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Speaker 1: Hey want to welcome in. I'm Doug Goli. This is

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Speaker 1: all ball, um and UH. Today's podcast, which I think

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be able to drop before the Final Four

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Speaker 1: or the National Championship game, begins his emin a lab

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Speaker 1: from New Orleans, Louisiana. Actually, I'm in the Superdome and

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Speaker 1: we're a couple of hours, I don't know, several hours

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Speaker 1: before tip off. So here's there's a there's a bunch

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Speaker 1: of different things that I want to get to. UM,

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Speaker 1: when you're in New Orleans, when you're at the Final four,

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Speaker 1: you get to catch up with old friends and um,

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Speaker 1: some old enemies. Right. You're like you're talking to everybody

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Speaker 1: in basketball, and frankly there's people from other sports here

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Speaker 1: as well. I had a smoothie with Troy Hawkins. Troy Hawkins,

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Speaker 1: he was nasty. It's nasty anyway. UM. And and there's

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Speaker 1: there's some things that jump out to me which should

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Speaker 1: be said. And the great thing and the response I've

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Speaker 1: gotten from all you about the podcast has been one

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Speaker 1: of the guests are great. And we have an awesome

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Speaker 1: guest for you today. And I will point out that

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Speaker 1: our guest today we we kind of ran out of

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Speaker 1: time to get into Kansas really because they did lose

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Speaker 1: to Kansas. I mean, I'm sorry about that one. That Oh,

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Speaker 1: that's a that's probably my bad. I think, actually right,

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Speaker 1: I should have gotten into Kands with him. That's okay.

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Speaker 1: Tell us he joined us and we'll breakdown. He can

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Speaker 1: break down the game and and tell you what what's what? Um.

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Speaker 1: Our guest today is Chris Caputo. Chris was most recently

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Speaker 1: the assistant assistant head coach at the University of Miami.

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Speaker 1: They of course lost in the lad eight to Kansas.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit about that Kansas game, but

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Speaker 1: mostly about his rise from a Division three player whose

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Speaker 1: dad had probably the most unique job anybody in the

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Speaker 1: eight tens debt. I don't know it really the guy's unique. Um,

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Speaker 1: he's really interesting. He's from Queens, then he went to

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Speaker 1: mass and then he went to George Mason, and then

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Speaker 1: he went to Miami and now he's at George Washington.

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Speaker 1: It really has been kind of seamless. And uh, he'll

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Speaker 1: he'll join me upcoming we'll talk about about his journey

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Speaker 1: to becoming named head coach of George Washington University late

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Speaker 1: last week and today is officially his first day on

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Speaker 1: the job, Marian will in Gotham. Let's let's let's discuss

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Speaker 1: all other things basketball wise. UM, I'm still kind of

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Speaker 1: like on a high from that Carolina Duke game. I

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Speaker 1: will caution people over this, it's the greatest college basketball

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Speaker 1: game I've ever seen. Like, you don't have to go

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Speaker 1: back that far in terms of people being in attendance

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Speaker 1: to see unbelievable final force with unbelievable ndings, right like

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Speaker 1: Virginia with a foul call in the corner on Auburn

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Speaker 1: in the National semifinal and then Texas Tech and Virginia

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Speaker 1: in the National championship game going to overtime. All that

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Speaker 1: was just uh. I guess three s sasons ago, right,

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Speaker 1: three seasons but that was the last Final four the

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Speaker 1: people attended UH in full attendance in Minneapolis. That was

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Speaker 1: before COVID. That was an unbelievable final four. Of course,

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Speaker 1: Chris Jenkins hit what I think is the biggest shot

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Speaker 1: in the history of American sports. UM as the buzzer

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Speaker 1: expires to win a championship was remarkable, incredible. So, I

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Speaker 1: mean I could go through all of the great games

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Speaker 1: recent and not so recent. This one was a great one.

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Speaker 1: This one also was very meaningful because it's Carolina Duke

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Speaker 1: in the tournament for the first time, Carolina Duke in

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Speaker 1: the final four, Mike Chefski's last game going against UM,

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Speaker 1: a guy who frankly played against Coach K and played

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Speaker 1: in the final four, and Hubert Davis. So I think

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Speaker 1: all those and then of course, to a slightly lesser extent,

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Speaker 1: having Kansas and Villanova blue Buds, new bloods whatever in

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Speaker 1: the final four, it all. It makes it for a

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Speaker 1: great storyline, a great game, and and something worthy of discussion. However, however,

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Speaker 1: I think it was a great game. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if it was the greatest game ever. It didn't come

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Speaker 1: down to the last second. The last thirty seconds were

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Speaker 1: kind of it's over. But let's give credit to North

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Speaker 1: Carolina who found a way to win a game in

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Speaker 1: which um they were down what one with a minute

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Speaker 1: and nineteen to go, and that's when Coach K called

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Speaker 1: the time out and tried to set his defense, put

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Speaker 1: Mark Williams in the game, and of course that's when

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Speaker 1: North Carolina hit cup more shots ended up winning a

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Speaker 1: national chance or playing for a national championship. I thought

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Speaker 1: that the adjustment of Hubert not really playing his bench

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Speaker 1: was big. Obviously, they play a completely different style than

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Speaker 1: the one that they previously played, so that's gotta be

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Speaker 1: a good portion of the reason why it took so

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Speaker 1: long for this team to hit. Um, they're a little

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Speaker 1: loose with the basketball, but it kind of works because

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Speaker 1: he gives them freedom and they have a ton of

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Speaker 1: self confidence. And I thought they got after it defensively.

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Speaker 1: I thought Brady Manic managed himself and get into foul

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Speaker 1: trouble early in the game, knowing paulabon Caro is gonna

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Speaker 1: come after him. Um, you know Duke and the foul

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Speaker 1: troubleside part of that is you have to adjust to

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Speaker 1: the officiating. You know, the the first game, there were

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Speaker 1: hardly any calls. I didn't like the second call on

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Speaker 1: David McCormick, and I thought that one put Villanova back

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Speaker 1: in the game because he had one foul and he

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Speaker 1: let his player go and lay the ball. In basketball,

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Speaker 1: I think it was Dixon and that should have been

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Speaker 1: shouldn't have been a foul. But if you watch that

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Speaker 1: game fairly tightly officiated early, the same could be set

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Speaker 1: for Carolina, and I think there was even more tightly

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Speaker 1: officiated in the Carolina Duke game because they knew they

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Speaker 1: wanted to let it get up and down and running.

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Speaker 1: But you can't do it until you loosen up the official,

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Speaker 1: loosen up the hand to hand comment. And the only

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Speaker 1: way to do that is to tightly offficiate the game early,

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Speaker 1: so that that's what I feel like happened with Duke

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Speaker 1: get into foul trouble. Um. Do I love that half

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Speaker 1: the Duke players walked off without shaking hands? No? Do

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Speaker 1: I think it's the end all be all? No? Do

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Speaker 1: I think there's some cute fusion there. And you lose

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Speaker 1: a game, it's your last game, and you're sad, you

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Speaker 1: just want to get out of the get out of

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Speaker 1: the place. Like I totally get. What I'm not gonna

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Speaker 1: do is I'm not gonna do the Mike Szchewsky bashing

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Speaker 1: like it really is on some level beneath so many

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Speaker 1: people in our industry. He's not no coaches perfect, not

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Speaker 1: as every decision he made was right, and I genuinely

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Speaker 1: believe that his presence was the biggest reason for the hype,

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Speaker 1: more so even than than the fact that there are

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Speaker 1: tribals separated by eight Miles, you know, play against each other,

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Speaker 1: so you know, I I thought they went to Boncarrell

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Speaker 1: a lot, probably could have gone a little bit more. Um.

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Speaker 1: I also thought that there there there was some room

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Speaker 1: there for some full core pressure that they didn't use.

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Speaker 1: Uh and I and I thought that Kansas and there

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Speaker 1: when it wasn't just about making shots, it was also

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Speaker 1: about the fact that you knew how Illanov was gonna play,

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Speaker 1: and they used that against Villanova to get open weak

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Speaker 1: side jump shots in the week side corner, and that

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Speaker 1: execution was brilliant. Kansas played, you know, in the conversation

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Speaker 1: and parts of their best game all season long. And uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, conversely, Villanova just not the same without Justin Moore. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: you got North Carolina Duke, and North Carolina played good

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Speaker 1: but great in the second half. The shot making by

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Speaker 1: Love and Manic was ridiculous. I thought bay Cots rebounding

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Speaker 1: was outstanding, and they just did a great job but

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Speaker 1: just being there and making Duke make shots over the top,

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Speaker 1: and Duke could not make enough of them. All right,

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Speaker 1: give you my National Championship preview upcoming, but first let's

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Speaker 1: get the new head coach of George Washington. Here's Chris Cabudo.

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Speaker 1: You're you're you're sitting there and this is your first

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Speaker 1: official day as a Division one head men's basketball coach.

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Speaker 1: What's sleeping been? Like? Um, you go you go to

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Speaker 1: sleep just like because you pass out, not not because

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Speaker 1: you have any scheduled sleep plans, you know. Uh, and

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Speaker 1: you wake up kind of with your mind racing, so

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Speaker 1: you just get up. Yeah, certainly not. You know, we're

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Speaker 1: not on the eight hour you know, health and wellness

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Speaker 1: sleep schedule, that's for sure. Um, was when did this

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Speaker 1: become the dream? When did this become like the goal?

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Speaker 1: Like do you do you remember the time when you

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Speaker 1: said yourself like, man, let me ahead basketball catch? Yeah? Um,

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Speaker 1: I got a good story for that, you know. For me?

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Speaker 1: The final four was in New York, YA. And I'm

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm a like JV player at that time

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Speaker 1: at archbish Boy High School in New York, which is

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Speaker 1: you know, I think you know this. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if the listeners you're famous sort of high school program

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Speaker 1: in New York City. Jack Current was my high school coach,

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Speaker 1: legendary coach in New York. He was winning his coach

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Speaker 1: in the state And uh, you know some of the names.

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Speaker 1: Kenny Anderson, Kenny Smith, Russ Smith. Uh, you know, Brian

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Speaker 1: Winners is a great player there. Kevin Joyce is the

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Speaker 1: captain of Olympic team UM. Cole Anthony was there the

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Speaker 1: most recently. Coach Larnaga played there. A lot of we

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Speaker 1: got it. It's a great program, a lot of here's

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Speaker 1: here's what you'll find. Okay, like this pod specifically, I

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Speaker 1: mean you do need to explain some things and you

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Speaker 1: contact or somethings. But but some some of you dort

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Speaker 1: some guys. You're a sophomore, Yeah, sophomore. So, uh, friend

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Speaker 1: of mine who's now a Division three head coaches, Hey,

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Speaker 1: the final I know nothing about, like what the medal?

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Speaker 1: I need a name? You need name? Guy ranked Cord.

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Speaker 1: He's the head coach of Western Connecticut State. You may

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Speaker 1: know him, but actually yeah, yeah, so we grew up

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Speaker 1: together the same block. And he says, hey, um, the

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Speaker 1: final fours in New York. Obviously, Hey, you want to

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Speaker 1: go down to the Hilton, like on sixth Avenue. UM,

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Speaker 1: and I have no idea what that means at this point,

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Speaker 1: right at sixteen years old, And uh, yeah, sure you know,

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Speaker 1: so you know I knew. I thought I maybe wanted

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Speaker 1: to coach. No, it probably wasn't good enough to be

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Speaker 1: a you know, pro play or anything like that. But

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Speaker 1: I go down there with guy. We kind of walk

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Speaker 1: around the hotel lobby and I'm like, wow, I see

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Speaker 1: coach k walking through the lobby. I see tark uh,

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Speaker 1: you know holding court, you know, at the at the

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Speaker 1: lobby bar a bunch of you know, people in coaching,

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Speaker 1: and you know, with their T shirts on, and you know,

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Speaker 1: polo shirts on and all the polos with the logos,

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Speaker 1: manolos with the logos, right, you know, probably don't know.

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to think ninety probably some pleaded khakis and

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Speaker 1: polos with jumps jumpsuits jump up. Uh. I remember seeing

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Speaker 1: Norm Roberts there, which is ironic, but Norman coached at

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Speaker 1: our high school as well as an assistant coach. He

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Speaker 1: was at Oral. Roberts I believe that, you know, at

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Speaker 1: that time it maybe just getting ready to go to Tulsa.

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Speaker 1: So uh, that was cool to see him somebody who

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Speaker 1: had who had been you know, associated with our with

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Speaker 1: our program. And anyway, I walked out and I said, man,

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Speaker 1: this is like really cool, Like I want to do

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Speaker 1: this someday I want to walk around with a polo

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Speaker 1: and a logo on my shirt, you know. And uh,

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Speaker 1: it got me thinking about coaching as a career. And

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Speaker 1: then ironically, ten years later, I'm coaching in the Final

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Speaker 1: four at the right page of or whatever. So I

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Speaker 1: guess it was twenty five. But you know that that's

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Speaker 1: kind of been a simple moment for me, like to

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Speaker 1: think about No, No, I know, No, it was just

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Speaker 1: sort of like, you know, all the all the stuff

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Speaker 1: that you know young guys do now walking around that lobby.

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Speaker 1: I was kind of doing that at sixteen, almost as

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Speaker 1: an innocent bystander, as a civilian. Yeah. And then, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I look back on anytime you get a

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Speaker 1: tough day, you look back and say, man, how about that, Like,

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Speaker 1: you know, I go from that lobby in ninety six

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Speaker 1: to coaching in it in two thousand six. I'm pretty lucky. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you've never been that lobby needing a job.

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Speaker 1: That's that's that's another reason why you're lucky. But it's

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Speaker 1: it's funny because the lobby is is really so My dad,

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Speaker 1: my late father was like all lobby team right, like

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Speaker 1: he was. He loved he loved that, but I, um,

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Speaker 1: it's funny because that it has a it can have

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Speaker 1: a mixed effect on you. When I'm when I was

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Speaker 1: a kid, the pot four and you'd see that and

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Speaker 1: be like, man, this is the coolest thing ever. Look

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Speaker 1: at these guys like gods and they walked by, you know,

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Speaker 1: your dad, and they talked to you. And then you

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Speaker 1: get older and being in broadcasting, Uh, it can scare

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Speaker 1: the Bejesus out of you. You know. Where you sit

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Speaker 1: there and go like because because I'm trying to think

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Speaker 1: where I think you might have been used in. I

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Speaker 1: think it might have been Houston. When I remember I, um,

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Speaker 1: I interviewed for a job and I was you know,

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Speaker 1: broadcasting and CBS at the time, and I'm texting their

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Speaker 1: friends and they're like do you want this? And I

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Speaker 1: was like yeah. They're like, you really wanted to get

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Speaker 1: into coaching. I was like yeah. And then you walk out,

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Speaker 1: you walk into lobby and you see there's a thousand

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Speaker 1: dudes that are not the head coaches, that need a

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Speaker 1: job and that have the resume in hand, and they're

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Speaker 1: just trying to bump into somebody who's gotta got a

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Speaker 1: spot up. Hey, I got a player for you, coach,

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Speaker 1: I haven't heard that one. How many how many calls

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Speaker 1: texts in the last twenty four hours? I got a

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Speaker 1: player for you, coach, M many many, many more. And

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Speaker 1: so it's a it's a it's a it's a real thing. Okay,

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Speaker 1: So you're you're in high school? Ixpished? We want parents?

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Speaker 1: Do you know my dad unique? My mom's a nurse.

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Speaker 1: That's you know, not unique. She wasn't nurse. My dad

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Speaker 1: is a fifty year jazz musician in New York City,

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Speaker 1: believe it or not. Jazz flute. But what what you no? No, yeah,

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Speaker 1: well he does play jazz flute, but no, like all

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Speaker 1: the sacks, clarinet, flew all the woodwinds. So he um,

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Speaker 1: you know, super unique career, kind of like kind of

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Speaker 1: like coaching unique career. Fox Sports Radio has the best

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Speaker 1: sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our

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Speaker 1: shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Right, So,

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Speaker 1: so you have a passion for basketball, he's a jazz musicisan.

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Speaker 1: Did he get it? You know? I think he didn't.

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Speaker 1: They didn't necessarily get basketball, like they weren't necessarily fans

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Speaker 1: or anything like that. But I think that they got

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Speaker 1: the idea that like, hey, you should just do do

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Speaker 1: what you want to do. You know. Uh, if is

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Speaker 1: what you want to do, you go chase that. And

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Speaker 1: you know, we're not going to be judgmental of uh

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Speaker 1: you know, maybe what would appear to be a flaky career.

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Speaker 1: But but it was. It was like in high school,

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Speaker 1: did you tell them this is what you want to do. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I thought, um, you know, I was like

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Speaker 1: a finance major, but I didn't. I wasn't like a

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Speaker 1: great student, didn't really have too much passion for it.

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Speaker 1: Um I did. Uh. I did a couple of internships,

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Speaker 1: uh you know, like uh in the in the world

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Speaker 1: of business in New York City, and as I was

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Speaker 1: doing them, I quickly understood like, yeah, this is not

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Speaker 1: for me, Like I would much prefer to you know, uh,

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Speaker 1: be be around basketball, go to AU tournaments, you know,

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Speaker 1: work camps stuff that Division three players do, you know,

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Speaker 1: like just try to be around the game. And so,

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Speaker 1: you know, for me, it was it was trending that

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Speaker 1: way pretty hard, you know, throughout college like this, this

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Speaker 1: is what I'm gonna do, you know, your West Westfield State,

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Speaker 1: right Westfield State in Massachusetts. Yeah, who's the coach, Rich Sutter?

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Speaker 1: Who's still the coach now? Uh, he's Uh, he's a

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Speaker 1: great coach. He I was like in his first class there.

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Speaker 1: He was an assistant at Colgate with a Donald Foyle

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Speaker 1: and um, you know he's actually done a really good

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Speaker 1: job there and kind of the defense and consistency now

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Speaker 1: to be in one of the better teams in the

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Speaker 1: mass CAC which is like the Massachusetts State League. You know,

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Speaker 1: Tom Thiboeau was at Salem State, Paul Bacardi Salem State. Uh,

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Speaker 1: Tommy Moore from Yukon was at Worcester State. So what's

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Speaker 1: a lot of guys, Yeah, exactly what's starting up? So

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Speaker 1: it was a it was a fun lead tofiliance. So

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Speaker 1: so so Jackline, what was special about him as a coach?

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Speaker 1: What what what can you take from your high school coach,

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Speaker 1: a legendary coach and say like yeah, this is what

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Speaker 1: what what made him? What made a special? Yeah? I think, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, like obviously it's a great coach, you had

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Speaker 1: great players, everything, but the the idea that he built

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Speaker 1: a you know, for lack of a better cliche, family, community, brotherhood,

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Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. Uh, you know that

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Speaker 1: was so present at our school. You know, guys obviously

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Speaker 1: when I got there, he'd been doing it a long time.

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Speaker 1: So you have guys that played for him in the

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Speaker 1: sixties and the seventies that were back all the time

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Speaker 1: and coming to the office and seeking counsel. And he

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Speaker 1: was picking up the phone constantly and doing things for

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Speaker 1: the guys to try to help them. And um, you

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Speaker 1: know that, that, for me, is what I thought coaching

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Speaker 1: was like. I didn't think It's probably why I stayed

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Speaker 1: with coach Linega for twenty years and going that two places.

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Speaker 1: I've told people, you know that that's what I envisioned

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Speaker 1: coaching to be. I didn't. I didn't understand the business

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Speaker 1: side of it that you know, Hey, it's not always

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Speaker 1: like this. You don't get to stay at the same

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Speaker 1: place for fifty years. It kind of have all the

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Speaker 1: guys around all the time. And uh, I was fortunate

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Speaker 1: enough to be a part of that and see that,

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Speaker 1: and I strive to sort of maybe find that somewhere

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Speaker 1: and uh, and then you know, you get in your

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Speaker 1: realize well that's exactly how it works in college coaching.

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Speaker 1: So when you're at lest field. What do you remember

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Speaker 1: was it about in terms of practices and games? You know,

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Speaker 1: like you mentioned guys, what what can you take away

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Speaker 1: from your experience? I think I think the guy. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, first sure, you know, I had a great experience. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, you know we were divisioned three players, but

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Speaker 1: I thought we worked really hard. You know, we were

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Speaker 1: serious about our game and our and our team and

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Speaker 1: and uh now looking back twenty years of being Division one,

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Speaker 1: it's very funny. You know, you get especially in that

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Speaker 1: league because obviously Massachusetts is not a huge state, you know, geographically,

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Speaker 1: so we would like get on the bus, the women

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Speaker 1: around the bus, the women's team is gonna play. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna play. We drive to Salem State, drop the women off,

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Speaker 1: we get five bucks, we go you know, at pizza.

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Speaker 1: We get back. The women are playing. We're watching like

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Speaker 1: the first half, it's halftime. We go in, we get ready,

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Speaker 1: we play, everybody gets back on the bus afterwards, drives back.

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Speaker 1: It's all in the same day. I mean, it's you know,

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Speaker 1: having been on a million charter flights now it's done.

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Speaker 1: All the things that you know you do when you're

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Speaker 1: at the A C. C. For eleven years, and uh,

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Speaker 1: it reminds me not to complain about anything because it's

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Speaker 1: certainly Uh, everyone in Division three is sort of doing

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Speaker 1: it for the love of the game for real. You know,

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Speaker 1: how good? What is it? Your best season was what's year?

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Speaker 1: You know? We are my junior year, we had turned

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Speaker 1: the program around and it got to like fIF We're

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Speaker 1: bad when I got there. Uh, we had turned the

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Speaker 1: program around fifteen and eleven, I think, And now we're

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Speaker 1: like we have a first team All League player at

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Speaker 1: the Rookie of the Year coming back and a really

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Speaker 1: good core and then both of that has got who

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Speaker 1: is who is your study? Um, Bryant James is a guy.

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Speaker 1: He was He was an unbelievable athlete underside to cool.

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Speaker 1: Division three was like six three but like a power

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Speaker 1: forward that was world class athlete. Um and uh, but

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Speaker 1: both of those guys get get hurt my senior year,

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Speaker 1: so then we go back into the tank. But I'm

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Speaker 1: proud to say that I left it better than I

365
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Speaker 1: found it, because like they've got have been really good

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Speaker 1: since I left. So the coolest gym in the masket,

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Speaker 1: coolest you know, it's funny, kind of like ours is

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Speaker 1: a bandbox when I played that. It was like a

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Speaker 1: legit high school gym. Now every gym in the league

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Speaker 1: has has really you know, it's kind of like in

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Speaker 1: that late nineties early two thousands, everybody kind of did

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Speaker 1: a rec center that became the D three sort of arena.

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Speaker 1: But at that time I think ours was probably it

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Speaker 1: was the bandbox like hot you know, it could be

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Speaker 1: snow all over the place outside, but it was like

376
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Speaker 1: degrees it felt like inside. And it was certainly in recruiting.

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Speaker 1: It's not something you would walk anybody through like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is where we play. It was evil when they're

379
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Speaker 1: when they're packed, when you're packing, in fact, it's fun. Yeah,

380
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Speaker 1: there's no doubt, nothing like it. And then you started

381
00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:08,480
Speaker 1: dunking in one up because you're like you're, um, okay,

382
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Speaker 1: so so you get done you graduate. Um yeah, but

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Speaker 1: so it's funny. I always tell the story and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know this is remember we used to have to

385
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Speaker 1: do homework in like the computer lab, right, like for

386
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Speaker 1: the most part, like, yeah, you have to be in

387
00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:27,920
Speaker 1: the computer lab. You weren't. Some guys maybe had something

388
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,600
Speaker 1: in their room, you know, a big you know, hard

389
00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,400
Speaker 1: hard drive computer, what have you. But you know, I'm

390
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Speaker 1: like in the computer lab checking my email. It's not

391
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Speaker 1: on my phone or anything like that. I had been

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Speaker 1: in correspondence with coach Linagan again because of our Malloy connection,

393
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:43,720
Speaker 1: and I'd see him, I'd go to AU events and

394
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:45,960
Speaker 1: things like that, and he was really nice to me

395
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 1: in early days of sort of emailing people back and forth.

396
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:53,120
Speaker 1: And Uh. I get an email from him and it's like, hey,

397
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Speaker 1: I got a job opening assistant coach. I need you

398
00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,720
Speaker 1: to apply for it. My first thought is like, wow,

399
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:01,720
Speaker 1: this is like easy, right. You just go from being

400
00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,560
Speaker 1: like a bad Division three player to being like an

401
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,520
Speaker 1: assistant coach at a pretty good mid major program and

402
00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 1: got a couple of state tournaments in recent times. So

403
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,159
Speaker 1: to apply for the job. And he tells me to

404
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:15,119
Speaker 1: call him. I call and and says, hey, look, I

405
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,719
Speaker 1: wanted you to apply. You're not getting the job, all right,

406
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:20,320
Speaker 1: but but I want to maybe bring you down in

407
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Speaker 1: a volunteer role, and so I wanted you to apply

408
00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 1: so I could at least talk to you, you know,

409
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,600
Speaker 1: state state rules or whatever you know. So I'm a

410
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,119
Speaker 1: little deflated at this point because I was I got

411
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:31,160
Speaker 1: ahead of myself thinking maybe I'm gonna get a job,

412
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,360
Speaker 1: you know. And basically what he says is, Hey, look

413
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:38,080
Speaker 1: like I can't hire in the third spot. You're you know,

414
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:42,120
Speaker 1: you have no qualifications. But I like you. I want

415
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 1: to give you a shot. I'm going to hire somebody

416
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:45,920
Speaker 1: else and maybe bring you down as a volunteer. Would

417
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 1: you do it? I say yes, having no idea like

418
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,639
Speaker 1: how much anything costs or anything like that. So he

419
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,840
Speaker 1: hires Eric Cockle, who's got a head coach of Tulsa,

420
00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:57,760
Speaker 1: who's a great friend of mine obviously was gonna join

421
00:22:57,840 --> 00:22:59,680
Speaker 1: me this week, by the way, with yeah, yeah, yeah

422
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:04,480
Speaker 1: you can you can ask Yeah, there you go. Yeah. So, uh,

423
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,880
Speaker 1: and you can't find guys that are too you know, different, uh,

424
00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,199
Speaker 1: and yet great friends in the sense that Air grew

425
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,159
Speaker 1: up like a town like two hundred people in Amer's Wisconsin,

426
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 1: and I'm from Queens, you know. And and so he

427
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:18,960
Speaker 1: as Eric Conkle and who had been a g A

428
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:23,080
Speaker 1: I think at Tennessee at that time. Uh, and myself

429
00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:24,840
Speaker 1: as a volunteer. I tell my parents, I got like

430
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: an unbelievable opportunity. You can't believe this division one really

431
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,080
Speaker 1: good program, you know, Okay, like this, how much does

432
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 1: it pay? Like, well, nothing you're paying like and so

433
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:37,639
Speaker 1: and this is what they've been paid for college to.

434
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:39,840
Speaker 1: Right less of course, right of course, right and and

435
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:42,240
Speaker 1: and you know we weren't wealthy people or anything, but

436
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 1: we were able to trick it somehow and make it work.

437
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:50,200
Speaker 1: You know. So, Um, I go down and Eric finds,

438
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 1: in fact, he mentioned it to me this week. Uh,

439
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 1: he had to find the Fairfax, Virginia is a very

440
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 1: very wealthy you know, it's a but like Orange County,

441
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:02,879
Speaker 1: you know, like it's a nice place, a lot a

442
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,440
Speaker 1: lot of wealth. Um and uh he found the worst

443
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,639
Speaker 1: apartment complex humanly possible, because we knew we were, you know,

444
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,160
Speaker 1: making no money. He found the worst department complex possibly.

445
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 1: It was like definitely you know, fifties sixties like towers. Uh, brutal, brutal,

446
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:26,360
Speaker 1: brutal place. But so we, uh we move in there.

447
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: We're splitting the rent and uh, I mean were really

448
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:32,440
Speaker 1: you know, have no money. And so he's like, I

449
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:34,919
Speaker 1: have a friend that's like thinking about coming down now.

450
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,680
Speaker 1: And he's like, you know, hey, what would you mind

451
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:40,440
Speaker 1: if I like stay with you guys? Just Eric, like

452
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,440
Speaker 1: we can cut the rent now again if if he

453
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 1: like sleeps on our couch, so you know, had that happen,

454
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 1: so we any any memory what the rent was. You know,

455
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:55,440
Speaker 1: it wasn't like cheap cheap cheap, because again Fairfax is

456
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,520
Speaker 1: kind of an expensive place, but it might have been

457
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 1: like a two bedroom that might have been like a

458
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 1: thousand bucks or something like that, eight bucks, and so

459
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:06,560
Speaker 1: we were just trying to find every way we could

460
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 1: too just slice it. We eventually also had somebody live

461
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:13,800
Speaker 1: in our dining room, another guy friend of ours, so

462
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,200
Speaker 1: we got were these utilities, you know, like friends of

463
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,960
Speaker 1: mine from Massachusetts that you know, they were in and out.

464
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,639
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say they were there forever, but you know,

465
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,120
Speaker 1: I think Eric, Eric's a smart guys economical. We understood,

466
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 1: you know, the finances of it that we could, uh,

467
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:32,680
Speaker 1: we could cut the cost tremendously, and you know, after

468
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,399
Speaker 1: a year after year, he was gone as he had

469
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,399
Speaker 1: gotten engaged kind of almost like when we got there.

470
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 1: So it was only a year deal, but it was

471
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:43,200
Speaker 1: we had a lot of laughs. So so you get

472
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: there and what what is uh what was it like?

473
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,719
Speaker 1: What what is Jim Larniga like to a guy who

474
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: counter recruit the coach? But you're making nothing? Yeah, every

475
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,840
Speaker 1: one of these guys and and Blarnegan been doing a

476
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,919
Speaker 1: long time. But it was, you know, pretty final for Laryega.

477
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:08,640
Speaker 1: You know, everybody evolves a little bit. What was it like, Yeah, yeah,

478
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:10,760
Speaker 1: I mean first for me. He always He reminded me

479
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:12,399
Speaker 1: the other day he said, he remember the first thing

480
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 1: I told you? I said, Yeah, you called me and said, hey,

481
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: look I don't you don't delegate to me. I delegate

482
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:23,040
Speaker 1: to you, said he can we do this? Can you

483
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:25,480
Speaker 1: help me with this one? And say, Chris, I delegate

484
00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 1: to you. You don't delegate to me. Okay, but well

485
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 1: it was just an incredible experience to be around the

486
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 1: staff was it was incredible. Uh. We had obviously coach

487
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,200
Speaker 1: who's the best, Bill Courtney, who was actually you know

488
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 1: it was with us here at Miamis past a couple

489
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:44,359
Speaker 1: of years, but had been the head coach of Cornell

490
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,840
Speaker 1: Mike Gillian, had been the head coach of Longwood, who's

491
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,239
Speaker 1: at i MG now. And then obviously Eric who who

492
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,280
Speaker 1: had been at Tennessee and kind of gotten exposed to

493
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,920
Speaker 1: the high level and uh for a few years as

494
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:58,480
Speaker 1: a g A. So for me, a guy who you know,

495
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 1: I think had a lot of hash it for it.

496
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 1: There was so much I could pick up and learn

497
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 1: from from those guys. And I always joked that they

498
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 1: never gave me. Coach never gave me anything that was

499
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 1: like super important. Yes you know you didn't. You didn't

500
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,159
Speaker 1: trust me, you know, but what he did was, uh,

501
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:16,280
Speaker 1: I crafted my own job a little bit. Back then,

502
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: the rules were a little bit different. So obviously I

503
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: helped Derek do everything he was doing, um, you know, film, exchange,

504
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,840
Speaker 1: video stuff, all that U. But then also like back then,

505
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,440
Speaker 1: I was the director of underclassmen recruiting, so it was,

506
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 1: you know, they were working on the guys that were

507
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 1: trying to get in that class and I was working

508
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,440
Speaker 1: a list of younger guys. And as you know, you know,

509
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 1: the d m V has got so many good players,

510
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 1: so um, at that time, you know a lot of

511
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:45,879
Speaker 1: the guys that I started with on that first year

512
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 1: of kind of like I was able allowed to talk

513
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 1: to their high school coaches things like that. They turned

514
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:52,160
Speaker 1: out to be a couple of guys in our final

515
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 1: four team. I was also back then, if you remember Doug,

516
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 1: we could work camps. It was they kind of had

517
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,280
Speaker 1: changed that rule back so like I would be working

518
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,320
Speaker 1: Eastern Invitational for Rob Kennedy. I've done that as as

519
00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:06,720
Speaker 1: a college player, but now I'm doing it as a

520
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,959
Speaker 1: George Mason staffer. And a lot of the guys were

521
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:11,960
Speaker 1: recruiting a lot of high school and AU coaches that

522
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 1: we were, you know, in our area. They were working

523
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:15,960
Speaker 1: the camp and kids were playing in the camp. So

524
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:18,880
Speaker 1: I've got a lot of exposure to to the area

525
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 1: doing that. And then, um, I just learned. You know,

526
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:22,879
Speaker 1: you think you know a lot as a player, and

527
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 1: then you get and you see inside what guys are doing. Like, jeez,

528
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 1: I don't know anything, you know, So I learned a lot.

529
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:35,080
Speaker 1: Um that was two oh three, right, two or three?

530
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 1: That John there is senor senior year? What what what?

531
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 1: What's what was the interaction like between coach and player,

532
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:49,520
Speaker 1: dad and son. Yeah that's unique as well. Yeah, Yeah,

533
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:51,960
Speaker 1: it was great because coach and he you know, Jay

534
00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 1: had played for him as well at poland Green, so

535
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 1: I think they had gotten to drill down. Um, we

536
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,280
Speaker 1: had a just an okay year. We had a bunch

537
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,200
Speaker 1: of injuries and John John wound up like playing the

538
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 1: point he was like a point forward, uh, and he

539
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,520
Speaker 1: had a very good year. We had and and you know,

540
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 1: given the injuries, we had a good year and not

541
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 1: a great year. Uh, but you certainly that they were

542
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 1: pros at it, you know what I mean, like because

543
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: he had done it with Jay and he kind of

544
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: learned that part of it. And John was older in

545
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,480
Speaker 1: his fifth year, he had red shirted the first year,

546
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 1: so it was you know, it was really to be honest,

547
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: it was pretty impressive how they interacted because, uh, they

548
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 1: kind of knew the drill, you know, how to how

549
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,720
Speaker 1: to approach it, you know, on the court, in the office,

550
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,440
Speaker 1: in the locker room there was it was player coach

551
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: and then you certainly because I was around you know them,

552
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 1: and outside of that you'd see you know, the father's

553
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 1: son piece as well, so that you know, professional is

554
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 1: what I would say. Really well done. Um the program.

555
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,960
Speaker 1: And it's interesting because the program that you guys left

556
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 1: very different than the program that you arrived and that

557
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 1: you arrived and right and in those two through well

558
00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 1: they were they were good. Yeah yeah, But but what

559
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: in terms of support in terms of fanfare was was

560
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 1: it like in that year? Okay? Yeah, I think Eric

561
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: and I, uh that was around the time Good to

562
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 1: Great came out and Eric and I used to joke,

563
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,280
Speaker 1: you know, kind of like ha huh um. Yeah, we

564
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 1: we took it from good to great, but we got there,

565
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 1: you know, like we you know, it was good and

566
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 1: we got it great. But no, I think that it

567
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 1: was I'll tell you this that when you take a

568
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,120
Speaker 1: job as a young person and you just want to

569
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:35,120
Speaker 1: get in, right, you have no idea what you're walking into.

570
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:38,280
Speaker 1: You know, you just don't know. I mean just especially

571
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 1: as a guy who's playing Division three and like, hey,

572
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 1: I want to be in Division one. I'll go anywhere

573
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 1: for me to be as fortunate to go into a

574
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: program with one of the type of people. But then

575
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 1: also that they were winning, that there was some momentum

576
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 1: they're now looking back, you can't even put a price

577
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,360
Speaker 1: on that, right because I was not there to turn

578
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,960
Speaker 1: it in. I was there with program was in great

579
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: shape in two thousand two and sort of getting ready

580
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 1: to go on a little bit of a run again.

581
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: And then um, yeah, obviously we go to we go

582
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: to the Sweet sixteen of the n I t we

583
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 1: lose out an Oregon, which I'm so happy I got

584
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 1: to see matc Court. Uh did you go out? Did

585
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:22,400
Speaker 1: you play out there? Ever, I'm sure I have apart story. Ever,

586
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 1: tell me, go ahead, give it to me. I just

587
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:29,000
Speaker 1: told this one in the lobby. I told it to

588
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:34,520
Speaker 1: Chris Beard. And who else was I talking to? Rodney Terry,

589
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 1: A couple of coaches around and this is my this

590
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:49,400
Speaker 1: is my story. So in UM nineteen right, so years ago, UM,

591
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 1: I was. I was in my my gap year, right,

592
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,920
Speaker 1: So I went to Nottre Dame. I left and I

593
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 1: was I was thinking about transferring. Get they get in

594
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 1: trouble and I have to leap. But instead of transferring

595
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 1: right away, which I could have done, I sat out

596
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:07,440
Speaker 1: a year so I play. I didn't play. I was

597
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 1: worked out with the with Golden West where I went

598
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 1: to school, and the head coaches Tom McCluskey. Tom was

599
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 1: my high school freshman year. So I got to practice

600
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,480
Speaker 1: UM all year and just be scout team dude, just

601
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,160
Speaker 1: trying to kill dudes, and then coaches would come in

602
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: they were recruiting me. They come and watched me work out,

603
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:31,560
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, the jaris like locked the door

604
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:39,160
Speaker 1: and did like a three coaches. But so so I'm

605
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 1: going to my visits during the season because you know,

606
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:48,920
Speaker 1: I think I always thought in the hindsight early signing

607
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: is unless you and now it might be different because

608
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,080
Speaker 1: now they tell HI, just take whatever, because so high

609
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 1: school recruiters are hard. But I feel like everything so

610
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 1: many things change in that one season, right, so many things,

611
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 1: like very because I remember I signed at Notre Name,

612
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 1: but I basically committed in October and then you signed

613
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:14,720
Speaker 1: November and then they start playing old season. Everything changes, Yeah,

614
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 1: I mean now even more so. So I go my visits.

615
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: So I visited Ogloma State on a on a Wednesday,

616
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 1: and then I'm visiting Oregon on a Thursday, and my

617
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 1: uncle Mastate is it gets kind of wonky because of travel.

618
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: So I was, I wasn't there very long, and well,

619
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,120
Speaker 1: there's nothing special about the visit, to be honest. Um,

620
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 1: So I land in Eugene and I go to mac Court.

621
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,040
Speaker 1: And my dad in the late in the mid eighties

622
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:44,520
Speaker 1: had been a volunteer assistant after you got fired at

623
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 1: uh Long Beach State at Oregon State, and he always

624
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 1: told me about mac Court and he was like, it's

625
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 1: the only place I've ever been that during the game,

626
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 1: it shakes right, the question the baskets shaped because and

627
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 1: it's of course these at organ states. It's a big

628
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,760
Speaker 1: private so um so I go there. They're playing Arizona

629
00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,840
Speaker 1: and this spear, the Arizona one in arizona's one of

630
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,399
Speaker 1: the best players. Miles Simon, he's we've been boy had friends.

631
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:15,319
Speaker 1: We played together since. So the staff was and it's

632
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:18,440
Speaker 1: interesting that you had a couple of internships in the

633
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:22,360
Speaker 1: world of Wall Street because Tad Boyle was done the

634
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,399
Speaker 1: staff and he had worked in business right and Mark

635
00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:29,840
Speaker 1: Terzan other system staff was his dear friend from Kansas

636
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 1: and he had gotten him to be a coach. And

637
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,879
Speaker 1: then Darren Kaylish was the other assistant. And Darren had

638
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,960
Speaker 1: coached against me when he coached your team of VA.

639
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 1: So I know all these guys and they're like, man,

640
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 1: you're gonna love it. K Jared Green's coach. Jerry's a

641
00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:46,640
Speaker 1: North Carolina guy. So that means you called the point guard,

642
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,839
Speaker 1: calls the offenses, calls defenses, subs himself in and out

643
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:56,719
Speaker 1: of the game, and I'm like that sounds good. So

644
00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,880
Speaker 1: here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna sit right, beh

645
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: hid because uh and at that time when you went,

646
00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:07,680
Speaker 1: they had renovated it so that there were chairs on

647
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,359
Speaker 1: the lower level I believe, yeah, I think so. Yeah.

648
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:15,319
Speaker 1: So before where the players sat. Where the players sat

649
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 1: in nine seven, they're playing Arizona. They beat Arizona. The

650
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,560
Speaker 1: players sat on benches in the front row with a

651
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,320
Speaker 1: little pad, and then they had me sit literally with

652
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,080
Speaker 1: my knees behind the player. So I'm not up in

653
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,640
Speaker 1: a you know, like sometimes that you put a cup

654
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 1: pretty girls around a guy, you know, or you put

655
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 1: somebody somebody an advisor something around with their parents are

656
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,279
Speaker 1: with them or whatever. So I'm sitting there and I'm like,

657
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 1: this is amazing, basically like part of the team. Here's

658
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,400
Speaker 1: the problem, though, Um, I'm not sure you want a

659
00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 1: guy down kind of mid bench when Jared Green is

660
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,800
Speaker 1: wheeling guys in and out because Jerry's like he's subbing

661
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:59,040
Speaker 1: like crazy, He's that Carolina deal. So every time he said,

662
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 1: as a guy out there, all motherfucker, like this fucking guy,

663
00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:06,160
Speaker 1: why did you take me out? He didn't know he's doing.

664
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:10,239
Speaker 1: We're gonna win in spite of him, Like guys just thought,

665
00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:14,200
Speaker 1: you know, And I mean, I love Kenyan Wilkins was

666
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 1: their point guard and he was right. He didn't like

667
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: he told no lies. Guy took him something out of game.

668
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,680
Speaker 1: Guy called the offense. They win. They listen to me,

669
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 1: they win the game. The students carried Jerry Green while

670
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:32,440
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there going this place is amazing. But they

671
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,960
Speaker 1: hate the coach and they didn't hate him. It's just

672
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,800
Speaker 1: the snapshot of sometimes gonna be careful, right, Yeah, I

673
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:42,440
Speaker 1: mean guys bitching on the bench, right, because the guys

674
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,400
Speaker 1: bitching on the bench are bitching because they're on the

675
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:46,680
Speaker 1: bench for no other reason. But it was a real

676
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:50,080
Speaker 1: kind of weird, sort of a little bit of a

677
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:54,440
Speaker 1: turn off, even though I was turned completely onto the program,

678
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:58,279
Speaker 1: the coaches and everything else that's anyway. The place was unbelievable,

679
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,920
Speaker 1: just top up five, top five environments in the sport

680
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 1: and kind of a cathedral that unfortunately it is it built. Um,

681
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:10,080
Speaker 1: I know a little bit too much about that place.

682
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 1: It's actually all wood. I was like, why would you

683
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: do that? Like, no, no, it's all wood. It's basically

684
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:19,320
Speaker 1: a fire hazard. It's the belief, you know, it's Oregon.

685
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 1: We just when they built it, they went out and

686
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 1: they got trees from Oregon. It's all wood. Is it

687
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:29,120
Speaker 1: still there? It's still it's still there. It's still very

688
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,560
Speaker 1: much there. Um, but they don't play basketball games there

689
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:35,120
Speaker 1: and instead now they have this right shiny new place

690
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:37,680
Speaker 1: that nobody really likes and it's an amazing the new

691
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,160
Speaker 1: Matt Court is and Matt Court is a new one,

692
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,840
Speaker 1: right Matthew United Arena whatever is an awesome place, but

693
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:48,959
Speaker 1: it just does not have the personality of that court anyway. Okay,

694
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:50,400
Speaker 1: so you guys go together, so yeah, so we got

695
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 1: to Yeah, so so that was that was, you know,

696
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:54,960
Speaker 1: a great year. We I think we have won the

697
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,480
Speaker 1: most games in school history that year, and then um

698
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,120
Speaker 1: didn't next year. We've got a young group, uh you know,

699
00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 1: has a lot of now familiar names, but we were

700
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:10,160
Speaker 1: like a nondescript team, uh, typical of a young team.

701
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 1: Very We're talented offensively, we could score, not a great

702
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 1: defensive team. And then we come into two thousand five. Okay,

703
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,720
Speaker 1: so so let's this is my favorite thing. My favorite

704
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 1: thing with Final four teams is this kind of magical

705
00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:31,160
Speaker 1: how it all comes together with the roster, right, like

706
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 1: I love to I love to tell people so like

707
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,279
Speaker 1: the like our roster was when we went to Elight

708
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:41,640
Speaker 1: eight was was unique. And then I always love Coach

709
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,400
Speaker 1: Sutton's last Final four team and oh four was like

710
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,160
Speaker 1: I mean, it just was meant to be, like like

711
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 1: Joe and basically showed up with Ted Owens in the summer.

712
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:56,120
Speaker 1: They were doing like a tour trying to see these

713
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,759
Speaker 1: two kids from Central Florida transferring and like who we

714
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,080
Speaker 1: find in both scholarship right, and John Lucas only gets

715
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:05,080
Speaker 1: there because of the what happened at Baylor. That's right,

716
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 1: that's right, right, and they and there's two other point

717
00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:10,200
Speaker 1: guards they were supposed to get they didn't get, and

718
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:12,880
Speaker 1: they took John Lucas late. Like things come together. So

719
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 1: help me with how that team kind of came together. Okay,

720
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:24,480
Speaker 1: so let's start with Ji Lewis. Yeah, classic undersized load,

721
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:32,480
Speaker 1: he's like six six to seventy, right something like that. That. Yeah,

722
00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 1: that would be on you on one of his light days. Yeah,

723
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,719
Speaker 1: but were you was he I'm trying thinking, oh six

724
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:41,680
Speaker 1: was his senior year? So yeah, year was when you

725
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:46,840
Speaker 1: were there? Yeah, No, I forgot exactly how this happened.

726
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,880
Speaker 1: Was his freshman year? Was my senior year in college?

727
00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 1: And then I kind of became um the guy that

728
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 1: chased him around. Uh he was he's a great guy.

729
00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's awesome. No, no, no, it was

730
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,680
Speaker 1: like it was like you know, g I was like, um,

731
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,680
Speaker 1: you know, hey, go get Giant at the dorms, get

732
00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 1: him on the golf card, bring him over here. He

733
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:14,400
Speaker 1: doesn't want to go. You know that type of stuff

734
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:17,600
Speaker 1: at that at that time, you know that's good. Oh yeah,

735
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, coach love the golf car. Yeah we um.

736
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,759
Speaker 1: I said that the we did like a black tie

737
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,000
Speaker 1: thing for the final four that year, and he said, hey,

738
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 1: I want to thank computer and like, you know, if

739
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:32,439
Speaker 1: he didn't have any hair before me, so don't blame

740
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:34,439
Speaker 1: me for the lost hair, you know, like that type

741
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,440
Speaker 1: of thing. So um. But no, he was he he

742
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,960
Speaker 1: had gotten the main central played um not for Max

743
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,359
Speaker 1: because I think he played for the next guy, Mark Um.

744
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:47,879
Speaker 1: And then uh it was from Aberdeen Proving Grounds, which

745
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,360
Speaker 1: was up north to Baltimore. Is a military family and

746
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:52,840
Speaker 1: there's a base up there north near work cal Ripkens

747
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 1: from and so he he was like on the all

748
00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 1: Rooky team. And then you know, the one thing I

749
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,080
Speaker 1: would tell don't you appreciate this is anytime somebody had

750
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,480
Speaker 1: like a undersized load like that, they would say I

751
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:07,840
Speaker 1: got the next gin Lewis and we would say that,

752
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:11,400
Speaker 1: I'm like, guy, like, you gotta understand this guy's was.

753
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:14,200
Speaker 1: I had like a seven four wings some crazy wingspan.

754
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,640
Speaker 1: He was incredibly quick, he was all state lacrosse player.

755
00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:21,239
Speaker 1: He had hops, he had handles, like there's videos of

756
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:25,239
Speaker 1: this guy doing things that guys that are six six

757
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:29,400
Speaker 1: or six five ninety pounds like cannot do. You know,

758
00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:32,440
Speaker 1: Sometimes people would say, like some great athlete is a freak,

759
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 1: like Gi Lewis was a freak. No, I get it,

760
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,080
Speaker 1: I get it, I tell you it. Okay, Tony Skin

761
00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: Tony obviously, Yeah, Tony's become a major player as an

762
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 1: assistant coach in college. Right, Um, and I want to

763
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:50,520
Speaker 1: get to the Tony skin incident, which I remember, and

764
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 1: I'm sure you remember. Let's not give it a age

765
00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:56,719
Speaker 1: just yet. Okay, and Tony skins there when you get there.

766
00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 1: What was he like? He was great? Um, Bill and

767
00:42:01,840 --> 00:42:04,840
Speaker 1: Eric had gone up to see him at junior college.

768
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,880
Speaker 1: He he had. Tony went to Blend Junior College in Texas.

769
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:13,200
Speaker 1: I think he got homesick halfway to semesteran Newton school. Yeah, yeah,

770
00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,560
Speaker 1: went went went I think halfway to the semester. Was

771
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:18,719
Speaker 1: like an honest guy and told the coach a look like,

772
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:21,080
Speaker 1: I'm kind of homesick. I think I'm gonna go back

773
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:25,040
Speaker 1: to junior college in Maryland and h the guy basically

774
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:28,239
Speaker 1: didn't play him then after that, like your quitting, So

775
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 1: he didn't play. I don't think he had like stats, righting.

776
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:34,360
Speaker 1: So he goes to Hagerstown Community College. Uh. He was

777
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 1: friends with Jason Mskia guy who was a really good

778
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:42,800
Speaker 1: player George Mason on the tournament team. And Bill and

779
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:44,800
Speaker 1: Eric went up there and saw him and you know,

780
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 1: kind of you watched him and he was really good.

781
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:49,680
Speaker 1: And he came up to him and said, look like,

782
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,239
Speaker 1: not only will I come to George Mason, but I'll

783
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,840
Speaker 1: sit out here so I have three years. And that

784
00:42:56,040 --> 00:43:01,720
Speaker 1: was like, wow, that's it's unbelievable. Sidebar at we're recruiting

785
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:04,719
Speaker 1: the Sheer Mason, who's the coach at Wagner now, who's

786
00:43:04,719 --> 00:43:06,200
Speaker 1: done an unbelievab job, who was a hell of a

787
00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:10,160
Speaker 1: player at Drexel. Tough dude. Mike Gillie and I go

788
00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:12,759
Speaker 1: to pick up the Sheer Mason in Newark from St.

789
00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 1: Benedict's and we're driving him to George Mason for the

790
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 1: official visit and as we get to the office, Tony's

791
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,600
Speaker 1: coming out of coach's office having committed. So it was

792
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,239
Speaker 1: like the Sheer's visit. And again the Sheer might have

793
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:27,480
Speaker 1: chose Drexel no matter what, but the visit was over

794
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 1: like the minute we got there. Just Tony decided to

795
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,920
Speaker 1: just coming. So was and they battled those guys. I

796
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:34,880
Speaker 1: think they both knew it, and they battled each other

797
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:41,880
Speaker 1: for years. You know. Uh, Butler just the ultimate you

798
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,640
Speaker 1: know PG County. You know, everybody talks about how good

799
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:49,120
Speaker 1: PG County was the Oxy Hill High School. He's probably

800
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:55,480
Speaker 1: you know, just DC guy, great shooter, great family, great personality.

801
00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:01,160
Speaker 1: Uh he was, you know, the guy was. He was

802
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:03,560
Speaker 1: like Mr George Mason, he should be like the mascot

803
00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:06,480
Speaker 1: there during his time, it was he was. He was

804
00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:08,640
Speaker 1: all over the place, you know, in the media as well.

805
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:16,279
Speaker 1: Will Thomas um just an NBA player that happened to

806
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,400
Speaker 1: be six six and not like six ten if he

807
00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:21,560
Speaker 1: was six ten in the NBA for you know, fifteen years.

808
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:25,040
Speaker 1: He still plays in the EuroLeague. He's uh played at

809
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:27,880
Speaker 1: Mount St. Joe's High School for Pat Clashy great program

810
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,480
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. I think you remember his claim to fame

811
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,160
Speaker 1: as they beat Rudy Gay like seven times in his

812
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,720
Speaker 1: in his career, they battled, they were rivals, and Will's

813
00:44:35,719 --> 00:44:40,320
Speaker 1: team always won. Uh. He was just just an incredible competitor.

814
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 1: Is to this day still play it a little more.

815
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:47,560
Speaker 1: Florine Campbell. Yeah, Follower Campbell was. You know, it's funny.

816
00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:49,200
Speaker 1: We were talking about this the other day. He was.

817
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:51,040
Speaker 1: He was on even the one guy that might have

818
00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: been like a little bit more recruited. Those guys were

819
00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:56,879
Speaker 1: all recruited that you know, mid to high mid major level,

820
00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:00,720
Speaker 1: but Follower and was a guy like Georgetown was recruiting

821
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:05,800
Speaker 1: hard and they took somebody else. Um, But Doug, you

822
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,680
Speaker 1: remember there was a five eight rule you could you

823
00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:11,880
Speaker 1: could only sign five in one year and eight in

824
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:14,319
Speaker 1: two years. I think, yeah, I think it was eight

825
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:16,279
Speaker 1: and two and you can only do five and one.

826
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:20,239
Speaker 1: And I think for us, like other than Georgetown who

827
00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 1: decided on someone else, I think a couple of the

828
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:26,080
Speaker 1: other schools in the area where Followers was would have

829
00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:29,759
Speaker 1: been recruited and would have stayed close. That rule came

830
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:31,600
Speaker 1: into play back then. I mean, guys, are we used

831
00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:33,200
Speaker 1: to be asking all the time, like hey, how many

832
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:37,880
Speaker 1: how many did Virginia signings year, Yeah, because they couldn't

833
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,759
Speaker 1: do it. It's it is it is interesting that these

834
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:44,239
Speaker 1: kind of one off, two off rules that you know,

835
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:48,960
Speaker 1: I remember, here's here's one I was. I was very

836
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,800
Speaker 1: close to transfer in Utah at the same year I

837
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:55,759
Speaker 1: was talking about before, and they used people forget not

838
00:45:55,800 --> 00:46:00,799
Speaker 1: only proper forty eight, but in ninety shakes right right,

839
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:03,759
Speaker 1: AT's very started ninety seven. They passed rule that if

840
00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:06,160
Speaker 1: you're a PROP forty eight and you graduated on time,

841
00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:10,719
Speaker 1: you get that year back. Right. Andre Miller was a

842
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,400
Speaker 1: PROP forty eight. So I was gonna go to Utah

843
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:18,200
Speaker 1: and uh literally I was. It was like two days

844
00:46:18,239 --> 00:46:22,400
Speaker 1: before my visit to Utah and Rick called me because

845
00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:24,360
Speaker 1: Rick's thing was like, hey, I'd come and play with

846
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:27,640
Speaker 1: in the backcourt with Andre for a year and then

847
00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:30,560
Speaker 1: I'd take over for two years. Right, And then he

848
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:35,239
Speaker 1: called his you know there's a new old rule. Uh

849
00:46:36,719 --> 00:46:38,520
Speaker 1: you know, look, we I want you, but you know

850
00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:41,240
Speaker 1: it'll be you and and Andre for two years. Because

851
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:43,839
Speaker 1: I was like, well, he's he staying for He's like, yeah,

852
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:47,319
Speaker 1: he's gonna stay. So yeah, so you get that year back,

853
00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:50,960
Speaker 1: and that I think I'm McFarland at Oklahoma State. That

854
00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:53,399
Speaker 1: was a big reason that he played in the final

855
00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:56,399
Speaker 1: four year anyway. So yeah, there's those really weird one

856
00:46:56,440 --> 00:46:58,520
Speaker 1: off rules. Okay. And then by the way, that's going

857
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:01,480
Speaker 1: on now with you know, COVID year and all that.

858
00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:08,920
Speaker 1: Yeah eight ah you have doctors and and the guys

859
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:14,800
Speaker 1: that can get okay. So um, so that year, Okay,

860
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:19,360
Speaker 1: there's a lot that people remember about that year. My

861
00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:22,400
Speaker 1: memory is a little a little different. I remember, you

862
00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:25,440
Speaker 1: guys are really good. You had there's like an eight

863
00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:29,520
Speaker 1: game winning streak there in the CIA. Remember the CIA

864
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:37,160
Speaker 1: was really really competitive. Yeah. Um, but what was the

865
00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:40,040
Speaker 1: what was it like in oh six in terms of

866
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,400
Speaker 1: the tournament, Like, did you guys think, hey, we can

867
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:46,680
Speaker 1: be it at large? Because I just don't remember yeah,

868
00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:52,359
Speaker 1: really being a conference that produced multiple nz A tournament teams, right.

869
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:54,799
Speaker 1: But um, and so this is like my third year

870
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:57,920
Speaker 1: or at ESPN and we're covering stuff. I remember like

871
00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:00,960
Speaker 1: the names of the CIA teams coming up up. So

872
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:05,680
Speaker 1: what was it like in the in the moment? Well, yeah,

873
00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:07,680
Speaker 1: I think we had been the first at large bit

874
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:11,680
Speaker 1: in like twenty years or something, you know there, and uh, um,

875
00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:15,160
Speaker 1: there was no our r P I was good. Obviously,

876
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:18,279
Speaker 1: we we were. We go out to Wichita State back

877
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,279
Speaker 1: in the bracketbuster days and win at which State with

878
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:24,960
Speaker 1: Turge and Tad were there, and that was that was

879
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:26,800
Speaker 1: a hell of that was that was a hell of

880
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:29,719
Speaker 1: a win, you know. And if you remember back then,

881
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:33,880
Speaker 1: I think like the Valley was getting multiple teams in

882
00:48:34,239 --> 00:48:37,600
Speaker 1: five teams like some crazy number, you know. And so

883
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:40,919
Speaker 1: for us to go into like late February, we knew

884
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:43,880
Speaker 1: we were obviously having a great conference season, but for

885
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,160
Speaker 1: us to go late February into Wichita State, who's in

886
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:51,640
Speaker 1: first place and the hardest, hardest place to play in

887
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:54,160
Speaker 1: the Valley, and and go beat them, you start to

888
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:56,440
Speaker 1: feel like a little bit like we should be in

889
00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:59,000
Speaker 1: right like no matter what, we should be in. But

890
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:02,240
Speaker 1: there was no history to say that that would happen.

891
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:07,040
Speaker 1: And then obviously we los the Hofstra. Okay, so but

892
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:10,640
Speaker 1: you had that year you guys in Hostra they were worse, Yeah,

893
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:16,920
Speaker 1: they were. They were wars. And what I remember is, now,

894
00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:20,640
Speaker 1: did you lose the Hofstra twice in the last ten

895
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:22,720
Speaker 1: days of the season when he lost in the regular

896
00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:26,800
Speaker 1: season and he lost in the semifinals, Yes, um, But

897
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:31,279
Speaker 1: then Tony what Tony did a nut shot? He did

898
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:34,600
Speaker 1: that shot. It was a little frustrated, Yeah, he was.

899
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 1: He was a little frustrated. He hit Lauren Stokes. Uh

900
00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:41,080
Speaker 1: and uh, ironically, I think they wanted to play on

901
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:43,759
Speaker 1: the same NBA Summer League team, like yes, two years

902
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:45,920
Speaker 1: two years later, and Tony was like, you know, jeez,

903
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:47,520
Speaker 1: I can't get away from Laura. And then they were

904
00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:51,880
Speaker 1: laughing about it, you know. But so you guys, so

905
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,520
Speaker 1: you lose in the semis and you know, and you're like,

906
00:49:56,640 --> 00:50:00,400
Speaker 1: I did you know? I got a good coaching story, right,

907
00:50:00,719 --> 00:50:04,239
Speaker 1: So I'm miserable. We go back to the hotel room.

908
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:08,240
Speaker 1: We're in Richmond, probably my least favorite arenas the Richmond

909
00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 1: Colisseum where the damn tournament was all the time there.

910
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:13,480
Speaker 1: It was like a VCU home game every time we

911
00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:19,160
Speaker 1: played them there. But uh, James Johnson, who's uh now

912
00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:21,160
Speaker 1: at NC State, was the head coach of Dutech was

913
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:24,120
Speaker 1: on staff at the time. Were roommates, and you know,

914
00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:26,560
Speaker 1: we're both just like I cannot believe this, Like, not

915
00:50:26,680 --> 00:50:28,920
Speaker 1: only did we lose and we're not probably gonna be

916
00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:31,399
Speaker 1: the tournament, but they'll look at us as a team

917
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,600
Speaker 1: that shouldn't be in the tournament because Tony's not gonna

918
00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:36,800
Speaker 1: play because he's gonna be suspended. So that was the thought. So,

919
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:41,600
Speaker 1: which is what we all thought. Yeah, I mean, I'm

920
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:43,680
Speaker 1: young the time, and I'm like, I don't know, Like,

921
00:50:43,840 --> 00:50:47,360
Speaker 1: how do you not factor that in that it's not

922
00:50:47,520 --> 00:50:50,120
Speaker 1: their best guard isn't going to play in the first round,

923
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:53,040
Speaker 1: you know? And I go ahead, I'm sorry, yeah, no.

924
00:50:53,280 --> 00:50:57,160
Speaker 1: So so we drive back to um. Uh, we drive

925
00:50:57,239 --> 00:51:01,680
Speaker 1: back to uh Fairfax. I definitely slept in the office

926
00:51:01,719 --> 00:51:03,400
Speaker 1: that night. I was just miserable. I didn't want to

927
00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:06,480
Speaker 1: go home. I just fell asleep on the couch. I

928
00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:11,640
Speaker 1: woke up. I went recruiting in New England. Just I'm

929
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:14,320
Speaker 1: getting out of here, and uh, we're recruiting for a

930
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:18,720
Speaker 1: day or two. I get back and James was recruiting

931
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:20,160
Speaker 1: a guy who wanted up coming, who was a very

932
00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:23,440
Speaker 1: good player for US Andre Smith, who was from Houston,

933
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:27,040
Speaker 1: Drey Smith. But he was at Coacheese. I don't know.

934
00:51:27,080 --> 00:51:28,960
Speaker 1: You may know Jerry Corio coach. He is a great

935
00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:32,320
Speaker 1: junior coach. And in Arizona he was playing for Jerry

936
00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:34,840
Speaker 1: and they were in their regional finals or whatever, and

937
00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:39,000
Speaker 1: James got sick. He got like the flu whatever something

938
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:41,640
Speaker 1: where he was like, dude, I cannot get go to Arizona.

939
00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:44,719
Speaker 1: I'll go. I don't want to be around here. This

940
00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:50,759
Speaker 1: is crazy, right, I'll leave. Yeah, yeah, exactly, I'll leave

941
00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:53,279
Speaker 1: the funeral. I'll got so again. I'm literally home like

942
00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:55,920
Speaker 1: a couple of hours, and I'm like volunteering to jump

943
00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:58,440
Speaker 1: on the Southwest flight to Tucson. Now, little do I know,

944
00:51:59,239 --> 00:52:01,520
Speaker 1: you know, like O Cheese is not in Tucson. It's

945
00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:05,000
Speaker 1: like now two hours in the desert on the Mexican border.

946
00:52:05,560 --> 00:52:08,799
Speaker 1: And uh, I get there, and you know, Dane optins there.

947
00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:11,800
Speaker 1: They're recruiting him a couple of the Brian fish from Craton.

948
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:13,319
Speaker 1: It was kind of like us in Creton. I think

949
00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:15,839
Speaker 1: there might have been one or two more Mississippi State. Um.

950
00:52:16,040 --> 00:52:19,000
Speaker 1: So I basically spent like three or four days in

951
00:52:19,040 --> 00:52:22,080
Speaker 1: Arizona watching those guys, are just trying to get my

952
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:27,080
Speaker 1: mind away from it. And and then uh, I fly

953
00:52:27,239 --> 00:52:30,359
Speaker 1: back on selection Sunday in the morning. My my wife, Uh,

954
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:34,239
Speaker 1: then girlfriend, uh we're talking on the phone and she's

955
00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:38,120
Speaker 1: looking on the computer bracketology and we're not in you know.

956
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:41,920
Speaker 1: And then I call somebody else, and you know I

957
00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:44,719
Speaker 1: was talking about yeah, just like the Pracketologist morning, you're

958
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:48,160
Speaker 1: not in. And then uh, I'm like, you know, going

959
00:52:48,239 --> 00:52:50,160
Speaker 1: to the I don't know. I guess to get a

960
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:52,520
Speaker 1: cab or pick up my cart the lot drive it

961
00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:54,200
Speaker 1: back because I'm gonna go to Coach El's house for

962
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:59,919
Speaker 1: this miserable selection Sunday event. And my wife Julie calls

963
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:03,960
Speaker 1: and says, hey, I just refreshed this. Leonardi's got you in,

964
00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:07,319
Speaker 1: And I'm like, Nardi doesn't have a stand. You're looking

965
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:09,040
Speaker 1: at something. Maybe it did an update. Maybe you're looking

966
00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:10,840
Speaker 1: at something for like a week ago where we're you know,

967
00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:14,239
Speaker 1: we just said this, we're not in, And uh, she

968
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:16,160
Speaker 1: says no, I'm telling you. It says like the time

969
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:21,280
Speaker 1: stamp of like two minutes ago you're in. So I'm like, Julie,

970
00:53:21,520 --> 00:53:24,440
Speaker 1: I don't yeah, I don't know. If I don't know

971
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:26,520
Speaker 1: if he had he had he had a might have

972
00:53:26,560 --> 00:53:29,360
Speaker 1: had a mole, he had my animals. So I called

973
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:32,080
Speaker 1: somebody else. I think Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post,

974
00:53:32,120 --> 00:53:33,920
Speaker 1: whos are beating right up, like, Dan, can you just

975
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:35,680
Speaker 1: pull this up? I looked at this like a half

976
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:37,840
Speaker 1: hour ago we were out we in now, and he's like,

977
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:41,200
Speaker 1: pulls it up, because dude, you're in. So now I

978
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:45,200
Speaker 1: go from being like Mr. Miserable stoic, how am I

979
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:47,279
Speaker 1: going to deal with this? I show up at the

980
00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:50,920
Speaker 1: house like we're in, and people look at me like

981
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:52,440
Speaker 1: I'm crazy, Like no, I'm just telling you we're in.

982
00:53:52,520 --> 00:53:54,640
Speaker 1: We're good. There's no reason for him to change that

983
00:53:54,760 --> 00:53:58,480
Speaker 1: at the eleventh hour like that. And then and then obviously, uh,

984
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:01,719
Speaker 1: you know, we get in. The most relieved person in

985
00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:04,520
Speaker 1: the in the building was Tony Skin because certainly he

986
00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:07,399
Speaker 1: didn't he was feeling the way of the world on him.

987
00:54:07,880 --> 00:54:10,799
Speaker 1: But then you won without him. That we won without him.

988
00:54:11,400 --> 00:54:14,879
Speaker 1: Gabe Norwood played great. Uh, you know, he really played

989
00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:16,919
Speaker 1: great in that game. You know, we had a little

990
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 1: bit of history at Michigan State. We had played them,

991
00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:22,120
Speaker 1: uh two years earlier, you know, a year earlier in

992
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:24,600
Speaker 1: d C they had gone to the final four. But

993
00:54:24,640 --> 00:54:27,480
Speaker 1: we had a pretty good game sixty six sixty uh,

994
00:54:27,680 --> 00:54:29,440
Speaker 1: and we had a little bit of confidence there. Some

995
00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:32,120
Speaker 1: of their better players from that team were gone a

996
00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:35,040
Speaker 1: little bit younger, so we pulled it off. And then

997
00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:39,239
Speaker 1: we played Carolina and the next one two years before that,

998
00:54:39,719 --> 00:54:43,200
Speaker 1: that Tony Lamar gizz group. You know, I guess it

999
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:46,040
Speaker 1: was their sophomore year. They were we were up at

1000
00:54:46,080 --> 00:54:50,560
Speaker 1: half at Carolina and Big. It was like seven, like

1001
00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:53,880
Speaker 1: a we just no defense. Everyone was getting buckets. But uh,

1002
00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:55,920
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of confidence. They're like, hey,

1003
00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:58,160
Speaker 1: we played against those guys because that was felt maybe

1004
00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:01,399
Speaker 1: cans they had won an national championship the next year,

1005
00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:06,080
Speaker 1: those guys were gone. It was Handsborro and Danny Green

1006
00:55:06,160 --> 00:55:08,959
Speaker 1: and guys so great players, but our guys have felt

1007
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:10,919
Speaker 1: like a little bit of confidence hadn't taken a lead

1008
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:17,080
Speaker 1: there two years earlier. So, um, when this is this

1009
00:55:17,200 --> 00:55:20,760
Speaker 1: is always fun one when you do if you remember

1010
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:24,919
Speaker 1: back to the bracket, did you honestly like think like, Okay,

1011
00:55:24,960 --> 00:55:27,120
Speaker 1: we're gonna beat them. They're gonna beat them. We read them,

1012
00:55:27,320 --> 00:55:31,239
Speaker 1: we're gonna I thought familiarity with those teams in the

1013
00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:34,720
Speaker 1: first two games, you know, was a good thing, doesn't

1014
00:55:34,719 --> 00:55:36,719
Speaker 1: mean you're gonna win. I was probably too naive and young.

1015
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:39,640
Speaker 1: I kind of thought like, hey, it's better to play

1016
00:55:39,680 --> 00:55:42,320
Speaker 1: somebody you're familiar with. But then when you're in the

1017
00:55:42,400 --> 00:55:45,560
Speaker 1: second game and you have which to state. I think

1018
00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:50,080
Speaker 1: this has been talked about uh, you know, there was

1019
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:54,319
Speaker 1: there was certainly a confidence that hey, we want at

1020
00:55:54,360 --> 00:55:56,040
Speaker 1: which to state which we know how good they are,

1021
00:55:56,120 --> 00:55:57,960
Speaker 1: we know how hard it is to win there. Now

1022
00:55:58,040 --> 00:56:00,320
Speaker 1: they're coming to d C, like this is gonna be

1023
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:03,360
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a tall task for them. And I

1024
00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:05,560
Speaker 1: think the players would tell you if you talk to

1025
00:56:05,640 --> 00:56:09,680
Speaker 1: them that they could uh we could sense it, like

1026
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:12,160
Speaker 1: when we see those guys like in the hallway and

1027
00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:16,480
Speaker 1: it was almost like they get I think they were

1028
00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:19,600
Speaker 1: almost deflated about being in the sweet sixteen because they

1029
00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:22,680
Speaker 1: were playing us, who was sort of the darling of

1030
00:56:22,719 --> 00:56:26,960
Speaker 1: the tournament right right right right, whereas they otherwise in

1031
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:28,640
Speaker 1: any other setting, they would have been the darling in

1032
00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:31,680
Speaker 1: the tournament. Or how did you how did coach l

1033
00:56:32,360 --> 00:56:37,239
Speaker 1: handle it? Because as we both know, getting to a

1034
00:56:37,239 --> 00:56:40,200
Speaker 1: sweet sixteen now is like even in those six is

1035
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:42,879
Speaker 1: like getting to a final four. And you guys beat

1036
00:56:43,040 --> 00:56:47,239
Speaker 1: Michigan State and Carolina, right and then you come home

1037
00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:49,520
Speaker 1: and then you're home for a couple of days before

1038
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:51,120
Speaker 1: you go and you're then you're in d C. So

1039
00:56:52,360 --> 00:56:55,840
Speaker 1: what what what was? And and and he's you know,

1040
00:56:55,960 --> 00:56:58,840
Speaker 1: he's the best, but how does how did he handle it?

1041
00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:01,080
Speaker 1: So that there was still the ability to focus on

1042
00:57:01,160 --> 00:57:04,879
Speaker 1: the tape. Yeah, he was unbelievable with it. I think

1043
00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:07,880
Speaker 1: it's funny like U one he had coached in to

1044
00:57:08,040 --> 00:57:11,160
Speaker 1: Final four is a Virginia, so he had at least

1045
00:57:11,200 --> 00:57:13,160
Speaker 1: that experience of what it was like, you know, and

1046
00:57:13,440 --> 00:57:18,920
Speaker 1: and uh, I think it's so funny. Nobody knew who

1047
00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:21,080
Speaker 1: George Mason was. And his thing was like, Hey, this

1048
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:24,560
Speaker 1: is my chance and our chance to show everybody like

1049
00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:26,840
Speaker 1: what our schools about. So he and in some ways

1050
00:57:26,880 --> 00:57:29,760
Speaker 1: he didn't insulate these guys. It was like very inclusive,

1051
00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:31,960
Speaker 1: like we're opening the gates too. You know, this is

1052
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:35,280
Speaker 1: our chance for our university to be you know a

1053
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:38,800
Speaker 1: little bit more recognizable. And so he was. He was

1054
00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:42,880
Speaker 1: great about that. I think, Um, the guys, I mean,

1055
00:57:42,920 --> 00:57:45,600
Speaker 1: there was no chance of them not being somewhat distracted.

1056
00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:49,000
Speaker 1: They're all home, we're all from here. Like I think

1057
00:57:49,040 --> 00:57:50,640
Speaker 1: Tony told the story that they snuck out of the

1058
00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:53,360
Speaker 1: hotel they get haircuts like one night, you know, because

1059
00:57:53,480 --> 00:57:56,120
Speaker 1: like because it was like there barber, just go to

1060
00:57:56,200 --> 00:57:59,360
Speaker 1: my barber. So no, it was it was I think

1061
00:57:59,360 --> 00:58:02,600
Speaker 1: again act of familiarity, the fact that we had played

1062
00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:05,320
Speaker 1: those guys two weeks earlier probably helped in all of that.

1063
00:58:06,520 --> 00:58:11,560
Speaker 1: Should then you play Yukon and you come us loaded, right,

1064
00:58:11,680 --> 00:58:15,760
Speaker 1: really really good loaded. But now you kind of got

1065
00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:18,800
Speaker 1: to return to that. I mean I think that I

1066
00:58:18,880 --> 00:58:21,120
Speaker 1: think the jerseys kind of helped you right there, like

1067
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:26,160
Speaker 1: green jerseys and you know, like they walked in their

1068
00:58:26,280 --> 00:58:29,480
Speaker 1: Yukon like they both maybe both the jerseys may be

1069
00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:32,720
Speaker 1: made by Nike, but they are completely different factories, right

1070
00:58:33,480 --> 00:58:35,960
Speaker 1: and when he has warmed up, you don't look like much.

1071
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:39,040
Speaker 1: Do you think the kind of the layer you know,

1072
00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:41,080
Speaker 1: the old layup line when where somebody's looking down and

1073
00:58:41,160 --> 00:58:45,160
Speaker 1: she's like we got You think that that played at

1074
00:58:45,240 --> 00:58:47,479
Speaker 1: least a factor. And they didn't know what they didn't

1075
00:58:47,520 --> 00:58:49,080
Speaker 1: know what league we were in. I think that was

1076
00:58:49,160 --> 00:58:51,200
Speaker 1: one of the big ones. Like somebody asked Josh Wood,

1077
00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:54,280
Speaker 1: they thought that we were in the Patriots, And I

1078
00:58:54,400 --> 00:58:58,480
Speaker 1: remember like added like a couple of reporters were running

1079
00:58:58,520 --> 00:59:02,000
Speaker 1: out of the the idea like like it was like

1080
00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:03,880
Speaker 1: they got the best story and you know, of of

1081
00:59:03,960 --> 00:59:05,440
Speaker 1: the day, Like can you believe that they didn't know

1082
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:06,640
Speaker 1: what lead they were and they thought there in the

1083
00:59:06,680 --> 00:59:08,760
Speaker 1: Patriot like like running to go write it, you know,

1084
00:59:09,400 --> 00:59:11,720
Speaker 1: so yeah, there was a little bit of that. And uh,

1085
00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:14,800
Speaker 1: you know, they played Brandon Roy in Washington in the

1086
00:59:14,880 --> 00:59:17,640
Speaker 1: game before, and I remember sitting there. I mean, we

1087
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:19,760
Speaker 1: all know how good Brandon Roy was. Like I'm like

1088
00:59:19,840 --> 00:59:22,760
Speaker 1: sitting there scouting the game, thinking myself, are we are

1089
00:59:22,800 --> 00:59:25,000
Speaker 1: we sure we don't want to play Yukon instead of

1090
00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:27,600
Speaker 1: Washington because this guy, Brandon Roy is ridiculous. I mean

1091
00:59:27,680 --> 00:59:30,920
Speaker 1: it was. It was an overtime game and it was

1092
00:59:31,120 --> 00:59:33,200
Speaker 1: I mean, he was terrific. So it was both those teams.

1093
00:59:33,480 --> 00:59:36,120
Speaker 1: Did you have the George Basin or did you have uh,

1094
00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:39,000
Speaker 1: I mean, did you have Yukon or do you have Washington? Yeah,

1095
00:59:39,440 --> 00:59:41,240
Speaker 1: so I did both back. You know, we still kind

1096
00:59:41,280 --> 00:59:42,400
Speaker 1: of do it this way, like I did all the

1097
00:59:42,440 --> 00:59:45,000
Speaker 1: opponents scouts and then we sort of self the other

1098
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:48,200
Speaker 1: guy's self scouted offense defense. So yeah, I had both um,

1099
00:59:48,720 --> 00:59:54,040
Speaker 1: and it was I mean, yeah, it's different. So for

1100
00:59:54,200 --> 00:59:56,720
Speaker 1: ten years and now DJ Irving did it for us

1101
00:59:56,800 --> 01:00:01,920
Speaker 1: this year at Miami did a fabulous job. Um. One

1102
01:00:01,960 --> 01:00:05,920
Speaker 1: assistant coach would do every opponents scout, you know, it

1103
01:00:05,920 --> 01:00:08,680
Speaker 1: would almost be like an advanced scout sort of situation.

1104
01:00:09,400 --> 01:00:12,840
Speaker 1: And then like one coach is sort of focused on

1105
01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:17,640
Speaker 1: the defense, our defense, our offense, and obviously when we

1106
01:00:17,680 --> 01:00:21,640
Speaker 1: all come together, um, the scouts presented, but then everybody's

1107
01:00:21,640 --> 01:00:24,280
Speaker 1: sort of talking about game planning. So it's it's and

1108
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:25,960
Speaker 1: you know, Doug, in this day and age, there's a

1109
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:29,480
Speaker 1: lot more help today than than there was. You know,

1110
01:00:30,200 --> 01:00:34,680
Speaker 1: so three people work on each scout. Yeah, it's it's

1111
01:00:36,320 --> 01:00:39,720
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it's that. It's it's like, my focus

1112
01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:42,600
Speaker 1: is on the defense, our defense, So I'm thinking about

1113
01:00:42,640 --> 01:00:47,560
Speaker 1: how we're going to defend these guys. Uh, somebody else's

1114
01:00:47,600 --> 01:00:50,120
Speaker 1: focuses on the offense, how we're going to score on them.

1115
01:00:51,080 --> 01:00:53,960
Speaker 1: The other coaches really focused on the opponent. And this

1116
01:00:54,080 --> 01:00:56,560
Speaker 1: is what These are the tendencies, This are the actions,

1117
01:00:56,640 --> 01:00:58,800
Speaker 1: these are the calls, and then we sort of all

1118
01:00:58,920 --> 01:01:03,400
Speaker 1: come together to build the game plan. It's it's for

1119
01:01:03,640 --> 01:01:08,880
Speaker 1: consistency of messaging. So like, yeah, sometimes you know you

1120
01:01:09,040 --> 01:01:12,760
Speaker 1: have guys like use different terminology, Maybe guys are better

1121
01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:15,320
Speaker 1: at this or that, and so coach feels like if

1122
01:01:15,360 --> 01:01:18,720
Speaker 1: one guy is presenting the opponent and it's the same

1123
01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:22,680
Speaker 1: every time, the consistency is good, when did you know

1124
01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:28,200
Speaker 1: you had them? Never when the guy missed a shot

1125
01:01:28,240 --> 01:01:30,640
Speaker 1: at the end, you know, Dnim Brown, No, I mean

1126
01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:34,000
Speaker 1: we knew we were I think at halftime they were up,

1127
01:01:34,040 --> 01:01:37,720
Speaker 1: I believe, but we hadn't played particularly well and we

1128
01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:41,000
Speaker 1: were close enough within ten I think, and then we

1129
01:01:41,120 --> 01:01:43,040
Speaker 1: jumped out of believe in it start the second half

1130
01:01:43,160 --> 01:01:45,920
Speaker 1: and kind of got it either tied or got a

1131
01:01:46,360 --> 01:01:48,560
Speaker 1: little lead, and you felt like, hey, we're in a

1132
01:01:48,600 --> 01:01:51,720
Speaker 1: real battle. Giant Will could score in their big guys

1133
01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:57,240
Speaker 1: one on one. Calhoun never double teamed, so that was like, Okay,

1134
01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:00,600
Speaker 1: we got a way to play for the rest of

1135
01:02:00,640 --> 01:02:03,720
Speaker 1: the game offensively and we were on a defensive team.

1136
01:02:05,040 --> 01:02:07,360
Speaker 1: What was What is coach l like from this perpective,

1137
01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:10,280
Speaker 1: there are the old coach was always like, we do

1138
01:02:10,360 --> 01:02:12,720
Speaker 1: what we do and that's what we do right, and

1139
01:02:12,760 --> 01:02:16,880
Speaker 1: they adjust us. Some of these guys are more pragmatists.

1140
01:02:16,880 --> 01:02:18,960
Speaker 1: I feel like Bill self, you know, like I'm watching

1141
01:02:19,040 --> 01:02:22,880
Speaker 1: the foal four and they double ball screens the first

1142
01:02:23,120 --> 01:02:24,840
Speaker 1: first you know, four or five minutes that it really

1143
01:02:24,960 --> 01:02:29,000
Speaker 1: rattled Villanova because that's not they had switched all year.

1144
01:02:29,080 --> 01:02:32,560
Speaker 1: They hadn't they had double balls, and now they post

1145
01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:35,440
Speaker 1: a post double early in the game as well. Was

1146
01:02:35,520 --> 01:02:39,520
Speaker 1: he did did he adjusted to the your scatter report

1147
01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:43,560
Speaker 1: or did he was there a certain things that he

1148
01:02:43,720 --> 01:02:47,800
Speaker 1: always did because I felt like Calhoun Calhoun like, look,

1149
01:02:47,920 --> 01:02:50,960
Speaker 1: I think Calhoun's an incredible coach, and he did sometimes

1150
01:02:51,520 --> 01:02:53,640
Speaker 1: sometimes it's just but there's a lot of times he's like, hey,

1151
01:02:53,680 --> 01:02:56,040
Speaker 1: we'll do what we do. We're good enough. It doesn't

1152
01:02:56,040 --> 01:02:59,800
Speaker 1: matter what was coach el like, no, very adaptive, very

1153
01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:01,960
Speaker 1: have to play. You know, I think played a lot

1154
01:03:02,000 --> 01:03:06,160
Speaker 1: of different ways throughout his career. That season, I think

1155
01:03:06,200 --> 01:03:08,000
Speaker 1: you may know this. You know, we lose to crighton

1156
01:03:08,080 --> 01:03:12,520
Speaker 1: by twenty at home, and we came back and changed.

1157
01:03:14,400 --> 01:03:17,280
Speaker 1: We went from denying up the line on the line

1158
01:03:17,440 --> 01:03:20,400
Speaker 1: to being more in the paint, more packed in gaps,

1159
01:03:20,480 --> 01:03:22,800
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. He moved Tony, he

1160
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:26,160
Speaker 1: moved Tony off the ball and put Follering on the ball,

1161
01:03:27,240 --> 01:03:29,160
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, like the rest is history. But

1162
01:03:29,240 --> 01:03:32,320
Speaker 1: it took a lot to to make that change mid season.

1163
01:03:32,320 --> 01:03:36,280
Speaker 1: And remember him saying, you know, he's he's unbelievable about

1164
01:03:36,360 --> 01:03:39,760
Speaker 1: having these discussions, but in that particular case, said hey,

1165
01:03:39,840 --> 01:03:42,240
Speaker 1: I'm coming in and I don't want anybody's input on this.

1166
01:03:42,320 --> 01:03:44,160
Speaker 1: I've I've already made this decision. I thought long, I

1167
01:03:44,280 --> 01:03:45,680
Speaker 1: learned about it. I don't want you guys to talk

1168
01:03:45,760 --> 01:03:49,120
Speaker 1: me out of this. So we're doing this, you know,

1169
01:03:49,800 --> 01:03:53,800
Speaker 1: so uh And that was I think the first game

1170
01:03:53,840 --> 01:03:57,040
Speaker 1: we played after that was at Georgia State, who had

1171
01:03:57,440 --> 01:03:59,880
Speaker 1: just come into the league and had I want to say,

1172
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:03,720
Speaker 1: beat Delaware by thirty. And it was like, damn, like

1173
01:04:04,480 --> 01:04:06,480
Speaker 1: they're doing the league. These guys are good. We go

1174
01:04:06,640 --> 01:04:09,960
Speaker 1: there and win by thirty and it was like, okay,

1175
01:04:10,200 --> 01:04:16,560
Speaker 1: that doing so now, and I want to and you

1176
01:04:16,560 --> 01:04:17,800
Speaker 1: don't have to promise you a part two, but I

1177
01:04:17,840 --> 01:04:19,840
Speaker 1: want to do a part two. But I love. Yeah, sure,

1178
01:04:20,280 --> 01:04:24,280
Speaker 1: in your mind as a head coach, how do you

1179
01:04:24,360 --> 01:04:26,440
Speaker 1: want to be right? And and we're all gonna be

1180
01:04:26,560 --> 01:04:29,680
Speaker 1: different when you're faced with some of these dilemmas, because look,

1181
01:04:29,720 --> 01:04:32,840
Speaker 1: there are some coaches that will sit there and go like, look,

1182
01:04:32,920 --> 01:04:35,640
Speaker 1: you gotta have these core things that you're about, so

1183
01:04:35,800 --> 01:04:39,000
Speaker 1: that and if and if you change them, you know,

1184
01:04:39,080 --> 01:04:40,920
Speaker 1: the kids think you don't know what the hell you're doing.

1185
01:04:41,240 --> 01:04:44,400
Speaker 1: You're just you know, they have to have confidence in

1186
01:04:45,120 --> 01:04:48,440
Speaker 1: in in what you're teaching them initially, and that has

1187
01:04:48,440 --> 01:04:50,440
Speaker 1: to be your core thing. So in terms of like

1188
01:04:50,560 --> 01:04:53,160
Speaker 1: how you again, this is you just got the job,

1189
01:04:53,320 --> 01:04:55,640
Speaker 1: this is your first thing. How do you think you

1190
01:04:55,720 --> 01:04:58,600
Speaker 1: want to be? Well, I think there are things and

1191
01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:00,800
Speaker 1: you know this from you know, from your your career,

1192
01:05:00,960 --> 01:05:04,040
Speaker 1: and and look, there are things that don't change. Like

1193
01:05:04,680 --> 01:05:08,120
Speaker 1: no one's going to convince me that, like not getting

1194
01:05:08,160 --> 01:05:11,680
Speaker 1: back on defense, there's some other way to play, right,

1195
01:05:11,960 --> 01:05:14,560
Speaker 1: or like guarding the ball hard. You know, I think

1196
01:05:14,600 --> 01:05:18,560
Speaker 1: everyone talks about Virginia's pack defense. What they do unbelievably

1197
01:05:18,600 --> 01:05:20,960
Speaker 1: well better than anything, is they guard the hell out

1198
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:25,240
Speaker 1: of the ball right, like point of attack. Right, Nobody's

1199
01:05:25,280 --> 01:05:28,360
Speaker 1: gonna tell me that, Like, hey, it's not better to

1200
01:05:28,480 --> 01:05:34,120
Speaker 1: take open high expected value shots, you know, but somehow

1201
01:05:34,120 --> 01:05:36,240
Speaker 1: you should do it a different way, right, So like

1202
01:05:37,040 --> 01:05:38,880
Speaker 1: for me, I think there are things that are not

1203
01:05:39,000 --> 01:05:42,760
Speaker 1: going to change. Everything else is probably up for change.

1204
01:05:42,760 --> 01:05:44,320
Speaker 1: How we get to this point? How we get to

1205
01:05:44,400 --> 01:05:47,040
Speaker 1: that point? You know, Yeah, you have to play to

1206
01:05:47,120 --> 01:05:50,200
Speaker 1: your personnel, play to your you know, your your your team,

1207
01:05:50,280 --> 01:05:53,280
Speaker 1: your opponents, things like that. But I think that the

1208
01:05:53,440 --> 01:05:56,880
Speaker 1: basics of it means, you know, keeping it simple in

1209
01:05:56,960 --> 01:05:59,720
Speaker 1: that sense, I think is that can't change it. And

1210
01:05:59,760 --> 01:06:03,400
Speaker 1: you to eliminate losing right before you can get to winning.

1211
01:06:03,480 --> 01:06:07,120
Speaker 1: So again, what style you play? Well, I can tell

1212
01:06:07,160 --> 01:06:08,560
Speaker 1: you this, whatever style you play, if you turn the

1213
01:06:08,600 --> 01:06:10,480
Speaker 1: ball over a lot, that's a bad style and play.

1214
01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:12,800
Speaker 1: You don't have to change that. Well, it's a it's a.

1215
01:06:13,040 --> 01:06:15,480
Speaker 1: It's also everybody wants to play fast, like you kind

1216
01:06:15,480 --> 01:06:18,200
Speaker 1: of have to have good players to play fast. But

1217
01:06:18,320 --> 01:06:20,240
Speaker 1: we always we always got the This is the one

1218
01:06:20,280 --> 01:06:22,240
Speaker 1: that was funny. We never talked about tempo. We never

1219
01:06:22,280 --> 01:06:25,200
Speaker 1: talked about pace. We talked about pace and how we

1220
01:06:25,480 --> 01:06:28,120
Speaker 1: ran offense, you know, how we moved. But like this

1221
01:06:28,320 --> 01:06:32,040
Speaker 1: past year number one points for a possession team in

1222
01:06:32,080 --> 01:06:36,240
Speaker 1: the country in transition, and yet like we never like

1223
01:06:36,360 --> 01:06:39,200
Speaker 1: practiced that. It's just, hey, we got good defenses. We

1224
01:06:39,280 --> 01:06:42,640
Speaker 1: were able to steal the ball a lot. Well, guess

1225
01:06:42,680 --> 01:06:44,280
Speaker 1: what happens you throw it to a guy who's not

1226
01:06:44,320 --> 01:06:46,560
Speaker 1: being defenditive, lazy, and the points where possession goes up

1227
01:06:47,360 --> 01:06:49,680
Speaker 1: incredibly right, there's no drill that, like you know what

1228
01:06:49,720 --> 01:06:53,120
Speaker 1: I'm saying, So like yeah, yeah, or like you know,

1229
01:06:53,240 --> 01:06:55,600
Speaker 1: you have good offensive players, five guys like around double

1230
01:06:55,640 --> 01:06:57,880
Speaker 1: figures if you get stopped. I love that one. Well,

1231
01:06:57,960 --> 01:07:00,680
Speaker 1: you know offense is more important than defense. Well, again

1232
01:07:00,840 --> 01:07:04,600
Speaker 1: I've never seen an offense that's better when you take

1233
01:07:04,680 --> 01:07:08,080
Speaker 1: it out. Offense is always better when you get it

1234
01:07:08,160 --> 01:07:13,200
Speaker 1: off the backboard or whatever, Right, So, like which one

1235
01:07:13,280 --> 01:07:15,120
Speaker 1: is more important? I think what I've learned this balance

1236
01:07:15,240 --> 01:07:18,120
Speaker 1: is important at all. It's the ultimate game in that sense,

1237
01:07:18,280 --> 01:07:20,560
Speaker 1: right that the ultimate team game. You gotta play both

1238
01:07:20,560 --> 01:07:23,360
Speaker 1: sides of the ball. So, okay, what do you remember

1239
01:07:23,360 --> 01:07:30,320
Speaker 1: about the final four? Oh? Just I remember thinking, man,

1240
01:07:30,680 --> 01:07:32,840
Speaker 1: I got here at twenty five? Is an assistant coach?

1241
01:07:33,160 --> 01:07:34,760
Speaker 1: Am I ever going to get back? Is this? Is

1242
01:07:35,200 --> 01:07:38,720
Speaker 1: there anything from here that time? Yeah? Like, because I

1243
01:07:38,760 --> 01:07:42,320
Speaker 1: think it's incredible. People think like, you know, it's you've

1244
01:07:42,360 --> 01:07:46,080
Speaker 1: been there three four years, it's kind of easy. Like

1245
01:07:46,880 --> 01:07:49,400
Speaker 1: I didn't think that. I thought like, this is impossible,

1246
01:07:49,480 --> 01:07:51,800
Speaker 1: And I was thinking that this year when we're up

1247
01:07:51,880 --> 01:07:55,080
Speaker 1: six and half on Kansas, like, man, like this is

1248
01:07:55,160 --> 01:07:58,160
Speaker 1: nearly impossible. And it's fifteen sixteen years later. How lucky

1249
01:07:58,200 --> 01:08:01,240
Speaker 1: would I be? You know, I thought you guys were

1250
01:08:01,280 --> 01:08:04,520
Speaker 1: the second best team that fought four. I think so,

1251
01:08:04,640 --> 01:08:06,080
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think we played the best

1252
01:08:06,120 --> 01:08:07,360
Speaker 1: team and I think we might have been the second

1253
01:08:07,400 --> 01:08:10,800
Speaker 1: best team. Yeah. Yeah, what's the feeling like in the

1254
01:08:10,880 --> 01:08:15,920
Speaker 1: locker room when it wasn't that Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,

1255
01:08:16,640 --> 01:08:19,519
Speaker 1: I think we actually played the best game that they

1256
01:08:19,640 --> 01:08:22,240
Speaker 1: had in those playing in the two final fours. Yes,

1257
01:08:22,439 --> 01:08:27,080
Speaker 1: that's probably the best, the closest game. Yeah, yeah, honestly,

1258
01:08:27,120 --> 01:08:28,680
Speaker 1: it was one of those that was It was one

1259
01:08:28,720 --> 01:08:30,919
Speaker 1: of the reasons that I wanted to work for CBS

1260
01:08:31,040 --> 01:08:35,120
Speaker 1: was I felt like the story wasn't properly told, you know,

1261
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:39,240
Speaker 1: and and that we have it's a TV thing where

1262
01:08:39,280 --> 01:08:41,760
Speaker 1: we have a tendency we focused on Cinerella and they lose,

1263
01:08:41,840 --> 01:08:44,920
Speaker 1: and we don't focus that, we don't don't about more.

1264
01:08:45,240 --> 01:08:46,800
Speaker 1: And I would have sat there and I said, I

1265
01:08:46,880 --> 01:08:50,200
Speaker 1: remember saying all that all the rest of the final four, like, hey,

1266
01:08:50,240 --> 01:08:52,040
Speaker 1: you know, George Mason is the second best team in

1267
01:08:52,080 --> 01:08:56,479
Speaker 1: that in that in that tournament. Um, but what do

1268
01:08:56,560 --> 01:09:01,600
Speaker 1: you like those moments when the run is over is

1269
01:09:01,960 --> 01:09:04,120
Speaker 1: an emotional one? Do you do you remember what that

1270
01:09:04,240 --> 01:09:06,240
Speaker 1: locker room was like, what coach was like? Yeah, I

1271
01:09:06,320 --> 01:09:08,560
Speaker 1: think they were sad. I think I think coach was

1272
01:09:09,080 --> 01:09:11,599
Speaker 1: he was great. I mean I think as sad as

1273
01:09:11,640 --> 01:09:14,439
Speaker 1: they were, everybody knew that they had done something that was,

1274
01:09:15,520 --> 01:09:20,439
Speaker 1: you know, really impactful, not just for them and George Mason.

1275
01:09:20,640 --> 01:09:23,160
Speaker 1: And but really I thought in college basketball at the time,

1276
01:09:23,439 --> 01:09:29,000
Speaker 1: because you know VCU, Butler, Whichita State, Loyola, I might

1277
01:09:29,040 --> 01:09:34,000
Speaker 1: be missing somebody that followed us. I think, um, somebody said,

1278
01:09:34,120 --> 01:09:36,400
Speaker 1: you know, those guys walked into that locker room thinking

1279
01:09:36,479 --> 01:09:40,880
Speaker 1: it was possible we're for us. Like I was like, like,

1280
01:09:40,960 --> 01:09:42,760
Speaker 1: we could be, we could be Kent State, Like this

1281
01:09:42,920 --> 01:09:44,760
Speaker 1: is awesome, We're Kent State. We maybe the only night

1282
01:09:44,880 --> 01:09:47,840
Speaker 1: is this incredible? You know in modern basketball, right, it

1283
01:09:47,920 --> 01:09:50,960
Speaker 1: happened in seventy nine. Whatever we pen like for for

1284
01:09:51,040 --> 01:09:53,040
Speaker 1: those next teams that came through, they went in there

1285
01:09:53,080 --> 01:09:57,640
Speaker 1: thinking like hey if George, basically, um, where were you

1286
01:09:57,720 --> 01:09:59,400
Speaker 1: when you got the call that you got the job?

1287
01:10:01,680 --> 01:10:04,280
Speaker 1: I was in Miami. Uh you know kind of I

1288
01:10:04,320 --> 01:10:05,920
Speaker 1: didn't go. I decided not to go to New Orleans

1289
01:10:05,960 --> 01:10:10,000
Speaker 1: because I thought maybe something's gonna happen, and uh, somebody

1290
01:10:10,080 --> 01:10:11,880
Speaker 1: tip you off? Did you did you did you know?

1291
01:10:12,439 --> 01:10:15,479
Speaker 1: You know, did coach say that you got this thing? No? Yeah,

1292
01:10:15,600 --> 01:10:18,400
Speaker 1: I mean I had the sense that maybe it was

1293
01:10:18,439 --> 01:10:21,120
Speaker 1: gonna come that day and that um he was doing

1294
01:10:21,120 --> 01:10:24,320
Speaker 1: a little soul searching about uh, you know, my time

1295
01:10:24,400 --> 01:10:27,920
Speaker 1: at Miami and and the new opportunity, and I certainly

1296
01:10:27,960 --> 01:10:30,760
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been able to function in New Orleans. So

1297
01:10:31,040 --> 01:10:34,280
Speaker 1: so you under the stay are you driving? I was driving,

1298
01:10:34,520 --> 01:10:37,240
Speaker 1: I was driving. Tanya Bogel already d called called uh.

1299
01:10:38,000 --> 01:10:41,240
Speaker 1: I was driving, kind of pulled over UH and stepped

1300
01:10:41,240 --> 01:10:43,600
Speaker 1: out of the car to talk, and and it was

1301
01:10:43,680 --> 01:10:46,000
Speaker 1: you know, it was obviously exciting. What is that like

1302
01:10:46,560 --> 01:10:48,400
Speaker 1: when you when you hang up the phone, obviously you're

1303
01:10:48,400 --> 01:10:51,200
Speaker 1: gonna call your wife, right, Yeah, of course, Yeah, my

1304
01:10:51,280 --> 01:10:57,080
Speaker 1: wife was with me actually or yeah, I think I

1305
01:10:57,120 --> 01:10:58,519
Speaker 1: gave the thumbs up, but she was looking at me

1306
01:10:58,600 --> 01:11:00,799
Speaker 1: with a call of concern, you know, face of concern.

1307
01:11:00,880 --> 01:11:03,960
Speaker 1: I just give the thumbs up. So what did you

1308
01:11:04,000 --> 01:11:06,640
Speaker 1: tell her? What was the Well, we're well, I mean

1309
01:11:06,800 --> 01:11:09,000
Speaker 1: we had obviously we've been talking a lot about it,

1310
01:11:09,160 --> 01:11:12,479
Speaker 1: so it was uh. For me, I'm such a creature,

1311
01:11:12,479 --> 01:11:15,360
Speaker 1: I have it Like what's been incredible is not not

1312
01:11:15,439 --> 01:11:16,960
Speaker 1: only to go to a place that you have some

1313
01:11:17,040 --> 01:11:20,000
Speaker 1: familiarity with, haven't been up here, but just a location

1314
01:11:20,600 --> 01:11:22,840
Speaker 1: that we have so many friends here. I was there

1315
01:11:22,960 --> 01:11:26,040
Speaker 1: nine years. When I left George Mason, I said, I'll

1316
01:11:26,120 --> 01:11:28,759
Speaker 1: never be anywhere this long and coaching like this is crazy.

1317
01:11:28,880 --> 01:11:31,559
Speaker 1: Nine years and then I've been in Miami eleven years

1318
01:11:32,520 --> 01:11:36,000
Speaker 1: and now back to d C. So it's, uh, we're

1319
01:11:36,080 --> 01:11:38,080
Speaker 1: fortunate in that sense. Like I got a lot of

1320
01:11:38,160 --> 01:11:40,080
Speaker 1: things in my plate, but like I don't really need

1321
01:11:40,120 --> 01:11:43,200
Speaker 1: a GPS, which is good. At what point in time

1322
01:11:43,240 --> 01:11:45,640
Speaker 1: did you allow yourself or allow her to look at

1323
01:11:45,640 --> 01:11:49,320
Speaker 1: real estate? Oh? Man, I try. I don't want to

1324
01:11:49,400 --> 01:11:51,920
Speaker 1: do any of that. You know, it's like coaching. You're like,

1325
01:11:52,120 --> 01:11:54,120
Speaker 1: it's like coaching. You're like, no, you know, let's not

1326
01:11:54,160 --> 01:11:56,519
Speaker 1: get ahead of ourselves whatever. But I'm pretty sure my

1327
01:11:56,600 --> 01:11:59,080
Speaker 1: wife was on, you know, looking at real estate quite

1328
01:11:59,080 --> 01:12:01,360
Speaker 1: a bit. But again, the good thing is when you

1329
01:12:01,479 --> 01:12:04,280
Speaker 1: know the locations, like you kind of know we're gonna

1330
01:12:04,280 --> 01:12:06,800
Speaker 1: need to live here here or here you know. Um,

1331
01:12:07,400 --> 01:12:11,040
Speaker 1: so that that part Miami. Okay, So I get what

1332
01:12:11,120 --> 01:12:13,640
Speaker 1: I get. I get one more gay Today? Today is

1333
01:12:13,680 --> 01:12:17,680
Speaker 1: your first day, your first day? Give me, give me

1334
01:12:18,160 --> 01:12:21,720
Speaker 1: what honestly, what what does your day like? Are you

1335
01:12:21,840 --> 01:12:24,840
Speaker 1: hiring your staff today? Are you know, yeah, working met

1336
01:12:24,840 --> 01:12:26,920
Speaker 1: and greet today? What do you have? I mean, yeah, meet,

1337
01:12:27,000 --> 01:12:29,679
Speaker 1: meet and greed you know probably paperwork, meet and greed

1338
01:12:29,880 --> 01:12:32,000
Speaker 1: or compliance all that stuff. And then we're gonna get

1339
01:12:32,000 --> 01:12:34,040
Speaker 1: on the court with the guys, you know, which is uh,

1340
01:12:35,040 --> 01:12:37,439
Speaker 1: the thing I'm most looking forward to. All the other stuff,

1341
01:12:37,479 --> 01:12:42,000
Speaker 1: I'm have absolutely no uh no desire to do paperwork

1342
01:12:42,080 --> 01:12:44,320
Speaker 1: and things like that. You know, like if I could

1343
01:12:44,360 --> 01:12:46,439
Speaker 1: just be in the gym and somebody else could do

1344
01:12:46,479 --> 01:12:48,120
Speaker 1: the paperwork, that would be great. But I don't think

1345
01:12:48,120 --> 01:12:49,800
Speaker 1: that's gonna happen. But it'll be great to meet a

1346
01:12:49,840 --> 01:12:51,880
Speaker 1: lot of people. And uh there's actually a number of

1347
01:12:51,920 --> 01:12:54,000
Speaker 1: people that work with us at George Mason that actually

1348
01:12:54,000 --> 01:12:57,240
Speaker 1: work in the athletic departments. Will be some some familiarity there.

1349
01:12:57,320 --> 01:13:00,400
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, hiring the staff is not easy. Um

1350
01:13:00,960 --> 01:13:03,559
Speaker 1: obviously recruiting now in the in the days of the portal,

1351
01:13:04,520 --> 01:13:07,760
Speaker 1: who you can keep, how many you know, who you're

1352
01:13:07,760 --> 01:13:09,920
Speaker 1: gonna get, who you can keep? All that stuff is uh,

1353
01:13:11,400 --> 01:13:13,240
Speaker 1: as you said, keep you up, keep you up at night,

1354
01:13:13,680 --> 01:13:15,920
Speaker 1: all right, So give me give me a time sometime

1355
01:13:16,040 --> 01:13:17,560
Speaker 1: later this week because I do want to get to

1356
01:13:17,680 --> 01:13:21,880
Speaker 1: the the Miami stuff, you know, all that other stuff,

1357
01:13:21,920 --> 01:13:24,120
Speaker 1: just thing just yeah, yeah, I'll shoot you, yeah, I'll

1358
01:13:24,120 --> 01:13:26,439
Speaker 1: shoot you. Wanted to let you know all night. I

1359
01:13:26,640 --> 01:13:31,720
Speaker 1: really appreciate Congratua. D d C is the best we'll

1360
01:13:31,760 --> 01:13:35,639
Speaker 1: have fun. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. So all right, man,

1361
01:13:35,840 --> 01:13:41,160
Speaker 1: appreciate it for you again, appreciate all right. That's it

1362
01:13:41,320 --> 01:13:44,800
Speaker 1: for for for Chris, he was awesome. My picks. I

1363
01:13:45,160 --> 01:13:47,880
Speaker 1: think Kansas quins. I don't think Caroline is healthy with

1364
01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:50,840
Speaker 1: bay Cod. I think they gotta have some they gotta

1365
01:13:50,880 --> 01:13:56,920
Speaker 1: lack some gas in the tank. And um, I feel

1366
01:13:56,920 --> 01:13:58,599
Speaker 1: like Kansas playing their best ball. It doesn't mean they're

1367
01:13:58,600 --> 01:14:00,040
Speaker 1: gonna hit as many shots as they hit the of

1368
01:14:00,080 --> 01:14:04,000
Speaker 1: the night. That's why I like the under, the game under.

1369
01:14:04,080 --> 01:14:08,760
Speaker 1: I like halftime Kansas game four points Kansas. I do

1370
01:14:08,880 --> 01:14:12,360
Speaker 1: think it's a close game until Lake Kansas pulls away. Kanu. Man.

1371
01:14:12,400 --> 01:14:14,120
Speaker 1: We have so many good guests coming up. Some people

1372
01:14:14,160 --> 01:14:16,360
Speaker 1: have reached out and loved the podcast, all of you

1373
01:14:16,479 --> 01:14:19,320
Speaker 1: that we ran into in New Orleans that love all Ball.

1374
01:14:19,439 --> 01:14:21,960
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. I will take your suggestions. We will

1375
01:14:22,000 --> 01:14:24,960
Speaker 1: continue to evolve this show, continue to evolve the guests

1376
01:14:24,960 --> 01:14:26,639
Speaker 1: in the style with which we do. At the meantime,

1377
01:14:27,680 --> 01:14:30,160
Speaker 1: remember my picks. And if I'm wrong, of course, you

1378
01:14:30,240 --> 01:14:32,240
Speaker 1: can tweet me and say that I'm an idiot because

1379
01:14:32,280 --> 01:14:34,080
Speaker 1: I picked the wrong team to win a basketball game

1380
01:14:34,400 --> 01:14:36,799
Speaker 1: generally the way it works in the meantime, I'm Doug Gottlieban.

1381
01:14:36,880 --> 01:14:37,639
Speaker 1: This is all ball.