Friday, June 27, Hour 2

Streamy live on the Ihearts Radio WAB. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.

Hey, welcome back to you. I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, your Jim Bentley.

Hello, thanks for having me.

And you're raid we're ahead of time, but you have breaking news.

Sure do.

This is I on the Ball breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

All right, just starting off with the big one.

Caleb Love obviously got the two a contract with the Blazers yesterday or the Trail Blazers. I'm sorry to go up to Portland. It went undrafted one among many. I was really surprised.

R J.

Lewis didn't didn't get drafted.

The other one that's in North Carolina, Uh no St.

John's. Oh the guy that Patino bench.

He did get so. Oh, no, he's transferred somewhere.

No, No, he went undrafted.

I thought he went some uh Trentford somewhere. Then he decided to see in the draft.

Yeah, are you sure?

I'm pretty sure?

Okay? I thought he tranf he No, he transfer somewhere.

Yeah.

Off, you have the computer over there, we'll do that later.

I'll check it.

But yeah, from the from the list, I didn't see that he had uh transferred anywhere.

Ud.

Yeah, another big news.

Uh.

Former Arizona Wildcat Umar Bollo, I played for Indiana last year, was.

Also got a two way with Miami Heat.

Wow, so Miami Heat has Ballo yep?

Uh Bradley no, Larson and Larson Larson and Keishaw Johnson.

Oh god, what I said Bradley Yeah yeah, yeah, those because we talked about them yesterday, those three.

Yeah wow yeah, yeah, interesting stuff, you know, just uh, I don't know representing the A.

Yeah, he's uh, he's far from the prototypical NBA guy, right, but he's gonna be a heck of a practice player. He could be. He could be in the G League. Yeah, you could talk about a guy who's probably gonna take a pay cut.

Yeah.

Well that was another thing too.

That's wild they're making that much money.

Yeah, no, that was That was kind of the big thing too.

With r J.

Louis or Louise. I'm not sure how to which one his name is, but.

I guess he was supposed to he could have gotten It was projected that he would have gotten around two million in nil if he would have stayed in college.

He wasn't. He wasn't gonna stay at Saint john.

No, he was not going to stay at Saint John's.

But I mean, he would have been one of the probably i'd assume biggest names in the portal if he would have stayed in But yeah, that was interesting. Also, Arizona has elevated John the Ruin and named him as the pitching coach since the other pitching coach went to San Diego State. Arizona Volleyball Stuff Classic twenty twenty seven top I don't know what oh means, but top thirty five outside hitter, Top thirty five outside hitter. Asia udo Ema has committed to the volleyball team here. So that's

Over there.

Also big news, well, I guess not big news, but it's came out today that the Big twelve, the athletic directors and coaches, are not going to be doing a preseason poll.

I don't know why.

Maybe just because they're not going to be doing like a preseason poll of the Big twelve.

The Big Twelve.

People aren't and the athletic directors and the reporters aren't gonna do it.

Nah, I think, I mean, I don't get it.

People are saying it's because Asu is projected to come in last and then obviously had a great year. But I feel like that's that's what you're thinking. Yeah, that well, that's what people are saying. That's what I'm thinking too, But I mean, I don't know. It kind of made the story though.

That's silly.

Yeah, that's silly. That's crazy.

What's the big difference if you have one or you don't have one, But it's it's kind of like it's a constant. It's what you kind of and then you can kind of work from there. There was only what's projected to finish fifth in the finish his tenth or second.

Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

I just and there's no effort to be put into that, not really. I mean there's no money. Hey, Tim, can you send me your ballot?

Okay, sure, no, you did, but you set yourself up for a really good story. And the end of the season, you know, they over they overachieved, or they under retrieved.

What's the big deal. It's not costing anybody yeah.

I mean you're asking the wrong guy.

I'm just yeah, that's kind of do Maybe they don't know. Everybody doesn't.

Yeah, everybody does all the all the powerful conferences. Where did that come from? It was reported, but it was on Twitter. I saw it first on Twitter. It's the people that paid for I don't know X what does that guy know? Moving on to well, I guess the Sun is still keeping it on the draft though, traded up for Rashier Fleming and Kobe Reya. I don't remember seeing too much on them, unfortunately, but you know, college for college basketball, I mean hard to keep up with.

Yeah, well I just google Lewis and he's nowhere at least right now.

Yeah, it makes no sense.

That makes no sense.

Well, I mean even at the end of last year, it just didn't make it like why, I mean, I understand that he was having a bad game, but it's like, why are you going to benure player when you're going.

Well, that's that's the funny thing about it. But it was so it was such a cold moment for him doing that, and then Patino just like brushing him aside, say yeah, you're not going to play and everyone knows why. Yeah, well, okay, but that's just a strange thing.

The dude saved your season in the last game.

And now you're not even talking about him.

Yeah.

Man, this is a college sports is a business like the pros. Uh. And once you piss off, that's not one of the words.

Right, that's where it's the eighth word here, it's okay the top.

You upset your coach. I mean, they could just poo poo you all over the place.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, yeah, what are you gonna do about it?

Right?

Diamondbacks started a series against the Marlins. They talked about a little bit yesterday. There are two games above five hundred and they're three games out of the wild card spot. I think it's three games what it was yesterday. So you know, they're they're trying to trying to write the ship, even though they got a ton of injuries right now. Big news also today, Kaitlyn Clark is out again and will not be playing against Page.

Oh she's not. Where would they have played that at?

I think it's in Elis Dallas.

Yeah, yeah, a lot of I'm sure a lot of people are disappointed because she's a ticket seller.

Yeah, well, I mean it was going to be such a it was going to be the matchup between Page and Page and Kaitlyn Clark.

Obviously it's a couple of no, that's why its been a sold out probably sold out show.

Yeah.

Uh.

Angels manager Ron Washington is going to be missing the remainder of the twenty twenty five MLB season.

Health.

Yeah, because of health. They announced it today. Never want to see that hoping.

He was one of our guys back in our day when he played for the Chemis City Chief Kemi City Royal. Yeah. Right, God, he's that old. Yeah, I mean, if I'm that old, he's that old. Oh, this is a pretty cool softball signing. Arizona Softball signed the biggest.

Player of the year.

Grace Jenkins got announced like half an hour before. But you know, biggest player of the year. That's I don't know, I feel like anybody with accolades that your program can sign, it's probably right the better thing.

Yeah, we'll see what happens. The one thing that you said yesterday or the day before yesterday was a signing. I mean the coach needs to get signed.

Yeah.

Yeah, and it's it's gonna be interesting, but yeah, that's uh, that's most of the big news.

Okay, that's all of it.

Yeah, I think that's all.

The real you.

I just I saw this yesterday Bernard got Yeah who's Who's Yeah, he's now the former You have a cross country coach?

Did they tweet something out?

I saw it on I saw it on Come Across on the Star website and I know some folks and yeah, Bernard is has You know, they're making a few changes at the cross country uh, and track teams over there, but not unexpected. You know, they haven't performed great. You know, Bernard is a great guy, great runner. Coaching at this level is hard in this area.

Because you're a runner, you know what you're doing on that side of the world. Uh. This place used to be a fantastic track and field under Dave Murray in game coach Harvey every now and again, right, and we had Harvey on here last week. Sure, is it one of the destinations or what makes it great is the coaching? Is it the school? Can it be great again?

It's it's coaching and Dave Murray was was a smart coach and he got people to achieve.

Next time you're on, I want to have him on because I got his contact today.

Yeah, let's get coach Murray on. And but it was absolutely driven by him. I mean he had successes and then that drove other people that brought kids here.

So before I asked him, because I asked the coaches what their secret sauce is, what do you think his secret sauce was?

He you know, not only your coaching, not only do you have to know how many four hundreds running, all the science of it, but he knew how to you know, he could he could get into those kids.

Psychics and the motivation, motivation.

The motivation of it. And doesn't mean that Bernard le Gott and other coaches can't do it. But you know, it's there's.

A magic to it.

There's a magic to it.

That's the words.

And and he had it, and he had he had an excellent run. He probably had a seventeen year run, you know, seventy eight.

Women and both I remember every these all these people.

Every you know, he always had the number one runner in the country come here. How does that happen? He was just a great recruiter. It was it was people wanted to come here. It was was right after the dominance of Oregon and and he took it. And you know, now Nau has it, and there's a couple of the leastools they have it.

I can understand that being an altitude being up there.

The altitude's the thing.

So so they there was altitude here apparently because they do it so well. But you know, my colleague David Kelly, I was going home yesterday, he was talking about the Sears Cup, the Director's Cup what it's called now, and Arizona was very good at that many years.

Remember they were always been in top.

Ten because the swimming program was fantastic, the track program was fantastic, and that's where they picked up a lot of points in addition to the basketball and all the other story.

The secondary sports, you know, like back back in the day, and I l they're going to take a little bit of a cup, but back then they were they were.

Your you know pointe yeah, point.

They brought in all that as extra points because they were winning national championship, are finishing in the top three and right.

So you know, and we know coach Bush was a fantastic coach. The same dude he knew what buttons to Bush how to motivate all these all Americans, all these Olympians. Let me tell you something. If there's one thing I've learned in this business having been the reporter I was for a long time, and now this coaching matters. Coaching matters, and the kids gravitate to good coaches if, of course they want to be.

Coached, true, And I think you know, that's why you see a lot of success at these secondary sports, at like the Division one small school or the Division two level, because the kids will go to where the coach is going to make them great. Yeah, and that they follow those coaches. And you can go and be a great athlete at a good program, you know. And there's a difference though, and you can go to a program it would be great. But if you want to be great at these smaller sports, you go to a coach.

Can I allow you to either wax poetic on yourself or be realistic about yourself or whatever, because you're a coach, you teach. How are you in the coaching world?

You know, my excitement in my drive as a coach is really to get kids excited about chasing big goals and big dreams. And so I'm really good at high school coaching. And you know, I'm coach adults, and I can help people do that, but I love to get kids excited and help them find that that inner drive and that inner talent. And so I'm good at that psyche part. I mean, I can help kids kind of

So so let me. I used to run track speed, not long distance, and I don't understand how.

You don't know you're a mileer yet, Stea, you don't know that.

I would never do that, never do that, because I would collapse.

I'll say that. Every kid says, I'm a hundred mee and around.

At the third turn, I would be done. So something to ask you, how if I run in a mile, I'm a five minute mileer, gun right, and you want to get me to four fifty or whatever. But I'm consistent. How do you find those ten seconds? I mean, how do you and I don't have those ten seconds?

Well, you know, for some of those sports, it's you know, it's it's it's it's building a base and it's building you know, it's piling on each other and you could find it for me, I could. I totally could. And it's and it's actually running faster than than four fifty in many of your short you know what I'm saying, Yeah no, but yeah you can.

But if to me, it's like this Peter principle, you're as good as you're gonna get and you're not gonna get any better because it's it's who you are.

Once you break six minutes, you can always break six. Once you break five, you can always break five.

Most good high school runners, you know, most good high school runners, you can get to about four thirty in the mile, and you know, exceptional ones, it's four twenty and then it's four.

But that's when it becomes inner talent. That becomes when you're I could.

You know a lot of athletic kids you can get and turning into runners. You know they're not going to be great runners, but they're athletic.

Okay with that, let's go.

We're going as I'm bringing him out for cross country next year.

He's going to come out he's a wrestler. He's a wrestler.

Oh real quick? What more?

Oscar Rio's the four Star is announcing his uh commitment tonight.

Oh yeah, you see Arizona. Yeah, there's a lot of sad tweets about that. Yeah, did you see some of those? I had not yet know there were just you know, sad ones just like you can which you could probably think of, Yeah, just stupid. What I hope he comes Arizona?

No, of course.

Yeah.

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Streamy live on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Hey, welcome back to why on the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen and fifty. I'm Steve Rivera and today's Tim Bentley. Hello, Hello, and we got Ray handling the calls. And now on the phone we have FC two Sun coach Sebastian Pinola. How are you, coach?

I'm doing well, Thank you, Thanks for having me.

Guys.

You guys are killing it on the on the old grid there. What's going on?

You know part of the game. We have to go four games on the road and never easy to go to California. I think that we're just trying to find our way to play away and we struggled with that. But you know, the staff and the everybody has still they believed that we're a quality team and we're ready to prove it tomorrow night.

Again.

Yes, is it more than just tomorrow because it's a it's a big holiday weekend and you guys always have you know, fireworks and stuff.

Yes, yes, so we play, we play tomorrow night and then in July there which is our big fireworks game against Ventura the conference Bible. This is probably the biggest game that we have in the conference. So we're excited looking forward to this week.

Okay, okay, this is your first year with the team, correct?

Coaching?

Here?

Second one second?

Second one? Okay, I'm sorry. How was this one compared to last year? Because last year they made the playoffs.

Yeah? No, I year we've made the playoffs, went to a national Final four. And of course this year, the players that are coming in, they understood the responsibility that they had to to continue to maintain what we did last year. And I still believe.

In the guys.

They know they know what we have ahead. We have a great catch in terms of home games. We got three home games, one away and although other guys that are fighting for it have a lot of tough games to play, So overall, I think the goal is the same, trying to go as far as possible, and it's like tomorrow and next Thursday are the ones that matter the most.

You said you talked about the road overall your five to two and one, is that correct?

Correct?

Yes?

Yeah, So did you have a tough time on the road. It was my understanding that you were five to two and one is a pretty good start.

Yeah, I mean on the road we played. The team are playing tomorrow is a good team. They're going to good result and we struggle with them away lost to one, and then the other loss was against Redlands, which is another top three team in the conference that we beat here at home and they because away. So you know, it's of course you want to win every game, but sometimes I'd like to tell the guys we deal with adversity,

Really too, I saw that you're you're five teen and one. You guys have Coachella's number there, My friend, did you see this?

Then?

Yeah, Coachella. This last year they were so much more competitive. I mean we tied them twice home and away, and this year they come in and I think it's new you management for the club, and they just weren't ready for the level. So it's yeah, because yeah, you get the wings.

But in other wins, that's great. They won nineteen and oh and sixteen and sixteen nil, I guess, so, like you know, but so that's just the fluidity of this league. You know, people can come in, manage ownership can change quickly. How do you manage your group of guys there to keep them focused and knowing that things are transitional so quickly and after a good.

Year last year.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's important to know that it's one team out of about twelve team that we have in the conference or whatever, ten eleven, but you against that team that we know we were better than them overall. I just told them you have to go on. You got to school all because all these goals are gonna matter at the end. They goal difference whenever you get to a playoff push. So if you guys understood that,

So I was just because how do to keep them focused? I mean, you know, they're seasons long, they're probably looking at what's up, what's next? How do you keep them focused during the season when they're they're so transactional or they're so transitional in the league up and down?

Yeah, of course. So I think that the biggest thing is make them understand that it's a short season and that we're here for a purpose. That is for all these players are going to college, are going to professional is a pass, it's one step in their past. So we tried to make that professional environment and take every game very serious and try to make them understand the history and everything that is there is behind exstitution. So I think that's the best way that we can do it.

So yep, So coach, I don't think you answered this with. My other question is was there a lot of turnover from last year? Did you have to kind of start with a with a fresh roster or did you get some guys coming back?

So I had the a couple of local guys that came back and then only one guy from out of town. And as you know, of course, the main the main guys that play for US come from all over the world and the country from different schools. So this year it was hard for me to recruit the guys back because it was an older team, so a lot of them you move forward to something else in their life, so I had to recruit.

A whole new team.

So it's kind of like restarting that product than getting them to where the other team wasn't just what the team means, because that that's what made the difference that year for us. We were so strong as a team. Wed some other teams were more probably better player for player, but we work very well as a team.

So that's kind of like today's college game, right the nil. Every year you have to start new in fresh and try to did you you and in Perlman have to put the team together and say, Okay, this guy will fit here, this sky will fit there.

Yeah, for sure, I mean we have that conversation, and I think that this year one of the goals was to bring a couple of younger players into the roster. So moving forward for next year, we had more returners, so the process will be quicker during the summer. But but yeah, we try to we have an idea of how we want to plan. We try to master the players that play that way.

Yeah, yeah, what's the coach?

I'm curious you're talking about, you know, putting together a new team each year. What's your average age or do you have a young team, you have a a an older team? What's your what's your age range for your your group?

This year, I would say these years, right, twenty one years old the team the average we got a couple of older guys in like twenty four to twenty five, years old. But most of them are between twenty and twenty one, which is which is good because I mean they are either sophomores or juniors in college, right, so in they had another they have another summer to play and the plan is for them to come back and so we can deal with the guys that we like them this year.

So these kids will go, they'll play for you for the summer, then they'll go play for their collegiate team or another club team someplace and then come back.

Correct. Correct, Actually all of them are from college, really, so they go back to the colleges. And it's really how it works, is the best way to find the talent that can compete in the league.

So I saw that you coach at the u A for a little bit too, So do you do you do you recruit the college campuses? Are you out recruiting or you are you how are you putting together your team each year?

So well for the uf A and with the women's side.

Let me ask if if I can follow the just a question, So is there a big difference or what is the difference women's side to the men's side in terms of coaching.

In terms of coaching, I will say that just I would see the women in terms of listening to structure of following destructions that are better, so you can be a little bit more tactical in that way, at least at the level. Of course the problem is different. But at the level that we're at the guys, I think the sport is a little bit farther ahead in terms of the development of the players. It's been around longer, so you see a lot of players that just have that.

So coach, I'm noticing that you guys only have four games left for your season, and three of them are against teams that are ahead of you guys on the table.

What do you, you know, what are you kind of.

Doing just to like get your team ready, not only like to play against good teams will finish the season strong.

I think this is this is the tougher time of the year because of the situation that we put ourselves in on the table. But I think it's also why players come to a play a place by institution. This is a place that we're a top team in the country. We want to make playoffs every year, we want to win it every year. And these are the moments that these players with these big resumes have to step up and provide results. And that's what I keep telling them.

Maybe I'm missing something coaching, but if it's true that you only have four games left, you're five to two and one, what that's the eight games right? Twelve games total? Am I wrong. I thought you guys went deep into the season last year, or maybe that was two years ago.

No, it was last year that we went to the national final.

For you, how far? How far was that? How long? Deep into what August September?

It was like being we loved the game in July twenty eight.

Oh, so that's that's the season. So it's not it's a quick, quick season.

Yeah, like the national final will be August second. Wow, that's what it is because then all the guys go back to college.

That makes sense. That makes sense. So that's why you're kind of saying every game is urgent because you can't afford to have a lot of st This is it.

We're going to be number one or two in the conference. But yeah, if you look at the table, all the teams on top, which is works in our favor. We all play in each other, so I think that table is going to move around like crazy.

Yeah, hey, coach, does a successful season like last year and the when you're having this year, does it help in recruiting? I don't know if you call it recruiting, but do kids seek you out? Do they seek you out and say hand like an opportunity?

How does that.

Work one hundred percent. I think the recruiting process through at the beginning of the year when you're calling players in and you know, they get excited when I'm calling them because they know what we did last year. They know the environment that we provide. So it does help a lot when you're doing well, and that's why we were able to bring the quality that we have this year. Now now we need to click at a higher level so we keep going well.

Coach, So you played tomorrow, right, tickets available, all that good stuff, right, a lot of people.

Yes, we're expecting a good crowd. We're excited to be back home after for away games. I think the people that saw us at the beginning, I will say, expect to see the same thing, even with more fire. Because we're not happy with how we perform on the roads. We're coming back home to take care of business. So looking forward to see all the times out there.

So let me ask you, are you one of those coaches that you say you're not happy that you either get to get on the kids because you need to be tough on them, or they just you know that they're gonna play better because they're unhappy.

I will tell you after that road last road trip, I was not happy with them, and they heard it from me to them, we need to have we need to have a shore memory because in football, you win and you lose, and you cannot be super high when you win and super long when you lose, because we got games to go. So I just told them I was Yeah. It was a tough conversation with them, but I said, this is it. We move forward and we got to get home and take care of business.

That's why you make the big bucks coach. That's why you make the big bucks.

Is the off season. So these kids are done at the end of July and then you don't come back around till May. What do you do? You're coaching the women at the U of A. But what is at FC two song? What is what happens in between?

So you know the fall.

Of course, the guys go back to the colleges. I go with the women to work in college and then around December January is when the whole process of recurring starts again. So usually if you want to find the top players, that's when you start reaching out, having conversations, talking with colleague that coach at the college level. For them to say players in and all that. So it starts around December January, and then hopefully by March you

Right okay, So be aware tomorrow night and then again the third of July to go see you guys play.

Yes, please looking forward to see the fans.

Just report, yes, sir, hydrate is gonna be hot. But thank you, thank you coach. I appreciate you, of course, guys. Thanks having be well, that's the FC two sun guys tomorrow at Qino and then again on the third. Let's take a break here. What time is it four thirty one? Take us to thirty five and we'll call Sean about four forty to get him on the phone. So if you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been

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Lender Steve Rivera He's got his eye on the ball on Tucson's sports station, Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.

Gay, welcome back to win on the ball Here Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera, your Tim Bentley, and you're Ray. I don't give your last name, Ray, I can't have all the ladies calling in.

They don't get my last.

We're gonna talk to Sean Elliott in about a minute or so, two minutes, he's ready for us. It was cool to get to find out what's going on FC Tucson. I didn't realize the schedule was so quick.

It's like it's like it sounds like a it's like a college program almost there, bringing these college kids in and pay a little pro soccer and give him a taste of professional athletics and then back to school.

So that's great, right, Yeah, no, No, it's quick and in good weather. I mean good weather. If you're playing in one hundred and one not one hundred and ten. Well, because you know by the time they play at seven, it's a little better, but it's it's pret a brutal.

Yeah.

Were you here when it was one hundred thirteen last week?

Yeah? Yeah, well i'm too. Last year was brutal, right, really brutal. I've been here thirty seven years, and I'm thinking either I'm getting old or wimpy or something, because I said, I don't know if I could take this.

I was so mad. And I've lived here off and on like you for a long time, and I was so mad, and I just like it every years. Just it's I think I'm just getting old.

It's just getting cranky. Yeah yeah, yea, yeah, I'm gun about it.

I'm grumbling about it.

This is not get off my us, Get up my rocks, Get up my rocks, get up my driveway, because it's too.

Started looking to uh, you know, opportunities outside of this place. But no, two sons great. And I'm excited to talk to Sean. I know he's he's a he's a proud to son and and and I want to get his perspective on what he misses the most about Tucson and what he doesn't miss I'm sure it's one hundred and fifteen degrees.

Yeah oh no, oh no busy.

Yeah so you got busy.

I can have them try to call us.

Yeah oh yeah, so no that the f C. Two son. I you know, I work at TMC and we help those kids from time to time with some doctor's appointments and stuff like that. And it's you know, when you're in a room with them and they're just kids. They really are, but they're just they're such great athletes and they're on their way. It's it's fun to see them kind of wide eye. This is their first taste of being a professional athlete. I don't know how much they

Yeah.

So now that was interesting to hear his his recruiting price. He's like a collegiate coach. He coaches the women's and then he's got this to something right.

Well, I thought it was really interesting because I just didn't know that he recruited that way.

But getting a call, Hello.

You're on the airline on the ball is just Sean, Sean Elliott, how are you all right?

Man?

You know, we have Steve Kurr every now and again, And I said, Steve, if there's a guy, I want to be Steve Kerr. And then I realized he has to deal with a bunch of Prima Donna guys. So if I can't be Steve Kurt. I want to be Sean Elliott because you have a f acting job, your former NBA guy, and now you're on the radio. What do you do when you're not on the radio.

Oh, well, today I just portrayed myself around the golf course.

That wasn't too much fun. It was hot and my swing wasn't there, so it was not the best day. But you know, listen, I do have the best gig. I get to call seventy games a year.

I do the seventy of the TV broadcasts, and I get to travel with the team.

They still treat me really well.

And you know, for a long time I saw really good basketball and it's getting back to that.

So I'm excited for the future.

Well, your future looks kind of bright up. You got a kid going over there to you. And let me say this, I'm not trying to blow smoke at all, but he's a kid that kind of reminds me of you in a sense that he's a heck of an athlete, can do a lot of different things, and he's a good kid. What you're getting is a good kid from a good family. So that kind of how reminds me of you. What did you see when they got a Carter?

Yeah, I mean he strikes me that way too. I don't think there's any doubt, you know. I like his athleticism. I love I love his athleticism. I like the way he shoots the ball. He's already got really good form on his shot. I would say that, you know, at the same age, he was a better shooter than I was. You know, when I look at why he shoots the ball with the range he's got, I mean, really nice looking shot, and he has really good quart awareness.

You know, it makes a lot of really nice passes.

And I you know, just watching a little bit of his clips, I see, you know, a kid who has a lot of good instincts. It's obviously that It's obvious to me that the coaching staff there did a great job with him. He moves well without the basketball, fighting spots on the floor, makes a lot of smart backcuts, gets himself in the paint pretty easily. But I think more than anything, Steves I really like his defensive instincts.

That side of the floor.

And it seems to me that he relishes playing defense, getting big blocks, getting deflections, steals, trying to generate offense with his defense, and that's something that is really hard, really difficult to teach.

Did you were you at the press conference there on Thursday with him?

I'll be there tomorrow though, Okay, So I'll be there at MC.

Both the rookies like an intro at the practice facility, so I will get a chance to meet him and Dylan Harper tomorrow.

Hey, Sean, this is Tim Bentley. You and I grew up in Tucson around the same time. I'm from Sabino in nineteen eighty five. I think your choice at nineteen eighty five. So yeah, welcome.

Hey.

I'm curious, you know you you obviously played in the league. I'm curious. You know, you look at Carter Bryant and you see a ton of kids come in every year. Where do kids like Carter stumble? You know, they he's got a good game, he's ready to play at the next level. But where do those kids stumbling? Why do they not succeed? And how do they watch out? What what what is their stumble, what is their their sticking point.

I think the biggest thing, tim is that they underestimate how difficult it is. That's the biggest thing. You know, it looks easy on television, and I've said it before, everybody sees the plays, but they don't see the rehearsals.

They don't see the practices.

They don't see the long plane rides, they don't see the travel schedule. They don't see how difficult it is and the wear and tear in your body, and they don't see the off court obstacles that come with not having the coaches there, mentors there to to be there for you and tell you what to do and what not to do.

You're on your own.

You've got a pocket full of money. A lot of people lined up to try to take it away from you or get you in the table.

So you've got to look out for that.

And that's the biggest that I think, that's probably the biggest thing.

And you know, it's it's uh. You know, when you're that age, you know people tell you got to get your rest, you got to eat right, but.

You feel like when you're eighteen nineteen years old, we've all been there. We feel like we're invincible, and so you've got to park that right away, and you've got to start taking care of yourself, preparing your body every single day, because it is a grind.

It is it is a grind.

It's hard for me now as in an ountor I'm beat at the end of the year every year and so sometimes I mean not sometimes, as lots of times pretty much every year where I you know, we talk to the guys in the crew and I say, I don't know how I did this. I have no idea how I played games. You know, got on planes, got in places at two in the morning, got up and played again the next day. And so you know, a lot of these young kids really have to be in

I mean, you're talking about going.

To a college game of where you're playing forty minutes, and you're playing thirty to thirty five games a year or two of an NBA game that's bigger, stronger, faster. Yeah, forty eight minutes and you're playing eighty two games.

Now you're playing four or five days.

A week sometimes, and so that whole thing starts to wear on you big time, and you just there's no way to really prepare for it unless you really go through it.

It's funny you talk about the plays and the rehearsals. It reminds me of Loot's time with you guys. Invariably back in the day when I covered you guys, they'd say, you, of a guys, were very prepared for what the league was going to show them because Luke prepared you for that, not just not just the game, but just how to deal with the whole situation.

True, Oh, no, no question. I mean, goodness, Steve. I mean, Loop practiced us so hard. Our practices were tough. Yeah, our practices were hard, and we practiced days in between games.

You know.

Now it's a lot different. You know, you have a lot of teams that don't really practice. I mean, I think Steph Cassel said today I saw them somewhere online where he said they had eight practices last year. You know, because the coaches are so concerned about not even the coaches, I'd say, the sports scientists are so concerned about load managing players and keeping their legs fresh and healthy and that kind of thing.

Not when we're with coach. Oh, we practiced hard every day.

We taped sometimes lots of times for shoot around and so we you know, we taped our ankles, and so that means when you're taping your ankles, that means you're getting after it. It's not a simple walkthrough, right, and so well, you know, we have those kind of rough and rigorous practices all the time. Days off of us were extremely, extremely rare, and so that you know, you're that kind of preparation. Your body is prepared to go through a long haul, and mentally you're prepared.

Right at the time you guys are playing, Oh god no. But now as you get older, you're thinking, what a great preparation. Because in the books that we that I've written and you've helped with, after a loss, you know when he comes out and is in his suit and he has this little white paper and he says, God, what's going to be on that paper?

Yeah?

Oh yeah, he I mean, we hated losing because we first off, we hated losing as a group, but then we hated the repercussions. You know, when coach came to practice, starts breaking everything down, and coach hated losing like we did. And boy, he would not be happy if we didn't perform well, didn't follow the game plan and we you know, they'd be held to pay in practice the next couple of days.

And so he coach was tough like that. But I think it hardened.

All of us.

Sure, sure, hey, Sean, take us back to nineteen eighty five, that run that you know, talk about the energy. You know, you're kind of on the cusp of you a being great, but it wasn't quite there yet. You know, like, well, we can look back on it now and say, man, it happened, But what was it like and living in the moment, you know, coming from Tucson in the UVE, what was it like?

Oh, I mean, it was just you know, it was really like a dream come true, just to be able to put our program on the map and to really show people what we could do and what we were capable of. I think that when you talk about a run in eighty eight. I remember later on Billy Packer said we had the best November and December in the history of college basketball. We were unranked at the start of the season and then beat everybody on the way to number one, and that was you know.

We believed in ourselves.

In ourselves, we knew that we were capable, but it was nice to back it up with our play on the court because we put in so much work in the off season, in the preseason getting ourselves into shape. Our practices, like I've talked about, were rigorous and tough, and you know, also know, we also felt that we were being coached the right way because coach paid attention to detail.

He really did a great job.

Developing us as players, getting us on the right page, and teaching us how to play the game the correct way. And it was just fun to see all that come to fruition.

So I thought, a bunch of the X guys on and how you thought, how you thought would think that Loot would handle the NI l now, given your given your McDonald's story, given your McDonald's story, you know.

Yeah, yeah, you know, he'd be like all these other guys like Jim Calhoun to just say I'll screw it, I'm out of here. You know, I don't I don't know how coach he would have been able to manage that. That would have been something that would have just given given him so much angst and so much stress. Uh you know, because again, I mean, coach did it the right way. He really did it the right way. And and the fact that now you have a lot of players that you know, I can't regard to the players

I mean, how do you build a program nowadays.

I can't even imagine how tough it is for coaches that you get young players.

That you you keep.

Your eye on and you recruit and then you get them into your program, you develop them only to have them leave for a bigger payday somewhere else. I mean, how do you build conces and see, how do you build a program under these circumstances to be extremely difficult?

No question. We got about a minute. Could you go back and give us that McDonald's story real quick.

Yeah, that was a story where I got pulled out of class and coach needed me to go with him to the Rotary club and speak.

And so I go with Coach O to the Rotary Club.

We do our thing, and on the way back we got practice in like an hour, Coach looks at me. He's driving the cars, just me and Coach, and he says, have you eaten anything?

And I said, no, Coach, I'm starving, you know. So Coach pulls out of twenty and.

He's got a water cash in his wallet and I'm thinking, hey, I'm gonna buy myself a big Mac and some fries and I'm gonna pocket the rest because I can make that twenty dollars last week at that time. And Coach hands me the twenty and he says, give me my receipt, and my change I was stun I was like Coach like you could give me all the money in your wallet right now and I wouldn't.

Say word with that. I don't have anything, and Coach Will sitting there.

I mean I should have gone and bought nineteen dollars and worth of food online.

N C double A wants to talk to here right now.

They just called. Yeah, yeah, limitations. This guy, Sean has always loved talking to you. Man. Be well, take care of your day, Sean, the new Arizona guy.

Take care of him honor.

All right.

I appreciate it, guy, Thank you, Thank you. Sean Elliott appreciate him very much.

Good.

We gotta go. We're up against it. Yeah, okay, thanks Ray, Thanks good for having me. Thanks Sean. Appreciate it, everybody,