Steve Rivera.
He's got his Eye on the Ball on Tucson Sports Station yet Fox Sports sporteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to the ball hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Tim Bentley. Hello. We have Henry at the boards and we're gonna make a change here this springing news. I think that Jay will be here at the final segment, so we're gonna make our picks public the final week.
Sounds like Jay realizes he's a half a game ahead once. Come on and talk about it.
That's probably right, probably accurate. But Jay, he hates talking about himself.
I hate that about him.
Come on, yeah, go ahead, Henry.
This is Eye on the Ball breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
The NFL Divisional Round is this weekend. On Saturday at two thirty the Texans at the Chiefs and at six the Commanders at the Lions. And on Sunday the Rams at the Eagles at one pm and the Raiments at the Bills at four thirty.
Sunday game is gonna be huge Sunday night game. It's a Sunday afternoon.
I think it's a Sunday after the afternoon ye, it's it's Sunday. It's Sunday night for the last game.
Okay.
Legendary broadcaster Dick Vitel will return to announcing on January twenty fifth for the Duke Wake Forest game after he announced he was cancer free last week.
Of course, he's coming back for a Duke game.
I of course, I think I think that's in his contract. Yeah, is that he has to come back for the just for the Duke game.
No, No, but that's good. He's coming back for a while.
Cancer survivors, you probably know what he's got.
Or what he had or whatever was.
I don't know, because you're you're in that. Yeah, I don't know. I do know that.
You know, he's such a he's such a just a part of the fabric of college basketball last forty five years that you know anytime he makes a comeback, is is going to be good for the game.
The Arizona Board of Regents approved on Thursday a contract extension for Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham through twenty twenty night, with a salary increased to five point eight millions starting this year.
He was making like three ways. He was making four point one last so that's pretty good money for that twenty thirty two to thirty three year old. No five million.
Yeah, you know, I don't know what is the particulars are, but he's setting himself up for a nice run, you know. I mean, if he has a couple more years, you know, he puts himself in the line for the next gig on the way up.
I don't think he I don't, that's the whole thing. I don't think he wants another.
I've not talked to him. Have you talked to him?
No?
Who to the as you car?
No? No, no, But all the word is from up there is that he's at his dream place. And everyone has the dream place, right until you don't have a dream place. Uh. But he went school there, he's he's there, he's from there, He's at where he wants to be. It's like we talk about leaving Tucson. We like it, right, And only if if Elie started calling, I ain't going, Well where am I going to live?
No?
I know, people go I you know he's going to go there because he's from he's from that city.
I'm like, he doesn't want to go back home. I mean that's why he left. Yeah, so no, I like that hometown guy.
Let's go yeah.
South Carolina Women's basketball today made don Staley the highest paid women's hoops coach with an extension through the twenty twenty nine twenty thirty season.
How would she make?
The total valuabile over those years will be twenty five point two five million over how many years?
Six? Like six four millions four million. That's about we could coach asu. Well, yeah, that's about right. I know the DM makes one when one a little maybe a little more than one. Okay.
Jimmy Butler will return to the heat lineup tonight after a seven game suspension by the team for contract detrimental to the team.
That's gotta change, right, eventually, he's got to change. The deadline is like in a week or so. When's the week trade deadline? I think two weeks? Two weeks? Yeah, okay, and he wants out. Yeah, how he plays seems like he's still gonna get traded.
Yeah yeah. And then the the INDI are the the Cavilers. They just got crushed, didn't they.
That's under last I mean back who won the first one? The Calves won the first one, thunder one the second one because they're both pretty good, I mean, both best two teams. But yeah, they crushed them. The Cavaliers they will be by thirty much.
So how would you feel about seeing the Cavaliers Thunder Finals? Doesn't doesn't strike fear in your TV watching June.
TV station is gonna make a lot of money on that game. I'm telling you those sales guys at the.
TV stations in Oklahoma City and Cleveland are ready to go.
Yeah so much, you know, not so much.
Arizona Basketball announced today that the Houston game on February fifteenth is sold out, but the other six remaining home game self tickets available to be sold.
Which which which is unbelievable because arizonmost that hasn't been this meaning since the end of Sean. But people think, oh, you can get a ticket, you can get a.
Ticket all the time. I look it up. You're going time. Yeah, I mean you really, you really can.
So Iowa State neither right, there are six hundred tickets over.
Yeah, yeah, so there's a lot of Aloway. State's a bigger game than the state game. Yeah.
I guess coming into the year they probably thought Houston would be. And then the last thing I got Arizona Gymnastics will have their home opener meet today at seven pm and the Kale against Air Force.
Are they doing okay? They? I think they had their their season started right obviously. Yeah. I think they're better on the road. But they've done well. I think at least a couple of individuals. Yeah, I saw some individuals. And the softball and baseball and all the spring.
Sports, and the spring sports is trying to roll around.
Yeah.
Track looks good. You know, We've talked about many times. But I think a lot of those athletes they should share in this money too.
Yeah. No, and they do. Just the percentages are unbelievably low though to me, did you see did you have last night that the women's team lost, uh the Kansas State Yeah, yeah, I think they lost by fifteen yeah, yeah, yeah, So now they're struggling obviously, we say Wildcats. Yeah. They play Kansas later this week or next week on the road.
I think, yeah, they play Kansas on Sunday, Sunday, Okay, so we'll see, we'll see what happens. Okay.
So yeah, that's all I got. What else? What else is going on in the world the sports? Where we take a couple of calls if you want five to zero, four, one, six, seventy four, forty. So we're not going to take many calls at the end of the show because Jay and I are going to give our picks. I got to catch him. He took the lead. Sadly, I've been sad about it for a week. You have no idea because this is not supposed to happen.
What are you gonna do after after college football is done and after the NFL? What's what's your m what do you do after the with two big seasons?
That's it. We just got it's it's vacation time. In fact, I'm not going to be on the show one Monday because I'm gonna just MLKDA. I'm not gonna come in. My boss is Steve.
So what do you do in mid February when the big sports are done? College football?
And I felt like, oh yeah, yeah, oh no, no.
No, on this show title, this is it for me, the masters it, this is it for me.
He does all that stuff I don't pay attention to. No, No, we just kind of it's called Monday, it's called Tuesday. Yeah, so you know, and he might be coming back for a day or two a day a week. We're trying to talk about it.
You're still doing the casino. I listened to you right.
Till one more one more time we have that Friday before Super Bowl, do it okay, and then that's it. That's it for this, for this, for this cycle, Yeah, until next year.
I listened to the Bob Elliott conversation. I mean what I love that.
You know, we've been talking about loyalty and throwback and stuff like that. That what some some great stories there from but.
Yeah, right from his days. Yeah, and he could probably talk a bunch of bunch. I'm sure he wrote about a bunch in his book Basketball Book a few years back. And I've had a few of those in the book as well, because you know, Dave sitting right. I did traveling partner with him, and the times we almost got killed what he drove us to.
I loved those. I couldn't get out of the car. I was like waiting, Yeah, what was gonna happen?
Man? I was just I was in the back seat like please get me there, please please, And and he did obviously, you know, Portland, Arkansas, all these places I didn't want to drive, especially in the weather. Eight weather.
Right.
I'm gladly and proudly from Kansas, where there is a lot of weather. The witch Tak, Kansas. I grew up there until I was ten, and I and I lived back there. I lived in ta Peka, Kansas, and then my whole family's from Kansas. My uncle played college football at k State in the Hall of Fame there, played with Lynn Dickey in the sixties and they were like one in thirty.
Two for three years.
Okay, And my uncle Danny Lancas is the last three year three sport letterman.
What happened to you?
I don't know, man, I you know, it gets lost.
Danny probably would have lettered in track too, if they are basketball, if they would let him play. But he lettered in wrestling football, and he was tough dude and and and people were scared of him. Oh yeah, they were scared of him. And he was six two twenty two, so he was a big, huge guy. He was, you know, sixty years ago he was the biggest man they'd ever seen. And today he wouldn't get a sniff, you know, he would be well yeah.
Well you though he would because he talented. Wrestlers, to me are the biggest toughest dudes out there.
So yeah, so a lot of Kansas in my I'm I'm the first person in my family that went to college that did not go to k State.
Yeah, I was, Uh, I was on recruiting ship baseball a small school. See a recent playing sure, Oh and that went through a went through a weekend of visiting.
And was like a harper or Salina, Kansas.
It was the worst snow I've experienced, those drifts. I said, you couldn't pay me, you couldn't give me a scoll.
Every year I lived in Kansas, it was every winter it was like, Oh, this is the this is the one hundred year store.
And then the next year, oh, this is the one hundred years store. Like every year is one hundred year. I got to get out of here. I have not shoveled snow in twenty five years, and I do not miss it.
I hate that stuff. I grew up in Santa Fe and I hated that stuff. It's nice for a weekend, but that's it, and then we'll come back for another year. That's funny.
Yeah, But when we lived in Tepka, was I was close to Kansas City, so I got to go to.
Some some Royals games and some Chiefs games.
And and I worked at a TV station and we had tickets to.
KU basketball games.
And I mean Allen field House is you know we talk about atmosphere.
Oh my goodness.
So I was just going to ask you did you when you went? Were you impressed with it? And then I'm going to be whatever.
With Allen field House.
I was more impressed with the traditions, yeah, that were there, and they didn't feel stale to me, and they didn't feel stale to the crowd. You know, the Rock Chuck Jayhawk, all those things, you know, and and I you know, we were talking about McHale and it it feels a little old and stale there, but you know, Allen field House, those fans.
Yeah. So the best places I went to. I've been there like two or three times. It was okay, it was okay. Yeah, I maybe had my expectations were too high, but it was nice. Arizona, Rea, remember beat with Slim that was the Candygate game and came back after being down by fifteen or whatevers, and they didn't want the game. I know, Caron o'no, what took a team there got beat? So I've been there a few times covering the teams,
so it wasn't even duke. Last year when I went, it was okay, it was it was okay.
You know a lot of those places look better on TV.
Yes, and that's why the people fans when they see them on TV, they want Arizona to have the skis on the sideline. Blah blah blah. It's just made for TV. It's not reality.
It's a TV show.
And for the first time I went to the old Cowboys Dallas at the stadium, you know, like.
Oh my god, this.
I know, and so it's you know, it's all it's it's a show we talk about.
You know, it's an event.
People want an event from the time that they buy a ticket to the time they get home.
They want an experience.
The best places I loved and I Matt Court is my favorite place in Oregon, a fantastic place. It felt like it was going to fall down, break down during a game because it was so old, so rickety, and then if anybody lit a match would burn down in a heartbeat. But Stanford, when Stanford had my Montgommy, there was always out there and the floor would bounce and it would go crazy. To me, that was ten times better than Duke's place because it was crazy good, crazy good.
Yeah, just a different time.
You know, you'd have three four year kids playing, you know, you could you could really buy into them. I mean, I know it's cliche, and I know it's you know, we sound like old guys, but it's you know, there was there was something there.
Things will change. I really believe that.
You know, this twenty million dollars is getting infused to each each institution. Well, hopefully even things out so some kids will stay, they won't seek the payday, they won't they won't leave. They might commit to two or three years and then hopefully it gives us some stability.
Right well, I think what it's going to do is going to affect the high school levels because now you have high school kids from their parents. Are you know a little Johnny, you got to go to college because you're going to make one hundred and eighty two hundred thousand dollars and you're going to help the family. I know I probably would have been that way, even though I wasn't that way. I'm not a helicopter dad. Just wanted the kids to have a fun time. And enjoy their lives.
Right.
The number one thing I told parents when I was coaching. They said, hey, you got to help my kid get a scholarship to college. And I said, well, let's let them hit the books, because right.
Right, right right, make sure they get a kid. Yeah, people don't understand how important that is.
You know, Let's make sure they do that because then the rest will followed, you know, because most kids, you know, it's a percentage game.
Yea.
The kids that play high school sports, three or four percent of them playing college, then three or four percent of those play in the NFL or professionals.
So that's what I was going to ask you because we know the number, so we kind of know the numbers for the NFL and NBA. What about for running in scholarships?
You know, so you talk about Title nine.
You know a lot of schools cross country and track and some of those low maintenance sports are an easy way for them to have a full fledged athletic department. Not a lot of money to run a program, but you can have twelve fifteen kids, you know, boys, men and women, and so it's a nice way for some Total nine golf, cross country, yeah, swimming, not swimming so much.
But some of these these Division two schools, you know, it's a nice place because running, you know, you don't have to go to a huge program to be a great runner.
You go to a good coach. You know. Then a good coach.
Might be at like you know, you see Santa Cruz, which is maybe Division two, but they're a great coach. They're going to help you achieve your dreams because your pro is not playing in the league, might be qualifying for the Olympics or yeah, you know right right.
In fact, I have friends with Randy a set that who you are. And then his son is going to a Division two or three.
He's going to Colorado colorad Springs, and you go for a coach, you know, so you know, Eric his Randy's kid, you know, as a talented high school runner, you know, but if he went to a big school, he'd get you know. Yeah, that's why I wasn't coming out of high school. You know, I wanted to go to the UVE, but everybody had been the number one runner in their state at the UV, you know, and so going there you can get overwhelmed. You go to a place where
you can shine, and I think that helps kids. So a little bit of money, you know, some some personal attention is going to help.
Me if you can get some academically and.
So yeah, academically.
Yeah, and those minor sports and now they're not you know they're not minor to you, but you know those minor sports, you know you you probably need a little academic help.
Scholarship boys.
Okay, with that said, in the scholarship boys, let's go to break and come back with Matt Mealbuck.
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to my on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera. In today with me is Tim Bentley. Hello, Hello, and now we have Matt mule Back, former you of a star basketball player currently with ESPN plus minus all that stuff on ESPN. Who are you bet?
That's right?
That's right? How hey guys, how are you?
Who are you working with more than ESPN or.
Fox A well?
And by the way, and the pack to the PAC twelve which is not a pack that.
That's an easy schedule to follow.
Yeah, no, you're out. You're actually still a lawyer? Are you an attorneys? That still going on?
Hey?
That's the announcing is my my night fun gig that's walking around beings like being a DJ.
That's hammer go money makes it extra few extra.
Bucks wiki wiki buck here.
That's that's right. That's right.
Hey, how was how was your night meeting Doctor J?
You know it was I'll tell you what it was.
At my age, after all the things I've done in life, you know, things like that rarely surprised me or rarely you know, are something that's you know, super new and interesting, and that was I'll tell you that I was special and true story, I mean, he was. He was, you know, like it's not hard to understand, like millions, you know,
he was my favorite player of all time. I you know, I was the first game I ever remember as a kid, ever was the was the nineteen I'm gonna say, I think I have it right, seventy six Sons Celtics series
and specifically the triple overtime game. And that was literally right when Doctor J was, you know, at his highest powers, and right when he was coming from the ABA to the NBA, and so I was just becoming a basketball fan and you know, the most probably you know, arguably the best player in the world was doctor right around that time, and but he was if you he was close because then Magic and Bird came, Jabbar was there. But he was also by far the most interesting person.
Cool.
He was the coolest cat on the planet, you know, just to look. I mean, you know the style.
Yeah, it just the dunks and the way he dunked right, you know, the palming of the ball. And I was telling I was talking to somebody about this who today actually who didn't really grow up with him, And I said, you know what was amazing about the Doctor was he when he dunked on guys. It was the first that really put guys on a poster. And but he would do it with incredible grace, but combined with this crazy power, like when he dunked on a guy, like it was
he dunked hard. It was it was not just a you know, he went after guys and and uh, it was that combination of grace and power that I just fell in love. I loved the Sixers. My dad loved the Celtics. So we would sit in the you know, in the family room and literally like have like drag out fights over these games.
And it was it was awesome.
I considered you'd be like a Kyle Macy guy.
I hated.
I hated every single Boston player possible, but I loved In fact, I loved Andrew Tony. I love Yeah, you know, all all the gritty guys on the Sixers, those were those were my guys.
Yeah, mine too. I was a six Yer guy because of Doctor J and then Barkley showed up and.
Bar and Malone.
Yeah, those are the good of you. Better be physical, baby, Are you going to get kicked in the curtains?
My good?
You know.
One of my favorite, one of my favorite all time players, top top ten for sure, was World Be Free. And I was a guard.
I was a guard and would watch.
You know. And I moved at the time when I was eight, So I lived in Kansas City, and my family got transferred to the Bay Area about a year or two later, and and and I, you know, I became a diehard Warrior.
Fan because the Kings, Kansity Kings had moved.
To Sacramento, and and so at the time, you know, at one point in those years, World Be Free was actually traded to the Warriors, and so I became a World Be Free just fanatic and just love he was you know what was amazing about. Look, I'm you know in era, every era we have personalities, but there was nothing like the seventies and eighties those personalities because now,
you know, guys could damage their personalities. And you know, when you talk about personalities in this day and age, what you typically get is more people that are outspoken about actually really important things, you know, social issues, political issues. But back then it was way more personality driven. Like you you know, wildb fre is a guy that like, show up and they all had crazy nicknames. Yeah, show up in a fur coat and you know, just they were wild.
You know, it was just it was a different time.
And and I'll say this too, I know I'm not really shutting up, but Doctor Jay was in that movie, one of my favorite you know, cult movies ever, The Fish That Save Pittsburgh. And you know, it was a different time, man, and it was it was just it was funky. You know, it was the seventies, it turned into the eighties.
Are your Buddies? What are your Buddies? Was part of that movie too. I think who was that Sean Miller as a kid, I was a little kid dribbling the balls.
Yeah that's right.
Yeah, you know, thank you for reminding me.
I did not.
I totally forgot about it.
You know, Matt, this is Tim Bentley. How you doing.
We were talking with Steve Lynn earlier speaking of personalities, and he was talking about the Bankwan Valley commercials with Loodolson and Bill Frieder, and I think that they ran in your era.
You probably remember them.
What do you remember that that time and Bill Frieder and those personalities.
Well, I will say I think the coolest part was, you know, I when I got to Arizona. You know, I remember the football rivalry and Chuck Cecil and I think my first year at Arizona. I've told this story a thousand times, but we were up at the Great Alaska Shootout playing in that tournament. Yeah, And I got on the bus and Steve Kerr was in the back of the bus with you remember back in the late eighties those mini TVs. Yes, And he was trying to watch the asu U of a football game and he did.
We were watching it in the back of the bus going to the game. It was either Michigan or Syracuse and and the punter dropped the ball for ASU Arizona. I think maybe kicked the fieldal to tie it and kept their streak alive. And so I remember just how how intense that rivalry was for football, and I thought the I really thought what Lout and Frieder did was give it some levity, and you know, say, hey, you know, kind of remind everyone this is sports.
You know, It's it's.
Great to have a rivalry.
I love the rivalry. It's great to really get after each other. But at the end of the day, it's you know, we're talking about sports. So yeah, the good old days. I got your nickname, by the way, before he moved on to the basketball team. You talk about world before I got Matt b priceless. Matty what priceless? Exactly?
Sure you go, I want to get another hat jacket Hatt be priceless. Hey hey, Sleepy, Hey, Sleepy Floyd remember him?
Hey the iceman? What about the iceman.
Jack ice Man?
How about Darryl Dawkins and all of his Doctor frank think of there's nobody like yeah, yeah, doctor Frankenstein. Was Daryl Griffith, remember him? And then Doc Darryl Dawkins.
There's no there's never been a personality like him.
Probably ever did David that one? I think he was Skywalker.
I think it was David Skywalker, Thompson, Admiral.
There's there's so good ones. Yeah yeah, hey, let's go to basketball. You've seen it was gonna play probably enough. He've done them in person a few times.
Yeah yeah, what what?
And I get this question asked all the time, and here my IUA because it's a Steve Rivera evaluation and honest, uh so they've played in their seven in a row. They played better. I'll say they played better, give you that, but they haven't really played the teams that are going to give them trouble or equally in the tournament. So they haven't played the Houston's, they haven't played the Iowa States, they haven't played the Kansas and teams like that. So
they're able to beat the teams they're beaten. Wait till they have to play those teams and maybe even this weekend. So they're playing better to me, But what do you say?
Yeah, well, I say this that is correct. They haven't played the class of the Big twelve yet, which is except they played one of them, Baylor's one of the class.
That's Big twelve.
Now, yeah, I know one of one of them was hurt.
And there was you know, it was at home, but they played really well.
So I think, you know, they knocked off I think there's I think there's a top.
Five in the Big Twelve, and it's it's Baylor.
You know, it's Baylor's in there. But it's Kansas, Iowa State, Houston, Houston, obviously, Arizona, and bayl And I think that's the class of the Big twelve. So if they played one of them, they beat one of them. I would say this, though the counter I would say, and they still got to prove it against those top teams and they'll they'll win. I think they'll win something. They're gonna lose some for sure. They're not going twenty and oh. In fact, I think you know, they went.
Fifteen to five.
It would be incredibly one of the.
Best teams in the nation if they did that.
But I'd say this, they've beaten a lot.
Of the mid teams in that conference. They haven't really played the lower teams, you know, So winning you win two games, I don't care. You know this Steve as much as anyone in the world. Winning a college basketball game on the road, I don't care if it's a bad team.
Yeah, you know, you go play bad teams.
And then when I played you know, if there's a bad team at Washington State was a final and we were like top five in the country. So you know, you go play Cincinnati, top fifteen, top twenty team, you play West Virginia, top twenty team, top twenty five team on the road. You win those and a couple of them were up by huge margin. Baylor you up by twenty eight. I mean they played really well. So I mean they and by the way, they weren't doing that
in the middle. In the beginning of the season. They lost to West Virginia, they lost to Oklahoma, they lost to Ucla. You know, they were losing to kind of those teams in the in the kind of kin Palm fifty if you will, top fifty, you know, thirty to fifty. So I think they've they've turned that around. I think they're playing immensely better. They still can play better, but you're right, they haven't played they haven't played Kansas or
Iowa State or you know those Houston yet. That'll be a challenge, Matt.
What do you attribute that turnaround to the last seven games or maybe the last ten games that they weren't doing in the beginning of the season. What do you what do you attribute that to?
I think I think there's a few things. I think the number one thing they're playing better as a team. I don't think they have a dominant player. Even though Caleb can be dominant scoring, they don't have They don't have historically, you know, Derek Willilliams or you know.
Mike Bibbie or Miles Simon, Jason Terror, they don't.
They don't have that guy necessarily. But they're a team and I thought early on they were they were weren't doing enough as a team to to to be able to, you know, to win. And they've un Tommy used the quote unlock our passing game one of the last games I did, and I thought they've passed it better that The insertion of Delhi at the two or three, I guess has been a huge thing, to put one other three point shooter in there, spread the floor. I say
this too, I said this on Twitter. I think they're tougher than people.
Give them credit for him.
Yeah, you know, and and it's probably i'd say who gives them credit. I'm probably the strong man, because I mean, I think of Arizona's teams over the years, they've always been tough.
You know, not but they've never been basically, they've been much.
Yeah, they've been more of a race horse than a pretty, you know, junkyard dog.
And I think this this team.
Has some some real grit in him, maybe even more than we've seen the past few years. And I think a walk is a big part of that. And look, let's i mean, I'm just saying obvious, Henry Vsar has been.
Been a monster.
He's been a he was blown up and you know you got to give him a ton of credit for having that opportunity with Greaves hurt.
Yeah, I agree with you on the physicalness at least. I guess when eventually Arizona teams who you know, historically haven't been tough physically when you guys get pushed, the eventually showed that they can be tough. And I think the thing that oppressed me, maybe first or second on the list on Baylor was that they were tough in that first half. They matched them physical physically, I think, and they beat him up physically in fact, to take
that big lead. I'm thinking, where did this team come from?
Yeah, you know, there's a there's a thing called there's an NBA player, I forget his first name, maybe Gorge on Gor Todd.
There's an NBA play named Gor Toad.
I think he was.
I know he was a europe and player.
There's a there's a famous thing he has called the Gore Top screen. I don't know if you know what that is, but it's a What he used to do is he would create position in the paint. And he was super physical, and and when he would duck in the paint, imagine him ducking in, the defender would have to kind of duck in with him, and it gave guards like like just a it was almost like setting a screen against the guards man. So he would duck
in create space for him to get a pass. But if they didn't get it, he would screen like.
The point guards man, you know, coming down the lane and and guys like a waka does that. You know?
He creates the Gor top screen because he's so physically takes up so much space. I think I think all.
Of the bigs do you know pick and roll? That's a good question on the s at What the hell you talking about?
Hey Matt?
What look at Google it? He Hey Googles?
You know, Matt we talk a lot.
These are these are kids that are playing basketball for us, you know, I mean really in the in the scheme of things and you live that life. What happens in the locker room to make this change? I mean, does it does a does a does a teammate step up? Or is it the coach? What happened to this team? Was it somebody in house or was it a coach?
What happened?
Well, I think it started with Tommy. I really think Tommy took you know, he didn't take blame necessarily. He just said I'm responsible for this, and he said I'm gonna dig in and I'm gonna embrace it. I remember what he I think almost his quote was I'm here for it. You know, we're not playing well. I texted him, actually was doing a game up at Washington State and texted him, text him a picture of the Spokane Airport
just for funny. It's like, hey, back in year old stomping grounds, and you know, he said, I gotta get this team better, you know, and they just lost the U c l A and He's like, I gotta get this better, you know, I got to figure it out.
Like but I think he I think.
He really took it on his shoulders. But I think what they did the back to the original comment, the unlocking of the unselfishness and the passing was the key. Like they live, they're they're coachable, and I think he told them, hey, we got to we got to become better as a team. They reminded me a little bit. Although the Warriors have you know, Steph. They clearly have a superstar, but it's almost like Steph and.
A ton of role players, you know.
And when the Warriors were playing well early in the season before they had a ton of injuries and they struggled a little bit, but they played almost like a college team, you know, just tons of guys. They played together about up and down. And that's what this Arizona team they're they're really playing well together. And every team I've ever been on, the two best teams I've ever are three best teams I've ever been on since I
was when I was a little kid. That last year in college, they were the ones that had the best chemistry.
Yeah, of course they always are always they always are right. Yeah, yeah, before we go, there's a couple of things I wanted to say to you guys. Well, one question, because have you sent me the question. I think it's a good one. We're talking about big guys earlier this week. Who do you think that Henry most resembles in the time that you've come through Arizona is not known for a center place. Someone mentioned maybe Hill Hill, not Hill, Jordan, Yeah, Jordan Hill.
I want to say there's big men have not come through here often.
You know.
The two names that came to mind, and they're not perfect cons by any stretch, would be would have been Jordan Hill and Channing Fry Channel Channing Fry.
I'll tell you what.
You guys can look this up and I bet I'm pretty close. I remember at one point I knew this and I've forgotten the exact number, but I was shocked to find out that Channing Fryan is four years at Arizona, got like twenty three three pointers or twenty four is like eight for twenty three in four years. And you know, but he was a good shooter. He didn't shoot that We all knew he would shoot that little seventeen sixteen
footer eighteen footer, but he didn't really shoot threes. He was a good picking pop guy, and he was he was a little bit. He was further along than than Henry. But remember when he came out.
He was nothing, skin skinny.
Guy, yeah, skinny project.
And he moved well though, like Basar moves well. And Basar has a little bit of some guard skills in him, but he but he jumps well, he's athletic.
Channing jumped well.
Not I'm not talking about you know, Aaron Gordon. That not that type of athleticism or power, but but skilled and and Channing of course became one of the greatest places eleven three point shooters in the history of the game.
Yeah, he he reinvented himself. But you know, we also remember that I remember Channing tell me this, or somebody saying, this is Luke talking Channing. Don't you think we did you closer to the basket the basket, that's right, that's right.
Well, And now, as you know, even like when I played, we rarely ran pick and rolls. It was like we had it in our system. In fact, everyone used to laugh, like, oh, Loot's running all this new offense with Damon. I'm like we had the same offense. He just didn't run it with me and.
Matt often he ran it with game.
To come in.
That's right.
We spread out through it into the big guys. That's right. We had no shot clock, set shots only but no, he we had those plays. But nowadays they run so much pick and roll, and Channing probably was a little of both. He probably ran more pick and roll than I ran in my day. But he played a lot of just post and high low post. And that's what Henry does now. He runs a ton of pick. He's very good at it. He go, he can move really well. And let's face it, he's long man. He's he's a good seven flour.
Right, Yeah, no question. I like that. I like that about Channing. Yeah, we'll see.
Yeah, we're you off to next, Matt. What's what's next on your schedule?
I'm trying to think.
I think I've got one in a few weeks at I've got some Fox stuff coming up. I've got some Mountain West. I'm at Utah State. I got a really good game at Utah State. I've gotten You're they're awesome, man, like nineteen and one.
I think, Yeah, great facility, too, great atmosphere to was.
Yeah, great facility. I did one last year there, I've got another one this year. I've got a UNLV game coming up, another Mountain West game that should be great. So I think it's Nevada or something.
But anyway, so I got a couple.
I got a couple of those coming up and looking.
Forward to the great Matt. Thank you for joining us. Good to talk to you.
Thanks, guys, I have a great weekend you too.
Thanks for the weekend.
One of the great guys, one of my favorite guys, Matt meil Buck. Let's go because we're going to get a hold of Jay and then see what we picked for this weekend. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan,
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Streamy live on.
The Ihearts Radio app. This is High on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Line on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera in today. Is Tim Bentley have Henry with us? No, we's got a butt dial or something from Jay.
I swear to God, you asked me to call.
Jay.
He's been down in the domps. He's down. He's he's losing to you for the first time. And he said, like seventeen years.
You can't stand the fact that he's losing.
No, No, you're You're guiltiest charge mood here is bad?
I mean Charge Gilbach. We talked to Steve. Lenny's has been down in the domps over here.
I wanted to have a therapist as my guess, but I couldn't fight one h Steve, you're first born. You're a first born person.
How many how many siblings do you have?
Oh my gosh. Okay, so you're gonna have to go first, Go ahead and go ahead and paint the picture.
Okay, So is this the last week for you?
Both of you?
This is this?
What are the standings?
Are you up?
A game down, a game.
Half to I'm half a point ahead of Steve. It's sixty one to sixty and a half, all right, And so first of all, there's not going to be a tie. Because we have to pick, you know, all the games when we're picking all the same games.
So there's not gonna be a tie, we know that.
But I'm up by half a point.
It's the first time I.
Have led, No, yeah, in your life this season.
No no.
I led early in the led early in the season. But Steve took the lead in week nine and he's been leading since then. And we're in week twenty one.
So you know, just three weeks ago, Steve, you're up ahead. You're up in me by four and a half.
This could be the greatest come back all time.
We're talking like this, I mean, we're talking like miracle on ice.
You're going to make a movie about this.
Yeah, yeah, who's going to play? It's gonna be like.
The other thing is we bet five dollars a week, right, we bet five dollars a week, and I'm ahead of you nine to eight on weeks.
Yes, so as of now you only five bucks on that.
Yes, well, we get paid for last year first, okay, so you gotta go first, exactly, you gotta go first, all right.
So I'm going for this is tough.
We got it said.
We got to pick the same five games. Our special game is the CFP Championships. We both got to pick. Obviously, we both got to pick it, but Notre Dame.
I'll have State.
So I'm gonna start. I'm just gonna go to chronological order. Steve so NFL games, I'm taking against everything that I believe in terms of what the Chiefs have been doing this year. I'm taking Chiefs minus eight and a half against the Texans. Uh. The Texans are an indoor team and they're going to play out in the freezing cold. I think they're gonna run. I think it's gonna be
tough for them. So I'm going Chiefs. Even though the Chiefs have not been very good at covering the spread all your life, there's something like I've got to here, there's seven and ten against the spread this year. Yeah, but the Texans are eight and ten, so it's kind.
Of eager as far as that goes.
But I just think indoor team playing out in the freezing cold, it's gonna be tougher on them.
Okay, So I'm going with that game as well. I think it's like eight in a half in and half, Okay, Yeah, I agree with you. I'm taking Kansas City and see here's another bad thing. We could think of the same games and pick the same team, which I would be totally screwed. But I like Casey even for the reasons you said they haven't been that good. But Texans aren't that great either on the road. So I'm going with you on Texas. I mean, it's Casey, Yeah, Okay.
On Commanders and Lions, I'm not going to push my luck and go for the ASU guy again. I'm taking the lines even though it's a big spread at nine and a half. I just feel the Lions after what happened to them last year in the NFC Championship when they gave up a twenty plus point lead, I think they're taking no prisoners. They're not gonna take any chances. I think this game is big, and it's bigger for for Jayden Daniels than it is for Jared Goff. I
think the Lions will. I actually think the Lions are gonna cream them. I'm looking at im thinking of like a forty to ten game or something like that. Hang, the Lions are just a stopic. What happened to in the last year.
Well, it's Washington that put me in this situation because you had Washington last week, I had Tampa Bay, and Tampa Bay just kind of just gave it to me. So this is what So I'm going with the Lions too. You think that they're just probably the best team in the NFC. We'll see how they play the next week or so. So I agree with Lyons at home should be good. It's a lot of numbers, but but I'm going with Leons.
Yeah.
I think if they don't have to play the Chiefs, Okay, if it's anybody but the Chiefs and the Super Bowl, I think they win the Super Bowl. I think they can beat the Ravens. I think they can beat the Bills. Where's that anybody can beat.
The Chiefs in Orleans?
Yeah?
New Orleans. And I think that the Lions played home the rest of the way, right.
Yeah, okay, okay, next all right, next game.
I'm really mad at the Rams because they screwed my perfect week last week when they rolled over the Vikings, and because of that, I'm pissed at them, and I think the Eagles are going to crush them, also for the reason that the Rams are essentially an indoor team.
Eagles or not, it's gonna.
Be freezing cold, again over there, I'm taking I'm taking the Eagles and giving the.
Six Okay, okay, I'm taking Philly as well. I'm making them my lock your lock.
Okay.
Oh, I haven't decided on the lock.
I'll tell you.
I'll figure I'll figure going out by.
The time there's two games left, and so somebody's gonna have to make a different choice here, right, I think we're gonna have.
I think I think I think there's one come maybe two coming up there we're gonna be doing.
I don't know, to see what you think, Steve, Yeah, no, I totally totally agree. Okay, so they're my lock, you might we must want with your locked now unless it's Baltimore or Ohio State.
Yeah, I'm gonna yeah, I'm.
Going to lock the Lions. Okay, Okay, So this is there's the difference. This is what I would hope this is. Well, the thing is, if you lose the lock, I use the lock, do I take it? I take it?
No, I lose a half of point and you just don't.
You just get zero on it.
Right, So that would be maybe a tie that could be the type we'd come come.
Through equally on the not because we both have the special, so we're both going to have an even number of points. So you know we're not gonna we can't tie. So what can happen is let's say you don't that I don't hit the Lions. Okay, so you get a zero on it, but I get minus a half. Right, So even though we might have all the same picks, we can So that's my point.
And that's my point because I have a half of the game, I gotta I gotta find a half a point somewhere, and that you could be there, could be there.
You've got the Eagles, So so I am now rooting against the Eagle, right, and you're rooting against.
The Lions, even though you picked the Eagles right right right, and I'm picking I'm hoping the Lions don't cover, and I have those taking the Lions. Okay, okay, okay, okay, so now you.
Go, Okay, I didn't what you're doing here, but I'm taking the Ravens.
Oh see, that was my game. That was my game, Okay, go ahead, go ahead.
Explain only because only because I've seen a lot of discussion that sharp money has been on the Ravens. The wise guys is seemingly no more than you.
And I know.
That the line opened at with the bills of the favorite slipped to the other side because people are all.
Over the Ravens.
So I'm i'm I'm I'm going to listen to them, and I'm going to take the Ravens. Yeah.
See, he listens to too many people that it sounds like somebody.
Yeah no, okay. So so I really like the Buffalo Bills. I really do at and but I picked Baltimore to win the Super Bowl months ago, right, They're one of my pre games. So this is all I thought today. So I said, what's JA going to do? He's gonna go with Buffalo. I know he's gonna go with Buffalo, and I'm gonna go with Baltimore because I have a lot of steak with Baltimore and I don't want to pick against them because I have money on them to win. Well no, no, no, no, that's that's what I was
thinking about doing. But you were definitely gonna take the Bills. I knew you were going to get the Bills, so I had no problem with that. I was until this morning, right, So you you I outthought myself in a Jay world and I should have never done that, but but I think that's my only hope. That's my only hope is going with Buffalo Buffalo. So I'm gonna go with reluctantly going with Buffalo.
I have to.
I have to because I know you're gonna go to the house date. I know you're going with the Ohio State, do you yeah, go ahead and say your son of a son I was cussed? Wait oh no, no, no, And that's fine, and that's fine. You can go to no name. That will help me too, that will help me. Okay, I'm cool. I'm cool with that.
I'm taking a house state, all right.
Okay, well there we go.
You know what I think.
I just think it's gonna be. It's gonna be.
I think it's gonna be a great wait wait wait wait wait that said Jay. Can I go back and go to get Baltimore.
The way you guys have made these rules, you guys can do whatever that whatever, you.
Don't care whatever. So I'm gonna jump back on Baltimore so I can don't not pick against them, and then our difference will be the ohouse teak game. Okay, you know it depends what. Okay, we gotta go okay, all right, okay, okay, all right everybody, but that's perfect. Okay, So Monday night will be determined our championship final.
I'll bring my cycle, okay.
Yeah all right, Jay, Yes, I see you start out thinking, you know, okay, cool. Thank you Henry for coming in. We gotta go. Thank you, Tim, see you next week for me next week. Okay, thanks everybody,