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Speaker 1: Hey, welcome in. It's the All Ball Podcast. I'm Doug

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Speaker 1: Gottlieb and you can check out The Doug Gotli Show

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Speaker 1: every day three to six Eastern Time, twelve to three Pacific.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining me. My guest this week

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Speaker 1: is the head coach that you see Irvan. They just

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Speaker 1: finished thirty one and six fifteen and won the Big

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Speaker 1: West when the first ever nc A tournament game, they

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Speaker 1: took down Big twelve champion Kansas State. We'll catch up

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Speaker 1: with Russ Turner uh in a moment. I did want

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Speaker 1: to share with you a couple of different hoop thoughts.

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Speaker 1: I found one thing to be ironic. You know, like

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Speaker 1: you're having all these guys pull out a Team USA

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Speaker 1: to play in the World Cup, and yet here DeMarcus

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Speaker 1: Cousins gets hurt, you know, playing in an in an

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Speaker 1: individual workout, and you see all these guys playing. You know,

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Speaker 1: should you double team in in in an open run?

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Speaker 1: You know that's that's a discussion the NBA. How about

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Speaker 1: I don't understand why wouldn't go play for Team USA.

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Speaker 1: I just it baffles my mind, this idea that you

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Speaker 1: want to stay fresh and resting. Yet every video has

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Speaker 1: these guys working out every day, playing ball every day.

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Speaker 1: You wouldn't want to represent your country. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: to do it in China where you can build your

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Speaker 1: brand doesn't seem like the smartest marketing plan in in

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Speaker 1: the world. Nonetheless, that's kind of the world in which

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Speaker 1: we live in. Uh, there is something interesting about Dwight Howard.

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Speaker 1: So Dwight Howard's out there and available, and most Laker

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Speaker 1: fans are kind of spitting up in their mouth because

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Speaker 1: they're like, man, maybe we have to sign to White

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Speaker 1: Howard in order to replace de Marcus Cousins. And I

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Speaker 1: was thinking about that Seinfeld where they called George Costanza

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Speaker 1: can't stand you. And that's the thing with Dwight Howard.

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Speaker 1: A lot of it's gone bad since the end of

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Speaker 1: the Orlando run. But I mean, I have friends in

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Speaker 1: the NBA. I have guys I know with the Washington

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Speaker 1: Wizards who told me that last year they called all

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Speaker 1: of his previous coaches and every one of them said, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, he's super talented, but he just guys don't

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Speaker 1: like him, doesn't get along with any buddy. And it

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Speaker 1: says we're in this weird place where, um, where I

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Speaker 1: do think that culture matters. I do think you know,

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Speaker 1: Carmelo is not being blackballed. Carmelo just can't accept a

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Speaker 1: role that he'd have, And I'm not even sure what

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Speaker 1: that role would be, because even though he can still score,

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Speaker 1: it's more mid range scoring, and he needs to be

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Speaker 1: he's a volume guy and he's not. He can't play defense,

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Speaker 1: and then he doesn't buy into the role that he has.

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Speaker 1: So you know, it's like Iverson who retired early. You

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Speaker 1: almost feel like this guy's career is over and doesn't

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Speaker 1: know it. Dwight Howard might be in the same space,

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Speaker 1: and I wonder, I think he's gonna get into the

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Speaker 1: prob he's gonna get into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the numbers are incredible, but numbers b lie.

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Speaker 1: He's had good numbers everywhere he's been since he left Orlando,

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Speaker 1: and yet he hasn't been able to get along with anybody,

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Speaker 1: which tells you that you know, whether it's the Lakers

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Speaker 1: or the Rockets underachieving, or you know how quickly the

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Speaker 1: Hornets wanted to get rid of him, or Atlanta, his

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Speaker 1: hometown team, like all these teams could not wait to

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Speaker 1: get rid of him after getting him and what does

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Speaker 1: it say about him? So I know the Lakers are

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Speaker 1: sitting there going like, look, we don't have a lot

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Speaker 1: of options. But if the option is Dwight Howard, who

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Speaker 1: can't seem to fit in everywhere he's been, You're like, well,

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Speaker 1: maybe he'll make because he makes less money, he'll buy in.

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Speaker 1: I just don't see it. I don't feel it. I

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Speaker 1: don't feel it. I can't I can't really lie to you.

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Speaker 1: So um, you know, I think it's I think it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be fascinating to see what happens with Dwight, what

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Speaker 1: happens with the Lakers. But it's interesting, like we we go,

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Speaker 1: are we gonna do the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame

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Speaker 1: like the I mean the basketball fames of the progrest,

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Speaker 1: We're gonna do the Nation with Morial Hall of Fame

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Speaker 1: like we do the Baseball Hall of Fame. Is it's

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Speaker 1: simply going to be a a stat driven deal. It's

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Speaker 1: that driven deal. Then you put Dwight Howard in and

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Speaker 1: you don't think twice about it. And he was a

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Speaker 1: dominant player for a long time. But I mean with

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Speaker 1: still it's still a juice in the tank. And some

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Speaker 1: of it is the NBA has passed him by in

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Speaker 1: terms of style, but he still putting out numbers. The

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Speaker 1: numbers don't tell you what how what he really brings.

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Speaker 1: It was just about numbers, he'd be on any of

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Speaker 1: these previous teams, but he's not because he's just a

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Speaker 1: hard guy to really love playing with or getting along with.

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Speaker 1: And I think the Lakers will probably see that. You know,

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Speaker 1: Marcine Gore, Todd, Cody Zeller, those are some of the

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Speaker 1: other options. I wouldn't be surprised if if they passed

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Speaker 1: on the guy who's the most talented and he costs

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Speaker 1: you like nothing in order to get somebody who they

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Speaker 1: feel like fits better. Um. And the Lakers need twenty

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Speaker 1: minutes a game from somebody, and I think that Dwight

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Speaker 1: Howard has eighteen twenty minutes a game. But it's just

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Speaker 1: kind of a weird existence, isn't it. It sure does

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Speaker 1: seem that way. Last thing before he gets a Russ

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Speaker 1: Turner Ty lose the new assistant coach of the l

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Speaker 1: A Clippers. And while that should be celebrated because the

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Speaker 1: Clippers continue to load up with you know, bright mind

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Speaker 1: after bright mind, Rex Calmanian running their defense, Um their

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Speaker 1: front office is spectacular. Their head coaches Doc Rivers, who

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Speaker 1: everybody likes. And now you're bring a guy who's one

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Speaker 1: NBA championship as an assistant. You know, it's the the

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Speaker 1: tip for tap with what the Lakers have. But he

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Speaker 1: could have been the head coach of the Lakers, and

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Speaker 1: I know that there. I know that there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of pride there, like I don't want three years and

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Speaker 1: six million dollars eighteen million dollars or whatever, But could

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Speaker 1: have been head coach of Lakers, which is more money

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Speaker 1: and granted more stress. He's had some problems dealing with stress.

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Speaker 1: But as much as we can celebrate it for the Clippers,

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Speaker 1: for Tyler, that was a job. The Lakers job was

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Speaker 1: a job that if he had he taken it, it

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Speaker 1: had limitless potential. You know, you get to one NBA

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Speaker 1: Finals and all of a sudden you get an extension

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Speaker 1: or yet you command yourself a huge contract elsewhere whenever

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Speaker 1: you want to leave. And I think turning that down

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Speaker 1: now he's kind of regressed back to being he'll still

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Speaker 1: be a viable option. But you could have been the

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Speaker 1: head coach to the Lakers, and there's only one l

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Speaker 1: a Lakers and you have Lebron James. I don't know

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Speaker 1: how I mean I think Lebron, I think the roster

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Speaker 1: is pretty good. I don't know how. I don't mean

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Speaker 1: plays out, but I would have rather been head coach

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Speaker 1: of Lakers and assistant coach of the Clippers. And the

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Speaker 1: money is probably three times as much, at least maybe

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Speaker 1: maybe six maybe six. Money is not everything, and you've

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Speaker 1: gotta be comfortable what you're doing and you gotta feel respected.

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Speaker 1: And he'll fill that with the Clippers, but it doesn't

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Speaker 1: have more than three year deal with the Clippers. He's

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Speaker 1: not making six million dollars with the Clippers, and he's

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Speaker 1: not head coach. He didn't get credit for the Winds.

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Speaker 1: So something that you on check out to all my

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Speaker 1: interviews on the Doug Gottlieb Show podcast as well. Make

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Speaker 1: sure you download that where you download this and uh

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Speaker 1: don't forget to only rate, write a comment, uh subscribe

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Speaker 1: download tell friend tweeted out this is good stuff. Russell

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Speaker 1: Turner is for full disclosure. I coached his son and

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Speaker 1: au Sun Darius is a great kid, really interesting guys,

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Speaker 1: super bright, big center. When he played Division three basketball

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Speaker 1: in a great Vision three basketball players of his era,

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Speaker 1: maybe of any era. Look at his stats. Crazy the

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Speaker 1: Hampton Sydney and he joins me now on the All

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Speaker 1: Ball podcast. Let's welcome in. He's Russell Turner, he's the

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Speaker 1: head coach. If you see Irvine, of course, they've won

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Speaker 1: four Big West titles, won a game last year in

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Speaker 1: the n c A Tournament, and uh, kind of an

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Speaker 1: amazing rise to prominence in college basketball. But rush you

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Speaker 1: you go back? Where where'd you grow up? Specifically? Oh? Well,

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Speaker 1: thanks for asking, Doug. It's great to be with you

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Speaker 1: on the pilot. Um. I grew up in Roonoke, Virginia,

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Speaker 1: which is a long way from Irvine, but great place

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Speaker 1: to grow up. So what like, what's I mean? I

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Speaker 1: have no idea the basketball sceneing in Roanoke, right, because

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Speaker 1: I know, um, like, I know the d m V,

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Speaker 1: I know the you know, there's uh the Hampton Roads area, right,

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Speaker 1: But where where exactly is Roanoke and what's the basketball

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Speaker 1: scene like growing up? Well, is in the southwestern Virginia,

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Speaker 1: so it's actually close to West Virginia and it's closer

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Speaker 1: to Tennessee than it is to northern Virginia, so it's

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Speaker 1: pretty rural place. But Roanoke's a working class tound. You know.

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Speaker 1: There was a railroad there and a g factory, and

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Speaker 1: I had great coaches there and they were actually on

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Speaker 1: my high school team. We had the third best high

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Speaker 1: school team in the nation my senior year. There were

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Speaker 1: two guys on my team who played in the NBA

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Speaker 1: and two more played in the NFL, so I wasn't

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Speaker 1: around some really good athletes growing up. Well, George Lynch,

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Speaker 1: who everybody in l A knows because he was first

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Speaker 1: round pick of Lakers, was my high school teammate, and

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Speaker 1: I went on to North Carolina wana national title. And

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Speaker 1: then Curtis Blair was my high school teammate, and he

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Speaker 1: played briefly in the NBA with Houston after being one

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Speaker 1: of the leaders on Richmond's team when they were a

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Speaker 1: fifteen seed and knocked off number two Syracuse. I remember

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Speaker 1: that the first time I heard their nickname was the Spiders, right,

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Speaker 1: and people had an acrophie. And then in the NFL,

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Speaker 1: the players, you know, we weren't a place that was

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Speaker 1: known to be consistently good, but they were really great

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Speaker 1: players in my class. And so I was fortunate and

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Speaker 1: on a great team, and that helped me get a

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Speaker 1: lot better. Who are the football players? Well, Bernard Bashon

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Speaker 1: was one, and UH he played at Virginia Tech and

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Speaker 1: and and went on UM to play in the NFL

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Speaker 1: for a couple of season. And another it was on

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Speaker 1: Melvin Davis, who unfortunately passed away when he's really young.

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Speaker 1: But we had just really excellent athletes throughout my high

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Speaker 1: school UM at that time, and it hadn't been the

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Speaker 1: same there since. But I was I came along at

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Speaker 1: the right I was in the right place the right time.

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Speaker 1: Who's your high school coach? Got named Woody Dean's and UH,

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Speaker 1: coach Dean's was that was the type of high school

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Speaker 1: coach who drove a suburban, picked everybody up for practice

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Speaker 1: and then took us home. And UM really invested you

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Speaker 1: more time and energy and love and do his job

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Speaker 1: than than just about any other high school coach that

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Speaker 1: we knew of at that time. And so he did

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Speaker 1: a great job marketing our team. My senior year, we

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Speaker 1: played the Matha in a huge game and rolling out

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Speaker 1: and we're able to beat them. And in my senior year,

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Speaker 1: we actually also gave Oak Hill Academy their worst loss

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Speaker 1: in their history. Because I think people underestimated how good

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Speaker 1: we'd be that year. And you guys are just a

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Speaker 1: public school, like Patrick Henry was just a public high

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Speaker 1: school that just happened to have this unbelievable team. Yeah. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we were neighborhood school. In fact, it was one kid

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Speaker 1: who transferred out who made first team All State and

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Speaker 1: went on to Virginia Tech. We just happened to have

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Speaker 1: a bunch of guys right from around where I was,

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Speaker 1: and we're all pretty back going good. I can't think

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Speaker 1: of anything, you know, that would have been more fortunate

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Speaker 1: for me growing up than that. So how did you

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Speaker 1: and did were you? Did you play a Do you

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Speaker 1: guys have the same AU team? Did you play TILab

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Speaker 1: basketball together? Were you just high school? No, we we had.

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Speaker 1: It's not like one then like it is now. Probably

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Speaker 1: one't is big. But we came in second in the

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Speaker 1: national tournament Lea. We thought it was a national championship.

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Speaker 1: Penny Hardaway's team from Memphis beat us, and they had

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Speaker 1: guys who went on to Division one UM and I

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Speaker 1: guess we did too, but we weren't nearly as known

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Speaker 1: as they were, so we were kind of a underdog group.

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Speaker 1: So it was fun. It was fun doing all those things.

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Speaker 1: And most of my teammates from high school, there were

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Speaker 1: several others went on too great careers in college like

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Speaker 1: I was able to do. You know, I chose the

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Speaker 1: right place and played in Division three. But I had

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Speaker 1: a really good experience doing that. Okay, so you went

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Speaker 1: to Hampton Sydney, which is you know, it's like the

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Speaker 1: tenth oldest school in the country. It's unbelievable academic institution.

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Speaker 1: But I I mean, and it it actually has like

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Speaker 1: a really unique kind of basketball history as well. And um,

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Speaker 1: you had a remarkable career. But what was the decision

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Speaker 1: like that? Did you have D one offers? Why? Why

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Speaker 1: did you choose Hampton Sydney good? I mean, I had

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Speaker 1: a couple of D one offers. UM v M. I

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Speaker 1: so that's a Virginia Military Institute for people who don't know.

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Speaker 1: UM offered me, and Wafford was Division two and they

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Speaker 1: offered me UM. But none of those schools seemed to

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Speaker 1: be exactly a good thing. You know. I hoped, like

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Speaker 1: a lot of kids to have a chance to play

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Speaker 1: at a higher level, maybe the walk on or something.

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Speaker 1: So I wasn't sure. I was really young when I

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Speaker 1: graduated I was only seventeen when I graduated, so I

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Speaker 1: think I was probably less mature than maybe I could

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Speaker 1: have been. UM and the hamp Sydney coach recruited me

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Speaker 1: really late and probably recruited me harder than anywhere else.

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Speaker 1: And I had some other guys that I knew who

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Speaker 1: were going there, and that's what I chose. But I

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Speaker 1: can't think of a better choice that I've made. Even

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Speaker 1: if it wasn't as informed as you know, maybe I

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Speaker 1: could look back and say it could have been. It

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Speaker 1: was the perfect choice for me because of the coach

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Speaker 1: and the coach and I were great fits. And coach

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Speaker 1: Tony Shaver was UM played at North Carolina under Dean

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Speaker 1: Smith as primarily a backup to Phil Ford and coach

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Speaker 1: Shavers a Hall of Famer in Virginia and had a

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Speaker 1: great career at hamp Sidney and a great career we

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Speaker 1: Eveen Mary. So I got an outstanding coaching education being

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Speaker 1: there at hamp Sydney, where I was a real good

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Speaker 1: fit and one of the best guys. Yeah, that's it's

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Speaker 1: kind of amazing. Okay, So you're you're you're you're seventeen,

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Speaker 1: Like what your did you what was the family decision,

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Speaker 1: like in terms of in terms of college, then well

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Speaker 1: I had a I got an academic scholarship to Hampton Sydney,

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Speaker 1: and that was gonna pay a huge talk of my tuition.

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Speaker 1: That wasn't a reason that place was an option for me. Um,

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Speaker 1: So I was just trying to figure out what would

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Speaker 1: sit right, and it seemed like that would. It was

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Speaker 1: only two hours away from home, which at that stage

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Speaker 1: in my life I was comfortable with, and so I

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Speaker 1: made that choice. Um. The thing I remember most is

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Speaker 1: that I had to keep a q p A of

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Speaker 1: three point three or higher or I'd lose my scholarship.

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Speaker 1: And so I was scared of depth of you know,

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Speaker 1: failing to meet that requirement and having to come home.

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Speaker 1: And that was really good for me as a student

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Speaker 1: because it forced me to be more serious than I

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Speaker 1: probably otherwise would have been at a young age, and

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Speaker 1: so I had to grow up pretty quickly. Well, you're

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Speaker 1: you end up being Magna cum lade right night, So

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Speaker 1: you didn't you didn't follow the low three three? Did

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Speaker 1: you have any be if I was going to go

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Speaker 1: home doing that, I was gonna make sure that I

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Speaker 1: did my work and staying on top of things, and

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Speaker 1: there's like a lot of things for me as a student.

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Speaker 1: As I did it well, I then got better. And

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Speaker 1: you know that's some of what I try to tell

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Speaker 1: my days now. I expected them. You know, this place

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Speaker 1: is hard, you see, irvy, but once you figure it out,

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Speaker 1: you can also figure out how to do better and

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Speaker 1: better and more things in your life will open up

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Speaker 1: if you can find that success. That's what I'm Hampden City,

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Speaker 1: Virginia is. It's a town of like fo people and

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Speaker 1: then the school is like eleven hundred students. You went

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Speaker 1: to a high school that I don't know what it

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Speaker 1: was like then, but now it's like two thousand people

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Speaker 1: and Roanokes a pretty big size city. Like what was

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Speaker 1: Was there any culture shock? Yeah? That was some, but

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Speaker 1: you know, if you're from southwestern Virginia, h you don't feel,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's much culture shock doing what I did

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Speaker 1: moving to ham Sydney. I mean it's not like there

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Speaker 1: was no town there. The town of farmbles close. Um,

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Speaker 1: it didn't feel like you were totally out separated from everybody,

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Speaker 1: but the world was different then. Um, it was a

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Speaker 1: good place for me to spread my wings and grow.

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Speaker 1: You know, if I'd go into a bigger place, I

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Speaker 1: probably would have felt intimidated in some ways. Um, if

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Speaker 1: I look back on it, you know, really it was

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Speaker 1: a perfect fit for me at the time where I

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Speaker 1: needed to do some mature and growing up and I

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Speaker 1: had great role models to help me with that. You

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Speaker 1: scored two thousand, two hundred and seventy two points. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you were all O d A C four times All Region,

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Speaker 1: three times All Tournament Team, three times, two time All American.

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Speaker 1: Do you guys? Do you guys win the championship? We

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Speaker 1: won conference championships a couple of times. My first season

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Speaker 1: at hamp Cindey was the was the school's first trip

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Speaker 1: to the n s A tournament. Uh so not that

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Speaker 1: different than what we've done here at Irvine UM. And

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Speaker 1: then my senior year, we uh we advanced in the

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Speaker 1: n A Tournament in good ways and I ended up

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Speaker 1: losing to the team that won won the title. But

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Speaker 1: my my, you know, one of the things that brought

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Speaker 1: us that was the program continued to get better after

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Speaker 1: I was there, and uh got all over to the

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Speaker 1: point when they played for the Division three national championship.

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Speaker 1: So that was cool. I mean, it's cool to be

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Speaker 1: a part of the growth of something at Hampton Sydney.

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Speaker 1: UM in some ways, like I feel like I'm part

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Speaker 1: of the growth of something here in Irman. Oh. I

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Speaker 1: definitely think you're part of the growth of semin irvone.

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Speaker 1: I want to get to that. So, so you get done,

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Speaker 1: you get done playing UM By the way, do you

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Speaker 1: want to know it? Like? Actually, so you guys lost.

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Speaker 1: You guys lost to Calvin. Is that who you lost to? Now?

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Speaker 1: We lost the Wisconsin Platteville who was Yeah, I don't

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Speaker 1: think they wanted that year though they lost to Rochester

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Speaker 1: in the semifinals, they won the third place. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: I get my stories traight. I thought they'd wanted I

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Speaker 1: know they I know they were a team that beat

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Speaker 1: Hampton Sydney in the National Championship games few years later.

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Speaker 1: I think maybe you must be right if you're looked

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Speaker 1: it up. I know there were number one in the

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Speaker 1: country when we played them in the tournament, and it

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Speaker 1: was it was right, we're talking about nineteen we're talking yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: ninety two. Yeah, they want it UM so the year

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Speaker 1: before they want their defending champions Yeah yeah, And I

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Speaker 1: think er number one in the tournament when we played

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Speaker 1: them and they beat us. The Carolina attention after we lost.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned Carolina is the shape shaver was a Carolina guy.

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Speaker 1: So is that what you guys ran? Did you guys

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Speaker 1: run the Carolina transition game? Did you did you run

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Speaker 1: a run and jump? Like, how did you guys play? Yep? Same,

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Speaker 1: the absolutely the Carolina system. Uh, the one that you know,

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Speaker 1: most of the Carolina three coaches used for a long

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Speaker 1: time and the components of it still exist. That Carolina

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Speaker 1: out and under Roy Williams. So that was a great education.

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Speaker 1: And my my high school coach had modeled our program

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Speaker 1: in our high school after Carolina. You know, Dean Smith

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Speaker 1: was an icon type coach on the East Coast like

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Speaker 1: John Wooden was out here, and so it was a

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Speaker 1: great education for me to learn that system from a

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Speaker 1: guy who played in it. And you know that's at

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Speaker 1: the root of you know, my coaching experience. Now, like

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Speaker 1: we we used we used the same defensive calls in

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Speaker 1: our program at Irvine that we used at Hampton Sydney

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Speaker 1: and that we're used by the Smith to Carolina and

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Speaker 1: some of those are the trapping calls like you mentioned

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Speaker 1: with the running jump. Yeah. Um, so how do you

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Speaker 1: score so much. If you guys ran so much, I

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Speaker 1: guess you'd get down and get down the post and

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Speaker 1: they throw it intur p g T burped. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: I joked that man. When the ball got to me,

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Speaker 1: it was like throwing the ball out the window. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't coming back. But I shot a really high percentage

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Speaker 1: and never really took dribbles. And I had a good

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Speaker 1: feel for, you know, getting crafty shots off around around

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Speaker 1: the rim. And um, you know, I was I was fortunate.

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Speaker 1: I was fortunate to play with great passers. The point

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Speaker 1: guards I played with are the guys who you know,

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Speaker 1: lead to school all time and assist and I guess

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Speaker 1: I had some part in that. But I was playing

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Speaker 1: with guys who were really good at getting the ball

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Speaker 1: to me and scoring positions. So I just did my thing.

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Speaker 1: And so you so did you you have an opportunity

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Speaker 1: to player, you just decide you wanted to go into coaching, Like,

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Speaker 1: what's that because you because you coached there for a

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Speaker 1: year before I go moving on the wake, What was

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Speaker 1: that decision? Like the coach? Yeah, well, you know, I

390
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Speaker 1: didn't want to play, but the world was a lot

391
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Speaker 1: different when I graduated in ninety two, I actually had

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Speaker 1: a couple of offers to go overseas, but that was

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Speaker 1: in the middle of the First Gulf War, and one

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Speaker 1: of the offers I had was in Israel, and I

395
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Speaker 1: was a little bit uncertain about that, you know, not

396
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Speaker 1: nearly as worldly then as I feel like I am now.

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Speaker 1: And so I decided to go on the teaching and

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Speaker 1: coaching track. And what I did but after graduation was

399
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Speaker 1: I went to Rome, Georgia, and I taught in the

400
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Speaker 1: boarding school there and our coach so I used to

401
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Speaker 1: joke that, you know, our coach, I teach English in Rome.

402
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Speaker 1: But it was Rome, Georgia where I spent my first

403
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Speaker 1: year out of ham In Sydney and worked with a

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Speaker 1: great head coach there and thought maybe I'd be a

405
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Speaker 1: high school coach or Division three coach. Um. Then I

406
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Speaker 1: had a chance to go back to Hampton, Sydney as

407
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Speaker 1: an assistant, which was a great opportunity to work with

408
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,480
Speaker 1: the coach would coach me. Um that seemed too good

409
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Speaker 1: to pass up. So I did that, and then within

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Speaker 1: a year of that, Dave Odom at wake Forest offered

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Speaker 1: to hire me in Laarn's part because I had been

412
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Speaker 1: a big part of his son's development at Hampton Sydney.

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Speaker 1: I was there when we started recruiting his son to

414
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Speaker 1: him Sydney, and the year I was an assistant there,

415
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Speaker 1: he was a sophomore and I helped him kind of

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Speaker 1: emerge through a rough freshman year. And Dave needed to

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Speaker 1: hire in a restrict at earnings coach at that time,

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Speaker 1: and so he hired me. And you know, I was

419
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Speaker 1: I think twenty two or twenty three years old at

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Speaker 1: the time I went to Wake Forest and we had

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Speaker 1: Tim Duncan. So just an incredible stroke of luck for

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Speaker 1: me in my career. What was Tim nunknlin oh Man

423
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Speaker 1: same same as you probably expect he was at that time.

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Speaker 1: He was only eighteen years old. Um, he had finished

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Speaker 1: his freshman year and only eighteen, so he was very young,

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Speaker 1: but obviously an incredible talent who had done better in

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Speaker 1: his freshman year before I got there, and people had

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Speaker 1: thought And then the year I was there was this

429
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:17,280
Speaker 1: year that he emerged as a sophomore into what was

430
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:19,760
Speaker 1: perceived to be the best player in the country. But

431
00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,159
Speaker 1: he was quiet, he was unassuming, he was thoughtful, and

432
00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:27,200
Speaker 1: he was a great teammate. Just a defensive and rebounding

433
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,680
Speaker 1: anchor and felt like on any given night we could

434
00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 1: win because we could control the tempo because of him,

435
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,879
Speaker 1: we could rebound because of him, and we'd have a

436
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,879
Speaker 1: chance in a close game down the stretch. And we

437
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 1: got hot with that team his sophomore year and won

438
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,560
Speaker 1: the a CEC for the first time in my thirty

439
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:47,600
Speaker 1: five years. From Week four US it was a great,

440
00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,840
Speaker 1: great experience from me. Was that when Randolph Children's Uh,

441
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,960
Speaker 1: everybody remembers Randolph, but Tim was a freshman that year,

442
00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:58,920
Speaker 1: a sophomore that year. That was the year that Tim

443
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,159
Speaker 1: Tim really emerged. Yeah. And then yeah, you guys, you

444
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,040
Speaker 1: guys went to the n c A tournament, uh and

445
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:06,520
Speaker 1: went to the I think the sweet sixteen, right like,

446
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,280
Speaker 1: you beat Chattanooga, Iowa, and then you got pummeled, pummeled

447
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:13,360
Speaker 1: by Kentucky. Um. Okay, So he was your guys know that.

448
00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:14,919
Speaker 1: That was That was the year. The year guys from

449
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:23,600
Speaker 1: Okahoma State betas well. Yeah, ant beat St. Louis and

450
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 1: lost Oakland State. Big Country versus versus Tim Duncan. What

451
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:33,080
Speaker 1: do you remember about that game? Well, I remember I

452
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,640
Speaker 1: remember Jason Scare who you probably remember nobody else does,

453
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,159
Speaker 1: banked in the three from the wing, so it was

454
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,480
Speaker 1: like a luck shot and I think he might have

455
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,200
Speaker 1: even made another one later there were backbreakers, but we

456
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 1: you know, we were heavily favored in that game. We

457
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:53,400
Speaker 1: were on a huge wind streak, number one seed, UM,

458
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,439
Speaker 1: but in close games in the n State tournament, you know,

459
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,159
Speaker 1: a player two year and there can can change it,

460
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,760
Speaker 1: and um, Oklahoma State outplay us is what I remember.

461
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,440
Speaker 1: And that was just a huge disappointment to everybody at

462
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: Wake on the heels of a just a historic run

463
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,240
Speaker 1: that we had made, so it felt like we had

464
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:14,640
Speaker 1: done something incredible but then fallen short when the when

465
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,359
Speaker 1: the chips were most down, So it was really disappointing laws.

466
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 1: But then we also thought we were going to be back,

467
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:22,360
Speaker 1: and you know, with him coming back, we thought we're

468
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 1: gonna be good, and we were close to being a

469
00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,160
Speaker 1: number one seed type the next year, but we never

470
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,280
Speaker 1: really made the run in the SA tournament that we

471
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: all hope to make. What what was what you learn

472
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 1: from Dave odhim oh Man. Dave. Dave was a great

473
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,800
Speaker 1: UM leader and an incredible contrast to the style of

474
00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:46,680
Speaker 1: play that we had used in what I say is

475
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,439
Speaker 1: the Carolina system at Hampton, Sydney. He couldn't have been

476
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,240
Speaker 1: really more different than uh than that, and so those

477
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,439
Speaker 1: UM styles in opposition was just a great education for me.

478
00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:00,520
Speaker 1: But Dave had a toughness and an underdogument by about

479
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:04,760
Speaker 1: him UM, and a leadership ability and set of qualities

480
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:09,480
Speaker 1: that were difference making. UM. He was just outstanding in

481
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,760
Speaker 1: his ability to drive and focus our team. Uh. He

482
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,080
Speaker 1: focused on fundamentals. You know, I'd say all the time,

483
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 1: pass and catch the ball, and Dave used to say

484
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:22,760
Speaker 1: that over and over again, which seems so simple that

485
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,959
Speaker 1: it's almost stupid. But we worked on passing and catching

486
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,320
Speaker 1: the ball, and we're great because we could control games

487
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,879
Speaker 1: and control tempo, and we did it really differently, you know,

488
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,239
Speaker 1: with a slow pace and the Carolina system where you're

489
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 1: trying to play sass. So it was it was just

490
00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,600
Speaker 1: great to work for him. I'm so thankful for what

491
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 1: he's you know, taught me in my career. It's interesting

492
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,320
Speaker 1: because uh, my brother actually was first was talking about

493
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:51,760
Speaker 1: passing and catching. He was He always mentioned that Sean

494
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,680
Speaker 1: Miller talks about passing and catching a ton and so obviously,

495
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,240
Speaker 1: you know, I get to coach your son some and

496
00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:01,320
Speaker 1: and you know when you remember, right, I moved out

497
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,280
Speaker 1: here to Orange County. This is like back home like

498
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:04,879
Speaker 1: two years ago, and I took my son to a

499
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 1: workout and they're doing euro steps and all this stuff,

500
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,479
Speaker 1: and I was I was like, well, where's the And

501
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 1: so the guy who's run the workouts are great, dude,

502
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 1: he works out NBA guys, and he's like, what do

503
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,120
Speaker 1: you think? And I was like, well, where's the passing

504
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,159
Speaker 1: and the catching and the pivoting. He's like, should we

505
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:25,200
Speaker 1: do that? Like yeah, Like and it's the it's it's

506
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 1: it's just like math, right Like, you can't you can't

507
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:30,119
Speaker 1: do high level math if you don't know how to

508
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 1: do addition, subtraction, multiplication, right like you can't do you

509
00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:35,920
Speaker 1: can't do radio unless you know kind of the xs

510
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:40,240
Speaker 1: and o's of executing radio. But but but somehow the

511
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 1: simplicity and I know that I want to get to

512
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,239
Speaker 1: coaching with Mike Montgomery. He's big simplicity and execution, right

513
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 1: um uh. But but just the simplicity of like, hey,

514
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,879
Speaker 1: passing and catching, Like I do this thing with kids,

515
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 1: and I do with it with when I teach a

516
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 1: coach the older guys, where I say, you know what's

517
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 1: the golden rule? And they always say, you know, do

518
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 1: unto others? Is they do onto you? All right, we'll

519
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 1: get me a good fucking pass to write the same thing. Right,

520
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,200
Speaker 1: Do you want a bad pass? Do you want one

521
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,639
Speaker 1: that's below your knees? Like? No? Well, like, give somebody

522
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:08,880
Speaker 1: a good pass. If you want to get a good pass,

523
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,159
Speaker 1: give them a good pass. Because you can't pass, you

524
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,399
Speaker 1: can't catch cleanly. It's gonna hurt your shooting percentage. You

525
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,199
Speaker 1: don't shoot the ball well. You coach not gonna let

526
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: you shoot, and you change everything you do. But it

527
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,560
Speaker 1: is it's interesting that he's a big passing and and

528
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 1: and catching guy. Why uh you left and you went

529
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,919
Speaker 1: to Stanford? Was that? When was that when Dave left? What?

530
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 1: Why did you? Why did you leave? A waken in

531
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,639
Speaker 1: two thousands? No? Not in my story and coaching is

532
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,679
Speaker 1: interesting for this. My wife graduated from medical school at

533
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 1: Wake and she was number one in her class in

534
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,920
Speaker 1: medical school, and so she basically got to choose where

535
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,680
Speaker 1: she would match as a resident. And the matching process

536
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:49,639
Speaker 1: means that you know the place that you pick and

537
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 1: fixed you is where you go. Um she chose as

538
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:58,160
Speaker 1: her top two choices University of California, San Francisco, and Stanford.

539
00:26:58,160 --> 00:26:59,919
Speaker 1: So we knew at the end of the season one

540
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: gonna move to California. We just didn't know which school

541
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 1: she was gonna be at for her residency. So I

542
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: picked up and moved out here with her and gave

543
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: up what was my dream job at wake Forest in

544
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:16,359
Speaker 1: a huge gamble um career wise, And you know, that

545
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 1: was not probably something that made sense to a lot

546
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,879
Speaker 1: of people, and looking back on it, it's just incredibly

547
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: fortunate how it worked out for me because I ended

548
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 1: up on Monty staff at Stanford, but that was only

549
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 1: after I was briefly coaching women's basketball at University San Francisco.

550
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 1: I was an assistant coach for the women's team there

551
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 1: before Monty hired me to come on to Stanford and

552
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,440
Speaker 1: like an administrative assistant role, which is not much more

553
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 1: than a secretary. And so so wait, so wait, so

554
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 1: your wife is like, hey, we're moving to California, deal

555
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,640
Speaker 1: with it. Um, Well, now we we made the decision

556
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 1: to roll the dice there. You know, I thought that

557
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 1: the well she was operating at in her career was

558
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,439
Speaker 1: been higher than where I was at that point. In

559
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,920
Speaker 1: mine and uh so I probably had some over confidence,

560
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 1: like going out to California and find something good, Um,

561
00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:13,840
Speaker 1: and did the best I could and ended up somehow

562
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,720
Speaker 1: through another great struggle luck at Stanford, where they had

563
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,679
Speaker 1: a team that was nearly number one in the country,

564
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:20,679
Speaker 1: or wasn't number one the country. The first round was

565
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 1: with him who who'd you coach? Who'd you coach with?

566
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 1: And how long is San Francisco? Mary how net Fool

567
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 1: was the all time leading scorer at San Francisco and

568
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: women's basketball. She hired me when her husband retired and

569
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 1: she and her husband had been the co head coaches,

570
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:41,520
Speaker 1: and so she hired me to be her assistant when

571
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,360
Speaker 1: he left. It was weird, you know, sort of situation,

572
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,080
Speaker 1: but it was a good situation, you know, given the

573
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: fact that we were trying to live in San Francisco.

574
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,440
Speaker 1: I need to make some cash. Um. The experience coach

575
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 1: the women was good for me. Um. I enjoyed it.

576
00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: It was unusual, it was foreign in some ways, but

577
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: I'm I'm glad that I did it. And then you know,

578
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity pretty quickly after getting that job

579
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 1: to then go to Stanford, so I did so you're

580
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:12,479
Speaker 1: you're at Stanford and then what was what was Money like?

581
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:14,800
Speaker 1: You Like now you've now you've you know, you had

582
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:17,880
Speaker 1: Tony Shaver and the Carolina background, you have Dave Odom

583
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 1: and now you're out West Coast. Money's a different He's

584
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 1: just a different dude, different, completely different style. What what what? What?

585
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 1: What was your take away from coaching with Money? Well,

586
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,720
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, Money is a different guy, but in

587
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,880
Speaker 1: a lot of great ways. Like the style that he

588
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 1: has Um was formed I guess by Judge Heathcote and

589
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: through you know, the time he was in Montana with

590
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: those nows and that's again very different from what Dave

591
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,280
Speaker 1: was at wake Forest and very different than what the

592
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: Carolina system was. So it was this an additional education

593
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 1: for me to see what made them good. Um, they

594
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 1: were good, very very differently than the two other places

595
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:02,280
Speaker 1: I've been. And you know, Money is a tough guy

596
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 1: to work for in terms of him and being really

597
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 1: smart and really demanding, And there couldn't have been a

598
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,720
Speaker 1: challenge that more excited me at the time and trying

599
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:13,480
Speaker 1: to figure out how to make it there. You know,

600
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 1: I had to learn what he thought and what he

601
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 1: wanted and learned this new offense that you know, everybody's

602
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:24,000
Speaker 1: there thought was so incredibly difficult. Um, it was a

603
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 1: great immersion for me. But the thing that I saw

604
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: pretty quickly is that we won there at Stanford more

605
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 1: because of our defense and our offense, which had been

606
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 1: the same case at Wake. And that's been a huge

607
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,040
Speaker 1: influence on me. So I think I learned a tremendous

608
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 1: amount for Mike, and I'm so grateful to him because,

609
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 1: you know, he told me the first time I met him,

610
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:45,800
Speaker 1: he said, Russ, you know, I probably won't ever be

611
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,160
Speaker 1: able to hire you here at Stamford. And I thought

612
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 1: that to be right. Um, But then somehow I locked

613
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,600
Speaker 1: up and ended up with him, and then getting carried

614
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: by him into the NBA, which is another incredible break.

615
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: So you guys go to the NBA and you're in

616
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 1: the NBA for for six years. What was that experience like? Yeah,

617
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:08,240
Speaker 1: I mean, just unbelievably positive for me. Um, going with

618
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 1: Mike was just a great, you know, great opportunity. Um.

619
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 1: You know, the program at Stanford had been so stable

620
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 1: for so long that we didn't really anticipate a change

621
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 1: like that. I was incredibly impressed with Mike taking that

622
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: risk in his own career. Um it felt a little

623
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,000
Speaker 1: bit like the risk I took and moved across country,

624
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:30,920
Speaker 1: But he just moved into a different industry in the

625
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 1: n b A and and immediately I wanted to go

626
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 1: with him. I wanted that challenge. I wanted to see

627
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,880
Speaker 1: what I could learn there and do there. And he

628
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 1: gave me a great opportunity as an assistant coach because

629
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,400
Speaker 1: he had me doing everything that the other assistants were doing,

630
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 1: even though as a basketball coach in the NBA, I

631
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 1: wasn't qualified yet because I hadn't been there, So the

632
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,880
Speaker 1: learning curve was incredibly steep. And trying to coach NBA

633
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: players when you've not had exposure to the NBA, it's

634
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,960
Speaker 1: a tough sled because those guys are the most intelligent

635
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 1: players in the world. They've been coached by the best

636
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:09,160
Speaker 1: guys consistently throughout their careers. So you're not sure what

637
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 1: you're doing, you're not gonna make much progress. So I

638
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 1: had to get up that curve really quickly. But I

639
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,560
Speaker 1: love the NBA, and anybody who would coach in the

640
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:22,240
Speaker 1: NBA would love it. Why what's it like to coach

641
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 1: Baron Davis? Because I always feel like Baron was a

642
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 1: guy who was maybe a little too smart for his

643
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,440
Speaker 1: own good, right, Like he was very very like he

644
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,680
Speaker 1: should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer, Like

645
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 1: he has that level of talent, but there's something, there's

646
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 1: just these gaping holes in his career resume What what

647
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:46,120
Speaker 1: was that experience? Like, I mean, it was you know,

648
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 1: exciting and rewarding to coach a guy as talented and

649
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,520
Speaker 1: smart as Baron is. You know, the best players with

650
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,479
Speaker 1: the best minds are the ones that are the biggest

651
00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:00,200
Speaker 1: challenges to coach. And that's true whether it's Gallic Aaron

652
00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,120
Speaker 1: or Gallex Steph Curry who have had you know, great

653
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,040
Speaker 1: fortunate coach, or guy like Tim Duncan who have had

654
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 1: a great fortunate coach. You you gotta try to figure

655
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,320
Speaker 1: out how to connect with those guys and have a

656
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 1: positive influence on them. And it's always different. Um. I

657
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 1: learned more from Baron maybe than anybody, because he is

658
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 1: so thoughtful, he's opinionated, and he's expressive. So watching his

659
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 1: career unfold in the time I was with him, it

660
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,800
Speaker 1: was really just fun. It was fun to be a

661
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 1: part of. I mean, every day was different with him. Um,

662
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:35,920
Speaker 1: but he taught me a lot. I mean, he taught

663
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 1: me more about pick and roll basketball from the perspective

664
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,880
Speaker 1: of the big guys than any other player that I

665
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 1: can think of. And you know, a huge part is,

666
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 1: you know, Doug, if you're handling the ball on a

667
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:48,720
Speaker 1: pick and roll and you're working with a good operator

668
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:51,280
Speaker 1: who setting picks, you're gonna be really good. And I

669
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 1: think that that's one thing I learned from Barren is

670
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: how to teach guys better, um, what to do in

671
00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:00,560
Speaker 1: in a lot of different situations. So I'm grateful, you know,

672
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: to everything I experienced in coaching with him. And like

673
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 1: a lot of people also probably think there could have

674
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,960
Speaker 1: been more for him and maybe um, and that's not

675
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 1: a criticism, but that's sort of the way you feel

676
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,000
Speaker 1: about every guy. I mean, can you get more out

677
00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:18,239
Speaker 1: of this whole thing? And um, you know, I love

678
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,000
Speaker 1: the time I spent with Barron. I got some great,

679
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 1: great memories of the two thousand and seven team that

680
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:26,200
Speaker 1: we believe, team that we shared together. Yeah, it was

681
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 1: an amazing, amazing group. Um done you you stuck out,

682
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,919
Speaker 1: you hung on through Don Nelson became the next coach.

683
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:39,239
Speaker 1: What was Nellie like man Nellie Um, Yeah, just a

684
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:44,840
Speaker 1: just a fascinating person. Nelly is Um he's got the

685
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 1: I mean, if there ever is a basketball genius, UM,

686
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 1: I'd say he'd be one of them. There may be

687
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:53,719
Speaker 1: a few. Um, but in terms of having the experience

688
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,440
Speaker 1: and knowledge and insight, I mean, he said and did

689
00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 1: things that I never would have thought, um, you know,

690
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 1: would make any sense. And and somehow there was always

691
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 1: a nugget I could get from watching Nellie UM. And

692
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:09,480
Speaker 1: we had so much fun. I mean, you know, the

693
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,239
Speaker 1: four years I spent with Nellie with the funnish years

694
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 1: I've had in my life, because he knew that in

695
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:17,600
Speaker 1: the NBA you had to be really good, but you

696
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,400
Speaker 1: also had to make it through the season, and there

697
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,919
Speaker 1: were components of making it through the season that we're

698
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,920
Speaker 1: related to having a good time. So we got that right.

699
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 1: And then watching him in the playoffs in two thousand

700
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 1: and seven, I got a cleanse at him and at

701
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,520
Speaker 1: his very best, and that was fascinating. I mean, to

702
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 1: see how good, how well a guy could do it

703
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,200
Speaker 1: on the coaching side of this business. He did it

704
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 1: that well. Then. UM, I don't know that we were

705
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 1: the most consistent staff, But that that short period of

706
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 1: time we were the best I've ever seen. What what

707
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 1: what specifically about it was was so good. Well. Nellie's

708
00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:00,319
Speaker 1: ability to see things from the players perspective and then

709
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:05,239
Speaker 1: apply his incredible experience, it's just different, um, And it's

710
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: hard to it's hard to really describe that quickly. Um.

711
00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 1: There's all these little things though, that that we would

712
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 1: he would say, and that we would work on. He

713
00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: would say, if you switch, you must have not and

714
00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 1: that's obvious, but I never heard anybody say that. Um.

715
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 1: He would say, you have to flop against the flopper,

716
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:28,279
Speaker 1: which also is obvious, but nobody really would think that

717
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,759
Speaker 1: way or teach that. Um. We would always attack mismatches

718
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,359
Speaker 1: with the small and the big, and so that's a Nelly. Um,

719
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,719
Speaker 1: you know he figured that out for everybody else did.

720
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 1: I guess. There's a million little things like that that

721
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:48,040
Speaker 1: you've got to sort of experience to understand. And the

722
00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:50,840
Speaker 1: thing that made Nellie so great is we try anything.

723
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,719
Speaker 1: He would try anything, and real often the things we

724
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,360
Speaker 1: tried didn't work, but also real often the things we

725
00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,919
Speaker 1: tried did work. So I came out of the number

726
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:01,799
Speaker 1: of years and games with Nelly feeling like I had

727
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:06,160
Speaker 1: experienced more different things, um than were even possible. So

728
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:09,520
Speaker 1: it was great. I mean, I can't I can't tell

729
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:11,719
Speaker 1: you how much I enjoyed the time that we spent

730
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: together for all sorts of different little reasons like that,

731
00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: Steph Curry walks in the door as a rookie, what

732
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,839
Speaker 1: did you think your initial impression was? What? Well, when

733
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:26,799
Speaker 1: we drafted him, there were there was not a consensus

734
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,320
Speaker 1: at Steph Curry was going to be a great NBA player.

735
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:32,440
Speaker 1: Uh Nelly was adamant that he could be a superstar,

736
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 1: and so we picked him. I think it was seventh,

737
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,280
Speaker 1: But there had to be three point guards taken before

738
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 1: him for him to fall for fall to us, and

739
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,880
Speaker 1: that's what the whole organization was hoping would happen. So

740
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:47,279
Speaker 1: that's the you know, just an incredible story of luck there,

741
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,800
Speaker 1: I think was Tyreek Evans, Johnny Flynn, and uh Ricky

742
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:54,319
Speaker 1: Rubio were all selected before Stapp and so when he game,

743
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:58,000
Speaker 1: he was physically underdeveloped for the NBA. He was young looking,

744
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 1: and he was also um a guy that seemed a

745
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:04,760
Speaker 1: little green, you know for the business of the NBA.

746
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:10,600
Speaker 1: But much like Tim Duncan is He's an incredible teammate.

747
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 1: He's got a great brain for the game, and he

748
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,480
Speaker 1: has a desire to be good. It's just different. So

749
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 1: watching him trying to figure it out was fascinating. We

750
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:22,239
Speaker 1: had a kid on the team and I said, kid,

751
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:24,359
Speaker 1: I'm thinking like college. We had a gun of team

752
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 1: named Anthony Morrow that year that we all said was

753
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,840
Speaker 1: the best shooter in the NBA at that time. He

754
00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:32,719
Speaker 1: made it out of Georgia Tech. He was undrafted, he

755
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 1: took him out of Summer League. UM, but he was

756
00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:36,920
Speaker 1: also from that part of the country. So we had

757
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 1: a group of young guys who worked every day, and

758
00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,680
Speaker 1: Morrow was able to shoot at a level that was

759
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,839
Speaker 1: close to Chris Mullin. And Chris Mullin was of course

760
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,440
Speaker 1: the best shooter in the organization at the time. And

761
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:52,759
Speaker 1: so Steph becoming what he became started then. And I

762
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:56,279
Speaker 1: got to see that early and watch him work to

763
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:59,680
Speaker 1: become the type of ball then and shooter that he's now.

764
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 1: But um, and and you know, just haven't been witnessed

765
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,360
Speaker 1: to where that all started. Um, there's something I'm grateful for.

766
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,680
Speaker 1: When we went to Madison Square Garden the first time,

767
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,279
Speaker 1: and you know, there was the arena stuff most wanted

768
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:16,360
Speaker 1: to play and play well in. Nellie was so hard

769
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:18,600
Speaker 1: on stuff that game. I think he played like four

770
00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:21,840
Speaker 1: minutes or something in that game. You know, Steff just

771
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:27,320
Speaker 1: wouldn't allow that sort of set back to affect them negatively,

772
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,680
Speaker 1: affecting him positively and made him drive and improve work harder.

773
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 1: And that's always how it goes with guys who end

774
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: up exceeding expectations away stuff has alright. So so so Russ,

775
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: You're you're in the NBA, You're coaching, went Don Nelson,

776
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:44,399
Speaker 1: What made you want to get into college coaching as

777
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:49,200
Speaker 1: a head coach? Well, um, you know, every coach I

778
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,560
Speaker 1: think you know aspires to be in a head coach

779
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:55,319
Speaker 1: at some level. And uh, I was in an entry

780
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,239
Speaker 1: position in the NBA because it appeared that our team

781
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 1: was gonna get sold and there was gonna be a

782
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:05,160
Speaker 1: lot of change, and you know, the opportunity at Irvine

783
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,000
Speaker 1: was available in the a D at the time, Mike

784
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:10,719
Speaker 1: Izzy and I had worked together at Stanford. So the

785
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:16,880
Speaker 1: opportunity to possibly come here, established a program and identity

786
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,040
Speaker 1: and have a place like this to be with my

787
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:22,640
Speaker 1: family was just really appealing. And I'm glad I made

788
00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 1: the move now, you know, the first couple of years,

789
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 1: I wasn't is certain about that because leaving the NBA

790
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:31,480
Speaker 1: is a big change and a big move, and not

791
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 1: many guys who get to that level decided to go

792
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:37,240
Speaker 1: another place. But I think that's been a good decision

793
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 1: for me. So you get to when you took the job,

794
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: had you've been to UCIS campus. I don't know. I

795
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,360
Speaker 1: don't remember how it worked in terms of your interview.

796
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,520
Speaker 1: You know, I knew that the coach that was in

797
00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:53,360
Speaker 1: place before me was at the end of his contract,

798
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,040
Speaker 1: and I knew there was a possibility of an opening,

799
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:59,400
Speaker 1: So yeah, I made to drive through campus, but I

800
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,680
Speaker 1: didn't really know much about it. Um. I knew mainly

801
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:05,760
Speaker 1: the A D was new and was trying to establish,

802
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,719
Speaker 1: you know something then and you know now looking back,

803
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,239
Speaker 1: we've done everything at that time we set out to do.

804
00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:14,560
Speaker 1: But it's a leap of faith a little bit, and

805
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 1: it's um it was one on his part, it's one

806
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,319
Speaker 1: on my part, and I'm glad we both made that leap,

807
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:22,520
Speaker 1: and I'm glad it's worked out the way it has.

808
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:25,040
Speaker 1: But I wasn't very familiar with Irvine or the Big West,

809
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 1: and when I made the jump. So, like I've always thought,

810
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:34,960
Speaker 1: you get to that campus and look, it's it's an

811
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:40,719
Speaker 1: incredible campus. Um, right, you know, right, but but it's

812
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:42,040
Speaker 1: it's one of those days where you I'm sure you

813
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:44,800
Speaker 1: should have have a nice arena and you know, because

814
00:41:45,239 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 1: you know, the locker rooms are okay whatever, but at

815
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:48,760
Speaker 1: that level, and I know you're coming from the NBA,

816
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:52,319
Speaker 1: so it's just a hard evaluation. But you had done

817
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,440
Speaker 1: some of them. Thinks okay, like what is how are

818
00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:57,399
Speaker 1: we not? How are they not winning here? I'm I'm

819
00:41:57,440 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 1: just wondering, like what what do you remember about going

820
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,640
Speaker 1: through your head about your initial impressions of u C.

821
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:06,640
Speaker 1: I well, I remember thinking that the potential was outstanding, um,

822
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,040
Speaker 1: because of the location, because of the quality of the

823
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:13,200
Speaker 1: education and the UC system. It didn't make sense to

824
00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 1: me why they hadn't been better in the in the

825
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,960
Speaker 1: recent history. UM. It was hard to figure that out

826
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,279
Speaker 1: from the perspective I had, which was a really limited perspective.

827
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:25,800
Speaker 1: But I also thought when I looked at the league

828
00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:28,839
Speaker 1: that because the only team that was going to make

829
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:32,560
Speaker 1: the tournament was a tournament winner, that was a fair

830
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 1: amount of parody. And that's proven to be true. You know,

831
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:39,760
Speaker 1: the Big West rep from the to the Insane Tournament

832
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,240
Speaker 1: has been different so many times recently that every school

833
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:46,080
Speaker 1: has a shot. That was initially my my thought process

834
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:48,160
Speaker 1: because I knew that that you see, I had never

835
00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:50,360
Speaker 1: made the ins Tournament, so I thought that that was

836
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:54,760
Speaker 1: obvious to be the ultimate goal at the time, along

837
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:57,480
Speaker 1: with trying to build sustainable success. But I thought it

838
00:42:57,480 --> 00:42:59,959
Speaker 1: would be doable. And it turns out all those thoughts

839
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:03,000
Speaker 1: at the time, we're right. But the journey, it's it's

840
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 1: been you know, it's not been smooth. It was one

841
00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:07,800
Speaker 1: that we had to worked really hard to uh you know,

842
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:12,280
Speaker 1: make changes gradually and make some changes real significantly right away.

843
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,120
Speaker 1: So it's been good, I mean, but there's there's no

844
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:17,560
Speaker 1: job like this it is easy. This one has a

845
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:20,239
Speaker 1: lot to it though, and I still think there's room

846
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:26,120
Speaker 1: for us to grow. What was that first team like, well,

847
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:29,680
Speaker 1: we were veteran teams. So when I came here, they

848
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:31,759
Speaker 1: made me believe that we were set up to win

849
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:35,520
Speaker 1: right away. And I can see now looking back, while

850
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:38,360
Speaker 1: they said that because we had talent, we had you know,

851
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:44,000
Speaker 1: some veteran guys, some veteran guards, but the the you know,

852
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:46,279
Speaker 1: everybody says the culture wasn't there. We didn't have a

853
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:48,360
Speaker 1: we didn't have a tightly knit group. We didn't have

854
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:52,200
Speaker 1: a group that was really competitive like we are now,

855
00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:55,279
Speaker 1: that was really committed like we are now. So we

856
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 1: were a lot further from winning, I think than that.

857
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,960
Speaker 1: I understood then that the people who brought me here

858
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 1: understood then. And so we had to make some changes,

859
00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:07,160
Speaker 1: and we had to develop an identity. Uh, none of

860
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,080
Speaker 1: that was in place. The identity was not in place here,

861
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:12,480
Speaker 1: and so I think that's the most critical thing in

862
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:15,280
Speaker 1: a college program is have an identity for your program

863
00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:20,160
Speaker 1: that fits your campus, your university, your community. At this stage,

864
00:44:20,239 --> 00:44:23,240
Speaker 1: we've got that, and I want to guard that very carefully.

865
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:26,040
Speaker 1: So how did you go about how did you go

866
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:28,160
Speaker 1: about like implementing that? Like, what what are the what

867
00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:30,960
Speaker 1: are the steps? You know, somebody's gonna build it and

868
00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:34,120
Speaker 1: you inherit somebody else's program, a veteran team. What are

869
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:37,840
Speaker 1: the steps that you took in order to, uh, in

870
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 1: order to buildin that that culture. You know, I can

871
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:45,560
Speaker 1: look back and name them easily now, but it was

872
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:47,360
Speaker 1: it was maybe a little bit harder to see this

873
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:49,840
Speaker 1: at the time. The first thing I wanted was to

874
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:53,360
Speaker 1: have guys who wanted to be here and would be

875
00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:56,839
Speaker 1: brought in to the things we were asking to do. UM.

876
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,600
Speaker 1: And then we had to decide how we're gonna build

877
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:02,759
Speaker 1: a team. We're gonna try to get transfers, whether they

878
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,800
Speaker 1: be from you know, JUCO situations or other places, or

879
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,520
Speaker 1: where We're gonna recruit high school kids and try to

880
00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:11,359
Speaker 1: commit to player development. That was the route we chose.

881
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:13,759
Speaker 1: We're gonna take high school kids and and be a

882
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:18,800
Speaker 1: player development type program. UM. And we had to you know,

883
00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:21,120
Speaker 1: sort of set out what we envisioned our style of

884
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:23,279
Speaker 1: play to be. When I got here, I was the

885
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:25,800
Speaker 1: biggest guy on the team. That's one thing I remember.

886
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,240
Speaker 1: I mean I was the biggest guy in the program.

887
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,960
Speaker 1: And we set out very quickly to change that, in

888
00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:34,839
Speaker 1: part based on what I've seen at Stanford and wake

889
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:37,880
Speaker 1: Forest and my thinking that we could commit to that

890
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:41,680
Speaker 1: with high academic standards and make it work. UM. So

891
00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:44,120
Speaker 1: we did that, and then we hit some you know,

892
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:47,920
Speaker 1: some singles early on in recruiting by getting guys who

893
00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:50,919
Speaker 1: were undervalued, and then we pretty quickly hit a couple

894
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,160
Speaker 1: of home runs with some of the big guys that

895
00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:56,320
Speaker 1: we got and when we did that, we turned the corner.

896
00:45:57,640 --> 00:45:59,680
Speaker 1: Who is the guy? Who is who is the turn

897
00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:01,840
Speaker 1: the owner recruited men. I think Mama do is the

898
00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:06,080
Speaker 1: one that people would point to. I remember you getting better,

899
00:46:06,239 --> 00:46:09,279
Speaker 1: you know, I think it was your your third year.

900
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:15,120
Speaker 1: Uh you know, I thought, you know, Will Davis, you're

901
00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:17,840
Speaker 1: on the right track. Um, you know. Eric Wise was

902
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:19,880
Speaker 1: the best player when I got here, and so he

903
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:23,160
Speaker 1: transferred after my first year to USC and ended up

904
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:25,759
Speaker 1: having a really played my dad played for my dad.

905
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:30,759
Speaker 1: And the guy that we got because Eric left when

906
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:34,879
Speaker 1: he left was Will Davis. And around the same time,

907
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:36,800
Speaker 1: we got a kid named Mike Best. It was a

908
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:40,560
Speaker 1: six ten kid who was underdevelopment became very good. We

909
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:43,120
Speaker 1: got a commitment from a point guard named Alex Young

910
00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:45,680
Speaker 1: who nobody had ever heard of, and that kid had

911
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:49,520
Speaker 1: no offers you from a small town Phoenix, Oregon, and

912
00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:52,160
Speaker 1: that kid became the all time leader and assists and

913
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:55,400
Speaker 1: wins here you see, Irvine. So that was really the

914
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:58,080
Speaker 1: group that that we brought in that got us going.

915
00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:01,240
Speaker 1: But the guys that we we had at the beginning

916
00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:04,040
Speaker 1: and that we kept from the team that Pat Douglas

917
00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 1: had were equally important. One of those guys on my

918
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 1: staff now Mike Watt or all our fans remember him

919
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:12,200
Speaker 1: because it was Afro, but Mike became, you know, the

920
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:14,960
Speaker 1: embodiment of what we want our program to be in

921
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:18,719
Speaker 1: terms of being, um, a committed guy who gets a

922
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:20,840
Speaker 1: lot better and figures out a way to play a

923
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,839
Speaker 1: role because he's really competitive. He did all those things,

924
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 1: end up being an All conference guy in Power four.

925
00:47:26,040 --> 00:47:28,840
Speaker 1: He's only six one, So those guys get a lot

926
00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:31,480
Speaker 1: of the credit. And then the recruiting class that changed

927
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:33,640
Speaker 1: it all was when we got Mama Do. And we

928
00:47:33,719 --> 00:47:35,799
Speaker 1: didn't just get Mama Do. In that class, we got

929
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:39,239
Speaker 1: Janice Demacopolis, who was a seven foot two Greek kid,

930
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:42,360
Speaker 1: and we got Luke Nelson Um who's from England and

931
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:44,279
Speaker 1: he went on to be the player of the year

932
00:47:44,320 --> 00:47:47,040
Speaker 1: in our league. So that class was the one that

933
00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:52,759
Speaker 1: really changed I think everybody's outlook about what we could be. Two. Um.

934
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,880
Speaker 1: You know, you guys actually kind of stumbled into the

935
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:59,920
Speaker 1: Big West Tournament. Right like you lost to Santa Barbara

936
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:03,320
Speaker 1: in the thunder Dome, you got blown out by Davis

937
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 1: last game of the year. You have beat nineteen by

938
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:10,759
Speaker 1: at U C. Davis, and right and yeah, you gotta

939
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:13,680
Speaker 1: gotta go dodge the cow patties and go play U C. Davis.

940
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:17,960
Speaker 1: And so you go to Anaheim as a team that

941
00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:21,000
Speaker 1: had had really played, you know, great basketball in the

942
00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:23,840
Speaker 1: kind of the middle of the year. Um, what do

943
00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:26,279
Speaker 1: you remember about that tournament that you your your first

944
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:30,520
Speaker 1: Big West tournament that you won, You beat Riverside, you

945
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:33,320
Speaker 1: had that war against Santa Barbara that you want in overtime,

946
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:35,640
Speaker 1: and then you ultimately beat Hawaii to go to the

947
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:39,759
Speaker 1: n c A Tournament. Yeah, you know, so what I

948
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:43,080
Speaker 1: remember We've been injured a lot that year and the

949
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 1: previous year to that, we had won the conference championship

950
00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:49,080
Speaker 1: in the regular season, but it gotten upset in the

951
00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:53,839
Speaker 1: tournament by cal Poly. And so those experiences are impactful

952
00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:56,960
Speaker 1: for programs and for players. So I think all of

953
00:48:57,000 --> 00:48:59,680
Speaker 1: our team knew that we needed a gear up for

954
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:02,239
Speaker 1: the tournament. I mean we've always known that, but having

955
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:05,200
Speaker 1: to haven't actually experienced it as difference. So we knew

956
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:08,800
Speaker 1: we got a fresh start with that tournament. Um, but

957
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:10,680
Speaker 1: we knew there were teams in our league who were

958
00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 1: as good as we were. Santa Barbara is a great example.

959
00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:17,799
Speaker 1: I mean I vividly remember the semifinal game that year. Um,

960
00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:21,719
Speaker 1: Alan Williams, who has enjoyed an NBA career of significance.

961
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:23,560
Speaker 1: Now you know, it took a shot that would have

962
00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:25,600
Speaker 1: beat us. Um there was a tag game and he

963
00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:28,279
Speaker 1: shot it just before the buzzer and regulation and it's

964
00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:30,120
Speaker 1: a shot he usually makes and he had to shoot

965
00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:33,480
Speaker 1: over Mama do so he missed it. But if that

966
00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:35,880
Speaker 1: goes in, then you know, we don't do that year.

967
00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:37,920
Speaker 1: What we did, we just kind of the way the

968
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:39,839
Speaker 1: Big West goes. But we found the way to win

969
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:43,520
Speaker 1: that game in overtime. Um, we played with you know,

970
00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:45,880
Speaker 1: we played, made some great plays and overtime of that

971
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:48,880
Speaker 1: game to beat Santa Barbara. And then we stood up

972
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:53,600
Speaker 1: really substantial barrage from Hawaii. I think we're down thirteen

973
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:55,840
Speaker 1: to want or something like that the championship games. So

974
00:49:55,960 --> 00:50:00,160
Speaker 1: we showed some toughness, UM, some resilience and coming back

975
00:50:00,239 --> 00:50:02,960
Speaker 1: in that game and and kind of stretching it out

976
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:06,520
Speaker 1: towards the end of what was a really tightly contested

977
00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:08,520
Speaker 1: game the whole way the way you'd expect the complished

978
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:11,200
Speaker 1: heurnment to being and then the elation I remember everybody

979
00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:14,319
Speaker 1: feeling to have accomplished the goal that we had all

980
00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:16,920
Speaker 1: set out for, you know, and we had made clear

981
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:20,080
Speaker 1: in our recruiting, and we had you know, named consistently

982
00:50:20,360 --> 00:50:23,000
Speaker 1: was you know, what we were chasing to accomplish. That

983
00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:26,200
Speaker 1: was really a special feeling, not just for our team

984
00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:28,879
Speaker 1: and our staff, but for all the supporters of you see.

985
00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:31,640
Speaker 1: But I'll never forget the way people rushed the floor

986
00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:34,320
Speaker 1: at that time and just how it all felt. It

987
00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:37,560
Speaker 1: was It felt like we had really accomplished something. You

988
00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:39,759
Speaker 1: guys almost beat Louisville that year and there's a two

989
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:45,880
Speaker 1: point two point game. Um yeah, yeah, well we you know,

990
00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:48,640
Speaker 1: I knew that we would have a chance because when

991
00:50:48,719 --> 00:50:50,839
Speaker 1: we had Mom, but we had a chance against any team,

992
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:53,640
Speaker 1: especially if we could keep from turning the ball over

993
00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:58,040
Speaker 1: and keep the tempo you know, normal for us because

994
00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:00,880
Speaker 1: he's so difficult to play a game as a person

995
00:51:01,080 --> 00:51:03,600
Speaker 1: like Mama do with his size. So I thought that

996
00:51:03,640 --> 00:51:06,439
Speaker 1: he'd be a factor against Louisville, and I didn't think

997
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:08,439
Speaker 1: that he was going to get you know, crazy foul

998
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:11,480
Speaker 1: calls and all that kind of played out the way.

999
00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:14,439
Speaker 1: We thought. Louisville was not a very good three point

1000
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:18,759
Speaker 1: shooting team. Um, they relied heavily on points around the rim,

1001
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:20,719
Speaker 1: and we did just about as good a job as

1002
00:51:20,760 --> 00:51:23,200
Speaker 1: ain't by preventing those type of points. So the whole

1003
00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:24,600
Speaker 1: key for us was to be able to take care

1004
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:27,239
Speaker 1: of the ball and respond to the different types of

1005
00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:30,360
Speaker 1: defensive looks Louisville was gonna throw at us. Um, it

1006
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 1: had been helpful to me to have played against Patino's

1007
00:51:33,360 --> 00:51:36,640
Speaker 1: teams when I was awake forest to coach against him.

1008
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:39,319
Speaker 1: We had a great week of preparation. Our guys went

1009
00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:41,880
Speaker 1: into that event thinking that we could win games, not

1010
00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:44,640
Speaker 1: just one, but thinking we can win games. And had

1011
00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:46,480
Speaker 1: we been able to beat Louisville, we'd have had a

1012
00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:51,239
Speaker 1: chance in the next round two. Yeah, um, okay, so

1013
00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:56,160
Speaker 1: it the the Mama do thing is interesting, right, Like

1014
00:51:56,239 --> 00:52:00,160
Speaker 1: if he was he was ten years older. He he's

1015
00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:03,479
Speaker 1: in the NBA and he's on somebody's bench or something

1016
00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:06,360
Speaker 1: with it, Like, it's really crazy how the league is,

1017
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:09,879
Speaker 1: how fast the league has changed where he couldn't find

1018
00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:14,040
Speaker 1: a team. Yeah, it was it was tough, you know,

1019
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:17,200
Speaker 1: seeing that for him, because of how badly he wanted

1020
00:52:17,239 --> 00:52:20,040
Speaker 1: it and and how hard he worked to try to

1021
00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:23,560
Speaker 1: create that opportunity for himself. But then he just couldn't

1022
00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:27,920
Speaker 1: make it fit. And you know, Mamma, who's now playing

1023
00:52:28,040 --> 00:52:30,600
Speaker 1: professionally at different places in the world, and he's doing well.

1024
00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:33,239
Speaker 1: He's successful, and I do expect you to come back

1025
00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:36,239
Speaker 1: and graduate at some point from Irvine. But I wanted

1026
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:39,680
Speaker 1: that badly for him. And I understood the NBA too.

1027
00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:42,640
Speaker 1: I mean, the NBA was changing towards, you know, more

1028
00:52:42,719 --> 00:52:46,560
Speaker 1: of a spread game. Um Mama, who's pick and roll

1029
00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:50,640
Speaker 1: defensive ability was you know, something that people zeroed in

1030
00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:54,600
Speaker 1: on as a weakness that his um that could be

1031
00:52:54,719 --> 00:52:57,560
Speaker 1: overcome by NBA players. And so he didn't make it.

1032
00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:01,040
Speaker 1: And he even struggled to catch on in the d League,

1033
00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,120
Speaker 1: which surprised me some based on what they told me,

1034
00:53:04,239 --> 00:53:05,719
Speaker 1: the team that took him, and I thought they were

1035
00:53:05,719 --> 00:53:07,719
Speaker 1: going to be committed to him for longer than they were.

1036
00:53:08,320 --> 00:53:09,719
Speaker 1: But mom and was a guy you sort of have

1037
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:12,360
Speaker 1: to figure out how to work with and use, and

1038
00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:15,120
Speaker 1: we did that year. We did it well, that's to

1039
00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:18,440
Speaker 1: his credit, but unfortunately just didn't work out for him

1040
00:53:18,480 --> 00:53:20,720
Speaker 1: in the NBA. And like you said, when the rules

1041
00:53:20,760 --> 00:53:23,480
Speaker 1: were different and the emphasis were different in the NBA,

1042
00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:28,759
Speaker 1: he would have made But in two thousand fifteen, he couldn't. Uh,

1043
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 1: you had a kid who was about as remarkable a

1044
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:37,279
Speaker 1: college player as anyone has ever had. And I don't

1045
00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:40,640
Speaker 1: think most of the mainstream America knows about Jonathan Galloway

1046
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:43,480
Speaker 1: defensive players here about three years in a row in

1047
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:46,200
Speaker 1: the in the big last. Yeah, three in a row.

1048
00:53:46,480 --> 00:53:48,640
Speaker 1: And uh and I didn't think it was closed any

1049
00:53:48,640 --> 00:53:51,239
Speaker 1: of those three years. That's how good he was. And

1050
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:57,880
Speaker 1: what's crazy about? Yeah, So he's and he's from like

1051
00:53:58,360 --> 00:54:00,279
Speaker 1: the way he plays. If I said, where do you

1052
00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:02,120
Speaker 1: think this guy is from? And like in l A

1053
00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:04,600
Speaker 1: and you would pick any sort of the blue collar spots,

1054
00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:07,839
Speaker 1: like he's from Brentwood, which is probably the nicest part

1055
00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:12,279
Speaker 1: of of Los Angeles to live in. How did you from?

1056
00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:16,640
Speaker 1: He's not from Brentwood in Los Angeles, Fromwood in northern

1057
00:54:16,719 --> 00:54:22,000
Speaker 1: California in the Bay Area. So it's is Bentwin. Northern

1058
00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:25,080
Speaker 1: California's nice has been when in southern California, No, man,

1059
00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:30,759
Speaker 1: it's it's it's real different. Um, So tell me about

1060
00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:32,200
Speaker 1: tell me about when he went, when when you first

1061
00:54:32,239 --> 00:54:35,600
Speaker 1: saw him? When when you first saw him? What? What? What?

1062
00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:39,520
Speaker 1: What do you remember? You don't remember his motor Um?

1063
00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:44,160
Speaker 1: He clearly wanted badly to be really good, and it

1064
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:47,160
Speaker 1: seemed then when I first saw him, sort of frustrated

1065
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:49,560
Speaker 1: that he wasn't better and a lot of the things

1066
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:51,920
Speaker 1: that that he you know, people would have wanted him

1067
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:54,320
Speaker 1: to be able to do. UM. But I remember, you know,

1068
00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:56,320
Speaker 1: when I got to know him, he's just an incredibly

1069
00:54:56,360 --> 00:55:01,200
Speaker 1: hard worker. Uh. He had size and desire that we're different,

1070
00:55:01,520 --> 00:55:03,600
Speaker 1: you know, that that we could typically get. You know

1071
00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:05,840
Speaker 1: when I say size, you know, he was just a rangy,

1072
00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:10,759
Speaker 1: athletic kid who we thought UM could develop into either

1073
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:12,839
Speaker 1: a center or a power forward. And I recruited him

1074
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:15,000
Speaker 1: as a power forward. But one of the things that

1075
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:17,200
Speaker 1: made him so good was that he could defend bigger

1076
00:55:17,239 --> 00:55:22,200
Speaker 1: guys or smaller guys. Really could defend anybody and rebounded.

1077
00:55:23,120 --> 00:55:26,000
Speaker 1: You know, getting a guy like that to buy into

1078
00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:30,719
Speaker 1: a role that's not glamorous is often really difficult. But

1079
00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:33,239
Speaker 1: with Jonathan and what' man, there's never been a better

1080
00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:36,960
Speaker 1: teammate than him. Um. I told people, I told some

1081
00:55:37,040 --> 00:55:39,000
Speaker 1: people at the end of last year that you know,

1082
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:41,759
Speaker 1: I hadn't seen a kid have an impact like he's

1083
00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:44,800
Speaker 1: had since I coached him. Duncan at Wake and I

1084
00:55:44,880 --> 00:55:48,759
Speaker 1: say that because John just impacted our team's culture. He

1085
00:55:48,840 --> 00:55:52,480
Speaker 1: impacted how you know, good at guys are group you

1086
00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:55,719
Speaker 1: know all wanted to be, and he changed the way

1087
00:55:55,760 --> 00:55:59,680
Speaker 1: we competed every day. So he's he's just really good man.

1088
00:55:59,719 --> 00:56:02,239
Speaker 1: As a I was player, he's just really really good.

1089
00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:05,000
Speaker 1: And he just signed a big deal in Denmark. He

1090
00:56:05,080 --> 00:56:07,680
Speaker 1: went to a really high level professionally, so I'm happy

1091
00:56:07,719 --> 00:56:09,279
Speaker 1: for him. I wouldn't be surprised if one day he

1092
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:12,000
Speaker 1: ends up in the day totally. I mean, he just

1093
00:56:12,360 --> 00:56:14,439
Speaker 1: he can defend the rim, he can rebound, he knows

1094
00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:19,600
Speaker 1: his role, and he's a great teammate, like I want him. Yeah, well,

1095
00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:21,279
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I mean he can't play for you

1096
00:56:21,520 --> 00:56:23,640
Speaker 1: a player or vine and be a successful I you're

1097
00:56:23,640 --> 00:56:27,399
Speaker 1: not a smart kid. Um, what's it like to pull

1098
00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:30,920
Speaker 1: that upset? I mean, thirteen four upset? I thought you

1099
00:56:30,960 --> 00:56:34,080
Speaker 1: guys were underseated. But you get k State and obviously

1100
00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:37,759
Speaker 1: one of their best players doesn't play. But but you know,

1101
00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:40,400
Speaker 1: you you beat a really good Kansas State team and

1102
00:56:40,680 --> 00:56:42,520
Speaker 1: this is a long time coming for you, a long

1103
00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:47,200
Speaker 1: time coming for your program. Um, and you know it

1104
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:49,160
Speaker 1: was a tie game at halftime too. It's one of

1105
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:51,279
Speaker 1: those games where it wasn't like you lead the whole

1106
00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:53,080
Speaker 1: way and they were super tight and made to come

1107
00:56:53,120 --> 00:56:55,680
Speaker 1: back late like you, guys were challenged and they played

1108
00:56:55,719 --> 00:56:58,239
Speaker 1: pretty well. What's it like to to finally win an

1109
00:56:58,320 --> 00:57:01,759
Speaker 1: n C aternament game. Yeah, it was, I mean it

1110
00:57:01,920 --> 00:57:06,560
Speaker 1: was great. UM. Just super impressed with my players how

1111
00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:11,279
Speaker 1: competitively they approached the game and then competed in it. Um,

1112
00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:13,520
Speaker 1: it wasn't. It was a really good game. You know.

1113
00:57:13,560 --> 00:57:15,800
Speaker 1: We knew it was a good matchup for us, especially

1114
00:57:15,880 --> 00:57:19,200
Speaker 1: with them missing Wade, and we had an advantage because

1115
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:22,480
Speaker 1: we've played them the year before early in the season,

1116
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:25,960
Speaker 1: and they had drilled us in Manhattan. Um, in part

1117
00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:28,400
Speaker 1: because we were at that time just a really inexperienced

1118
00:57:28,440 --> 00:57:31,320
Speaker 1: group of players. UM, and the guys we had sort

1119
00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:33,760
Speaker 1: of you know, grown up for two years, and the

1120
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:36,400
Speaker 1: guys they had were all also still the same, but

1121
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:40,200
Speaker 1: probably didn't fully respect us the way maybe they would

1122
00:57:40,200 --> 00:57:42,640
Speaker 1: have if they had never seen us, and based on

1123
00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:45,760
Speaker 1: our record. We got down ten early in the first

1124
00:57:45,800 --> 00:57:48,640
Speaker 1: half and it looked like they could go the way

1125
00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:50,800
Speaker 1: the game in Manhattan had, but we fought back. It

1126
00:57:50,920 --> 00:57:54,200
Speaker 1: made a bunch of tough plays and made some defensive stands,

1127
00:57:54,280 --> 00:57:57,240
Speaker 1: and we were really fortunate because their best guard got

1128
00:57:57,320 --> 00:57:59,960
Speaker 1: two fouls early and I thought we did a great

1129
00:58:00,160 --> 00:58:04,120
Speaker 1: job of drawing both of those foul cahols and that

1130
00:58:04,240 --> 00:58:07,440
Speaker 1: was significant. Um. And then by the time we got

1131
00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:09,840
Speaker 1: in the halftime, our guys were confident, and so we

1132
00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:11,760
Speaker 1: thought we would have a chance to win the game.

1133
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:14,240
Speaker 1: The game and unfolded the way we expected it would,

1134
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:17,120
Speaker 1: and then we went out and just really played great

1135
00:58:17,160 --> 00:58:23,640
Speaker 1: basketball in the second half to beat them. Um. You've Uh,

1136
00:58:24,640 --> 00:58:29,400
Speaker 1: you're a guy who is unafraid of of interacting with fans,

1137
00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:34,240
Speaker 1: of interacting with other players, and like you know, like

1138
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:40,640
Speaker 1: um in in in the Oregon game. Um, you know

1139
00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:43,160
Speaker 1: you're getting onto one of their players. And obviously it

1140
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:46,880
Speaker 1: came back to the press conference. If you could do

1141
00:58:46,960 --> 00:58:49,640
Speaker 1: it all over again, would would you? Would you do

1142
00:58:49,760 --> 00:58:55,280
Speaker 1: it again? You know? A great question? And uh, And

1143
00:58:55,400 --> 00:58:59,080
Speaker 1: I love what you do because you're a straight talker

1144
00:58:59,160 --> 00:59:00,920
Speaker 1: and you say what you say inc so there's not

1145
00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:04,160
Speaker 1: anything out of bounds with anything you ask me relative

1146
00:59:04,240 --> 00:59:07,760
Speaker 1: to this. You know, I really regret the way the

1147
00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:10,200
Speaker 1: whole thing showed up in the media because it took

1148
00:59:10,240 --> 00:59:13,800
Speaker 1: away from what our players did by winning. That you know,

1149
00:59:13,960 --> 00:59:18,560
Speaker 1: winning the game before and accomplishing what we accomplished this year.

1150
00:59:19,040 --> 00:59:21,840
Speaker 1: There's no worse feeling as a coach then when you

1151
00:59:21,960 --> 00:59:25,720
Speaker 1: draw negative attention towards anything relative to your team, your

1152
00:59:25,920 --> 00:59:30,080
Speaker 1: your players, your organization, your university. Um, that was the

1153
00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:33,520
Speaker 1: worst feeling defeat as a coach I've ever had so

1154
00:59:34,800 --> 00:59:37,520
Speaker 1: UM and that and I should also say, you know,

1155
00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:40,120
Speaker 1: if I offended people, I don't want to do that.

1156
00:59:40,360 --> 00:59:43,720
Speaker 1: I don't I don't want to do that. UM, But

1157
00:59:43,880 --> 00:59:47,800
Speaker 1: I don't intend to coach much differently. Um. There were

1158
00:59:48,240 --> 00:59:51,680
Speaker 1: a number of you know, unusual circumstances that led to

1159
00:59:51,800 --> 00:59:56,400
Speaker 1: that all you know, appearing the way it did, and

1160
00:59:56,480 --> 00:59:59,040
Speaker 1: then also being portrayed the way it was. And I'm

1161
00:59:59,080 --> 01:00:01,040
Speaker 1: not trying to make myself into any kind of victim.

1162
01:00:01,320 --> 01:00:03,040
Speaker 1: You know. Here's what I do, Doug, and I think

1163
01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:06,040
Speaker 1: you could probably appreciate this. In the first half of games,

1164
01:00:06,080 --> 01:00:09,320
Speaker 1: when we're on defense, I'm like a sixth defender with

1165
01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:12,520
Speaker 1: my voice and my activity on the sideline. I don't

1166
01:00:12,560 --> 01:00:15,440
Speaker 1: apologize for that. I think that's something that's uh been

1167
01:00:15,480 --> 01:00:18,200
Speaker 1: a part of us being really good in this game.

1168
01:00:18,320 --> 01:00:21,480
Speaker 1: What I did was I instead of using the kid's name,

1169
01:00:21,520 --> 01:00:24,800
Speaker 1: which was king. I used the word queen, and as

1170
01:00:24,840 --> 01:00:27,480
Speaker 1: a leader, I should have been under recognized the danger

1171
01:00:27,520 --> 01:00:30,360
Speaker 1: in that, and I didn't. But the way that whole

1172
01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:33,240
Speaker 1: thing played out also really surprised me to feel like

1173
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:36,440
Speaker 1: it felt like I got named and shamed as a

1174
01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:40,320
Speaker 1: homophobe or a misogynist and it wasn't any of that. Um.

1175
01:00:40,560 --> 01:00:43,480
Speaker 1: I really don't believe that. I understand why people perceived

1176
01:00:43,520 --> 01:00:47,040
Speaker 1: it that way because of the education stuff that I've

1177
01:00:47,080 --> 01:00:49,360
Speaker 1: done since then, and so I won't ever make that

1178
01:00:49,480 --> 01:00:52,920
Speaker 1: mistake again. Um. But your question about what I do

1179
01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:55,200
Speaker 1: it over, Yeah, I'm sure we'll do that differently, because

1180
01:00:55,200 --> 01:00:56,960
Speaker 1: I'd never want that to come on in our team

1181
01:00:57,040 --> 01:01:01,320
Speaker 1: or our university. But I don't intend to compete much differently.

1182
01:01:01,400 --> 01:01:02,960
Speaker 1: I'd like to be a better leader. I'd like to

1183
01:01:03,120 --> 01:01:05,920
Speaker 1: I'd like to say that I could recognize moving forward

1184
01:01:05,960 --> 01:01:08,600
Speaker 1: that changing the kid's name the way I did would

1185
01:01:08,640 --> 01:01:11,200
Speaker 1: be perceived the way it was, because I don't think

1186
01:01:11,240 --> 01:01:13,880
Speaker 1: that was unfair to be perceived that way. But I

1187
01:01:13,960 --> 01:01:16,600
Speaker 1: do think, um it was you know, it was just

1188
01:01:16,680 --> 01:01:19,480
Speaker 1: a I can just imagine, like, you know, you get

1189
01:01:19,560 --> 01:01:21,920
Speaker 1: done with a game like and and having lost like look,

1190
01:01:21,960 --> 01:01:24,640
Speaker 1: I've lost in tournament three times and every time, you know,

1191
01:01:24,920 --> 01:01:26,800
Speaker 1: my last year is the Elite eight and didn't matter

1192
01:01:26,920 --> 01:01:29,120
Speaker 1: lead eight or is the second round, Like everybody thinks

1193
01:01:29,120 --> 01:01:30,920
Speaker 1: they're gonna win the tournament. Like that's just the way

1194
01:01:30,960 --> 01:01:32,360
Speaker 1: it is, Like that's how we're all wired. We think

1195
01:01:32,400 --> 01:01:33,840
Speaker 1: we're gonna win this game. They're gonna go win a

1196
01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:35,360
Speaker 1: couple more games, and we're gonna come more games like

1197
01:01:35,400 --> 01:01:37,040
Speaker 1: that's just how right. And then all of a sudden,

1198
01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:41,520
Speaker 1: like your whole your whole season, which is basically a

1199
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:44,360
Speaker 1: year and all everything, it's like it's over. There's no

1200
01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:46,880
Speaker 1: more games, no more practice, it's over, and there's just

1201
01:01:47,040 --> 01:01:51,480
Speaker 1: really it's every locker room silent. There's the seniors are crying,

1202
01:01:52,280 --> 01:01:55,080
Speaker 1: you know, the every you know, like and then all

1203
01:01:55,120 --> 01:02:00,240
Speaker 1: of a sudden, like okay, right, all right, and they're like, hey, coach, Hey, coach,

1204
01:02:00,280 --> 01:02:02,640
Speaker 1: you gotta go out right, okay, coach, you gotta go

1205
01:02:02,680 --> 01:02:05,880
Speaker 1: into the press conference. So you go from like, uh,

1206
01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:08,360
Speaker 1: you go from and and the the final score was

1207
01:02:08,440 --> 01:02:10,640
Speaker 1: not indicative of that game because that was a close game.

1208
01:02:10,640 --> 01:02:12,120
Speaker 1: And then they got they kind of ran a fever

1209
01:02:12,240 --> 01:02:15,000
Speaker 1: late and uh and they and they put you guys away.

1210
01:02:15,080 --> 01:02:17,760
Speaker 1: But but then they go, hey, coach, come up there,

1211
01:02:17,840 --> 01:02:19,800
Speaker 1: and like, you know, I'm sure, I'm sure you talked

1212
01:02:19,800 --> 01:02:22,120
Speaker 1: about the game. I never talked about the game and

1213
01:02:22,160 --> 01:02:24,120
Speaker 1: what happened to our team, And now of a sudden

1214
01:02:24,120 --> 01:02:27,040
Speaker 1: you get these questions about it, and yeah, it wasn't.

1215
01:02:27,800 --> 01:02:29,400
Speaker 1: I'll tell you I didn't even get a question about it.

1216
01:02:29,480 --> 01:02:33,080
Speaker 1: That's what's uh interesting about the whole thing. You know,

1217
01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:37,360
Speaker 1: I've had some really good media exchanges in the tournament

1218
01:02:38,080 --> 01:02:41,560
Speaker 1: that drew you know, positive attention towards us, And in

1219
01:02:41,640 --> 01:02:43,800
Speaker 1: this case, it was the last question the guy asked me,

1220
01:02:44,240 --> 01:02:47,360
Speaker 1: and he didn't ask me about the word I'd use

1221
01:02:47,480 --> 01:02:49,680
Speaker 1: or anything. I told them all of it because you

1222
01:02:49,720 --> 01:02:52,400
Speaker 1: asked me what Louis King and I were talking about

1223
01:02:52,520 --> 01:02:55,960
Speaker 1: in the handshake line, and what I you know, what

1224
01:02:56,040 --> 01:02:59,520
Speaker 1: I tried to describe was how the whole conversation came about.

1225
01:02:59,760 --> 01:03:03,520
Speaker 1: And the kid King was great in the handshake line, um,

1226
01:03:03,800 --> 01:03:06,200
Speaker 1: because we had been attacking him, he was our best player.

1227
01:03:06,280 --> 01:03:07,920
Speaker 1: We've been attacking him and trying to make it hard

1228
01:03:08,000 --> 01:03:10,720
Speaker 1: for him. And we talked briefly about that. He kind

1229
01:03:10,760 --> 01:03:13,160
Speaker 1: of thanked me for the things I said and the

1230
01:03:13,240 --> 01:03:15,960
Speaker 1: way we did it, and it was a really positive exchange.

1231
01:03:16,160 --> 01:03:17,840
Speaker 1: That's what I was trying to describe to the media.

1232
01:03:18,160 --> 01:03:21,320
Speaker 1: But what I did was I revealed too many details

1233
01:03:21,880 --> 01:03:24,080
Speaker 1: about what had happened, and then the media seased on

1234
01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:27,800
Speaker 1: those details in a way that surprised me. Um, you know,

1235
01:03:28,560 --> 01:03:31,320
Speaker 1: live and learn. I should have known better. I think

1236
01:03:31,360 --> 01:03:35,320
Speaker 1: that I try to be open and honest with the media,

1237
01:03:36,080 --> 01:03:39,360
Speaker 1: and uh, sometimes that can create trust and then other

1238
01:03:39,440 --> 01:03:42,800
Speaker 1: times that creates vulnerability. And I didn't realize how vulnerable

1239
01:03:42,920 --> 01:03:46,240
Speaker 1: I had made myself and what we were doing. But

1240
01:03:47,120 --> 01:03:49,000
Speaker 1: I'm I'm at a point now where I'm kind of

1241
01:03:49,240 --> 01:03:51,960
Speaker 1: okay with all of it. Um, other than that I

1242
01:03:52,080 --> 01:03:54,440
Speaker 1: offended people, you know, I'm okay with the fact that

1243
01:03:54,600 --> 01:03:57,000
Speaker 1: I made such a mistake because I know that I'll

1244
01:03:57,000 --> 01:04:00,120
Speaker 1: be a better coach because of it. You've had some

1245
01:04:00,200 --> 01:04:03,000
Speaker 1: opportunities that have come your way. One back east, there's

1246
01:04:03,000 --> 01:04:06,400
Speaker 1: another talk of other jobs out west. You know your

1247
01:04:06,440 --> 01:04:08,800
Speaker 1: wife as you went out, she's a she's a physician

1248
01:04:09,120 --> 01:04:13,080
Speaker 1: at U c ir Vine. Um, what what what's your

1249
01:04:13,600 --> 01:04:15,600
Speaker 1: what's your thought process? Because you know when you moved

1250
01:04:15,640 --> 01:04:18,760
Speaker 1: to California, it was hey, I'm following her. Now she's

1251
01:04:18,920 --> 01:04:22,160
Speaker 1: entrenched as a physician. How does that work with you now?

1252
01:04:22,760 --> 01:04:25,640
Speaker 1: Considering you're you're both successful. You know, when you moved

1253
01:04:25,640 --> 01:04:28,720
Speaker 1: out here, originally she was the successful one. Now you're

1254
01:04:28,760 --> 01:04:32,480
Speaker 1: both successful. You're finally you're finally you know, carrying your

1255
01:04:32,560 --> 01:04:34,640
Speaker 1: end of the bargain. Um, how does how does that

1256
01:04:34,720 --> 01:04:38,720
Speaker 1: work with you? Well? Hey, UM, I appreciate you asking

1257
01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:41,080
Speaker 1: it like that, because you know, my wife and I

1258
01:04:41,120 --> 01:04:46,720
Speaker 1: are good partners, UM, and what I do is an identity, um,

1259
01:04:47,520 --> 01:04:52,040
Speaker 1: not just a job. And that's become more apparent and

1260
01:04:52,560 --> 01:04:55,040
Speaker 1: clear to me the longer I've been here, Like the

1261
01:04:55,160 --> 01:04:58,520
Speaker 1: longer you know, I'm at her Vin, the more connected

1262
01:04:58,680 --> 01:05:01,520
Speaker 1: and a part of this place feel and I feel

1263
01:05:01,560 --> 01:05:05,720
Speaker 1: pretty special feelings about the way we built our program

1264
01:05:05,800 --> 01:05:08,840
Speaker 1: and what we now have here. UM. As I've been

1265
01:05:09,280 --> 01:05:13,360
Speaker 1: recruited and you know by other schools, what I've asked

1266
01:05:13,400 --> 01:05:17,120
Speaker 1: myself each time is what's better there than what I have?

1267
01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:19,960
Speaker 1: Or is it even better there than where I am?

1268
01:05:20,160 --> 01:05:22,920
Speaker 1: And each each time, you know, it's come down to

1269
01:05:23,000 --> 01:05:25,800
Speaker 1: that for me, Um, recently the answer has been, now,

1270
01:05:25,880 --> 01:05:27,560
Speaker 1: I got a better here, I got a better here

1271
01:05:27,600 --> 01:05:30,200
Speaker 1: at her Rune. And uh, you know, I'm not doing

1272
01:05:30,240 --> 01:05:33,760
Speaker 1: this for the reasons a lot of people probably might

1273
01:05:33,960 --> 01:05:37,920
Speaker 1: most think, Um, I love having an impact in this community.

1274
01:05:38,040 --> 01:05:40,600
Speaker 1: I love the players I get to work with, and

1275
01:05:41,440 --> 01:05:42,960
Speaker 1: I love being a part of their lives. And I

1276
01:05:43,040 --> 01:05:45,840
Speaker 1: love the success we've created because I think the success

1277
01:05:45,880 --> 01:05:49,280
Speaker 1: we've created means we can have impact on this university's

1278
01:05:50,320 --> 01:05:54,880
Speaker 1: pride or unity or togetherness or whatever. That's special. Um,

1279
01:05:56,200 --> 01:05:58,800
Speaker 1: So I try to focus on that and and not

1280
01:05:59,000 --> 01:06:02,120
Speaker 1: on what might be out there that's better. And I

1281
01:06:02,200 --> 01:06:04,120
Speaker 1: think that's healthy for me. I just signed a six

1282
01:06:04,240 --> 01:06:07,240
Speaker 1: year deal here, and uh, if I can coach all

1283
01:06:07,280 --> 01:06:09,040
Speaker 1: the way through that, and that means my son will

1284
01:06:09,080 --> 01:06:12,280
Speaker 1: graduate from high school here and we've had a great

1285
01:06:12,400 --> 01:06:18,560
Speaker 1: run and my family is happy, So that's that's meaningful. Okay,

1286
01:06:18,880 --> 01:06:22,120
Speaker 1: Kim Duncan is the best player you've ever coached. I mean,

1287
01:06:22,120 --> 01:06:24,560
Speaker 1: I don't think there's anybody would argue that second best

1288
01:06:24,600 --> 01:06:29,320
Speaker 1: player you've ever coached Steph Curry. And uh, it might

1289
01:06:29,400 --> 01:06:32,640
Speaker 1: be true that Steph could overtake Tim Um even though

1290
01:06:32,800 --> 01:06:35,200
Speaker 1: I know that that's not a popular opinion. I think that,

1291
01:06:35,960 --> 01:06:37,840
Speaker 1: you know, having a chance to coach Stephen, he's a

1292
01:06:37,920 --> 01:06:41,320
Speaker 1: rookie in the NBA, was special and he wasn't a

1293
01:06:41,440 --> 01:06:45,480
Speaker 1: great player then the way he's become. But the similarities

1294
01:06:45,520 --> 01:06:47,919
Speaker 1: between Tim and Steff are remarkable in terms of they're

1295
01:06:47,920 --> 01:06:52,000
Speaker 1: both being undervalued early in their career, they're both being

1296
01:06:52,200 --> 01:06:56,160
Speaker 1: you know, physically underdeveloped for a good little while. UM.

1297
01:06:56,600 --> 01:06:59,640
Speaker 1: And you know then also them being great teammates and

1298
01:06:59,760 --> 01:07:02,440
Speaker 1: just great thinkers of the game and guys who just

1299
01:07:02,520 --> 01:07:06,080
Speaker 1: continue to get better. Uh, those two are easy as

1300
01:07:06,160 --> 01:07:09,160
Speaker 1: one and two or one and one A UM, after

1301
01:07:09,240 --> 01:07:12,640
Speaker 1: that gets pretty hard. All right, how about this one? UM?

1302
01:07:13,080 --> 01:07:15,480
Speaker 1: One of the great things about the NBA is these

1303
01:07:15,520 --> 01:07:18,040
Speaker 1: guys are amazing, Like, they're really amazing. And I've had

1304
01:07:18,360 --> 01:07:21,240
Speaker 1: I'm friendly with a bunch of NBA assistants, and you know,

1305
01:07:21,280 --> 01:07:23,680
Speaker 1: they'll talk about you know, you know sometimes you know,

1306
01:07:24,080 --> 01:07:26,680
Speaker 1: good defense, you just tip your cap. What what's the

1307
01:07:26,800 --> 01:07:31,080
Speaker 1: best performance you remember sitting there watching going like, damn

1308
01:07:31,520 --> 01:07:33,919
Speaker 1: that we didn't actually play bad. That guy just gave

1309
01:07:34,000 --> 01:07:38,040
Speaker 1: us thirty, forty or fifty. Do you remember when? Yeah,

1310
01:07:38,280 --> 01:07:41,960
Speaker 1: I mean there were many of those. UM. Folks in

1311
01:07:42,040 --> 01:07:44,920
Speaker 1: southern California will appreciate me mentioning this one. There was

1312
01:07:44,960 --> 01:07:47,920
Speaker 1: a night Brian Scalabrini had his career high in Oakland

1313
01:07:48,480 --> 01:07:52,000
Speaker 1: and and Bryan Scalabrini looked like Larry Bird that night,

1314
01:07:52,600 --> 01:07:55,240
Speaker 1: and there were multiple nights like that. In the NBA.

1315
01:07:55,360 --> 01:07:59,480
Speaker 1: We're a guy that you know, you wouldn't necessarily think

1316
01:07:59,560 --> 01:08:01,720
Speaker 1: of as an most star level player, come out and

1317
01:08:01,800 --> 01:08:04,600
Speaker 1: just be dominant for periods of time. That was one

1318
01:08:04,600 --> 01:08:06,480
Speaker 1: of the best things about the NBA, the number of

1319
01:08:06,600 --> 01:08:10,720
Speaker 1: great players that could do that. Um, you know, I

1320
01:08:10,840 --> 01:08:13,840
Speaker 1: mentioned Calaprini, but there were many others. I mean, there

1321
01:08:13,920 --> 01:08:16,240
Speaker 1: was some. There were sometimes guys that you know, I

1322
01:08:16,280 --> 01:08:19,120
Speaker 1: wouldn't even hear of, that would have great nights. I

1323
01:08:19,280 --> 01:08:21,680
Speaker 1: love the fact that, you know, and during the years

1324
01:08:21,760 --> 01:08:24,679
Speaker 1: we weren't very good at Golden State, we had guys

1325
01:08:25,160 --> 01:08:28,599
Speaker 1: come from the D League and develop. And we should

1326
01:08:28,680 --> 01:08:31,080
Speaker 1: joke with Nellie because Nelly would bring a guy up

1327
01:08:31,080 --> 01:08:33,920
Speaker 1: from the D League and he'd fly in, he joined

1328
01:08:33,920 --> 01:08:35,599
Speaker 1: the team and Nelly would tell him before the game,

1329
01:08:35,600 --> 01:08:37,200
Speaker 1: I won't play you tonight, and I expect you to

1330
01:08:37,240 --> 01:08:40,040
Speaker 1: get ten shots up. And no one the coach would

1331
01:08:40,080 --> 01:08:42,280
Speaker 1: do that, but Nelly would say that to get to

1332
01:08:42,680 --> 01:08:44,759
Speaker 1: put him on the spot and see if this confidence

1333
01:08:44,800 --> 01:08:47,160
Speaker 1: could emerge. And then we had a bunch of guys

1334
01:08:48,040 --> 01:08:52,479
Speaker 1: from those opportunities become NBA players for a long time. Um,

1335
01:08:52,920 --> 01:08:54,600
Speaker 1: so that was that was great. I mean, there was

1336
01:08:54,680 --> 01:08:56,519
Speaker 1: just so many great things about them. It's hard to

1337
01:08:56,600 --> 01:09:04,080
Speaker 1: list them all awesome stuff. Last thing, Uh, when somebody

1338
01:09:04,200 --> 01:09:08,240
Speaker 1: plays against a Russell Turner coach team, what did what

1339
01:09:08,280 --> 01:09:15,240
Speaker 1: should they walk away saying? It's all to score? Um,

1340
01:09:15,960 --> 01:09:19,639
Speaker 1: we've had you know, we've had a great run now

1341
01:09:20,120 --> 01:09:23,160
Speaker 1: for multiple years of being one of the best defensive

1342
01:09:23,560 --> 01:09:26,960
Speaker 1: field goal percentage teams in the country. And that's really

1343
01:09:27,000 --> 01:09:30,080
Speaker 1: hard to do at the mid major level. But I

1344
01:09:30,160 --> 01:09:34,519
Speaker 1: think that our teams are tough, and we're well prepared,

1345
01:09:34,840 --> 01:09:37,479
Speaker 1: and we're smart, and so we're going to make you

1346
01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:40,320
Speaker 1: have a tough night. And what what is it? What

1347
01:09:40,479 --> 01:09:42,560
Speaker 1: is it like in terms of if you were to

1348
01:09:42,640 --> 01:09:45,160
Speaker 1: break down for somebody and like, you know, without a

1349
01:09:45,240 --> 01:09:48,080
Speaker 1: white board or whatever, the basics of your defensive philosophy

1350
01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:50,759
Speaker 1: that's allowed you to be so good. I mean, obviously

1351
01:09:50,800 --> 01:09:54,120
Speaker 1: have good players and kids like you know, like we

1352
01:09:54,200 --> 01:09:58,400
Speaker 1: talked about, but um, what philosophically, what is it that

1353
01:09:58,560 --> 01:10:02,719
Speaker 1: you do that's been so incredibly successful, Like you're defensive

1354
01:10:02,760 --> 01:10:07,920
Speaker 1: raating last year fifty three teams. That's outstanding. The outstanding

1355
01:10:07,960 --> 01:10:10,120
Speaker 1: and he played a really tough schedule as well. So

1356
01:10:10,320 --> 01:10:13,240
Speaker 1: what is philosophically what defensively do you like to do?

1357
01:10:14,280 --> 01:10:16,719
Speaker 1: You know, we I think we keep it relatively simple.

1358
01:10:16,800 --> 01:10:20,240
Speaker 1: I mean, we protect the rim better than anyone. We

1359
01:10:20,400 --> 01:10:23,839
Speaker 1: do that by flowing shot blockers at the ball anytime

1360
01:10:23,880 --> 01:10:26,200
Speaker 1: the ball attacks the rim, and then we play well

1361
01:10:26,240 --> 01:10:31,000
Speaker 1: together when we do that, UM better than most any

1362
01:10:31,040 --> 01:10:34,920
Speaker 1: team in college basketball. We focus on personnel tendencies of

1363
01:10:35,040 --> 01:10:38,720
Speaker 1: our opponents, and we take away easy baskets. I mean,

1364
01:10:38,720 --> 01:10:40,720
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get easy baskets against us at the rim.

1365
01:10:41,439 --> 01:10:43,680
Speaker 1: And I also feel like we do an incredible job

1366
01:10:43,760 --> 01:10:46,920
Speaker 1: of contesting three point shots. You know, we found I

1367
01:10:47,000 --> 01:10:50,759
Speaker 1: think we found three times against three point shooters against

1368
01:10:50,840 --> 01:10:53,720
Speaker 1: Kansas State in the n s A Tournament, and we

1369
01:10:53,840 --> 01:10:56,240
Speaker 1: still want and even giving up those nine free throws.

1370
01:10:56,280 --> 01:10:58,000
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things I think we do well.

1371
01:10:58,120 --> 01:11:01,160
Speaker 1: We we contest three point shot. I mean, we work

1372
01:11:01,240 --> 01:11:03,479
Speaker 1: hard to make sure that you do not feel comfortable

1373
01:11:03,520 --> 01:11:06,280
Speaker 1: from three point shot against us UM, and we've been

1374
01:11:06,320 --> 01:11:10,120
Speaker 1: outstanding at the rim. So that combination rim defense, three defense,

1375
01:11:10,200 --> 01:11:14,800
Speaker 1: and personnel tendencies with the ability to adjust and play

1376
01:11:14,880 --> 01:11:17,559
Speaker 1: both man end zone. Um. I think that's a that's

1377
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:20,479
Speaker 1: a critical component a lot of coaches miss because some

1378
01:11:20,640 --> 01:11:23,439
Speaker 1: teams don't function well against one or the other. And

1379
01:11:23,600 --> 01:11:26,840
Speaker 1: if you can do both, then you give yourself an advantage.

1380
01:11:27,360 --> 01:11:29,320
Speaker 1: I think all those things came into play for us

1381
01:11:29,360 --> 01:11:31,280
Speaker 1: to beat the Big twelve champs and Inns a tournament.

1382
01:11:31,320 --> 01:11:34,040
Speaker 1: You know, we played possessions of two three zone, and

1383
01:11:34,120 --> 01:11:36,640
Speaker 1: we played a bunch of possessions in that game of

1384
01:11:36,720 --> 01:11:39,920
Speaker 1: a diamond and one. M Yeah, the old diamond one

1385
01:11:40,040 --> 01:11:42,320
Speaker 1: is awesome. My daddy's use that all the time. Of course,

1386
01:11:42,400 --> 01:11:45,439
Speaker 1: Bill self, he likes the triangle into And I always

1387
01:11:45,439 --> 01:11:47,519
Speaker 1: feel like that when people use the term junk defenses

1388
01:11:47,520 --> 01:11:49,360
Speaker 1: because they don't really have an offense for it, right,

1389
01:11:49,400 --> 01:11:51,840
Speaker 1: so they're like, oh, it's a junk defense, Like, yeah,

1390
01:11:51,880 --> 01:11:57,200
Speaker 1: but it worked, So you know, the creative defenses, you know,

1391
01:11:57,880 --> 01:11:59,599
Speaker 1: I think it's a little bit more of that. I mean,

1392
01:12:00,000 --> 01:12:02,560
Speaker 1: if you could play a defense that's unusual one but

1393
01:12:02,640 --> 01:12:04,639
Speaker 1: it takes away the rim and takes away the threes

1394
01:12:04,720 --> 01:12:07,439
Speaker 1: and makes guys who weren't the best scores take the shots,

1395
01:12:07,479 --> 01:12:10,760
Speaker 1: and that's pretty good defense. Well listen, it's been it's

1396
01:12:10,760 --> 01:12:12,200
Speaker 1: been great to get to know you so far. I

1397
01:12:12,200 --> 01:12:14,560
Speaker 1: can't wait to see your new team this year. But

1398
01:12:14,720 --> 01:12:18,120
Speaker 1: congrats on what's been a remarkable career and look forward

1399
01:12:18,120 --> 01:12:20,680
Speaker 1: to talking to the future. Yeah. Thanks man. If we

1400
01:12:20,760 --> 01:12:22,840
Speaker 1: do have a good team coming back, so I hope that, uh,

1401
01:12:23,320 --> 01:12:25,400
Speaker 1: all the hoop fans that are listening, then we want

1402
01:12:25,439 --> 01:12:27,560
Speaker 1: to check us out. We're gonna We're gonna have a

1403
01:12:27,560 --> 01:12:30,880
Speaker 1: good squad again this year. Yeah, Evan Lettering is back.

1404
01:12:30,920 --> 01:12:34,439
Speaker 1: I know, um yeah, that that afro is big on

1405
01:12:34,479 --> 01:12:36,320
Speaker 1: the sidelines though, I mean that is it is a

1406
01:12:36,640 --> 01:12:40,320
Speaker 1: alarming that that is kind of an alarming, alarming afro.

1407
01:12:40,479 --> 01:12:45,400
Speaker 1: You're like sitting there like damn that Like, okay, okays

1408
01:12:45,439 --> 01:12:48,479
Speaker 1: know all the recruits. No, we don't have haircut rules.

1409
01:12:50,560 --> 01:12:52,240
Speaker 1: That is that part of the sale, right Is that

1410
01:12:52,320 --> 01:12:54,080
Speaker 1: what Alex tells you. He's like, look, this is this

1411
01:12:54,240 --> 01:12:57,400
Speaker 1: is good for our for recruiting. I mean, you know,

1412
01:12:58,160 --> 01:13:00,120
Speaker 1: I don't really think of it that way, but man,

1413
01:13:00,240 --> 01:13:02,960
Speaker 1: do point it out. Hey, you know, I'm It's one

1414
01:13:03,000 --> 01:13:05,040
Speaker 1: of the things I've learned. I mean, in the NBA,

1415
01:13:05,080 --> 01:13:07,840
Speaker 1: you don't get to have control over those type of things.

1416
01:13:08,200 --> 01:13:10,120
Speaker 1: I think I do a good job for the most

1417
01:13:10,200 --> 01:13:13,559
Speaker 1: part of allowing my players their appropriate freedoms and then

1418
01:13:13,640 --> 01:13:17,120
Speaker 1: holding them really strongly accountable for the things that most

1419
01:13:17,439 --> 01:13:20,960
Speaker 1: affect winning. I think we're getting that combo right. And uh,

1420
01:13:21,439 --> 01:13:23,760
Speaker 1: you know, fortunately for us, the guys who've chosen to

1421
01:13:23,840 --> 01:13:26,080
Speaker 1: come here all want to be pushed like that and

1422
01:13:26,560 --> 01:13:29,559
Speaker 1: want to have the freedom that living here being here allowed.

1423
01:13:30,400 --> 01:13:32,519
Speaker 1: All right, great stuff, man, thanks for joining me. Appreciate it.

1424
01:13:33,280 --> 01:13:37,040
Speaker 1: Hey man, I really appreciate it. Doug. Hey, my thanks

1425
01:13:37,080 --> 01:13:39,360
Speaker 1: to Russell Turner, the head coach. Have you cr vine

1426
01:13:39,479 --> 01:13:41,880
Speaker 1: My thanks to you for downloading and subscribing and rating.

1427
01:13:42,439 --> 01:13:44,559
Speaker 1: Uh this podcast. Remember, miss listen to The Doug got

1428
01:13:44,680 --> 01:13:47,120
Speaker 1: Leaves Show every week afternoon three to six Eastern time,

1429
01:13:47,120 --> 01:13:49,720
Speaker 1: twelve to three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, the I

1430
01:13:49,800 --> 01:13:53,360
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app or Serious x M two seventeen or

1431
01:13:53,400 --> 01:13:57,559
Speaker 1: two oh three, And uh keep listening and tell friends

1432
01:13:57,680 --> 01:14:00,160
Speaker 1: about this podcast. You have questions or comments, things you

1433
01:14:00,200 --> 01:14:02,479
Speaker 1: want me to get to at Gottlieb Show is the

1434
01:14:02,520 --> 01:14:04,880
Speaker 1: Twitter handle. Make sure you tweet it out at me

1435
01:14:05,320 --> 01:14:07,920
Speaker 1: and I will respond. Thanks for listening. I'm Doug Gottlieb

1436
01:14:08,000 --> 01:14:09,080
Speaker 1: in This is all Ball