Friday, December 8, Hour 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kt z R two sad in iHeartRadio Station. Yet. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Iye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Roberta. He's jagan zaus who got a bonus day with Kevin today on a Friday Friday. You have nothing to do. No pizza needed this time, you know, pizza, but we got it anyway. Anyways, and

dang that was good. It was good. Wasn't It was different? It was really good. Yeah. Okay, so Friday, welcome everybody. Give us a quick call, give us your thoughts on whatever we have. I think we do have a fun show today. We usually have the opinionated Jig Fisher right on Friday. So he'll be back. We haven't had him in

a couple of weeks since the announcement of the game. Yeah, he played in an Alamo Bowl, Okay, yeah a freshman, Yeah right, and not as a freshman because twenty fourteen Junior twenty twenty twenty ten Arizona was in the twenty ten Alima because then Mike STIPs got fired. The next year and he was also in the two thousand and nine Holiday Bowl, where he'll remember

those two. But then he added two more under rich Rod played in the New Mexico Bowl to come back against Nevada, and then the next year in the Independence Bowl. Okay, so we'll talk to him. Four bowl games in his five years. They're not bad, oh okay, And then we're gonna have a fun guest. Four fifteen, Ricky Anderson tried to reach out to him and finally he got a hold of him this morning and he's coming

on. When I think of Wisconsin and basketball, of course think about the Sean Miller tie, but I also think of the big game with Wisconsin and Arizona in two thousand. Ricky had a big part in that, good and bad. So we'll get with him, have a little fun because he's one of my guys. I really like Ricky. See what he's up to. I know what he's up to, but we'll let him talk about what he's

doing. Good looking dude, man. She had the picture that we had on our social media, like yeah, you know he still looks like he's about twenty five. He's about six foot five ish. Yeah, and I pulled him up just before the show just to like see what he looked like back when he was playing. You know, he had that he had the he was the Way band. Yeah. It was awesome, awesome what everyone loved Ricky. He was a little goofy dude. He was a goofy dude,

like a prank. He wasn't little, but he was. Yeah, you know, saying, but you like a kid, you know, you have to look a kid. Playful, Yeah, playful. So he was a good dude. So we'll tuk and have some fun with him at four seventeen, four fifteen around there. Uh okay, so now we're back, we're gonna have some and uh some Tommy Tommy clips, right, you have them already? Cute, Yeah, we're already cute. Up. You want to get into those? Right? Yeah? Yeah? So you how many

did you have? What did you We have? Like seven of them kids? Okay, really kind of wanted to start where. Look, the media, the fans, everybody's trying to play up this Wisconsin. I don't know if you call it a rivalry, but you know, obviously the Arizona fans are unhappy with what. You know, they hate Wisconsin every but somehow they think winning this game is going to make them feel better about twenty fourteen to twenty fifty. It's called the Jiggins Ali's curse. It's called I'm a bitter

man. I hate you because you beat us. But he is my first my question, no, no, we we'll play. You want to go in that one first. I don't remember him talking about Wisconsin otherwise, Well at the start, where you know, just kind of talking about this team focus and stuff like that, let's let's go, let's play the first clip. But this is right at the top of his press consence makes sense. We've just practiced a few days. I mean, you know, probably been

a few good moments and a few average moments in practice. It's like any other week that you would have you know, I haven't. There's been nothing different in our approach, you know. I I I think that we're getting prepared to play the best team we've played so far this season. I mean, and they're on a roll right now. And you know they might have started out and dropped a game or two against good teams or on the road and and I think they've got that figured out, and they've beat really good

teams lately and they beat them handle. He's so we know we got our hands full with a really good Wisconsin team on Saturday. So I mean, that's one hundred percent. Our focus is is that I know you called that a shot yesterday, well playfully called it a shot at Michigan State and Duke. But don't you guys think that Wisconsin, like as it stands today, is the best team we played so far? You can you can say that, I mean arguably say that because you know, Duke has now lost three

games. Michigan State's lost I think three or even four, including one to when to Wisconsin. In fact, we wouldn't be talking about Duke of Michigan State if they were not Michigan State or Duke. Yeah, that's kind of I guess that's kind of the root of my question is are we sure that

Wisconsin is not just better than Yeah? Well, let's play clip number three because that's when that's where he talks about Somebody asked him about can you take anything from Yeah, you know, I think the way they be Michigan State you played, I don't know, you know, what what you take from the game other than they went in and and and punched Michigan State in the mouth. I mean that they went in and did that. So we know Michigan State's a tough, physical team and you know, so it's impressive for

Wisconsin to do what they did on the road. You know, it says a lot about their group. Yeah, well, I mean that's what college is right now. I mean, were we are in December eighth or whatever it is, and you could be tough on December eighth or whatever it is, and you still gotta win. And again, as he meant, you know, Wisconsin was one and two, you know, coming out of the box, but they're you know, losses to good teams and and then now

they you know, want a bunch in a row. And so yeah, I mean it's you know, he can say that this is you know, this is the best team they played. So you know, again, you know, Arizona fan wanted to make a big deal of the of the stuff that happened eight nine years ago here also back in two thousand, the game you know, you know that we'll talk about with Rick Anderson today, but you know, he's just talk about the series This is two questions he started

talking about. Then you asked a question in the middle of it, but he was just asked, you know, what what he thinks of this whole Oh, I think I think part of this goes into playing how the series came about. That's where this starts. And then you get into the question

you ask some question about you know, past games. But I mean, I think you think both sides were looking and you know, and you know, I know they'd reached out to us, and I think we needed a home and home that started at home this year, you know, with us, you know, starting to want at home and home on the road at

Duke this year. So it just kind of worked out. And you know, we want to play great programs, and you know, to you know, to be the type of program we want to be, you've got to be comfortable playing teams like Wisconsin, and you know, I mean Wisconsin the team that you know, when I look at them, I mean they have all the makings of a team that you know, can play deep into the tournament and and those are the type of teams we want to compete against.

I'm sure some people have already told you about the history of the yeah, yeah, for sure in the mid twenty fourteen, fifteen. But beyond that as well, Yeah, I don't know much beyond that, yeah, that much longer. I mean I need I need a historian like you to help me out with that. But I but I know there's a significance you know, you know recent you know that that you know a lot of Arizona fans feel passionate about, and I'm sure a lot of Wisconsin fans. So I

think that's great. I mean, you know, I mean that's zero impact on this game, but maybe it's fun for the fans to you know, reminisce a little bit and kind of get their juices flowing. You know, good programs want to play other good programs, and and so so we're excited to have the opportunity to play a really good Wisconsin team on Saturday on National TV. You Arizona fans are a bunch of bitter days, bunch of bitter people. I'm not you know, I mean, what are you talking about?

Okay, let me say that. Let me not as it relates to Wisconsin basketball. Yeah right, Okay, you know, my heart, you know my you know, my heart got has gotten broken a million times with Arizona Sports, mostly in football. You know, I was very sad about the eighty eight loss because I wanted to do I wanted to cover the national championship team. Uh, you know, I I'll I'll make fun of Rick Anderson today because you know, he made he and his boy, he's made

my son cry. Uh in the two thousand and three lead eight and not meeting Kansas in that game and to go to the final four. But I don't think he was on that team. I want to say he was, because that was he might have been, but I can't. I can't remember. He was of the media guy. It was three man okay, okay, because he played ninety nine and two thousand, right, didn't play. He registered in the two thousand and one season. Then he was here for

two thousand and two and two three. That's why I was on that team. That two thousand and three team, Like I said, it was the one that's been the number one of the longest. Right. It had It had Salem, had Luke Jason of course Channing, yeah, and they had I had Hassan and they had Andre. It had to have if they lost Kansas, right, yes, yeah, But how come Ricky was not a big I don't remember Ricky being a big part of that and when they probably

needed him to be a big part of it. That's I will ask him because because that doesn't ring a bell to me for whatever reason. Yeah, and there was what it was pretty damn good. Just for the guys that you listed listed with Andre and Halsa being number they were freshmen. Yeah, but still but you know what, Kansas was a pretty good thing. Yeah, they were okay. So so yeah, so he's aware of the situation. I think everybody, how can I say this? Everybody in the building.

Obviously the old and new knows the long history. Didn't you give the number yesterday five and two or oh yeah, the let me look it up real quick, something like that, five and two, and then it hasn't been pretty I think, right, well the most record the record, Yeah, well because the three hard ones though, you know, beat they beating number one as the number eight beat the number one, and then and then uh these ones, Yeah, no, I get the heartache. I can't

I understand the heartache. Yeah, and then you think Wisconsin, No, they were pretty good. They got to to final fours, get them back to back. So between two thousand and nine and twenty and fifteen, they're three and oh against us all time. Well because the Sweet sixteen, No, that was Wasyow State who beat him on the last second shot. It was Ohio State Sweet sixteen twenty thirteen. I think it was yeah, A god, I can't remember birthday exactly, but you know, anyways, all

right, well let's move on to uh. Then you know the question going, okay, you guys are number one. How is that being handled? Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh in in uh, you know, in the locker room and and you know, and on the uh on the uh on the court and stuff like that. And you know, Tommy right like

he's deflecting on this one. So that's going to play that player. It's not much more complicated than coming out and playing really hard, playing with great passion, playing together, you know, And and I don't I don't think you need a ranking to do that. So I don't think there's anything crazy. I mean, we you know, we we we don't sit around and

we haven't talked about it. We don't have a banner hanging up in the in the locker room or anything like that, because we know, I know this, we could get our butts kicked on Saturday and still have a great season. That's how these seasons go. So where we're the only stock we're putting in is we want to come out and play. We're hoping to play a good forty minutes on Saturday, and and anything beyond that. I mean, we really haven't thought too far ahead. The outside noise is outside.

That's always the case, good, bad, average, it's always on the outside. So on the inside, you know, we we have a strong culture and a belief in the in the things we do, and and we just try to get better at that stuff. And so you know, everybody telling you how good or how bad you are has no impact on what's happening inside our locker room. So Jay, when that question was asked, I don't know who asked you. It's a good question, but I'm thinking you

don't know until you know. And then the question was us Monday, Tuesday, Yes, no, yesterday? When'd you forget yesterday? It was just okay and that and that was there. So I'm thinking a good question. But the thing is, you don't know h how it's gonna affect you until

you're actually actually in it. So he can say this yeah, and and but I think in the games I've covered and the teams I've covered, the number one killer of success has been being highly rated, highly ranked, and highly considered not maybe not right away, but eventually because a lot of the players think their poop doesn't stink, and that just an excludes it to Arizona basketball, It's life, I mean life. You think you can get away

with Stylet you know what I'm saying. You just think more of yourself. You feel like you don't have to work as hard, right right, right. It's hard to interrupt you. But I think what you're saying is like, it's harder to look for the small ways you can improve, and no one's bringing that to you. Sure, only bringing how great you are. Sure And and the other team wants to beat the crap out of you and

plays sometimes out of over their head. I mean, I can't tell you, Dan, you've seen this Washington Arizona went to Washington State, didn't have a chance to be there as well. Washington State found some white, tall, white guy and scored thirty five points. And I'm not joking and I'm being serious. He just destroyed him and you wouldn't know him from the roster or when they came down here, Washington State came down here last year one and and one. It just happens. Yeah, I mean it happens a

lot. It happened, well, it happens a lot. And and teams that don't pay attention to that. Again, I don't know if that's right the right word, but you know who get caught up and all that stuff that, Yeah, you're right, those are the ones that and if you can avoid that, which is what Tommy's trying to do, you know, make them not think of well we're number one, we should win this game.

You know, get out on the court and still know you got to play as hard as you were going to play, whether you're number one or sure. Sure they need to do. One of the things that reminded last year when they lost the Princess and I think it was the day before or one of those days Virginia lost. I think it was before. Surely after one of the team's gotta beat. And I'm thinking this is the one thing that Arizona should point to. These teams can get beat. Yeah, and

you're one of those teams. Yes, if you don't show up, you could be that guy be that team. Yeah, and then they were, and then exactly exactly because it happens. Yeah, especially in March. Speaking up, Princeton has a one and oh record against Arizona. Yeah, they're over five hundred against Arizona. And you're right, Wisconsin's two and five.

They played as far back as nineteen sixty three and look that much. And then not long after that they've only Wisconsin and Arizona only played once in Tucson, by the way, and the Wildcats on that one, yer was did you say, I don't I don't know what year that wasn't my website? Yeah, okay, all right, ouch, what's good? Hard out? It is a very hard all right, we're gonna be right, be right back with Jake Fisher talks and bowl stuff. He played and he was on

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Tucson and Southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azypest dot com to schedule your free evaluation today. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio wapp Just Surgery. I on the Ball, Hey, welcome back to you. I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty M. Steve Rivera. He's jacobsas now on the phone. You have great sponsor Jake

Fisher. Jake Howay making a guy here me. Okay, yes you're good. Your little echoed, but you're fine. You did so. Tell me, as a former player who's been through a number of number of bullgames, how is it? How cool is it to be in one? It's cool to be in there, But, like like Jetfish said in his press are here this week, you know, you either go there to win the game

or you're there just because you know you're there to enjoy it. So if you approach it like a championship game, everybody's obviously even killed, they're getting ready to go play. For those that are just happy to be there, normally they're the ones that lose. So as long as these guys go with you know, the intention actually win the game. You got everybody on the team basically just buying into what's going on, I think they'll be okay, but you know, kind of like we did our first two Bowl games.

When I played, there were a lot of guys there that just showed up because it was a fun time and whatnot, and we lost as a results of it. So hopefully they had the right way. Well, you mentioned those two, those first two, you know, big bad loss to Nebraska, and then you actually played in an Alima Bowl. It was Oklahoma State. That was sort of the beginning of the end for Mike Stoobs and he was gone after the following year. But the OWNII Bowl, you know,

just the atmosphere of that kind of stuff. Just describe some of that, you know, since that's where the Cats are headed this year. It's crazy. The coolest thing to do down is actually they have a SeaWorld and they have this huge roller coaster. They got all the cool stuff, and the SeaWorld there was better than the Sea World of the year before when we were in San Diego. Other than that, I mean, you go visit the

Alamo obviously, the Alamo Dome is awesome, the river Walk. I was not twenty one, so I did not get to enjoy it properly, but I mean everything around there is awesome. You know. I mean, shoot, there were guys that might have been late for curfew a few different times just because there's so much to do. But yeah, I mean, those guys are gonna have a ball. They deserve it. And I will tell you San Antonio is a very unique town. So wait, what was the

score down there? Six to ten, late for curfew? Thirty six to ten equal mind late for curfew. Okay, I'm saying some of the guys it totally makes said snow totally okay. Well, okay, so we were we were on our downfall that year, and literally it wasn't for like three or four plays in the first few quarters, it damn here would have been tied. It was just it was those same mistakes that kept losing us games, you know, throughout the downfall that year. I just heard late for

few. There wasn't too many people. It wasn't anyone important settled down there. There's only two people listened to this show, so you know. So you know again, so that in your five years there, you had one year in the middle where you where you sat out because you heard you heard your knee I had knee injury. So in your four games of actually you know, being on the field. You went to four bowl games. That must have felt like we've heard Josh Paster talk about, you know, they

won a national championship his freshman year. He thought, this is easy, we can do this. But uh, you know, did the bowl game kind of become an expectation for you ever? Well, yeah, they were in an expectation because the year after, the year after they went to the Vegas Bowls the year that I got there. So from there we were on the off or trajectory and we just assume that every year we're going to get

there. First year obviously went to a great bowl playing against Nebraska. That was, you know, my childhood dream school was kind of surreal watching them fun out in the field. And then they did a triple option. We never got recovered and they just basically bowl rad built. So that wasn't fun. Obviously, the next year we're talking about the alme Bowl. Year after that he couldn't play, and then Rettront's first year New Mexico Bowl and there

were fireworks at the end of that one. I was like, in the back of my mind, I'm like, damn, I'm about to go through bowl games. We come back when and then senior year when we were down there in Louisiana, that was definitely the most unique experience we've had. But it was fun. So you get to, you know, enjoy all the festivities and everything. But at the end of the day, all the upper

classroom, you can tell them they're to win the game. A lot of the younger guys, you know, they'd go out and enjoy the scenery and whatnot. But you know, you got coaches and you've got good leadership. Everybody's going to show up for the game and that's the most important thing. So I think one of the things that I think that's cool is you you go and some of the guys get nice some swag, some cool swag. Do you have any of the swag that you were given from back in the

day. Yeah, Actually I did have a lot of swag doing back in the day. I'm very very I don't spend very much money, guys, so I try to keep all my stuff looking that. So what do you have? What'd you keep? I mean I got stuff from every single Bowl game, like watching, whether whether it's the gifts they gave us, whether it was the gear they give you before you hit the plane, whether it's you know, just little things that you buy while you're out there. I

mean I got something from everything I got. Obviously you have the rings I got, you know, watches. I still got a couple of things that I bought with a you know, a best Buy gift card when we were at San Antonio. I still got things obviously, like stuff you after the game where after the game they give you like four or five different shirts and you know, pairs of shorts pants everywhere you go. The last two because it was so damn cold where we were playing, they gave us a bunch

of hoodies and whatnot. So I still got all of those things. Oh, very cool, Very cool. So you mentioned, you know, Nebraska, you're you know, you still talk about being a fan of Nebraska. You know, Everzon who's got Oklahoma in this in this Alima Bowl? Are you are you like, are you still in or were you ever or are

you still in Oklahoma? Absolutely hate those guys because growing up in a Nebraska fan or but you know, when you think about Oklahoma, what do you think about I mean, when you're born into a family that's been supporting Nebraska their entire lives, you have any natural hate for Oklahoma kind of like being

born in too Son, you have a natural hate for ASU. So it's one of those things to where obviously, because I played for, you know, two of the Soups brothers, you know, you kind of start to gain a little bit more appreciation for you know, how they were able to separate that program and continue to you know, that program to the next level. And to be honest with you, venomals. I mean I actually enjoy him as a coach. I mean when he was that Clemson, he was

awesome, always had some of the best defenses in America. And then you know, I think he got I think he got a couple of the guys on the staff that we played with. I mean, you got beaten Bow, and then I forget. I think they got one or two other guys that were down here at too On at some point. So Latrell, I think it is up there too. I mean, they're doing a great job, and you know, obviously I'll get a root for Arizona, but I want it to be a good game because I want those guys to go out

the right way. Too. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I say this all the time because I think that you of all my people, I talked to all my buddies, or where are you gonna call him? You were the one that got it, sput On. Sput On. In fact, you said, we want to apologize because you had him only at eight wins, but everybody else was kind of more tempered and all that. So congrats, and you know you deserve that because you believed. You believed,

and I think you believe because you saw something. Right. What was this thing that you saw? Well, it's just a talent level, you know, I mean going from year one, year two, and I think just the fact that they have the ability to tap into the transfer portal when you really need it, and these guys they're able to you know, they're able

to go out and recruit so well that first year. I mean, in the back of your mind you kind of go, well, if they can recruit that well, and they're selling the dream the NFL obviously, wherever one of these guys wants to go. You know, all the years that those guys either spent or coaching there, and I guarantee we're going to be able to land a couple of big fish in the transfer portal. Well, first year all offense and then going into that third year coach Fish and all those

guys said, okay, now we've got to address the defense. Well, if they do as good of a job addressing the defense as they did addressing the offense, and that you know next year we're going to be a good team. And you have a lot of guys that were still you know, maturing on the obviously on the roster. You know, Jordan Morgan, you had the team ax of the world. I mean, I knew no if Fafida was going to be good. I didn't think he was going to step

in this pass. But I mean, you have a stable of running backs, you have a few NFL offensive linemen. I mean, the receivers are awesome, and if they were able to do what they did to the defense, what they did at the offense, they were going to be awesome. And when you have some folks around the program, you hear some stuff and it's kind of like, all right, it looks like we got, you

know, a bunch of NFL guys on the team. So I'm going to go ahead and guess that we're going to be good, even though you have kind of a crazy pack twelve this year. But what I will tell you is. I think that the PAC twelve was awesome this year, but I think they suffered from a lot of how don't I say this? I mean, they basically ate each other alive. Yeah, you know. I mean if it was any other conference, I guess you had half of the conference

wasn't as good. You would have a you know, a lot more teams up there in the upper echelon. But because he had so many good, you know, fifteen to thirty ranked type teams in there, you know some of the team you suffered because of it. But hey, whatever, No, you're right, You're right. They accennibalized each other. Well, all right, that the world's looking for us rank I'm gonna take them a little bit of a different track because the Heisman Trophy is going to be announced on

Saturday. You played against a guy who ultimately won one. Marcus Mariota, you played against him in twenty thirteen, and Dominican Sue you played against him in two thousand and nine. I think he was in the running, although he's a defensive guy. Obviously didn't win it. But do you know when somebody is that good that they should be in consideration for that? I mean, do you see that when you walk on the field with those guys or you see them play or whatever. You know, when you play against them,

you say, Okay, that guy's different. Yeah. So my freshman year I didn't get on the field a lot. We played against a guy named Sooby Gerhart. Yeah, and he had a lot more rushing yard than a m did. I thought he should have won it, but they were only eight and five, so he didn't win it. The next guy played against Andrew Luck. I think he should have won it. He was in a system where he wasn't going to rack up the kind of yards, but

I thought he was clearly the best college football player in the country. And then he had Marcus Mariotta. So I mean we played against a bunch of those types of guys. I mean, they're a bunch of guys that maybe weren't on good teams that if they were in a different situation, you kind of looked at him as that guy. But they didn't have enough around them

in order for them to succeed like you would think they would. But yeah, I mean, obviously, you know Lego, you watch the tape and you kind of like envision this is kind of what they're going to look like out on the field and then they're better than what they show on the film. Well, it's ridiculous. So yeah, no, I think, to be honest with you, I'm gluten for Penix. You know, Pere pocket Passer obviously. I mean watching that Pac Til Championship game, he was so

cool, calm and collected. I was like extremely impressed. You know, Bonnicks Obviously with the two losses, I think he's out. Jayden just because he went to ASU, I'm saying absolutely not, he's like four. But other than that, I'm going, yeah, well that's why I That's where I was going with you, because what you said about both you know, Gerhart and Uh and Uh and Andrew Luck, right, you know, their teams they weren't in the hunt for the national championship and stuff like that.

I thought, I agree with you. I thought both of those guys should have won it, and I think Christian McCaffrey should have won one. But yeah, you know, but you know, and so Jayden Daniels is in that kind of Andrew Luck position. His team isn't playing for the national championship, but yet he's up there. He's actually the favorite. You know what what's your philosophy is that you think it should be a guy who's not only really good, but on a team that's really good, like you know,

like Panix is that type of thing. I'm trying to justify my vote. I've made my vote, and I'm not I can't tell you what I voted for, but I'm just trying to figure out, you know, get somebody else's opinion on these three guys. The way I see it is if you have just ungodly numbers, I don't care what team you're on, Like I mean, if you have eight or nine wins and you have just ridiculous numbers, sure you should be there, you know. I mean that was kind

of like what ended up happening with with Toby Gerhart. I mean he had, like I said, like four hundred yards more than Ingram, but Ingram played for the National Chambership, right, So when it comes down to that, if you have crazy numbers, you know, eight nine wins, that's fine, you deserve to be in the conversation. If you're someone that has a little bit less, but you've commanded a twelve to oh, thirteen to oh team going into the playoffs, then obviously you should be there, especially

at a quarterback position because you control everything on the offense. However, if you have there's an asterisk if you have played at the university up North, you're disqualified. I love that. Okay, hey just tell us. I know we're kind of up against your deadlines or are we with with health insurance? Yeah? So, I mean, guys, we don't have an open

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better covers. If you want to go and get our website www. Dot there's no health insider dot com. You can read up a little bit more about it and then you get to do business with a fellow locas. So thank you guys for having me on the show again. Beard out all right, thanks Jake's fah all right, cool Jake, Jake with his great opinions and his one sided again. You know, we say he's got he's got knowledge that we don't have. Really, I love to I love to try

and pull that out. Very cool. All right, We'll take your calls five two zero four, one forty. We'll wrap up this this hour with your calls heading to breaking News at the top of the hour, and then we're going to have four Arizona basketball player Rick Anderson from the late nineties early two thousands. He was in one of those Wisconsin NCAA Tournament games for Arizona. So own stick around for all that. If you're an Arizona men's basketball

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Visit Edmund Marcus our State agency at twenty seven nineteen North Campbell, or give him a call at five to zero three two three nine three three to three. You are in good hands with Edmund Marcus All State Agency. Do you want to be part of a winning team? A team? Security is looking for friendly, outgoing event security guards and event staff to be a part of our team. We've been providing our outstanding services to some of Arizona's biggest sporting

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Chef Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jake Kevin want us today? We had fourteen minutes. Heady's going to give us a quick call. Please do five two o four one six seven four four Zero'd like to hear from me. That's all I got. That's all you got? Pizza? All right? Well, you know what, let's we got a couple more clips from Tommy because he had it. He had a couple more interesting things to

say. You asked him about watching how does he watch college basketball or does he watch college basketball in all his spare time? That that was an interesting answer. So here's what he had to say about what watching games as a coach when you're not coaching and you don't have a coaching head on, do you watch games as a fan, other games as a fan, or do you even have time to watch game? Well, I watch games, but you never watch them as a fan. You know, your your eyes are

always on. They're trained maybe a little differently, and so yeah, I mean, yeah, we you know, so my wife said, that's what we do at night. We we watch games and you know, games are on. We'll change from game to game, and you know, but I'm I'm you know, doing other stuff too around the house and this and that, but you know, it seems like a game is always on. So uh, you know, you just you know, you peek a little bit here and there, but you know, your your your coaching eyes always on.

And you know, I've I've learned a lot of really good things in basketball that have helped me as a coach by sitting on my couch watching a game at nine o'clock, you know, watching somebody else do something, because you know, at the end of the day, you know, every coach is somewhat of a thief. You know, you're you're you're taking from others. So yeah, so yeah, I definitely I I enjoy that aspect of it. You know, we we've talked about We've talked to other you know,

like former coaches often you know, players and stuff. How do you watch sports? Yeah, you know, it's like Lamon Hunt And we asked him that last week and he said, no, he watches the defense and and other coaches do that. I think we talked to Tim Kish about that the other day and he said the same thing. He said, and he pays attention to schemes and and stuff like that, and that that's how it

interests him. I thought that was again another interesting answer. Yeah. So so this is the question that Bruce Pascal got poked at a little bit bike by Tommy asked, if you know he sees some similarities between what he does or what Arizona does and what Wisconsin does and get a sense of what we

might see tomorrow. I do think there are some similarities, you know, I think they have you know, they have organized set ways they move with some fluidity to him that aren't rigid, and they have different you know, little patterns they run that they're really good at. And you know, we have a different version of maybe similar stuff and maybe we just do ours at a little different pace. But you know, both teams, you know, I think have a fluidity to them that makes them hard to guard. And

and you know, I really enjoyed watching them play and scouting them. You

know, I've you know, I haven't played against Wisconsin. You know, I think we did, you know, maybe back in Maui, you know, and you know, two thousand and nine, which is what thirteen fourteen years ago, so you know, which is cool because you know, I mean they if I went back and watched that game, there was probably some similarities to what they're doing then, you know, and I'm sure they've evolved a little bit, but they definitely have a system that they're proficient at running.

So you know that they're they're really good at it and it's fun to watch. Uh take a guess. Do you don't know what the spread is? I haven't take a guess. I'm gonna say Arizona by four seven and a half. It seems like a lot. It seems like a lot, but I think they'll cover. How do I know? I haven't seen Wisconsin playing all But when let me ask you before you hear you can't. I can't evenrase this. So I want to ask that question, when you think

of what Wisconsin, what do you think of? Don't think of the past, but what do you think of you know, big ten physical, slow down the shop. Yeah, guys are going to place to play at a relatively slower lace, right, But it sounds like they really don't. That's my point. That's why you think about something and you say something else. Yeah, because I mean, you know, I mean we saw Michigan State, right, and you know they were you know, classic big ten physical

push you trying to push you around. Yeah kind of team, some shooters on the outside. They really only had one. But nonetheless, you know that that's what that's what you think of, you know, of all the of all the teams from the Purdue, you think the same thing. Yeah, you know with with eat in the middle, you think, you know, they're they're just gonna, you know, pass the ball around till they can throw it into the middle and try and get something right the line.

The line has actually moved to eight and a half. Yeah, that seems like a lot. Now you're thinking, I'm not too sure. I think anything under like nine and that I mean it's really close. But anything on nine and a half, what do we have for an over under forty seven and a half? Yeah, that's still that's a lot of points. Seventy five, seventy three something like that. That's a lot of points, especially for a team that could slow down. Right, it doesn't seem like a

lot because you think Arizona should score in the eighties or nineties everything. But you know, I thought that with the Duke game, right, and they didn't get to the over right, and they and they moved the ball and they ran the ball both right, right, And it's a home game with Wisconsin. I think it's gonna be packed, it's gonna be crazy, But you just don't know what you're getting out of Wisconsin. Yeah, I think

it's'd be fine. I think it'd be really cool. So and then I think you asked him about Caleb Love, right, Yeah, and uh, you know, Caleb Love was the guy that I'm not gonna say polarized fans, but people wonder why they were getting Caleb Love going after Allen Boswell, yeah, uh, and the guys that they had a little worried that because he had he had committed to Michigan and then he goes So all these things gave people, I think, sort of a bad impression of Caleb Love.

Plus the way I asked the question was because he has a reputation of being a ball guy. But the ball hall gas you guy. Yeah, And I asked Caleb ab of that too. I said, you have a reputation of being the shooter guy. But he's leads. He leads a team and assists. Right, He's been more than just he's got to go to steals too. He's been playing well. So here's what he had to say about Caleb Love. About Caleb real quick. He's done very well to this point,

and probably beyond what people thought because they think he's the score. But I think he'd be doing assists as well. I mean, I mean, you know, Caleb is one of our better playmakers. And he's just a really good basketball player, you know. And and I know he's a really good shooter. You know. I know, maybe he's three point numbers. You know, people may not say that, but I've shot with him in

the gym enough. I know what good shooters look like, and and you know, I'm pretty confident by the end of the year his shooting numbers will be pretty impressive. So just a really good player. But you know, he's still learning. I mean, one of the great fun things about coaching him. This is my you know'm my first season coaching him, So I'm learning him. He's learning how we play a little bit, and uh, you know, I I'm finding things here and there that I think we can

help him with. And and he's been really receptive, you know to maybe changing some some habits and some techniques here and there, and uh, you know, which make said a lot of fun when you're working with a guy like that, you know, I mean, I've really challenged him to contribute to the game in other areas because I'm just a firm believer if you if you know, you try to participate in all areas of the game that eventually

you know you're you're going to get great numbers across the board and you're gonna have a significant impact. So he's done a great job with that. I mean, I'm really happy with where he's at. And you know, I mean, I I think he's you know, I think what I don't know, a few games back or whatever it was, he had a kind of a four or five minute stretch where he kind of exploded. I think I'll have a few of those over the course of the season. But I'm not

necessarily looking for that from him. I'm looking for him to be a really good, experienced, all around basketball player that just makes good decisions possession by possession, and he's he's doing that for the most part. So I don't think I've maybe have said this on the air publicly, but I've said this to a couple of people that I think that if Arizona does really well, it's going to be because of Caleb Looke. It is the problem with that.

If he goes dead, this team is in trouble. And I say that, I'd say that very reluctantly because I've already screwed up with the Philippe comment from two months ago or whatever it was. But uh, but they rely on him to score, not a lot, not a lot. But he's a scorer. Well, he's a he's a guy that when they need a score, like we need one now that he'll he's not and he's not a friend. He's not afraid to shoot. And you also see times when he can feel or you can tell that he can feel like Okay, we're

we're in a little bit of a rut here. I've got to do something, and he does, and he goes after that and tries to do something. But for my money, which means nothing, it's a quarter and a dollar or whatever. But I would go to Boswell for a shot. That's

why I actually to go with did you check? Yeah, of the percentages, Caleb Love actually before get percentage, he actually leads our team in points, assists and steals and and percentage wise, he is shooting thirty nine percent from the field, eighty one from the line, and twenty eight point six from three. Boswell, you're getting fifty one from the field from the free throw line has not missed this year and fifty four from three, which is

so who you're going with? Yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna. But what I do think, though, is that you know, Colin Boswell was gonna, He's gonna get get you some points. But Caleb Love his his aggressive aggressiveness and his fearlessness. You know, he'll get you a bucket eight different ways. But sometimes people, Uh, the fearlessness is what scares me

because you don't know if it's a good fearlessness or a bad feeling. Sometimes being over aggressive is not a good yeah or being yeah, you know you try to do It's that whole thing I'm trying to do too much or trying you know when yeh. But but I like the fact that he's come here and found a place for himself, uh you know, with within what they're trying to do, and he he might be the guy from game to game or in a given game, but you don't get a sense he's always trying

to be the guy. That's what I was gonna bring up when you were talking about how if he goes so lifeless you speak on the core, then you know the team will go the same. But I actually think he's not being relied on to score. He's being relied on to create. I think like the great shots for Boswell, you know, driving kick, whatever it

is. And I think the daily being with Tommy Lloyd is really helping him be that complete player the time he was talking about, because if you see him at U n C, I think he was relied on to be more of a ball dominant player. But here the ball is always moving, something's always happening, and he's just Steve. I kind of sea, I kind of disagree with you on the if he goes dead, they go dead, because he you know, I think he can not have a great game and

they can still still be really good. Whereas last year if Azulas had a terrible game, or if uh, you know Cresa had a terrible game, or you know something like that, or the year before if Ben Matheron had a terrible game or what it showed and it really impacted the team. They got so many guys I think that a guy did not have a great game, and and and it's not it affects them, but not as much as before. You go ahead and say what you're gonna say, and then I'll

say what you Today's point. When we played Duke, I mean, I'm looking at his stats here and I remember him having a slow game to start, but he finished it really exactly. He was three for ten from the field, one for five from three, but he did have and he won that game. Yeah, no, no, no, I totally agree.

The thing about it. The thing about it with him is that I think that as the season goes on and seven game is not a good sample, So it's really it's not that you're gonna see him be more ball dominant try to score more and sometimes he shoots those threes from way distance. Yeah, yeah he does. Let's take this quick call higher on the air and on the ball. Yeah. I have to say, Jay, you're right.

I think unlike the last couple of seasons we only had a couple guys to depend on, we got a lot more than just Kyle and Bobswell and Love. Wait, we can any night, we can have four or five guys scoring double gas. Okay, let me put that to test. And that's one of the things I was gonnail j okay, both you guys. So who you got from the perimeter outside of without mentioning Boswell or or or Caleb Love? Are you gonna go to Are you gonna go to Johnson Patterson?

Who? Who? Okay, you're gonna charge? Are you gonna trust yourself with pillow? No? But I mean okay, and we got some time to cultivate the bench. We got some a couple of months. I'm talking about shooters the pimeter. I mean, come on, are you gonna go get it? Are you gonna go to bollow in crunch time? If you have to get a foul? Okay, that's two. What about Crevs Crevis or that other guy, the other Mariska. See he can hit some flip,

can make them from the three. Okay, okay, okay, okay, same to you, J I mean, who are you gonna go to? Oh yeah, I mean if you need one basket, you need a three pointer, you're gonna give you You're gonna give it to your best shooter, which is But I also but if if Caleb Love takes the shot, I don't have a problem with it. You do I because you have to. You're gonna have to live and die with him. And because you know, you know, if they're coming out of a timeout and they need a

three pointer, you opposing coach is gonna blanket Colin Boswell. So you got to have another guy. Well, I think they're gonna try to do both. I mean you need both the guys in. Letsten pay attention if there's those two are not in the game together. Yeah, what happens? What happens? Yeah? Good question, No, really good question. But it just seems like there's there's less drop off whoever's in the line. Heyward,

those first, we thank Vinny Kevin. Okay, no, no, so we'll pay attention to when they those two guys, where's the scoring gonna come to? Where it's come from? But yeah, I see they have options, is what I'm saying. They have people options options. Well, that means A Bradley's gonna have to step up Bradley kJ Lewis, which which may be the other guys. Howard's point, Pela Larson is shooting forty five percent

from the three round. How many shucks has he taken? I don't know, but he has been shooting a little bit here and tell you some some open spot ups. It's not it's not a lot. It's not a lot. He's five of five of eleven, So that's that's not a lot. That's not bad when you're when when other guys are shooting more though, I mean, he's making the open run. All right, let's take our break. When we come back, breaking news at the top of the hour. She's on five. She's so hot.