between that you know filled it

789
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:50,960
Speaker 1: in nicely for us. And it was a good year.

790
00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:53,160
Speaker 1: It was a good year. Like individually, I had a

791
00:47:53,160 --> 00:47:57,719
Speaker 1: good year for the program. We furthered the program. Um.

792
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:00,239
Speaker 1: You know, there was a lot of players on that

793
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:03,600
Speaker 1: team that got to shine that hadn't had as much

794
00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:11,520
Speaker 1: shine previously in their careers, and we from our expectations

795
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:14,360
Speaker 1: of our team, I think we underachieved. But at the

796
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:17,800
Speaker 1: same time, the step forward that we took that program

797
00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:22,160
Speaker 1: was huge and it spoke volumes about everybody involved. So

798
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:24,319
Speaker 1: it was it was a good year out there, and

799
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:26,640
Speaker 1: I enjoyed just being in the city of Denver. Like Denver,

800
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:30,480
Speaker 1: We'll always have a special place in my heart. So, um,

801
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:34,960
Speaker 1: so you get done at Denver the seasons over, did

802
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:37,920
Speaker 1: you know you had another year? I did not. I

803
00:48:38,239 --> 00:48:41,399
Speaker 1: At that point, I was like, all right, I'm anna

804
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:44,759
Speaker 1: hire an agent. I'm gonna go overseas. That's you know,

805
00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:46,840
Speaker 1: I'm ready. And I was ready. I was ready to

806
00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:52,120
Speaker 1: go play professionally. But I started to think more about it,

807
00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:54,640
Speaker 1: and I went home. I was kind of traveling about.

808
00:48:54,719 --> 00:49:00,279
Speaker 1: I went home and I just started kind of talking

809
00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:03,359
Speaker 1: about people. They're like, hey, man, like like you're good

810
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:06,279
Speaker 1: enough to go Power five, Like you should. You should

811
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:08,000
Speaker 1: put your name in the portal and just see what's

812
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:11,520
Speaker 1: to come, Like why not? And I was just kind

813
00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:15,080
Speaker 1: of thinking, like, I mean, yeah, it doesn't hurt, really

814
00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:17,360
Speaker 1: doesn't hurt. I'm not really in a rush for anything.

815
00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:21,680
Speaker 1: So I went back down to school. How did you

816
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:24,520
Speaker 1: know you had another year? That's the question. So when

817
00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:26,520
Speaker 1: I went so that was my firstest. Well that's what

818
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:29,000
Speaker 1: I was getting too. When I first got back down

819
00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:32,520
Speaker 1: to school. I went to Compliance and we started talking

820
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,080
Speaker 1: and I was like, hey, I was out two years

821
00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:40,759
Speaker 1: with injury and I've only competed in four seasons, but

822
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:44,239
Speaker 1: with the COVID landscape that's going on, I should have

823
00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:49,120
Speaker 1: that fifth season to compete. And she was like, she

824
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:50,759
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, you're gonna have to put in an

825
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:54,880
Speaker 1: appeal and I'm not sure, like it's one hundred one

826
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:58,160
Speaker 1: hundred percent, but your argument seems to be very valid

827
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:03,319
Speaker 1: with all your all your backings and so kind of

828
00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:04,839
Speaker 1: when I heard that, I was like, all right, I'm

829
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:07,000
Speaker 1: gonna put my name in the portal. And so, you know,

830
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:13,040
Speaker 1: same day and compliance got my papers and went to

831
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:18,239
Speaker 1: went to coach Woolvern, had a good conversation with him.

832
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:20,759
Speaker 1: They had moved on to the younger kids anyways, they

833
00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:22,959
Speaker 1: didn't ask for any of us older guys to come back.

834
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:26,200
Speaker 1: So we were just like, you know, it's what it is.

835
00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:29,960
Speaker 1: They're going with young kids like cool. So put my

836
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:34,080
Speaker 1: name in the portal, and man, I was out. I

837
00:50:34,120 --> 00:50:37,600
Speaker 1: was out just enjoying. I was working out. I was

838
00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:42,880
Speaker 1: down in southern California. I went to Coachella. I was

839
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 1: out there training, I was hanging out with friends. I

840
00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:49,480
Speaker 1: went up to Portland, saw my other buddies graduate, you know,

841
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:53,800
Speaker 1: got back home, got some more working and then eventually

842
00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:56,880
Speaker 1: I was back in Denver, and you know, I had

843
00:50:56,880 --> 00:50:59,000
Speaker 1: a bunch of schools hitting my line, but it wasn't

844
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:04,440
Speaker 1: it wasn't a lot of big time schools, and so

845
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:07,359
Speaker 1: I was kind of leaning towards like, Okay, I'm gonna go.

846
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:09,560
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna go overseas. I'm gonna go sign

847
00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:14,400
Speaker 1: my AG and go overseas. Like and all of a sudden,

848
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:16,920
Speaker 1: one day, I'm just I think me and my boy Peyton,

849
00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:19,920
Speaker 1: We're just having about at lunch, like when the chilis

850
00:51:20,040 --> 00:51:25,400
Speaker 1: or something, and we're driving back to school and boom,

851
00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:28,960
Speaker 1: text from Mike Fairley Penn State. And he wrote this

852
00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:31,720
Speaker 1: message and it said Penn Statements Basketball and I'm reading

853
00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:36,640
Speaker 1: it like, nah, like no way, this isn't Penn State.

854
00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:39,840
Speaker 1: Penn State, and I looked at it him, I'm like,

855
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:44,759
Speaker 1: oh shit, the time has come like so and then

856
00:51:44,760 --> 00:51:49,560
Speaker 1: once once Penn State reached out, it was like back

857
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:51,160
Speaker 1: to back to back to back to back. Boom. I

858
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:52,680
Speaker 1: had Notre Dame. They were like, all right, we want

859
00:51:52,680 --> 00:51:54,719
Speaker 1: to get you on campus, like let's do this. And

860
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:57,279
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, like all right, Notre Dame,

861
00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:00,759
Speaker 1: like you know. And then two days later Illinois, and

862
00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:02,759
Speaker 1: then it was NC State and it was just like

863
00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,279
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, like these are these are

864
00:52:07,320 --> 00:52:10,239
Speaker 1: programs that it's worth taking my fifth year and doing

865
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:13,120
Speaker 1: another year of college to go be a part of.

866
00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:20,600
Speaker 1: And ultimately Matthew Mayer committed to Illinois and so that

867
00:52:20,680 --> 00:52:25,080
Speaker 1: spot was gone. Nate Lazuski was supposed to go to

868
00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:28,880
Speaker 1: the draft. Last right before the deadline of the draft,

869
00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:31,120
Speaker 1: He's calling Mike Brey like, hey, I'm coming back, and

870
00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:34,960
Speaker 1: so they were like, shoot, man, you're out. And NC

871
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:38,439
Speaker 1: State I just wasn't far along enough in talks with them,

872
00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:41,080
Speaker 1: and I kind of had a feeling Penn State was

873
00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:42,879
Speaker 1: going to be the destination for me the whole time

874
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,000
Speaker 1: because coach Fairly and Coachrew was raided a really nice

875
00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:48,520
Speaker 1: job recruiting me, and it made a lot of sense

876
00:52:48,560 --> 00:52:52,040
Speaker 1: for me to go there, not only to play the basketball,

877
00:52:52,080 --> 00:52:54,879
Speaker 1: but academically the program that I'm in right now, those

878
00:52:54,920 --> 00:53:00,120
Speaker 1: credits are transferring back to Portland. So it's just it

879
00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:03,279
Speaker 1: all made sense. And so did you in that in

880
00:53:03,280 --> 00:53:06,480
Speaker 1: that situation okay where you've been everywhere, okay, but it's

881
00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:09,040
Speaker 1: a higher level than you've ever played, you didn't talk

882
00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:11,520
Speaker 1: about role or is it just like hey, come play here?

883
00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:15,160
Speaker 1: Did you have any sort of discussion about it? It

884
00:53:16,040 --> 00:53:18,680
Speaker 1: was it was role base. It was role base. What

885
00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:22,520
Speaker 1: I had, what I had been hearing, what was communicated

886
00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:26,120
Speaker 1: to me was that I was gonna play twenty twenty

887
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:29,480
Speaker 1: five minutes a game and be a big part of it.

888
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:34,080
Speaker 1: Because the bigs that we have are you know, they're younger.

889
00:53:34,200 --> 00:53:36,439
Speaker 1: Kevin's young, Meach is young. So they were thinking, Boom,

890
00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:38,719
Speaker 1: we're gonna get a veteran wiley guy in here too,

891
00:53:39,320 --> 00:53:42,560
Speaker 1: you know, be just like the other veterans on our team.

892
00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:49,520
Speaker 1: Um didn't exactly end up being that way, but yeah,

893
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:52,920
Speaker 1: is what it is. So okay. So you get there,

894
00:53:52,960 --> 00:53:55,879
Speaker 1: you get Depends date, and I've been Depends thing. It's

895
00:53:55,880 --> 00:53:58,919
Speaker 1: an unbelievable place. It is huge, but in the middle

896
00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:01,319
Speaker 1: of nowhere. It's kind of like Dave Sports. But even

897
00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:04,920
Speaker 1: Betty Morsel in the middle midle of gigantic football stadium,

898
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:10,719
Speaker 1: gigantic campus, tiny college town. What was it like? It

899
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:12,520
Speaker 1: was cool. It was a quick turnaround for me because

900
00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:17,520
Speaker 1: I graduated in Denver, like or finished on my classes

901
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:20,480
Speaker 1: in Denver June fifteenth, went home for five days and

902
00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:22,960
Speaker 1: then flew out here like it was just moved out

903
00:54:23,080 --> 00:54:26,840
Speaker 1: all that. And so I got out here and I

904
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:29,400
Speaker 1: was like, all right, like this is this is a

905
00:54:29,480 --> 00:54:33,000
Speaker 1: cool like it has of like a special energy to it,

906
00:54:33,080 --> 00:54:35,759
Speaker 1: Like it's just some of these college sounds like this.

907
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:38,279
Speaker 1: You just don't know how cool they are until you

908
00:54:39,280 --> 00:54:43,520
Speaker 1: get out there, right, And So I got out here,

909
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 1: started working out, doing all that type of stuff, and

910
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:48,560
Speaker 1: you know, you started to see the camaraderie of our

911
00:54:48,560 --> 00:54:51,520
Speaker 1: group come together and we I mean we have a team.

912
00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:55,239
Speaker 1: We had a team, really good players. So summer was fun.

913
00:54:55,320 --> 00:54:58,600
Speaker 1: We're just working out, having a great time, building that chemistry.

914
00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:02,800
Speaker 1: You know, We're out and about, like enjoying the town

915
00:55:03,080 --> 00:55:05,840
Speaker 1: doing all that, and you know, I was I was happy.

916
00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:11,160
Speaker 1: I was really really happy to be out there. So

917
00:55:11,239 --> 00:55:15,160
Speaker 1: once that, once that summer session came and went, we

918
00:55:15,160 --> 00:55:17,359
Speaker 1: were able to go home just for like a week,

919
00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:19,880
Speaker 1: ten days something like that. You know, got back, I

920
00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:21,279
Speaker 1: got the train, got to play in the pro am

921
00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:23,360
Speaker 1: back in Seattle like I always do, and I was

922
00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:26,919
Speaker 1: always a great time see family, you know. And then

923
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:31,600
Speaker 1: got back down to the fall out here, and I

924
00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:36,240
Speaker 1: got kind of I got unlucky. The last two weeks

925
00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:40,080
Speaker 1: of summer ball out here, I ended up straining my quad,

926
00:55:40,719 --> 00:55:42,800
Speaker 1: so I was kind of I wasn't one hundred percent.

927
00:55:42,920 --> 00:55:44,600
Speaker 1: And then right when I got out here, I got

928
00:55:44,680 --> 00:55:49,400
Speaker 1: hit with COVID for the first time, and I was

929
00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:55,720
Speaker 1: sick for all of two weeks, like down so bad.

930
00:55:56,400 --> 00:55:59,680
Speaker 1: So my start to the year out here was it

931
00:55:59,719 --> 00:56:04,319
Speaker 1: was challenging because I was all of a sudden, I

932
00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:06,640
Speaker 1: was from the summer. I was in great shape, and

933
00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 1: then Boom got hit with COVID sick down in bed

934
00:56:09,320 --> 00:56:13,160
Speaker 1: two weeks, so now two weeks behind on basketball, lost

935
00:56:13,160 --> 00:56:16,160
Speaker 1: on my conditioning, having to fight back at school. And

936
00:56:16,200 --> 00:56:21,120
Speaker 1: so the preseason, like preseason was, it was tough. It

937
00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:27,200
Speaker 1: was tough. But because you know Shrewsbury stuff is, you

938
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:29,759
Speaker 1: gotta be really in tune with everything going on because

939
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:32,760
Speaker 1: it's very high level learning and it's very simple things

940
00:56:32,840 --> 00:56:38,799
Speaker 1: here and there, but everything cumulative together, very high level system.

941
00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:44,160
Speaker 1: And what was your first Penn State football game? Late? Amazing?

942
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:48,360
Speaker 1: I mean amazing. I wouldn't. I wouldn't necessarily, Yeah, it

943
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:50,279
Speaker 1: wasn't my first. So the first one we went to,

944
00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:53,440
Speaker 1: we had like a Saturday practice and they had recruits

945
00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:57,160
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and Myles Dredn We just like

946
00:56:57,239 --> 00:56:59,799
Speaker 1: put on like some whatever passes and got down on

947
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:03,640
Speaker 1: the field with them. And I'm you know, growing up

948
00:57:03,640 --> 00:57:06,239
Speaker 1: in Seattle, University of Washingtons are big football school. So

949
00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:12,200
Speaker 1: and you probably holds sixties seventy thousand. Maybe I walked

950
00:57:12,239 --> 00:57:14,959
Speaker 1: out in Beaver Stadium and I was like, oh my god,

951
00:57:15,320 --> 00:57:18,000
Speaker 1: like this is a whole it's just a whole different deal.

952
00:57:18,440 --> 00:57:21,800
Speaker 1: Like hundred, one hundred and ten thousand people in there

953
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:25,760
Speaker 1: screaming their heads off, like Big ten football is just

954
00:57:25,800 --> 00:57:28,760
Speaker 1: a different beast, and so I was just in awe.

955
00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:32,520
Speaker 1: And then you know, from there had the white out game.

956
00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:36,040
Speaker 1: Whiteout game was crazy night game. And then you had

957
00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:39,320
Speaker 1: the stripeout game against Ohio State and just you know,

958
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:43,720
Speaker 1: just that college talent game day, tailgate, go to the game,

959
00:57:43,920 --> 00:57:47,040
Speaker 1: hang out with your people, like it was. It was

960
00:57:47,040 --> 00:57:49,320
Speaker 1: a great thing to be a part of all these

961
00:57:49,320 --> 00:57:52,000
Speaker 1: schools you had played at. You're on the other side

962
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:56,120
Speaker 1: of guarantee games for the first time, right, what's it

963
00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:57,400
Speaker 1: like to be on the other side what's it like

964
00:57:57,400 --> 00:57:59,280
Speaker 1: to be the home team when these teams, these same

965
00:57:59,280 --> 00:58:02,480
Speaker 1: teams used to play at our coming in, Man, it

966
00:58:02,520 --> 00:58:04,520
Speaker 1: feels good, especially when you know you got a good team.

967
00:58:05,600 --> 00:58:08,919
Speaker 1: But we came out there and we were like, man,

968
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:10,800
Speaker 1: we just like and I was just touching on this,

969
00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:14,560
Speaker 1: like our preseason was real. So by the time games

970
00:58:14,640 --> 00:58:17,520
Speaker 1: rolled around, we could not wait to play some basketball.

971
00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:22,760
Speaker 1: And you know, teams coming in here, we knew, we

972
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:25,120
Speaker 1: knew we needed to do. We were ready. Coach had

973
00:58:25,160 --> 00:58:28,320
Speaker 1: us a ready early in this season, and so those games,

974
00:58:28,360 --> 00:58:32,680
Speaker 1: you know, do we needed to do handle business? You

975
00:58:32,680 --> 00:58:35,720
Speaker 1: guys had this. You guys had this really weird team. Right,

976
00:58:35,760 --> 00:58:40,040
Speaker 1: you're all old and and those guys, you know, most

977
00:58:40,040 --> 00:58:42,840
Speaker 1: of those guys are really accomplished, right, Like Jalen Pickle

978
00:58:42,960 --> 00:58:46,600
Speaker 1: was Conference Player of the Year at at Siena. You

979
00:58:46,640 --> 00:58:48,840
Speaker 1: guy dudes that have not not just played in travel,

980
00:58:48,880 --> 00:58:51,400
Speaker 1: but like really yeah point guard. It was a starter

981
00:58:51,520 --> 00:58:54,840
Speaker 1: at at Drexel and an All League player, right, Yeah,

982
00:58:55,360 --> 00:58:57,200
Speaker 1: nig funk. They weren't as good at buck now, but

983
00:58:57,360 --> 00:59:00,200
Speaker 1: he had played it. Um, what was the dynamic like

984
00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:02,240
Speaker 1: in that team where you have just all guys that

985
00:59:02,360 --> 00:59:04,880
Speaker 1: this is all you know, fifth year type of stuff

986
00:59:04,920 --> 00:59:09,920
Speaker 1: and you're in your seventh year. What's that like? Ultimately,

987
00:59:11,040 --> 00:59:13,480
Speaker 1: this year was just like a It felt like a

988
00:59:13,520 --> 00:59:17,280
Speaker 1: big business trip, like the whole thing, Like we just

989
00:59:18,720 --> 00:59:21,520
Speaker 1: from the time it started and we got together, like

990
00:59:22,080 --> 00:59:24,360
Speaker 1: we just had this determination that hey, we're gonna go

991
00:59:24,400 --> 00:59:26,640
Speaker 1: out and win these ball games and show people who

992
00:59:26,640 --> 00:59:31,360
Speaker 1: we are and to have all these fifth years and

993
00:59:31,680 --> 00:59:35,960
Speaker 1: all the experience. It really it really shined through, especially

994
00:59:36,040 --> 00:59:39,960
Speaker 1: late in the year as everybody saw. But it was

995
00:59:40,120 --> 00:59:42,280
Speaker 1: it was fun, you know, like you're playing with people

996
00:59:42,320 --> 00:59:44,440
Speaker 1: that you know you can count on every game. And

997
00:59:44,520 --> 00:59:46,800
Speaker 1: that was what was fun about it. And you know,

998
00:59:46,840 --> 00:59:49,480
Speaker 1: even for me like early on the season kind of

999
00:59:49,520 --> 00:59:53,200
Speaker 1: getting setback, like I wasn't playing a whole lot early on,

1000
00:59:53,360 --> 00:59:55,200
Speaker 1: but it was still really fun to be a part

1001
00:59:55,240 --> 00:59:58,560
Speaker 1: of it in those early games and you could just

1002
00:59:58,600 --> 01:00:03,320
Speaker 1: see it. You could just see building um to where

1003
01:00:03,320 --> 01:00:08,240
Speaker 1: we ended up later in the year. So why why

1004
01:00:08,280 --> 01:00:12,280
Speaker 1: weren't you playing early on? Uh? I mean, so I

1005
01:00:12,320 --> 01:00:16,200
Speaker 1: got I got I got behind when I had COVID

1006
01:00:16,240 --> 01:00:18,440
Speaker 1: that it just really messed me up. It messed my

1007
01:00:18,480 --> 01:00:22,720
Speaker 1: health up more than I think people know. I don't

1008
01:00:22,760 --> 01:00:26,960
Speaker 1: think our staff really understood like how sick I was. Um.

1009
01:00:27,120 --> 01:00:30,160
Speaker 1: But it's interesting because I'm guessing. I'm guessing right, Like

1010
01:00:30,200 --> 01:00:32,960
Speaker 1: when you're in Portland and the COVID stuff is crazy,

1011
01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:35,880
Speaker 1: You're like, yo, this COVID stuff is crazy. Right Then

1012
01:00:35,920 --> 01:00:39,520
Speaker 1: you get it yourself, You're like, wait, this is actually

1013
01:00:39,600 --> 01:00:45,200
Speaker 1: is really like how how how so first I had

1014
01:00:45,240 --> 01:00:52,320
Speaker 1: never had it? Well, so it's so funny. So Tal's Ridley,

1015
01:00:52,400 --> 01:00:58,000
Speaker 1: our player development ga. He you know, he's all about

1016
01:00:58,000 --> 01:00:59,960
Speaker 1: You'll see him all over Instagram and stuff talking about

1017
01:01:00,080 --> 01:01:02,479
Speaker 1: daily vitamin, is this that and third whatever? And so

1018
01:01:02,920 --> 01:01:04,720
Speaker 1: I got an, I got an extra workout with him

1019
01:01:04,760 --> 01:01:08,600
Speaker 1: on our day off, and I mean, dude, was like,

1020
01:01:08,600 --> 01:01:10,040
Speaker 1: he's like, I'm not gonna kill you. I'm not gonna

1021
01:01:10,040 --> 01:01:12,120
Speaker 1: do this. Like, all of a sudden, I'm having this

1022
01:01:12,200 --> 01:01:14,960
Speaker 1: individual workout. We're going on like hour and a half,

1023
01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:18,880
Speaker 1: two hours. I'm sweating my ass off. I'm like by

1024
01:01:18,880 --> 01:01:21,360
Speaker 1: the end of the workout, I'm like, I'm like, dude,

1025
01:01:21,600 --> 01:01:24,200
Speaker 1: this this ain't it like sums up with me. I

1026
01:01:24,200 --> 01:01:26,160
Speaker 1: don't know if it was the workout or what, but

1027
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:28,800
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I'm laying I'm laying on the

1028
01:01:28,840 --> 01:01:33,000
Speaker 1: couch in the locker room, just freezing like it was weird.

1029
01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:38,320
Speaker 1: And so I got my COVID test and you know,

1030
01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:40,720
Speaker 1: usually they take ten fifteen minutes to pop up. Mine

1031
01:01:40,800 --> 01:01:44,760
Speaker 1: probably took like, probably took thirty seconds for it to

1032
01:01:44,760 --> 01:01:46,840
Speaker 1: pop up on the test. Like I was super sick,

1033
01:01:48,240 --> 01:01:53,840
Speaker 1: and um yeah, I was down. So if you're like

1034
01:01:53,880 --> 01:01:56,160
Speaker 1: in the training room or you're by yourself, what happened?

1035
01:01:56,320 --> 01:01:59,280
Speaker 1: I was? I was, I was in the I was

1036
01:01:59,320 --> 01:02:02,520
Speaker 1: in the training room. I was like on the couch

1037
01:02:02,640 --> 01:02:04,560
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what was going on with me.

1038
01:02:04,600 --> 01:02:06,360
Speaker 1: I ended up going home and then I was like

1039
01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:08,600
Speaker 1: my trainer was like, hey, we should probably COVID test you.

1040
01:02:08,720 --> 01:02:10,800
Speaker 1: So I went back to the building, got the COVID

1041
01:02:10,840 --> 01:02:15,760
Speaker 1: tests and boom let up, went home and like it was,

1042
01:02:16,120 --> 01:02:18,120
Speaker 1: it was so bad. I couldn't even I couldn't even

1043
01:02:18,160 --> 01:02:22,160
Speaker 1: look at screens really for that two week period, Like

1044
01:02:22,280 --> 01:02:26,560
Speaker 1: I had no energy, I wasn't wanting to eat, nothing

1045
01:02:26,640 --> 01:02:30,880
Speaker 1: like that. And I was like, finally saw how real

1046
01:02:31,400 --> 01:02:36,040
Speaker 1: COVID is. Unfortunately, so when did you feel like yourself?

1047
01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:44,920
Speaker 1: Probably probably felt like myself. It probably took me until December. Realistically,

1048
01:02:47,040 --> 01:02:50,280
Speaker 1: I would say by the time by the time we

1049
01:02:50,320 --> 01:02:53,640
Speaker 1: started games, like I was pretty good to go, I

1050
01:02:53,640 --> 01:02:58,040
Speaker 1: had a little I had another little um injury bug

1051
01:02:58,120 --> 01:03:00,680
Speaker 1: right before the season started too, I like separated the

1052
01:03:00,680 --> 01:03:02,520
Speaker 1: AC joint in my left shoulder and I had a

1053
01:03:02,600 --> 01:03:05,360
Speaker 1: hip contusion. So I was out the week before our

1054
01:03:05,400 --> 01:03:09,480
Speaker 1: first game, couldn't even walk whatever. But by the time

1055
01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:12,520
Speaker 1: by the time we got into those that probably that

1056
01:03:12,640 --> 01:03:15,320
Speaker 1: second game and down in Charleston, like I was, I

1057
01:03:15,360 --> 01:03:19,840
Speaker 1: was ready to play. I really was, and I didn't,

1058
01:03:19,880 --> 01:03:21,560
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't get the opportunity. I think the

1059
01:03:21,560 --> 01:03:24,520
Speaker 1: first game that I really got to play in in

1060
01:03:24,920 --> 01:03:29,000
Speaker 1: meaningful minutes was Clemson. But I just I just wish

1061
01:03:29,120 --> 01:03:31,600
Speaker 1: that I had some reps with the guys in the

1062
01:03:31,640 --> 01:03:36,960
Speaker 1: game before that point. You know, Um also also got

1063
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:39,760
Speaker 1: some tick, you know, and I ended up getting some

1064
01:03:39,760 --> 01:03:41,919
Speaker 1: tick right before Christmas, and I had a really nice

1065
01:03:41,960 --> 01:03:45,080
Speaker 1: game right before Christmas, and you know that was that

1066
01:03:45,160 --> 01:03:47,440
Speaker 1: was a point where I was like okay, you know,

1067
01:03:47,600 --> 01:03:50,200
Speaker 1: like I'm here, I'm ready to play, Like let's let's

1068
01:03:50,200 --> 01:03:53,680
Speaker 1: go do this thing. But I really do wish I

1069
01:03:53,720 --> 01:03:56,480
Speaker 1: would have got some reps earlier on in the year,

1070
01:03:56,600 --> 01:03:58,520
Speaker 1: just to build the chemistry with the guys and get

1071
01:03:58,560 --> 01:04:02,520
Speaker 1: the coaches trust and all that type of deal. What

1072
01:04:02,600 --> 01:04:05,760
Speaker 1: was the first like this is this is big time

1073
01:04:05,760 --> 01:04:15,360
Speaker 1: basketball mom um. I mean really just walking in a

1074
01:04:15,400 --> 01:04:17,919
Speaker 1: big ten gym, you feel it. Let make It's just

1075
01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:23,360
Speaker 1: it's just different. But we went um, well, we went

1076
01:04:23,400 --> 01:04:25,440
Speaker 1: to Clemson. It was like it was like all right,

1077
01:04:25,520 --> 01:04:28,400
Speaker 1: Like it was it was rocking in there. See Orange,

1078
01:04:28,480 --> 01:04:30,520
Speaker 1: you were like, okay, we're supposed to and we were

1079
01:04:30,520 --> 01:04:32,640
Speaker 1: playing with him, so it's like, okay, we're supposed to

1080
01:04:32,640 --> 01:04:35,200
Speaker 1: be here. You know, like a lot of guys that

1081
01:04:35,640 --> 01:04:39,080
Speaker 1: you know, me funking cam like we hadn't you know,

1082
01:04:39,160 --> 01:04:41,360
Speaker 1: been on a Power of five team yet so at

1083
01:04:41,400 --> 01:04:43,120
Speaker 1: that point we were like, yeah, yeah, we're supposed to

1084
01:04:43,120 --> 01:04:46,760
Speaker 1: be here, like this is cool stuff. Um, but really

1085
01:04:47,960 --> 01:04:52,240
Speaker 1: probably probably Illinois, Probably the Illinois game in the in December,

1086
01:04:53,240 --> 01:04:56,120
Speaker 1: because we walked into their first Big ten road game

1087
01:04:57,000 --> 01:05:00,360
Speaker 1: and like you know, it was hostile, it was hustle

1088
01:05:00,400 --> 01:05:03,600
Speaker 1: and like you just felt it. But I mean those

1089
01:05:03,600 --> 01:05:04,840
Speaker 1: are the games that you have the most fun. And

1090
01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:06,640
Speaker 1: we went out there and whooped their ass, so like

1091
01:05:08,600 --> 01:05:11,720
Speaker 1: it was just it was great. But I mean playing

1092
01:05:11,720 --> 01:05:13,479
Speaker 1: in the big tense awesome. You're playing a great team

1093
01:05:13,520 --> 01:05:17,440
Speaker 1: every night, Like that's that's what you ask for, no,

1094
01:05:17,440 --> 01:05:20,040
Speaker 1: no question. And they're all great arenas, they're all big.

1095
01:05:20,200 --> 01:05:23,760
Speaker 1: You know, everything matters in the game, the games matter,

1096
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:27,040
Speaker 1: or your your your favorite place you played was where

1097
01:05:28,400 --> 01:05:33,680
Speaker 1: that's it? Okay, every polace has a special place in

1098
01:05:33,720 --> 01:05:36,080
Speaker 1: my heart. But overall, I would say this has been

1099
01:05:36,200 --> 01:05:41,640
Speaker 1: my most meaningful year. Um least favorite place you play,

1100
01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:47,400
Speaker 1: Kyle Baptist. Okay, it wasn't. It wasn't good time for me.

1101
01:05:47,760 --> 01:05:51,240
Speaker 1: It wasn't having the injury bug and all that was

1102
01:05:51,360 --> 01:05:56,960
Speaker 1: not it. Um Okay, favorite give me the uh your

1103
01:05:56,960 --> 01:05:59,920
Speaker 1: favorite road trip? Not a road gin that you play

1104
01:06:00,160 --> 01:06:03,080
Speaker 1: in not in the Big ten before you got to

1105
01:06:03,120 --> 01:06:09,840
Speaker 1: the Big ten, played in not in the Big ten. Yeah.

1106
01:06:10,080 --> 01:06:14,080
Speaker 1: We played at cal Berkeley and I just liked playing

1107
01:06:14,160 --> 01:06:16,240
Speaker 1: their gym. I don't know what it was. It was

1108
01:06:16,320 --> 01:06:19,479
Speaker 1: just cal Berkeley had a good feel and we played

1109
01:06:19,480 --> 01:06:21,160
Speaker 1: a good We played a good team when we played

1110
01:06:21,160 --> 01:06:25,439
Speaker 1: then it was like Charlie Moore and uh, Barnie Bird

1111
01:06:25,480 --> 01:06:28,439
Speaker 1: and some and Ivan rab like. It was a good team. Yeah,

1112
01:06:28,720 --> 01:06:31,880
Speaker 1: it was gym. It was fun. Yeah. The other gym

1113
01:06:31,920 --> 01:06:35,280
Speaker 1: that was fun, Like Grand Canyon is just like a party, like, yeah,

1114
01:06:35,760 --> 01:06:39,480
Speaker 1: well that's a cal Baptist is trying to copy Grand Canyon, right, Yeah,

1115
01:06:39,520 --> 01:06:42,920
Speaker 1: but the only difference is the you know, the the

1116
01:06:43,040 --> 01:06:46,280
Speaker 1: Baptist element of it. You're not quite gonna have that

1117
01:06:46,360 --> 01:06:49,320
Speaker 1: rowdy of a crowd. Canyon is like a Christian school,

1118
01:06:49,400 --> 01:06:52,360
Speaker 1: so suppose supposed to be like a Christian but I

1119
01:06:52,400 --> 01:06:54,640
Speaker 1: think that I want to say, they sell liquor in

1120
01:06:54,680 --> 01:07:00,680
Speaker 1: their arena. Um, okay, favorite Big Ten root, favorite Big

1121
01:07:00,680 --> 01:07:11,280
Speaker 1: Ten road game. Um, Our State was great, Northwestern was great. Um.

1122
01:07:11,600 --> 01:07:14,640
Speaker 1: I love playing in Purdue just because I love being

1123
01:07:14,640 --> 01:07:17,520
Speaker 1: the underdog and to go into to go in and

1124
01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:19,800
Speaker 1: play at the number one like that was just a

1125
01:07:19,800 --> 01:07:22,640
Speaker 1: cool experience. You know, what was it like to guard

1126
01:07:22,760 --> 01:07:26,120
Speaker 1: Jack eating? It was fun. Man. I was out there

1127
01:07:26,160 --> 01:07:32,480
Speaker 1: playing football for real, Like I'm nowhere near you know,

1128
01:07:32,520 --> 01:07:36,720
Speaker 1: I'm six eight two forty he's seven four, three hundred, like,

1129
01:07:37,160 --> 01:07:40,800
Speaker 1: but I mean, I'm a fighter, man. So we have fun.

1130
01:07:40,840 --> 01:07:43,960
Speaker 1: I mean me and him both. I mean, how many

1131
01:07:43,960 --> 01:07:46,240
Speaker 1: games are three? We were? We were joking the whole

1132
01:07:46,280 --> 01:07:48,720
Speaker 1: time because we were just beating the crap out of

1133
01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:52,640
Speaker 1: each other. And so I enjoyed it. You know, I

1134
01:07:52,720 --> 01:07:55,520
Speaker 1: love I love the competition. Like I really shined through

1135
01:07:55,560 --> 01:07:58,919
Speaker 1: in that Michigan game because we were, you know, We're

1136
01:07:58,920 --> 01:08:00,800
Speaker 1: playing against Hunter Dickinson, and I was like, it was

1137
01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:02,840
Speaker 1: my first start of the year, and I was like,

1138
01:08:03,600 --> 01:08:07,600
Speaker 1: and then he was talking a little bit. I was

1139
01:08:07,640 --> 01:08:11,560
Speaker 1: talking to you know, but it wasn't much to say

1140
01:08:11,600 --> 01:08:14,200
Speaker 1: because we were killing him. You know. It was one

1141
01:08:14,240 --> 01:08:18,080
Speaker 1: of those um but that was just fun. Playing great

1142
01:08:18,080 --> 01:08:23,559
Speaker 1: players is always fun. Why not play football? I totally

1143
01:08:23,600 --> 01:08:26,479
Speaker 1: could have played football, totally could have. I went to

1144
01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:31,800
Speaker 1: my first offer. It wasn't you know, it was just

1145
01:08:32,240 --> 01:08:35,360
Speaker 1: word of mouth from our head football coach at the time.

1146
01:08:35,400 --> 01:08:37,360
Speaker 1: I was fifteen years old and it was from Oregon,

1147
01:08:38,439 --> 01:08:42,120
Speaker 1: um so I had. I had Oregon, Boise State, Oregan

1148
01:08:42,200 --> 01:08:44,400
Speaker 1: State Lightning up to offer me and I hadn't even

1149
01:08:44,400 --> 01:08:49,160
Speaker 1: played a varsity snap. My freshman year our high school,

1150
01:08:49,200 --> 01:08:51,400
Speaker 1: Bellebe High School, we finished number one in the country

1151
01:08:51,439 --> 01:08:54,840
Speaker 1: for football and h you know, we had Miles Jacket,

1152
01:08:54,880 --> 01:08:57,120
Speaker 1: Buddha Baker, we had some really great players on our team,

1153
01:08:57,160 --> 01:09:01,800
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys who played power five. But at

1154
01:09:01,800 --> 01:09:05,240
Speaker 1: the end of the day, like coming where I come from,

1155
01:09:05,439 --> 01:09:08,400
Speaker 1: you gotta choose up pretty much like football's year round

1156
01:09:08,520 --> 01:09:12,040
Speaker 1: or basketball's year round. And like my direct community, Belview

1157
01:09:12,400 --> 01:09:15,800
Speaker 1: had such a strong football culture. But growing up playing

1158
01:09:15,800 --> 01:09:19,519
Speaker 1: hoops and Seattle's a special thing too, you know. And

1159
01:09:19,560 --> 01:09:21,439
Speaker 1: I feel like my love is just always been with

1160
01:09:21,479 --> 01:09:24,200
Speaker 1: the game of basketball. But you're at at Penn State.

1161
01:09:24,200 --> 01:09:28,800
Speaker 1: Could you play You're at Penn State and football. Uh,

1162
01:09:28,920 --> 01:09:31,679
Speaker 1: I don't have any eligibility, But could I p Yeah,

1163
01:09:31,720 --> 01:09:37,360
Speaker 1: I could. I could play football. I would say. Jalen

1164
01:09:37,400 --> 01:09:39,080
Speaker 1: scored more in the post than you did this year.

1165
01:09:40,439 --> 01:09:42,599
Speaker 1: I didn't get any post catches, I know, I don't

1166
01:09:42,600 --> 01:09:45,800
Speaker 1: think you guys see you got one. He was center

1167
01:09:45,840 --> 01:09:48,479
Speaker 1: in the semi in the I know he was if

1168
01:09:48,479 --> 01:09:49,880
Speaker 1: he would call a point guard. I was like, you're

1169
01:09:49,880 --> 01:09:53,640
Speaker 1: not the point guard I did. I got one in

1170
01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:56,599
Speaker 1: the I Got one tournament because I had a mismatch

1171
01:09:56,640 --> 01:10:00,360
Speaker 1: and Jalen actually threw me the ball. Yes you know, yes, yes,

1172
01:10:01,160 --> 01:10:05,960
Speaker 1: uh okay you you you start in the NCAA tournament,

1173
01:10:06,080 --> 01:10:09,680
Speaker 1: you end in the NCAA tournament. Right. What was it

1174
01:10:09,760 --> 01:10:13,639
Speaker 1: like knowing it's your last time around um a week

1175
01:10:13,640 --> 01:10:18,360
Speaker 1: ago playing the nca tournament. You know, I really I

1176
01:10:18,400 --> 01:10:20,960
Speaker 1: really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. It was really

1177
01:10:21,000 --> 01:10:24,160
Speaker 1: really special. Just that whole last run that we had

1178
01:10:24,280 --> 01:10:29,840
Speaker 1: was really special. Starting from the uh we win out Northwestern.

1179
01:10:29,960 --> 01:10:31,680
Speaker 1: You know, you go win Northwestern in a do or

1180
01:10:31,720 --> 01:10:34,559
Speaker 1: die game, you come home, beat Maryland in a dud

1181
01:10:34,600 --> 01:10:37,439
Speaker 1: to die game, then go to the Big ten tournament.

1182
01:10:37,479 --> 01:10:39,519
Speaker 1: Got to win at least one another do or die.

1183
01:10:39,640 --> 01:10:41,720
Speaker 1: Like every game we're playing was do or die, you know.

1184
01:10:41,880 --> 01:10:47,000
Speaker 1: And so we had this magical run make the NCAA tournament,

1185
01:10:47,439 --> 01:10:50,759
Speaker 1: you know, get to get to go beat a team

1186
01:10:50,800 --> 01:10:53,760
Speaker 1: like A and M. It was just special and the

1187
01:10:53,840 --> 01:10:56,639
Speaker 1: only the only thing that's tough about it is like

1188
01:10:57,960 --> 01:11:00,240
Speaker 1: it's the NCAA Tournament. It's going to come down to

1189
01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:04,800
Speaker 1: one two possessions, and Texas finished that game really well

1190
01:11:04,840 --> 01:11:07,599
Speaker 1: against us, you know, they just they went out there

1191
01:11:07,600 --> 01:11:10,479
Speaker 1: and took it, and we were right there, and it

1192
01:11:10,520 --> 01:11:14,400
Speaker 1: would have been awesome to go out on a Sweet

1193
01:11:14,439 --> 01:11:17,120
Speaker 1: sixteen or an Elite eight or even farther. But so

1194
01:11:17,200 --> 01:11:19,640
Speaker 1: that's that's the bitter sweet part of it. But in

1195
01:11:19,760 --> 01:11:23,640
Speaker 1: looking back on my career, you know, starting in the

1196
01:11:23,720 --> 01:11:27,879
Speaker 1: NCAA tournament, and you know, winning to play in playing Kansas,

1197
01:11:27,960 --> 01:11:30,960
Speaker 1: to coming out here and playing the likes of A

1198
01:11:31,000 --> 01:11:34,439
Speaker 1: and m beating them, playing Texas like some people never

1199
01:11:34,479 --> 01:11:38,360
Speaker 1: makes the NSA tournament. I was fortunate enough to win

1200
01:11:38,439 --> 01:11:40,479
Speaker 1: two games in the NCAA tournament, you know, and to

1201
01:11:40,560 --> 01:11:44,680
Speaker 1: start to finish Like words can't describe how special that is.

1202
01:11:46,120 --> 01:11:52,000
Speaker 1: If there's one thing you could change, what would it be? Uh,

1203
01:11:54,960 --> 01:11:58,040
Speaker 1: I don't think I would. I don't think I would.

1204
01:11:58,080 --> 01:12:01,960
Speaker 1: You know. I look back and I had a great

1205
01:12:02,000 --> 01:12:05,080
Speaker 1: year of my senior high school. I had every award

1206
01:12:05,160 --> 01:12:07,559
Speaker 1: in the state of Washington you could get Iver's twenty one,

1207
01:12:07,600 --> 01:12:10,599
Speaker 1: eleven and five. I would have played my senior year,

1208
01:12:10,680 --> 01:12:14,240
Speaker 1: would I probably have had Power five interests? Probably? You know,

1209
01:12:14,320 --> 01:12:16,040
Speaker 1: if I would have went to prep school for a year.

1210
01:12:16,120 --> 01:12:19,320
Speaker 1: Would I would I have had that initially, probably, But

1211
01:12:21,000 --> 01:12:23,240
Speaker 1: to have this career that I've had has been a

1212
01:12:23,280 --> 01:12:25,679
Speaker 1: really special thing, you know, And I don't think anybody

1213
01:12:25,680 --> 01:12:29,560
Speaker 1: will ever have a career like mine, you know. I'm

1214
01:12:29,680 --> 01:12:32,360
Speaker 1: I've been joking around lately saying I'm the pioneer of

1215
01:12:32,360 --> 01:12:34,760
Speaker 1: the portal because I think I'm a first guy to

1216
01:12:34,760 --> 01:12:37,559
Speaker 1: ever play and actually compete at five Division one schools,

1217
01:12:38,560 --> 01:12:42,200
Speaker 1: and who knows if that'll ever be done again. So

1218
01:12:42,320 --> 01:12:46,799
Speaker 1: to have all these experiences, meet all these different people,

1219
01:12:47,200 --> 01:12:50,839
Speaker 1: being different work environments, you know, be in different places

1220
01:12:50,880 --> 01:12:55,360
Speaker 1: on your own, like I've had lifetimes of experience in

1221
01:12:55,360 --> 01:12:58,439
Speaker 1: this seven year career, and to cap it off with

1222
01:12:58,479 --> 01:13:02,880
Speaker 1: all the education as well, Like, it's been amazing. And

1223
01:13:02,960 --> 01:13:04,600
Speaker 1: I'll probably write a book or something on it some

1224
01:13:04,720 --> 01:13:11,240
Speaker 1: day because it really definitely should be definitely should you know, um,

1225
01:13:11,280 --> 01:13:14,479
Speaker 1: But no, it's been special. It's been really really special

1226
01:13:14,680 --> 01:13:18,160
Speaker 1: and glad to be a part of all this stuff.

1227
01:13:18,200 --> 01:13:19,960
Speaker 1: And I'm glad that I came to Penn State for

1228
01:13:20,040 --> 01:13:23,600
Speaker 1: my last year because very very special university to be

1229
01:13:23,640 --> 01:13:32,439
Speaker 1: a part of. UM. So I think you should do wrestling. Yeah,

1230
01:13:32,479 --> 01:13:36,280
Speaker 1: when you're done hooping like you should do like yeah, like,

1231
01:13:37,080 --> 01:13:41,240
Speaker 1: oh man, I've never been into it like that. I

1232
01:13:41,240 --> 01:13:43,320
Speaker 1: mean it'd be fun. I've never been into it like that.

1233
01:13:43,360 --> 01:13:45,880
Speaker 1: I'd rather I'd rather go like the Seahawks or something.

1234
01:13:46,800 --> 01:13:50,519
Speaker 1: If you were going to give advice to someone like you,

1235
01:13:50,560 --> 01:13:55,720
Speaker 1: because because you know, recruiting has changed so much even

1236
01:13:55,800 --> 01:13:59,000
Speaker 1: during your time in college, right like not just because

1237
01:13:59,040 --> 01:14:01,840
Speaker 1: the COVID year, the trade as for portal and so okay,

1238
01:14:01,840 --> 01:14:05,559
Speaker 1: so you're a high school athlete, you're you in high school,

1239
01:14:06,640 --> 01:14:12,639
Speaker 1: what would you what advice would you tell them? Be patient?

1240
01:14:13,479 --> 01:14:17,599
Speaker 1: Be patient? I feel like I feel like a lot

1241
01:14:17,680 --> 01:14:22,960
Speaker 1: of kids almost get pigeonholed by schools. You know, these

1242
01:14:22,960 --> 01:14:25,479
Speaker 1: schools are like, whoa, if you don't commit, we have

1243
01:14:25,560 --> 01:14:28,040
Speaker 1: kids coming in on visits and blah blah blah, and

1244
01:14:28,080 --> 01:14:31,000
Speaker 1: it's not in the third and it's like there would

1245
01:14:31,000 --> 01:14:32,800
Speaker 1: these schools really rock with you and they really want

1246
01:14:32,840 --> 01:14:35,680
Speaker 1: you on their team, like they're gonna wait for you

1247
01:14:35,720 --> 01:14:38,680
Speaker 1: and make it happen. So you know, you do have

1248
01:14:38,800 --> 01:14:43,800
Speaker 1: buying power as an athlete. You know, if you're a commodity,

1249
01:14:44,520 --> 01:14:47,280
Speaker 1: somebody's gonna really want you and show that to you.

1250
01:14:48,840 --> 01:14:52,240
Speaker 1: But Yeah, just be patient, take your time and ask

1251
01:14:52,280 --> 01:14:54,759
Speaker 1: all the questions the best you can, you know, recruiting

1252
01:14:54,760 --> 01:14:59,120
Speaker 1: spiels and recruiting spiels. But ultimately, as you develop these

1253
01:14:59,120 --> 01:15:05,120
Speaker 1: relationships you get along in the recruiting process, it eventually

1254
01:15:05,160 --> 01:15:07,720
Speaker 1: shows up. You know, you can tell the real from

1255
01:15:07,720 --> 01:15:12,720
Speaker 1: the fake, and you know, just having the mindset that

1256
01:15:13,439 --> 01:15:16,639
Speaker 1: going into it, it's gonna be probably the hardest four

1257
01:15:16,720 --> 01:15:19,519
Speaker 1: or five years of your life, but some of the

1258
01:15:19,520 --> 01:15:23,320
Speaker 1: best four or five years of your life. So take

1259
01:15:23,360 --> 01:15:26,880
Speaker 1: the good with the bad and just enjoy how blessed

1260
01:15:26,920 --> 01:15:29,439
Speaker 1: you really are to be in that position. Okay, what

1261
01:15:29,479 --> 01:15:31,920
Speaker 1: about the portal. What would the advice be to somebody

1262
01:15:31,920 --> 01:15:36,360
Speaker 1: who's putting their name in the portal? You better have

1263
01:15:36,479 --> 01:15:41,599
Speaker 1: some numbers or something, because the portal can be a great,

1264
01:15:41,680 --> 01:15:45,559
Speaker 1: great tool for somebody that has had a good season,

1265
01:15:45,800 --> 01:15:48,760
Speaker 1: say at a low mid major, and they want to

1266
01:15:48,800 --> 01:15:53,040
Speaker 1: move up. But if you're just transferring to transfer and

1267
01:15:53,080 --> 01:15:55,040
Speaker 1: you don't really have stuff to show for, and you

1268
01:15:55,040 --> 01:15:57,599
Speaker 1: don't have coaches to vouch for you and this and that,

1269
01:15:57,600 --> 01:16:00,479
Speaker 1: that's how you fall out of it, you know, And

1270
01:16:00,520 --> 01:16:04,200
Speaker 1: so just to be smart about it, like, yes, it's

1271
01:16:04,240 --> 01:16:07,879
Speaker 1: becoming a lot more professional like being in this college atmosphere. However,

1272
01:16:09,200 --> 01:16:12,080
Speaker 1: still gotta be smart. You still gotta be you know,

1273
01:16:13,360 --> 01:16:16,840
Speaker 1: learned on what you're doing. And there's no reason to

1274
01:16:16,920 --> 01:16:19,600
Speaker 1: make rash decisions just because you think the grass is

1275
01:16:19,640 --> 01:16:22,360
Speaker 1: greener on the other side, because not always is it

1276
01:16:22,400 --> 01:16:27,960
Speaker 1: that way. Um. You've also so you were at Portland,

1277
01:16:28,120 --> 01:16:30,800
Speaker 1: it was the coaches got fired. So you're so they

1278
01:16:30,840 --> 01:16:33,120
Speaker 1: got rid of you. In the new staff Denver, you're

1279
01:16:33,200 --> 01:16:35,479
Speaker 1: part of the new team and then this year something

1280
01:16:35,520 --> 01:16:38,040
Speaker 1: all new altogether where you guys are so good. Your

1281
01:16:38,080 --> 01:16:42,120
Speaker 1: coach got another job, right, Um, so what's it like

1282
01:16:42,439 --> 01:16:45,599
Speaker 1: like you're at you're at your apartment. What's it like

1283
01:16:45,600 --> 01:16:48,880
Speaker 1: like you're still part of a basketball program, but your

1284
01:16:48,880 --> 01:16:53,280
Speaker 1: coach isn't there anymore. Yeah, we're just kind of floating

1285
01:16:53,360 --> 01:16:58,720
Speaker 1: right now for real, Like it's it's crazy. Uh, you know,

1286
01:16:58,920 --> 01:17:01,320
Speaker 1: we're happy for Trews. You know, we got a lot

1287
01:17:01,320 --> 01:17:03,520
Speaker 1: of love for sure's a lot of respect for Trews.

1288
01:17:03,560 --> 01:17:06,600
Speaker 1: And you know, he ended up going home and I

1289
01:17:06,640 --> 01:17:09,439
Speaker 1: think the infrastructure of the NIL is in place for

1290
01:17:09,520 --> 01:17:14,240
Speaker 1: him to go over there and make some stuff happen.

1291
01:17:14,479 --> 01:17:17,120
Speaker 1: You know. Right now, at this point with Penn State,

1292
01:17:18,760 --> 01:17:20,840
Speaker 1: just hoping they make the right decision on a coach,

1293
01:17:21,000 --> 01:17:24,799
Speaker 1: you know, bringing a coach that's going to bring excitement

1294
01:17:24,840 --> 01:17:27,400
Speaker 1: to the program, you know, is going to succeed like

1295
01:17:28,760 --> 01:17:33,439
Speaker 1: and I mean eventually, sooner rather than later. Gotta get

1296
01:17:33,439 --> 01:17:35,920
Speaker 1: the NIL stuff together, just because that's part of the

1297
01:17:35,960 --> 01:17:40,720
Speaker 1: game nowadays. Like people are making outrageous amounts of money

1298
01:17:40,760 --> 01:17:43,639
Speaker 1: through NIL and I think the athletes deserve it. But

1299
01:17:44,400 --> 01:17:46,400
Speaker 1: somehow you got to pull that money together to be

1300
01:17:46,439 --> 01:17:50,480
Speaker 1: competitive and being in the Big ten. It's a necessity nowadays.

1301
01:17:51,600 --> 01:17:54,720
Speaker 1: You know what's interesting is you have so many different programs,

1302
01:17:55,040 --> 01:17:57,200
Speaker 1: like even Penn State and you guys are successful where

1303
01:17:57,200 --> 01:18:00,560
Speaker 1: you have all these you know, fifth year guys as

1304
01:18:00,600 --> 01:18:02,880
Speaker 1: and so the thought as well, he must have like NIL,

1305
01:18:02,960 --> 01:18:05,599
Speaker 1: that must have. But it seems like everyone's like, well

1306
01:18:05,600 --> 01:18:09,360
Speaker 1: we got to catch up, okay, So does nobody have

1307
01:18:09,400 --> 01:18:12,680
Speaker 1: an IL? Is it only you know twenty teams or so? Right,

1308
01:18:12,800 --> 01:18:16,160
Speaker 1: like the SEC and then Miami and a handful of

1309
01:18:16,160 --> 01:18:19,400
Speaker 1: other teams. Like's what's the actual deal with who actually

1310
01:18:19,520 --> 01:18:24,360
Speaker 1: is getting a big NIL checks? I think most of

1311
01:18:24,360 --> 01:18:26,519
Speaker 1: the Power five schools are putting stuff in place. I

1312
01:18:26,560 --> 01:18:28,200
Speaker 1: know Texas A and m has been doing a good

1313
01:18:28,280 --> 01:18:30,200
Speaker 1: job with it. I know, even like Produe has done

1314
01:18:30,200 --> 01:18:33,799
Speaker 1: a good job with it. And obviously Notre Dame Shrewsbury

1315
01:18:33,840 --> 01:18:35,560
Speaker 1: wouldn't have taken that job if they didn't have the

1316
01:18:35,640 --> 01:18:39,080
Speaker 1: resources in place for him. But I wouldn't expect anything

1317
01:18:39,120 --> 01:18:41,680
Speaker 1: less out of Notre Dame. You know now they're very

1318
01:18:41,680 --> 01:18:43,960
Speaker 1: reporting to their basketball full program for a long long time,

1319
01:18:44,840 --> 01:18:50,880
Speaker 1: so it makes sense. But I just you know, it's

1320
01:18:50,880 --> 01:18:53,840
Speaker 1: an interesting thing. And you know, like our team, we

1321
01:18:53,840 --> 01:18:56,400
Speaker 1: were blessed because it was a lot of good people

1322
01:18:56,439 --> 01:18:58,679
Speaker 1: coming together and it wasn't about that type of stuff.

1323
01:18:58,720 --> 01:19:01,000
Speaker 1: Wasn't about the money, wasn't about anything like that. It

1324
01:19:01,040 --> 01:19:03,679
Speaker 1: was about coming together, having a good time with people,

1325
01:19:03,760 --> 01:19:06,360
Speaker 1: and you know, making a statement and making something that

1326
01:19:06,400 --> 01:19:11,080
Speaker 1: will you know, last for a long time as this

1327
01:19:11,200 --> 01:19:15,120
Speaker 1: continues to progress. I mean, the financial portion of it

1328
01:19:15,160 --> 01:19:18,639
Speaker 1: is just you know, like Inevioca with like it's it's

1329
01:19:18,640 --> 01:19:21,200
Speaker 1: just gonna be it. You know, like guys are gonna

1330
01:19:21,320 --> 01:19:23,400
Speaker 1: if a school is saying, okay, we'll get you ten

1331
01:19:23,479 --> 01:19:28,639
Speaker 1: grand here come through, and they're choosing between two schools,

1332
01:19:28,640 --> 01:19:30,800
Speaker 1: and the other school says, hey we got sixty grand

1333
01:19:30,840 --> 01:19:33,559
Speaker 1: for you, and you're torn between the two that's enough

1334
01:19:33,600 --> 01:19:36,679
Speaker 1: to you know, it's enough for a guy to take

1335
01:19:36,720 --> 01:19:41,640
Speaker 1: that other spot. So it's just a changing landscape and

1336
01:19:41,680 --> 01:19:44,800
Speaker 1: it's cool. I'm happy for all the players, you know.

1337
01:19:44,960 --> 01:19:47,360
Speaker 1: And I was saying that to our guys this year too.

1338
01:19:47,400 --> 01:19:49,439
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, we didn't get a whole

1339
01:19:49,479 --> 01:19:51,599
Speaker 1: lot with the nil, but I hope that this season

1340
01:19:51,760 --> 01:19:53,600
Speaker 1: just makes way for all you guys, because if we

1341
01:19:53,640 --> 01:19:55,640
Speaker 1: can lay that path, that would just be amazing to

1342
01:19:55,640 --> 01:19:58,439
Speaker 1: see for the future. So did you keep gaming short

1343
01:19:58,520 --> 01:20:05,360
Speaker 1: from all five stops? I got Denver, I got Portland Jersey.

1344
01:20:05,560 --> 01:20:07,280
Speaker 1: I didn't get stuff from all five. I'm gonna have

1345
01:20:07,320 --> 01:20:09,040
Speaker 1: to call them and get my stuff because I need.

1346
01:20:09,080 --> 01:20:10,880
Speaker 1: You gotta get your stuff. You gotta get your stuff.

1347
01:20:11,240 --> 01:20:13,360
Speaker 1: This is the story myself. It was something I don't know.

1348
01:20:14,479 --> 01:20:16,880
Speaker 1: It was some NCAA something. I don't know what they

1349
01:20:16,960 --> 01:20:19,320
Speaker 1: were talking about. But I mean, there's no point in

1350
01:20:19,360 --> 01:20:23,640
Speaker 1: them having hen jerseys in their back closet, like I

1351
01:20:23,760 --> 01:20:26,559
Speaker 1: need those. But I'll have my pen Se stuff, Denver stuff.

1352
01:20:27,479 --> 01:20:29,400
Speaker 1: I got a Portland Jersey, so I need gotta get

1353
01:20:29,400 --> 01:20:32,559
Speaker 1: your get you gotta get your Davis stuff. I need

1354
01:20:32,600 --> 01:20:34,720
Speaker 1: my Davids stuff for sure. That's special. Stuff to me

1355
01:20:34,800 --> 01:20:38,360
Speaker 1: and the CBU stuff. It's all special, you know, all

1356
01:20:38,400 --> 01:20:40,959
Speaker 1: part of my thing. My jersey collection is gonna be crazy.

1357
01:20:41,200 --> 01:20:43,080
Speaker 1: Did you keep the same number at it every yet,

1358
01:20:43,120 --> 01:20:47,400
Speaker 1: at every place? Yes, my red shirt year at cal Baptist,

1359
01:20:47,439 --> 01:20:50,200
Speaker 1: I was number four, but I didn't play, so you

1360
01:20:50,200 --> 01:20:56,160
Speaker 1: know it didn't matter. That's cool, that's really cool. Yeah,

1361
01:20:56,240 --> 01:21:00,800
Speaker 1: I think I like, I like professional wrestling. Like, dude,

1362
01:21:00,840 --> 01:21:04,599
Speaker 1: you could totally, I mean, think about it. You obviously

1363
01:21:04,600 --> 01:21:06,679
Speaker 1: had the personality for it, right, you kind of already

1364
01:21:06,680 --> 01:21:08,160
Speaker 1: got the hair going. You just kind of gotta grow

1365
01:21:08,200 --> 01:21:12,240
Speaker 1: that hair a little longer, stay in good shape. But

1366
01:21:12,479 --> 01:21:14,400
Speaker 1: you know, it's crazy. I cut I cut my hair off.

1367
01:21:15,479 --> 01:21:19,400
Speaker 1: You did cut my hair off. How long have you

1368
01:21:19,439 --> 01:21:27,479
Speaker 1: been growing it for? Oh, probably a good year and

1369
01:21:27,479 --> 01:21:31,360
Speaker 1: a half, maybe less, I don't know, but it's been

1370
01:21:31,400 --> 01:21:34,760
Speaker 1: a while. But I just like, once basketball season ended,

1371
01:21:34,800 --> 01:21:38,160
Speaker 1: I was like, I gotta just I gotta cleanse this

1372
01:21:38,240 --> 01:21:42,000
Speaker 1: out of me, Like I gotta just restart. It was

1373
01:21:42,120 --> 01:21:44,360
Speaker 1: my you know, stepping into the next phase of my life.

1374
01:21:44,400 --> 01:21:51,160
Speaker 1: So the hair was the hair was part of it. Um, well,

1375
01:21:51,160 --> 01:21:53,880
Speaker 1: you are a legend, first player ever to play at

1376
01:21:53,960 --> 01:21:57,479
Speaker 1: five schools and you have I couldn't even count the

1377
01:21:57,520 --> 01:22:02,240
Speaker 1: number of degrees. But that's really cool. And if I

1378
01:22:02,280 --> 01:22:04,360
Speaker 1: can help in any way in the overseas thing, I

1379
01:22:04,439 --> 01:22:06,640
Speaker 1: want to help in the wrestling thing. You let me

1380
01:22:06,680 --> 01:22:08,400
Speaker 1: know you got my number, and thanks so much for

1381
01:22:08,479 --> 01:22:16,240
Speaker 1: joining me. Yeah man, thank you. Pretty interesting, right all right?

1382
01:22:16,880 --> 01:22:22,080
Speaker 1: Seven years, seven years, five schools and a couple of

1383
01:22:22,160 --> 01:22:27,160
Speaker 1: NCAA tournaments, including finally an NCAA tournament winn MA. Thanks

1384
01:22:27,160 --> 01:22:29,559
Speaker 1: to Mike for joining me. Thanks you you for listening, download,

1385
01:22:29,600 --> 01:22:32,080
Speaker 1: subscribe and rate it. Remember the Doug Gottlieb Show is

1386
01:22:32,120 --> 01:22:34,160
Speaker 1: daily three to five Eastern Time, plus we have a

1387
01:22:34,560 --> 01:22:37,120
Speaker 1: one hour in the bonus podcast. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This

1388
01:22:37,720 --> 01:22:38,200
Speaker 1: is all off