Breaking down all the X is it?
Ohs.
This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Iye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. You're Tim Bentley in with me on a Friday. Hello, Hello, got a call from Tom Denny from Greenfield or he's an EMPI.
Though he's an EMPHIES.
Just give it us four yeah, Yeah, anybody want to call you it? Yeah, doing really well? Anybody want to call with your good old days? One with the good old days for you in college basketball for Arizona. Maybe give us a quick call and let us know, uh, your fuzzy warm and fuzzies.
What's the phone number?
Yeah? Five two zero Yeah, thinks that you're a good partner by to zero four one six seventy four forty aren't guys? No, I haven't written down on their refrigerators or somewhere.
I know Tom Danny as are on speed down. Yeah, Friday and the break.
Yeah, five two four one six seventy four to forty? When were the good times? Good old days?
Let me ask you one of your good question, what's your good old days?
Here?
Arizona basketball, Arizona sports in general. Let's give basketball football.
Well, they all associate with with college basketball. So I started covering the team as a twenty six year old in ninety one. Ninety one ish my first year, I know, I covered a little before. Ninety four was fantastic because it was the final four with Damon and Kalid and and it's more about covering the guys. Damon, to me, he was one of my favorite guys. He got the media, he understood our needs. Ninety seven was just a surprise.
Who knew. Ninety eight was a little bit more difficult because everyone thought they were going to do it again and it didn't happen. Two thousand and one was a lot of fun, but a lot of crap because Gilbert was on a team and he was a pain. You know, to both lose Bobby passes away. There's a lot of dues. Never a dull day in that beat season. Rosburrow came back and then helped, you know, coach the team until
he came back. And then that last run Look's last try in two thousand and six isshes the Rosemont incident where they had Illinois against the Ropes and couldn't close it. I mean, there's a lot of different eras for me. But like you said, every four years, it was like clockwork to get to the final four eighty eight, ninety four, you know, you know, every ye.
To the suite. And then that didn't for years. They were in the sweet sixteen, they were like.
Ninety four, ninety seven, you know, two thousand and one, and then it all dried up in my in my in my partying column, not for Luke's death, but when he decided to retire. It was I used the line from Taylor, James Taylor, I've seen fire, I've seen rain. I thought I would never end, because you when you're going through it, you're thinking like, wow, I get to do this, and I've had chances to leave. But I was during that time to leave to another paper. So
why would I leave. I got the best gig around.
You know, cavern a national power. Yeah, and you know the ball from time to time is good.
Bill what I think the one thing for my situation, it was at the afternoon paper, so I didn't get as much run as the morning paper, you know, But to me it didn't matter. I was still in the thick of it. And competing and trying to beat the crap out of the Star and outright.
Then on the you're on the sidelines. You're on the on the court side, so you're in the thick of it.
I had nothing to complain about, nothing to complain about it. It was a great run.
Two papers in one city.
Yeah, I know the Google And you know how this is because you're in the business and you're at a hospital right with another hospital that's big, sure, and you both make each other good or better exactly.
So you come to work every day to do your best. Yes, you know you wanted you want to give the best product to the best to the to the people, so you do your best. Yeah.
Yeah.
And what about football?
Yeah no, really, I covered tell me that's my first Like big gig in eighty seven, eighty eight nine going to Hawaii for the bowl game that they had not been shut out in forever, got shut out by Syracuse like twenty eight, twenty nine zero Coppara Bowl. Covering Dictomy was pretty nice, pretty easy, just a chill back guy.
What about Okay, so here's three airs.
So I didn't cover football that much.
Well, here's three airs. You forget about women's softball was.
And I covered that. I covered I covered the covered Candrea in his first national title and his second one. I think it was Jermino and I were at in Oklahoma.
So you have a softball had it run men and women's golf? Yeah, some great runs.
Didn't cover that except for maybe the last title they had maybe a few years ago.
And people forget that from the early eighties to the baseball. Baseball, there's baseball, but track by track was sending sending men and women to the Olympic Trials every year?
Was that with Dave Murray? Dave Murray, I want to find him. I want to talk to him. He's around, Yeah, he is around. You have his number.
I'll get it for him.
Maybe next week. You talk to him because he's kind of like no one talks about that stuff. And we obviously I've talked to coach now.
Harvey, Harvey and Bernard. Yeah, so we'll see how that goes. Yeah, he loves to talk about it, you know. And he's just he announces at the track meet sometimes okay, yeah, along, and he's talked to Like when I coached high school, he'd come out and talk to my kids. He was just a lover of.
Coaching, just another those casual chill guys totally.
So you know you've a is you know, what's the Seers Sports Cup.
That they used to year and those those are the good old day.
Yeah, swimming, don't forget about swimming.
And then you know Frank Bush, who could Well, if you're going to talk about Mount Rushmore of coaches, who do you put on there? Okay?
Loot right, well, loot Kendrea Carea Kendall Okay, Jerry.
Okay, okay okay? And then who Bush has a lot of titles, a lot of titles.
Yeah, I mean it's a.
Lot of national winners, award winners.
Can we have like the Mount Rushmore like.
The back of and you've got four?
Bad?
You got four? You have a lot of people, I mean you have a lot of people.
Let's ask the folks that are listening. So what's your favorite or what's what's your era basketball? And then what's your Mount Rushmore? You of a coach? Is all sports?
Yeah? Well, and they also have a they have an arena named after McHale.
Well, what do you used to go to those games when you were a kid? Hey, popah?
So you know those are my guys. I think Frank probably be number four. Kendrea, well, Kendra ken Tran will be number four. Go ahead, anybody want to call and let us.
Know, let us I and Andrea Kendall. You know, you you forget, you know, guys our age, we're talking about your audience. They're going to remember Jerry Kendall. I mean, what did he win three national titles? Three national championships? Yeah? And you know what about Larry Smith, you know, turning the.
Kind of turning the program back around. Yeah, because you know, coach Young did a pretty good job in the seven. I wasn't part of that, so I I.
Yeah, So it's so post what nineteen eighty on, Well, let's go to nineteen seventy six. Get Jerry Kendall.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta go. People can call. You know, they're not gonna call it, but everyone has their own opinion.
I know, I know. And then so where are you watching the game to morrow?
What are you gonna do tomorrow or tonight?
Is it tonight? No? No, no, let's talk about that. What do you think about the playoff?
Oh? In CUAA the football last night? I had I bet Penn State. I don't even know why I bet Penn State because we were at the casino. I just random leased of Penn State. Good game. They should have won. They should have won. They had that drive of the interception of the idiot. A good game.
What do you think of the playoff format? What do everybody else? I want sixteen?
I want sixteen games, sixteen sixteen teams, no more. Just go right to it, sixteen teams and no more. It takes it like basketball. Remember they stab twenty four and then they have thirty forty two. Don't don't mess with it anymore. Come on special teams to be part of the special situation. Sixty eight. Leave it at sixty eight.
I know everybody wants to be part of this, and I'm sure you, as a coach, had to deal with everybody gets a trophy, era enough, not everybody gets you know how you get to be good at what you do. You have to compete to get to be good at what you do. You know what I'm saying that everybody gets a job after college. You have to be good at what you.
Do, right, you know, I'm with you. I wanted sixteen and just do the step down just like they do. You know, just like they do the basketball turner.
I'm surprised they didn't do sixteen right away.
Were they trying to help the bowld I have noise, weird math, backwards masks.
Above my pay grade. But sixteen teams that leave alone, everyone's equal and redo how the format they did, because this year it didn't work. Just because you're win a title, a convery sattle doesn't mean that you're going to be in the top four seats. It's it's the eye test, it's all the Yeah, I'm with you, it's yeah. Because what Ohio State is a six to night? I think
there was six. They're playing Texas, which is a four or three or something like that, and I think and all the underdogs lost, and all the all the underdogs not underdogs, but all the lower seeds were beating the upper seeds because of the situation.
Of the situation, I know. So you want to tease your pick forever.
I think he has the same pick. I'm going to Ohio State minus six, minus six. Yeah, But like I said, I missed last night's game, so and he hit last night's game. Uh, and he put it on the league. I didn't put it in the in the league, so Ohio State, I mean, how can.
You not.
You talk about the eye test and that's.
And then you then you saw Texas last week right against the issue almost could.
Beat answer is better than you think. Yeah, they just you know, just and I love I mean, I know we're no you can say, yeah they were Donata scat. It was was great. You know, you get fired up, dude.
You want that dude.
You root for kids like that, right, what's that?
What's a few man? You want me on that wall?
You want him down there. And he was throwing passes and he was catching passes and yeah, so he was.
He was an offensive scooby right, that's right. You know you want that dude. You want ten of those dudes.
Right, So I hope he inspires some kids, you know, because he's you know, I love watching him play. I was fine. His dad, you know, is cutting doing away shots to his dad.
And well, Arizona has a guy like that on this roster. The kids from cdo that running back that that wrestling guy was probably listening. He'll text me now you know me and names I don't remember yours too, Jim what right, Tommy Ray? Just don't the running back from the CDEO. He and he saw some time just to tough those I.
Love those kids, Like we talked about just be essential. What what can I do? We're talking about what can I do? I can do that. I'll be on that special team of the way I'm in.
Yeah.
So I love that you talk. You'd like to mentor kids. You have these intern kids.
We don't even know sticking. Give me the ball, Give.
Me the ball. I'll run for pizza. Let's go.
Yeah, that's what they used to do. Pizza. I needed a few pizzas please, yes, Yeah, we'll see what happens with Arizona. They obviously uh hired So yeah, yesterday I talked about that yesterday and uh and the new defensive coordinator and z allus. So things are looking up. I think people are more positive now than they were a few months ago.
Oh this this room in here was dark in November.
Yeah. But you know what, Tim, you have you ever had a how many years have you coached?
I coached for nine years?
Have you ever had a great team? Like a great team? Yeah, we had, we had a few that didn't turn out to be a great team.
Yeah, you know, how did that happen?
You know whose fault.
Was, It's because I'm coaching high school kids is probably my fault.
You know what made them not great?
You know, uh, priories change to be nice? Okay, yeah, don't know, circumstances changed.
Did they not like you or do they not listen to you?
You know, their priorities changed.
They lose the sense of urgency, the.
Sense of urgency. They forget that this is that they're not coming back to school next year. Kate and Luke is the kid thank you to h So you know, not that they're bad kids, they just go you know, they they're moving on to the next thing.
And so to my point is, uh, what was my point? You know you Okay, they're getting good things happening at you of a. Now, guess what you gotta do? Gott to coach them, right, So, whether it was on you, Tim or the kids, something happened. Right, So nothing's guaranteed, Like this year, nothing was guaranteed. Always got a good group coming back, You got and new coaches hungry. Well nothing came of it.
Well every year I look at the kids coming in and you're like, man, do I want to coach another year? And you look at the batch coming in and you're like, yeah, I think we can make a run at it this time, I think we can do it. I was like the ultimate fan. I was like a rooted for these kids, and I coached them hard and I wanted them to be great, and you know, and at the high school level, you really are giving kids a good experience. You know, kids, you want them to make friends and have fun and
learn how to compete. So at the college level, you know, I think there's some of that enthusiasm that.
So real quick, give mean ten seconds of this. So what got you out? You looked at the rosters that I don't know, Well, you.
Can only talk to fifteen and sixe year old kids for so long before your brain has turned so much. I mean, a lot of the kids I coach now that are in their early thirties, they're much much nicer to.
Keep you youngs as hell? How is you stuff?
My parents would say you'd make a great teacher, Coach Bentley, and I'd be like, I don't know if I could talk to a kid for another minute.
Right, right, we gotta go. We didn't get Brian Peabody on the other side.
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Raverra on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to the ball Here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, he's Tim Bentley. And now on the fund we have Brian Peabody from the undefeated Pima men's basketball program. Brian, how you doing? I'm good? Thank you doing well? Seventeen to zero? What's going on in the water at Pima.
I guess the only thing I can say is I haven't I haven't screwed him up yet, So just be just be patient. That happened sooner or later.
No, don't say that. Don't say that you have some quality players though. I want to kind of go back, and you will have to tell me how long ago this was? Uh one of those times I had you on the show. Brian Peabody had been upset. The guys weren't listening, they weren't doing much. It wasn't a great year. Maybe the record showed it was a good year, but you weren't happy. How long ago was that? And flashback to this and and maybe just.
The change I think that was during COVID when we couldn't bring anybody on campus, You couldn't interview kids, you couldn't work them out, and we did everything off film, and that was the worst year of my life. I just said, I'm never going to do that again. So from that day forward, I had to meet every kid, interview them, work them out, see them, introduce you know, staff,
show them the facilities so that there were no surprises. I think that was COVID year and that was that was That was a really bad year for probably for everybody, but I just swarned myself that I was never going to do that again.
And since then, God, you haven't lost much. You haven't really lost many games.
Yeah, no, we know, we've had some really good seasons since then. And I think, you know, the biggest change, like I said, is just meeting kids, uh, interviewing them, make sure they know what they're getting into. And then the type of kid that you recruit, they've got to be you know, high, you know, really high character, high academics. And I think that's been the biggest change with our guys.
And we have some older kids, like I have two kids that are coming back from their mission, so they're older guys, and I think that's a huge advantage to have older kids. Like this year we start five kids that have been out of college either two or three years, and I think that's huge.
Hey, coach, this is Tim Bentley. I've been an admirer of years. For many years. I used to coach at Sant Augustine Catholic High School track and cross country, and I followed your career and I always admire the way you worked with kids. I'm curious about this that your you know, the view of junior college. I'm a big fan of junior college and that transition year. You talk about these kids coming in and you want good character kids.
How can a junior college help these kids, especially as local kids come in to make that next step.
Oh, it can help in a number of different ways.
You know, it can help basketball wise, it can help academically, it can help maturity. It can help in numerous ways. And I love it, you know because a lot of times you get a kid that is under recruited, that nobody wants, so they're coming to you, you know, with a chip on their shoulder. A perfect example of that is you know my starting five this year, specifically, Cohen J. Got to high school. You know, he didn't have any offer.
I was his only offer to go to Pema College. Like, he didn't have any other junior college offers nothing, and he just received his first Division one offer you know, Iona, which is a mid level school of New York where Yeah, really exciting. Yeah, no one's happier than me because you know, he believed in me, and I believe in him. And and now he's got a D one offer on the table. He's going to take an official visit in three weeks.
So just stuff like that, stories like that, I love, you know, And and it's happened to almost every guy in my team this year. West Ball from Arana didn't have anything gabled and didn't have anything cod events that didn't have anything, And these guys are all, you know, in line.
To get that.
They've all received scholarships. Every kid on my on my starting five has a scholarship offer to a four year school. Not all D ones but Division twos and an ai is. So it's kind of a it's a good feeling. It's a good feeling.
So all these kids are riding high, they're seventeen and oh and they're starting to get some attention. How do you keep them focused on the prize?
Easier?
Seven done? I mean, I just you know, I just keep coming harping every day, and I'm just telling the good thing about it. I got guys on my team that can coach. They can coach better than me, and they're more mature than me. So that's a really good thing to have where you know, I can be quiet and gave. All of them will step in, Coen j will step in and say things and coach our guys. And do we just keep harping on the fact that I know it's stupid to say, but it's one game
at a time. It really is like you just got to focus on the next game, whoever it is, you know, and and our guys have been unbelievable doing that, and you know, we have a chance to make history. You know, some of your order an article the other day that somebody's only you know, gone undefeated twice, you know, in the entire time of Juco Arizona Juco, I think it was Eastern Arizona in the seventies and in CoA Chief And those are only two schools that I have ever
done that. So we have a chance to make history. And we just keep talking about that. And we've got thirteen games ago one on tomorrow, and we're just plugging away.
Don't blame me if that doesn't happen because I didn't write the story.
Just on you.
So real quick about this before we get to the team as a whole. How does the new ruling with the JC getting extra time at the next level, does it help you at all or just in strictly students because it's a it was a surprise to me.
Well it's not official. That was just one case, so they haven't come down with it and said hey, specifically, if you go JUCO you get another year. So I think think it's going to go that direction. It hasn't gone that direction yet permanently, but if it does, yeah, it's gonna help. It's going to help us a lot.
I think it's going to eliminate all of the postgrad because kids are paying, you know, twenty thirty forty thousand dollars to go to postgrad where they could go junior college and not have to pay anything and not you know, get doctor yeared to play. So yeah, it's gonna help us immenseally. It'll be huge for junior college's huge.
Oh good, okay, okay, I understand. Now back to the team. Attendance must be very good. Up. People want to watch way up.
You know when we played we had the tournament right after Christmas and it was Salt Lake who was ranked fourth in the country, Dawson who was in the top twenty in the country in the central. So there was three division code schools that we've played and the gym was packed. It was it was unbelievable. And and I'm a charge of the snack park. I sold more nachos than I ever had, so.
I was residual residual effect nice. Well, great, great, And it's not very expensive two three five bucks to go and watch him you play.
It's yeah, it's really cheap. It's five bucks to get in and and UH and the community has been unbelievable coming out and supporting the assets. It's been really fun.
Yeah.
Uh.
We have the Marty kid on about a month ago. We obviously one of the stars on the team. How is it coaching him and maybe having his dad come and watch.
No, it's been really really good the UH. I got to know his dad when he was at Grand Canyon and he two of my former UH staff members coached underneath him, Dylan Hidalga and Chris Carverloon who were with me, and then he recruited uh Rashad Smith, So I got to know him through that whole process and and he's he's been great. He gets it, he was you know, it's a former coach and at this level and he understands what's going on. So he's been fantastic. He just wants,
you know, his kid to be happy. So that's been fun. And the kid has been really receptive to coaching. And I wish I had him for you know, two years instead of one, you know, where we could really really make a dent in his progress and all kinds of stuff. But everything has been good. He's he's accepted everything here. He's fun to coach, Our team gets along, everybody gets along with him, and so it's been it's been good.
Hey, uh Brian coach. I'm curious how far a field do you go to recruit? You know, we're talked about Marley's kid. You know, I know there's a lot of focus on a good from Alaska, from Tucson. You want to do, you want to do be a good be a good coach, and a good be of service to kids locally, But how far a field do you go? Where do you look for kids?
We'll go wherever.
We just signed.
Uh, actually today we just got a commitment from the best kid. Steve just brought it up from Alaska. We have Alaska connection and we have a point guard that's coming in next year, so we're excited about that. So, you know, and I'm not bragging, just means I'm old. I have a lot of connections out there where coaches will call me and say, hey, we got this kid, we got this kid, we got this kid, and we
leave no stone unturned. So anybody calls me any kind of email, text message, whatever, I'm going to call and reach out and get video and bring them in and all that kind of stuff. And so we got the kid signed from Alaska today, which is you know, big time for us. And the good thing about it is, you know, because of the success we are having, you know, we're getting better players and more calls because they see
what's going on. And the big thing that everybody looks at is you know how many players, you know, are you getting to the next level. And we've had more success than any junior college in the state of Arizona at getting guys to a four year school. So we just keep harping that and we got to kids that have already committed from from Tucson, which is our home base. That's really cool.
What's the what's the talent pool like in Tucson, What's how deep do we go for these high school kids that are coming up.
It's just okay to be honest with you. I brought that story up today. I'm a native Tucson and and you know back when I played and I was no good. So let me put that out of a record. But the starting five at so high school, we're all Division one players on one team. So you know, you David Haskins who went to you of A, Gary Lewis, Texas A and M had a kid go to an AU, the other kid air Force, that was all on one team. You know, you don't have that in the entire city,
you know, of going Division one, I can't. I think there's been I have to you know, maybe a guess like five kids in the last five years maybe that have gone on to a Division one school. So it's down, but you know, periodically you to get you know, last year we had Dylan Baker that went to an AU that was really good. From Evan Nelson that went to South Point that went to Harvard say, you know, periodically you get a kid, but it's not every year. It's not every year.
So so Brian, you've been doing this a while, Like you said, have you always used the fast paced style? Is that just who's what you do?
In terms of the points we scored?
Yeah, the points you score? Did you ever go slow? Because everybody wants to go fast, and of course why not do it?
No, that's a great question. So I got to give credit to my assistant. So when we got to Tima thirteen years ago, they only won one game, a conference game in two years, and Edgar Sota, who hired me, said hey, we don't care, you know, if you win another game, but just cleaned things up academically. So we started recruiting a different type of kid. And then my first year we were not very good, and my assistant Mike Morgan and Matt Minder, said, hey, we got to change something.
So back in the day.
And you guys remember this, everybody was defensive minded, you know, as I was when I was at sou Point and rich. You know, you just wanted to guard and guard and guard. But we went the other way. We just started playing as fast as you possibly could. I'm trying to figure ways out to play faster, and it's just attracted better kids because they want to play that way. So we we went the other way, and we've led the country
and scoring quarters in a row were ravage. We're leading the count or the entire Division two nationally one hundred and ten points a game. This year we leave the country and assists ravaging thirty four assists a game. And we're just playing the right way. Everybody shares the ball and people love, you know, our guys love playing that way, you know, But but we don't play everyone's like thinks we assume we play like LMU you know when back in the day, we're not shooting at three every time.
That's not how we play. You know, I got seven guys right now that average double figures, and all seven of those guys we'll get a scholarship to play the next level. When we got beaten national championship in eighteen, I had eight guys average double figures in all eight got a scholarships in the next level. So we really share the ball and play fast, and I'm always trying
to figure out ways to to get even faster. You know, we want to we just want to play up temple the entire time, and it has been really successful doing that.
What's the average time of a possession?
Then it's probably longer than you think it's. You know, we're not like, I'm not that guy I have. I don't say, hey, we got to get a shot out from the in the first you know, ten seconds or anything like that. We're just looking for the best shot
as soon as we can. You know, I've seen a lot of teams over the years that go and run, you know, like all this whatever you want to call flex offense like Princeton used to do, and then they take a bad shot, you know, with thirty seconds left, and they could have taken that bad shot with five seconds you know into the shot lit. So we're just looking for the best shot. If it's two seconds and in the shot clocks, we're shooting it. If it's thirty
seconds of the shot clock, we're shooting it. It just it just has to be a good shot.
Well, I'm sure teams are trying to slow you down with cam because I'm honestly, well, how's the way to beat the team is just trying to slow them down, limit possessions.
Get in the way I I what's I mean, how would you play yourself?
Coach?
I mean, what would you do?
Let's oh god, that's a guard question. No it you know, and people do. But the other side of that, I'm just telling you that this team guards like no, no team that I've had at PEMA Like we can guard like you know. I don't know if you guys saw Salt Lake, but they're number four in the country. You know, we held them to seventy something whatever.
Points it was.
You know, they're good. They had a guy going to TCU and you know, uh in the Big twelve. Uh, he's really really good.
They have a kid.
They had four Division one players on them, and we held him the seventy seven points in the and with the exception of the big kid, the other three guys we held half of their average. So I got guys that can really defense. That's I think that's the most impressive thing about my team this year is it's the best defensive team I've had at PEMA College. Like, I have four guys that aren't great offensively, but if I say, hey, go take that kid out of the game, he's out
of the game. So it's it's just it's it's been a good combination of both offense and defense. So I'm having the time of my life. You have good players that make you look really really good. So well, it's been fun.
Speaking of really really good, we are we're betting on how many wins you have total and looking it up here, I see close to two fifty at South Point. You're seventeen and zero now, so that means you're probably two fifty at Pema College. That's a few others are what are you? Are you five hundred and thirty wins in your total career?
Always more than that's got to.
Yeah, we're we're You guys are jinking me. Why do you bring all this stuff up?
No? You we can't only pound who wrote about it, so you know, No.
It's it's it depends how things go. We'll hit seven hundred this year.
Next year, one of the two here check the website. I'm going to send a note I.
Don't get fired this year that then it will be next year.
We'll get it. Brian. Along those lines, I think you're a little older than me, you know, both of us. How long do you have left? Because you're you're having the time of your life. Why why end right?
I'm not in you know what, what else am I going to do? Like, I'm no good at golf.
Your wife likes like, once you out of the house, he's running the stock.
COVID When I was home we almost got divorced, was like, when do you go back to work? Yeah? Now I think realistically, I think I've got eight more years and and and again, young, I love what I'm doing.
Kids are good.
You know.
People are always talking about, you know, kids are changing, and I say, no, they're not.
Coaches are changing.
The kids aren't change a lot of you know, you do the same thing, and you and coach them the same way. They're they're going to respond. And my guys, you know, I coach them hard. We have, you know. And again, I've got an unbelievable staff with you know, Mike Morgan and Matt Minder and Marshaun Plantagainst and we have you know, we've been together longer than I've been married.
To think of that, that's unbelievable. So I've got a good staff, and we have good cops and bad cops on our staff, and and it's just it's worked out well and and we do our thing every day and we have fun doing it, so it's it's been good. So I probably have eight more years of this and and then I'm gonna call quits.
And it's tough to hang around Mike Morgan and Minder and not be divorced. So that's cool, you know, with them, not from you, with with them. No, no, no, so no great. There was another thing I wanted to ask. Uh, the team is fast yeada, yeaha, so good time. What's next for you? You guys are up again? What's coming up?
We've got We have thirteen league games left starting tomorrow we play Scott Still at PEMA at four o'clock, and then we have the league games and then depending on how those go, then we'll have the tournament and then hopefully we're in the national tournament. Good thing about it is the Division two National Tournament. Now they're doing that large bids.
Uh.
This is just the second year that he has done that, So hopefully if we have a mishap that you know down the stretch where they'll still invite us to the national tournament. The National tournament is unbelievable. It's you know, in Danville, Illinois, it's the funnest time you know, I've done everything basketball is in my entire career. And it's the funnest thing I've ever been a part of. Uh, going to the national tournament. There's two hundred fifty coaches
in the stands. It's in a small town, and everybody comes out and you know, cheers us on and we make we make a big deal out of it, our guys. Then we go there.
Oh, it's huge.
We go to elementary schools and play basketball with them, We go to the old folk home and and seeing karaoke with them. And last year when we went, we were on the front page of the newspaper four days in a row, just because we embrace you know, the community and everything that they're doing there. So it's it's the funnest thing I've ever been a part of.
No, Yeah, continued the rule, continue role.
That's that's the best thing you can do for kids that age is give him a great experience and and the tools to be successful. You know, regardless of where they wind up with their playing career, they're going to be great adults. So thank you, coach. That's that's amazing.
Yeah, now you're welcome.
Now I appreciate it. One last quick question, your mentor your mentor he's been gone for a while, now, what would you think about all this with you?
Are you talking about coach McConnell.
Yeah, No, he would love it because he was. He was like people don't get it. He was so far ahead of the game. It was kind of like I'm just talking about coaching, like Bobby Knight. Bobby Knight was ahead of ahead of everything. So's coach mccallull. I mean when I played for him, you know in the eighties, we were scoring ninety points a game without a three point line. I mean that's where I learned how to play as fast as we play. It was from him, and he would he would love it because of the
style of that we're playing. And he was he was, like I said, he was twenty years ahead of his time. Like he you know, had everybody sharing the ball and playing fast and doing things the right way. He'd be happy.
Yeah. No, cool, Okay, Oh, Congress. I hope to get out there tomorrow four o'clock. Okay, four o'clock. We'll see you guys score one hundred point last. You know you have no bo Bill Kimball, but you know almost.
Well, well, hey, I'm just telling not maname. People make me cry and made me cry.
Don't do that anymore. Oh right, good, good, good, thanks man, good luck, thank you, thank you people. Seventeen and oh play tomorrow four o'clock. See that high scoring threading team will listen.
Junior colleges is those kids come to play like. I love what he said that they come with a chip on their sholder. Yeah, they do.
Because they've been we're ignored. Hey, we can play too.
And it's it's a great motivator. And they're just you know, they're just you know, one half step behind, but they're ready to make it up.
Okay, let'sten, take a break here, come back for our final segment. In fact, we're gonna have a jay come on when we come back. You're an Arizona men's basketball fan. You know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now. Take a look back at the Ludolsen era. In my new book, Lessons from Loot, it was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches, and friends. They give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them.
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Raverra on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
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Hey, welcome back to Win in the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Roberta. You're Tim Bedman. Yo, I'm on the phone. We have jacins Aus with this pick for the final week of the season. By the way, uh, Jay, Tim and Juan about six weeks ago something like that. Yeah, they took your money. They didn't take my money. They said Jay's gonna win this.
Jam room for you, man. I'm on. I jumped on the bandwagon early because I knew that Steve was gonna take it. You were gonna make him feet of steaks.
You know, you know, you have no idea how much I appreciate you appreciate that. You know why nobody has ever jumped on.
It wasn't very hard. It was very low, man, right there, it's pretty low. I just just stepped on. I didn't even jump.
Jay doesn't even get on.
I don't get on my own band what.
So you started. We were at the consider yesterday and I knew you were gonna go with Notre Dame. I and I didn't. I didn't pick that game, So you did, so you already have one one night? Did Yeah?
So I got another game? What a game? What a game? Yeah? I mean they had no shot at the end of the half, and all of a sudden they come out and you know, our gang buses and they're gonna blow these guys out, and then they give up two touchdowns in a row, and now they're losing, and oh man, the game.
You know, but the the football Playoff needed that game. I mean, either either side off whoever would have won, they needed that game to bring people back in to say, okay, this is for real, because because everybody is kind of bagging on it for a couple of weeks, like, oh my gosh, really.
I still think it's been a lot of fun though.
Oh it's been great. I love it. We were talking about it earlier.
Well, the party continues tonight. We'll stay with this game because I think you picked this game, and I think I'm gonna go with Ohio State. I think you probably went with Ohio State. I just think they're just that much better than Texas with six.
Yeah, well that's what we heard last six.
Okay, So my my first pick is Overio State.
Yeah, and and well, and that's my second pick. I'm all I've been all over Ohio State since you know, you know what they did to Oregon. I mean, what they did in Oregon, you know, in the in the quarters is just that's just how good they are. That was crazy and they're just they're just you know again that that team Steve that we've talked about so many times. It's just get their stride at the right time. They ended, you know, they ended their season in a horrible fashion,
almost got their coach fired. And that look what they've done the last two weeks. And I just don't think you know, somebody made the comment last night we were talking about this game, is that Texas goes into these funks, you know, where they're not good for like a quarter and a half. And if they do that against Ohio State, they're gonna be They're gonna get They're gonna get rolled.
Yeah, so I think that's gonna happen.
It's gonna happm out of how State as well.
Okay, so you already picked the the other game from last night, So I'm gonna go the rest of are gonna be pro games for me? Obviously that's what's left. Uh, I'm gonna go with Philadelphia as I'm gonna pick. Uh, they're playing uh.
Who, They've got the Packers and they're getting four and a half. That that's that spread dropped from from Monday till to yesterday. The quarter was five and a half and they dropped a point.
Because quarterback quarterback didn't Jalen Hurts.
Well, he's been he's been a concussion protocol. I don't know if I thought I thought I but I okay, you.
Know I'm not. I'm not breaking news or anything, but yeah, maybe that's fine.
Okay, what do you got?
I just stayed away from that for that reason. My first NFL pick, I'm taking the Bills and I'm going to lock the Bills. I think they're just going to steam roll this until they've got to go play the Chiefs again and we'll see what happens there. But I think they're playing really well. That's minus and the half. The Broncos have been are really good. But I just think the Bills are you know, their their their mindset
is going to be a little bit different. They want this, you know, they're running out of time to get themselves the Super Bowl with the.
With the group of guys they have, but I still have a good next So along those lines, I went with the Bills as well, given that I've always liked the Bills, you know that. So in the half, that's that's I think they win like ten, maybe fourteen, thirteen's like that, we'll see.
Well do you have you? Did you get a future? H No?
I always do that, right, Bills. And I only went with one team this year, which was kind of surprised to me. So, but they're on my list. They're on my list for tomorrow.
Who do you have?
Okay, So I'll jump ahead and I'm going to go with Baltimore. Baltimore is the team I went with.
Who do you have? Who do you have in the future?
That's Baltimore? Okay. Yeah, I really liked them. I really liked them, especially I got the pick earlier. But when they lost to Kansas City in the first game, remember out by a toe, and these guys are playing really out of their mind. They got the quarterback. Maybe this is the year. Not that this is going to happen, I don't know, but but they they look great and then there are days when they don't look great.
Yeah yeah, well I well I just stayed away from that just because Lamar Jackson gets into the playoffs and you just don't know what's going to happen.
Oh alone. Okay, so they're also my best bet.
Throw my that's you, that's your lock. Okay. I am taking the Vikings. I was going to take the Vikings in l a And now that they're now that they're in Phoenix, that's even better. And it's still what We're still getting it one and a half because I don't know if the line has changed. I know, I know, Uh Jeffrey Linnheimer, the sin Enough Soul guys, said he thought if that game got moved to uh, the Phoenix, he could see the line going to two and a half. I know, but I but three. Okay, Well I've got
I've got the Vikings giving one and a half. So I'm very happy with that. I was, I was gonna lock it, but then I just thought, you know what, just take the bills. They're gonna do this, so just take the bills. So I've got I've got Notre Dame Ohio State the bills and the Vikings. You've got Ohio State Eagles build and Ravens, and now I've got to pick our special, which was a sort of an odd one because I'd have loved to have had one of
the Fox Football playoff games be that. But then since the playo Thursday or Friday, you know, we want to have a game on the weekend. So you want to go where you want me to go.
I'll go. I'll go because I'm gonna go with Tampa, with.
Ta Okay, all right, well there you go. This is a big weekend for us because I I, despite my disdain for anything a s U, I just think I just think Jaydeen, uh what's left name.
Daniel.
Jane Daniels. I just think he is so damn good. I don't know how you I don't know how you deal with him. And and I've take I'm taking the three. I think I think it's gonna be a very close game. If the Commanders don't win, I think, you know, I can see it being a you know, a walk off field goal or something like that. So I decided to take the Commanders.
Okay, so no, you have Ohio State, Oh no.
I might be off the bandag. And I don't know. I was feeling pretty good. I was gonna have a good weekend.
Well, you had the Vikings, right, because you had the biking. See the bike.
I went to go see the Vikings. That's I I agree with you Vikings.
But you have an issue with the Tampa game.
No.
I love Tampa.
He loves that's my that's my point.
Yeah, Okay, I can't you know what I can't.
I can't lay anything on on on Baker Mayfield. I just I just don't like him.
Yeah, so that's what you makes you?
Yeah, you here something. I like him less than Jaydon Daniels.
You guys, remember about a year or so ago we talked about grudges and holding you know, just just you know. Here we go, Hi, j the phone. Okay, So you got Ohio State, Washington, Washington Vikings bills and Notre Dame.
Right, okay, and you guys State Eagles bills, Ravens buck This can be interesting weekend for us. See, it can all happen here next week there's only five games, and so we both got to oh.
Wait, wait, wait, okay, so this is the second to last week.
You haven't lost it yet.
You can rally, Yeah.
Go ahead, you could be on five games half a point Okay, half a point.
We can breathe.
We've got the we've got the four NFL games and the and and the.
Okay, fantastic. Okay, so you you still have time to crumble too, So we're good. Okay, we gotta go, We gotta go. Thanks man, all right again, Thanks thanks Tim for coming on.
It was good to see it. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, we'll do it again next five ways. Thanks guys, thanks for listening. Everybody. See you Monday. You're talking to you Monday.