Monday, June 3, Hour 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure your most Prized Possessions katz R TUSA at iHeartRadio Station. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, Jay gonzaus is still off who knows a field return? Now we have Javio Morales from All Sports Tucsun dot Com in with me from my guest host and our guy Kevin

working the boorts. Welcome everybody to Monday. A lot of things went on over the weekend have year you bur more witness to at least one of them. So much going on? You know the baseball tournament that was going on at at Cornmost, at Sanst Field, at Hi Corbett Field. I was at the game that was on Friday night. They lost a GCU more almost nine thousand people there. How did it? You and I both covered Triple A baseball for for a few years, at least for me. You probably

did a little bit more. Saw pc A PCL championship I think in one of those years. How did it compare well? In fact, I was talking to Fader yesterday, Mike Fader, the former GM they had they would have crowds about ten thousand during the playoffs, during the playoffs during like July fourth Holiday with the fireworks show. So it wasn't the biggest crowd in High

Corbett history. It was the biggest u of a game at High Corbett because you know, some games they actually had fans sitting in the standing room right right right, I remember that. So it was, but it was. It was great for for Arizona, great for Tucson, great for college baseball. You just wish that Arizona would have delivered in that situation. You know, could have been another big crowd on Saturday night or bigger, you know, as big and then what what was the crowd on Saturday. I don't

think it was as big, I'm not I couldn't be sure. It was hot, it was hot, yeah, so, uh, you know, I think part of the reason we could talk to Michael lev about this at four fifteen, and part of the reason they did struggles they were at home a lot of distractions that were coming off two big wins in secutive weeks where they're at sky high and then they're they're in there at home, and I think I think mentally it was just hard for them to get that that machine

going again, mentally distracted. You said, yeah, we'll get that with Michael, because I want to hear what both of you think about that being at home. You said, which is you know it's that's plagued Arizona basketball all these years of being in the west, exactly right, And you and I both covered up in ninety seven when they were not close to home, and they did very well, and everybody says, well you played to you know, stay closer to home the fans. It means nothing. It doesn't

mean anything. I've been doing this job so long. I'm well aware that's the case. Well, look, the only time they won the championship is when they went through the Southeast region right right, so they and they were basically on their own. There was obviously you have traveled them, but it wasn't like they would be on the West coast. And I think that helped a little bit. That helped that they were in their little bubble, their

galvanized from it. Yeah, and I think that that helped them. We'll get to that because I want to hear your theory on why they won that why they won that year, because I don't think you and I really discussed it. We've written stories like crazy on it throughout the years, and in fact, you posted a lot of them on the anniversaries solving stuff like that. But we'll talk about that maybe in the last hour, last last hour of the four o'clock cour So today were pretty good show. Thank you for

getting Ali Skaggs former Whe'd you go to high school? She went to irend Ridge the last year her senior year. She was born in Tucson and she lived back in Kentucky and then her family brought her back here and she was playing that last year to get ready to go to u of A. Oh Okay. Of course that was a COVID year, so she didn't really I

think she only played like nine games and Iron Ridge. But she is a native Touson and and I think a lot of fans, local fans really really drawn to her, you know, kind of like the popular figure that you know, you have a fans latch onto, like a Steve Kerr and you know, players like that. I think she has that personality very very endearing, and she she says she's going to be back at at Hill and brand next to to watch the U of a play. She's not going to just

disappear, right right, so you know, be interesting. He's talk for in a few minutes, right right. So there's your stink peak. We're going to have Ali Skaggs here at about three seventeen in the first hour, and you mentioned Michael lev at the four o'clock hour. We'll talk to him and I'll ask them the same questions I asked you. Well, just about the team and what the heck happened with the baseball program. He might have a different theory than you, but and mine, I don't have a theory.

But being at home, you're talking like it's a disadvantage. Well, you think about the pressure that you're under because your families are there, your friends, you your You've got that thought that you had to you know, you're around them after before and after games. It's not like just you're with the team. You know, you're not with the coaches. Isn't that what

you played for? You played for at home and have your friends and family buying you, cheering you on. Sometimes it works for you, Sometimes it doesn't. I mean it should have worked for Arizona, but because they've won some really thrilling games behind that fan presence here, it's kind of like momentum. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. Well, yeah, I know,

I know you and momentum. Yeah. So, but Arizona went on a big we just call it run in ninety seven, yes, okay, but there was a lot of you know, momentum from that to build into that run. Sure. I think Arizona that you know, we we can't forget about pitching. The pitching didn't hold up as usually did, and they're playing some great teams there. There was some really good teams, right.

And then also I think that there's your in my mind, there's your there's your answer right there, pitching an idiot just failed them, right, and stuff like that happens, especially in baseball. Yeah, and that these were these were good teams, every single one of them were good. West Virginia, Grand Canyon, Yeah, Dallas Baptists. I think Arizona didn't get lucky with that draw. They got lucky to are fortunate, I should say,

to get to host the regional. They didn't get lucky with their field here because that was a tough well, the thing is in order to be to be successful and go deep into the tournament, you still have to be good at what you're doing, whether it's a tough regional or not, because you

have to get through it. If they would have been shipped somewhere, they would have said, well, they deserved a host, right, or maybe they would have said that, and then they go to somewhere somewhere else and you're thinking, well, that's a tough regional and they have to play really well. They got snake bit on two different In my mind, I didn't see much of it, and I just saw how great the season ended for them in the games. Maybe they got lucky in the last games and a

few games that they played just the reverse, if that makes sense. I've heard criticism like the PAC twelve is down this year. They won the regular season in conference championship, but the PAC twelve was down, so that helped them out. But I mean, look at Oregon State. Oregon State, I think there when at last I saw today they were up against UC Irvine, so they're probably headed the super Regional. I don't know what the final

and that is, but Oregon's in the super regional. I think the PAC twelve was kind of top heavy, but then you had teams like USC and ASU that came on strongly. Yeah, cal so, I don't I don't really buy too much that the Pac twelve was down. That's why Arizona was so success. So Arizona was Arizona was good. I mean they had some good pitching. They have three pitchers on the first team all Pack twelve. I mean that rarely happens, if ever. And they had some exciting plays,

some what eight walk off wins. Yeah, that's a good team. If you followed the team and you were a fan, you had a great time enjoying the games. You followed them, and I don't know how many people do follow them from top from front to back. But at the back end they had some fans going to games, which, of course you know, and I know you've been here all your life and I've been here a while now that if you win in Tucson, guess what people do? They

latch on. I was thinking and that same thing when I was driving up because somebody had messaged me like where were all these fans? When when they were playing in like April or or or March, they saw that arizonas in the in the NCA playoffs, they're like, oh, let's go, let's go to the game. It's it's uh, you're right about Tucson. They're not gonna come out from the beginning to end. It's going to be whether the teams win. You're not sure. And they're gonna show up Tucson.

Tucson like many other places. And everybody says, I'm in the rag Tucson and U and coaching blah blah blah. That's not true. Uh, the Tucson is a walk up place. Hey, what are you doing, Gertrude? Well, I don't know. Simon, what do you want to do? Well, Well, the baseball team's playing at six o'clock, you want to go? And they and they buy tickets and they go right, I mean, am I wrong? No, you're you're right. I've been I did go to a few games this year. We had Lori Burkhart cover most

of the games, but I did go to watch games. And it was that case. You can you can drive up, pull up at like the fifth ending and walk in and know to the game. And I think some people did that. They didn't get the right the game. They just showed up on everything for a while. Yeah, you know, and one time when Arizona was playing on campus at Wildcat Field and Sansutfield. I remember those days where they would get nine thousand regularly because of the way Arizona was so

dominant background, they were really good. Yeah, I mean, it was kind of like the U of A with Mike Andre and softball. They they kind of established themselves and and kind of grew before the nation grew, you

know what I mean in that sport. So they were that they were taking over the darlings of the of the sport, right l Yeah, back in the late eighties and early nineties and throughout the nineties, right, So they that's why there was Arizona was so successful when you know all those World Series and college were called softball and in baseball, I mean, Kendl won three College World Series in ten years. Arizona's never going to do that again,

probably. So it's they they were good when they when they they took advantage of being good at that time and won those championship and that's what it has established them as traditionally strong. Would you say, And you know, I'm sure because you listening to the show and Jay's in my argument about it was a basketball blue blood. I don't know if you agree with me or him, It doesn't matter if you'd agree with me, But I would say deep

down that baseball has more of a blue blood sense than basketball. And it's not even close for national championships. Yeah, and not just recent right within recent twelve. That's kind of reason. They went to the World Series in twenty sixteen, in twenty twenty one, so yeah, they didn't win it. But I think I think baseball is the blue bud. I think obviously

softball is the blue blood. Yeah, basketball, they haven't been in the Final four and what twenty three years, and now you are very thin back then, or at least watched thinner back then to metabolism was a lot faster back then. Yeah, right, So I mean, come on, and people say Indiana is not a blue blood. What you established that you don't ever kind of lose it. They just aren't good anymore. Yeah, you say a still blue even though they haven't really won done anything since the nineties

as far as the championships are. But they went to three final fours and row with under Ben Helen. So yeah, I uh, yeah, I don't think Arizona is a blue blood in basketball. I think they're one of the top programs, top programs, right, Yeah, And I wouldn't argue that because that's true. Jay doesn't get mad at but no, Jay's I think kind of gone to my side with this. But also baseball, yes, baseball yes, even though they've kind of had a success, uh sporadically

or not as consistent, but still good. Right, and look at the coaches they've had, Jerry Kendall and Lopez. Yeah, aination job. It's a interesting you know, if you're going to get a job at l s U, more power to you because the program is gonna pay you a lot of money and you're gonna have a lot of a lot of success because of

where you're at. Yeah, and you know, I'm a Chip Hale believer, So I think Chip will eventually be in that that on that level with them and not a lot of calls World Series, but I think he's gonna be consistently. I mean, he's got three regional appearances in the last three years. How many times has you what do you make? I'll ask I love this too. Uh well, I won't ask this question now. I hope I remember the level of criticism he's received over the last three three games.

Remember, remind me to ask that question to both of you, so keep to keep that thought in your head. Okay, No, So it's it's Monday. A lot of things, baseballotball's over with. I know that the track team, you probably you have some breaking news with that. I won't I won't step on your toes. I want step on your top I know there's not a lot of there's a lot of stuff, but just not

local local. So we'll have miss Gags here, you know, about ten minutes or no, about seven minutes, uh to talk about her career and UA softball and where she thinks it's going to be going to because that's just another program that it just needs to have, like a start, a starter, you know, got another fire starter to get going again. And pitching obviously, and we've talked about this for years now. If you don't get the pitch and you're not gonna have a great team, even though you have

a great team. Yeah, Arison has won championships with good, really really really good pictures, not borderline pictures. That's what this sport's all about. It's always been. Yeah, so I know, they had some injuries this year. Nets was out a couple of they're good, you know, young pitchers were out, so I think that affected things. My Isa Silva did the best she could. I think she improved a lot from last year to

this year. So that boat's wall going forward. She has that experience, but they didn't have that top line pitching that you need to go for and they really haven't had it since so tool I think, yeah, seven eight years ago whatever it was. Yeah McQuillan too, Yeah, she took them to the World Series, right right, Okay, anything else, we'll talk

a little about highchool. See what's going on with that. Wrap up the year with you, because you do a lot of that, if not everything with that, uh you and your brother just to kind of touch base out point again, very successful and there's stuff cdo obviously too. We'll kind of go through some Okay, reminiss about what happened all year. Let's take the break and then come back and talk to Alice Kings. The window Depot has

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iHeartRadio WOP Just Surgeon I on the ball. Hey, welcome back to win the Ball here at Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's Javier Morels. Now with the phone, we have Ali Skeggs from Arizona Softball. Fantastic player for Arizona Softball, Allie Skeiggs, Ellie, how are you? I'm doing well? How are you? We're doing well? Thank you,

thanks for joining us. Glad to have you on the show. Kind of want to recap your career at u of A and just talk up at the program and what you're up to. Let's start with what are you up to? So I am Yeah, I'm currently in the mid Minnesota with my boyfriend and his family. I'm going to be spending a lot of the summer up here, and the weather's beautiful. I'll take it over the one hundred degrees

right now. But I'm kind of just taking a summer to lay low and let my body recover and mind recover a little bit from the wear and tear of the season. But yeah, I'm here just kind of laying low. Well that's good. I mean, you're you're getting their way a little bit. We had a great four years at Arizona. Uh and then last year, I know you were busy. We're talking to you. You're you're an interim with the Angels. What did you get your degree in. I'm a

journalism major. Oh good, good, for good, God help you, God help you with this. He's going into broadcasting those things. Okay, yeah, newspapers, we have faces for radio. So that's why we're in trouble. You'll be fine, Yeah, you'll be fine. What do you hope to do? There's a couple of different routes I'd like to go down. I'm really interested in coaching, for sure, staying around the sport of softball, but I'm also interested in the broadcast side, like how your was

saying, I'm interested in a lot of the like content creation stuff. So I was actually able to intern with the Arizona Athletics Department as well their content creation group. And then also I'm not opposed to being in front of the camera either, so potentially calling some games, maybe trying to find my way on to the big stage and getting to call some World Series games stuff like that. I'm not really fully sure yet what I want to do, but

there's a lot of different options. Well, there's plenty of you know, former U of A players, you can pick their brains on. You know, when I was driving up to the radio station, I was listening to the Miko on the doing the game on on radio, the College World Series game with them with a former U A. I too, right, Brian, Brian Radkey. So two U of A guys, two a U of alums doing that game. And then you got what Kenzie Fowler and Jenny Dalton Hill. Uh, so you have some people there to to consult with.

Is what? What? What grew you to do that to want to be a broadcaster. Yeah, So I fell in love with pretty much just camera work and editing and being in front of it and behind it in high school. So there was a couple of different broadcast classes offer that I was able to take from my freshman to senior year, and I just once I realized that that was an actual job that I could potentially pursue, I decided that I wanted to go down the journalism route. So I've been interested for about

eight years now in the media side of things. We'll get to your career at a second, but I'm curious. You must have started when you were six to eight years old fielding ground balls half your life. Yes, I did. I think I started when I was five. I didn't play t ball, but I did play coach pitch and then went strain the machine pitch when I lived in Louisville, Kentucky, and you obviously loved it. What

was as a kid? As a kid, you know, the one thing you hope as a parent or a coach that the kids don't burn out because you're playing all the time. Did you ever once think that to Okay, I'm a little tired of this, honestly know in my opinion, and I think I credit a lot of it to my parents because they were always the type of parents that they didn't hover over me in my career and what I

decided to do. They were very much the type that said, hey, if you want to be good at this, you're going to need to put in the time. So we're not going to ask you to go take ground balls. You have to be the one to come up to us and say, hey, I want I want to go hit right now, or hey, can we go take ground balls for an hour? So a lot of it I credit a lot of it to them in the sense of they they helped not burn me out and then I honestly, I just love the sport.

To be honest with you, I joke with some of my teammates and I say, hey, I could go take live at bats for three hours straight and never get tired of it. And ground balls have become a favorite of mine as well over the last couple of years. So just the sport in general, I love it. It's hard to get tired of it. But yeah, I credit a lot of it to my parents. They really did a good job of making sure that they didn't push too hard and that

a lot of it was from self motivation. There goes along with something I wasn't ask you, because to be a really good softball player, you have to probably work day in and day out hours because it's so you have to be you have to be a quick thinker on the field defensively with the with

the circle not too far away from the from the plate. You have to be like, you know, spontaneous, and to get that good, you have to have continue to work at that, right right, Yeah, yep, yeah, go ahead, Sorry, Yeah, A lot of it is, honestly just the repetition side of it. So I took a lot of pride in my talent level and skill level, and I just I'm a I'm a nerd for the games. I just grew up watching the Florida Gators, and I grew up watching all these other collegiate programs when I was ten years

old, looking at Okay, how do they play? What happens when this play happens? And then I got to kind of take that into my own games. So yeah, I just I'm I'm a nerd about it. So I liked. I love to study the game, and then when it's my to go play at it makes it even better. It's funny you say the word nerd. I was just going to ask before Ilvio asked that question that, in my view, and I might be a little biased here, but

I think the second basement is probably the smartest person on the field. I'll give the short stop a little credit to but because there's so much going on up the middle, and obviously you guys are strong, because you guys were strong up the middle, would you disagree? I agree, Oh definitely.

So I grew up playing shortstop and I will say, as soon as I moved over to second second was so much more complicated than I thought, Yeah, And I have so much more respect for second basement now than I probably did growing up playing short stop, just because of how many different things you

have to take care of. But between bunt coverages, steal coverages, cuts and relays, all these different things, you're you're commanding the field from there, and I feel like second basement are kind of underrated in that way because you always look to the short stop as the leader of the field. But yeah, until I played second base behind Rayana Kronko, I didn't realize how actually difficult and on your quick, on your feet you had to be playing

that position, right, yeah, no question. And then what last season you didn't have an error at second like one hundred and sixty some Yeah, I mean, how does that happen? Honestly, the key to it for me was just confidence in general. I think just believing and trusting my glove in itself. And that's one thing that our assistant coach, Lauren laugh and

I worked really hard on was just trusting our gloves. So a lot of the time it's easy to get your top hand in there and try to force the ball in your gloves, and we train a lot on just hey, let your glove hand be free, and just go read the hots and get your rhythm. That was a huge thing we worked on too, was rhythm and to not speed up when plays happened, because we have more time than we think, even though the game's quick. So it's honestly, I was

so confident. I just I didn't have any doubt in my mind that any type of ball that came at me that I wasn't going to be able to handle it. So that was that was a big thing that carried over even into this year's test. So because no one's talking about this or this year, you must have had one. This year, I had three. Unfortunately, I was trying so hard to do two for six season. But I did have three. I mean, and I sound disappointed in that, but

honestly, three as an infielder is still a very good year. I just I knew it could have been better. So let me ask you a dumb question, because I was an infielder too. In a second basement, obviously, uh So, all those three you you fielded thousands of balls right over your career and over maybe a few hundred over the last two years. But I venture to guess you know exactly what those three three were I do what were they were? They? Were they doable? Were they playable? All

three of them should have been made. So that's another frustrating part that I had. Well though, at least you do that, and congratulations, what a fantastic leve and career you've had. Now let's talk about your career because you were you were more than just a defender. You were not you hit the ball as well. Yeah, yeah, I love hitting. Hitting was always my favorite thing grown up, and I started to have my appreciation for defense, especially in my last two years of college ball. Yeah, he'll

be here. Well, what do you What do you think is the if when you look back now and I know, I know it's the season is not too far done. But when you look back now, what do you what do you what sticks out the most that you were part of and that you look back at. That's something you're going to think about for the rest of your life. Just one of the things that I enjoyed. Yeah, just overall, just being part of the Arizona program where a game, maybe

a net bat just yeah, there's so many different things. I mean, I could go back through and think of specific game moments I always go back to our Super Regional against Mimssippi State. I loved hitting the home runs to tie the game against them, and then later on is you hit a home run to get us a two to one victory in the eighth inning. I remember that like it was yesterday. Playing at the World Series was absolutely incredible.

That type of environment was somewhere that I hope that every kid on the U of a roster in the next couple of years gets to go experience, because I will never forget that. In general, I absolutely loved being a Wildcat. I think the thing that I really am glad that I kind of took advantage of was the fact that I wasn't just a softball player while I

was a Wildcat. I really took advantage of being my name known in the community, giving back to the university, being involved on campus in different ways, in different academic ways as well. I took pride in my grades, and I made sure that I was in class every day and I was in good grades, and I I just I'm proud of the way that I handled being a Wildcat and all all of the different aspects versus just the way that I played. So have you al was telling me, you you grew up

on the East. I guess Louiell when you were Entucky Kentucky. Uh, but you're you always thought were always wanted to become a cat, right, Is that right? Yeah? So I was. I was born in Tucson but raised in Louislle, Kentucky, and so both of my parents are also Arizona alumni. So I grew up knowing pretty much in the in the universe that I was going to be a wildcat. Just I grew up in all

of Arizona. Year. I have all the pictures of me as a baby in all the year and we would come back and visit Tucson several times a year because a lot of my family lives there and continues to live there even now. Yeah. So I just I knew that it was written in the stars. I was going to become a wildcat, and I'm just really thankful that it actually became a possibility. Did other schools pursue you anyway? Yeah, I had a couple other offers, a couple of my final ones.

I was looking at the University of Kentucky because it was close to where I was raised Ole Miss Those one of my final ones. I was looking at like Georgia Tech and a couple other couple other schools that you have. As soon as coach Kendrea offered me on the phone, I said, yep, I would love to be a Wildcat, regardless of what you can offer me or as long as I get a jersey and I get to be in that

dugout, I'm happy. One thing I want to ask after last year when you guys didn't make the NCAA tournament, that was snapped the thirty five years streak, and you know, times like that, players especially nowadays, might look to go to another program or you know, start over somewhere. But

you guys all stuck together. Why why did that happen? Was there somebody that kind of led you guys to like, hey, we're gonna we're gonna stick through this, because I think there was only one transfer, right and but with the majority of you guys, the guys that are you know, big role players there stayed. Why why did that happen? Yeah? I think we only had the one transfer out with Ali Ashner and she was a

grad student so she got to go continue her career this year. But no, last year was just collectively as a unit, we absolutely loved each other. It was such an amazing environment to be in every day. I never got tired of it. I remember each day of practice I was It never became a job to me. And I feel like it's easy too, and especially our type of season, it's easy for the days to kind of just roll into the next one, and it's easy for everything to kind of become

pedious. But I remember last year, every every day that I showed up, I was rejuvenated, and the girls absolutely made it the best place to be. And I think that's the biggest thing that played into everyone returning this year, is that we all genuinely, really really enjoyed each other's company and and I just remember that there weren't any There weren't any bad apples that it

was a struggle to get along with. So that's one thing I'm really thankful that I was able to experience that, because I know that it's not a lot of reality realities for the other teams in the country, But yeah, we were We were just lucky to have such a great group of girls that find a way to the entire year honestly really get along. So having to be part of it for four years. Uh, what do you think the programs headed? Honestly, I think every year they're gonna they're gonna reload and

be be great. They're going to compete every single year. I think that's the beauty of Arizona softball. I'm I'm proud that the way that our senior class left, and I'm I'm excited to see kind of who steps up next to fill our shoes because I remember when I was coming in as a freshman and I was expecting that our class would have to fill in for Jesse Harper and Daja Mupola and Reina Caronco and just being so excited about, all right,

let's see what the next big class can be. And so I'm excited to watch my teammates and I'm excited to watch the girls that can continue to carry the program and who's It's pretty much it's just who's next, Who's going to carry and be the people that the nation on watch. So our team is going to be competitive. They always, always will be and always have been. So I'm excited to see how they kind of rebuild next year. Losing a couple of our infielders and in some of the older upper classmen in

the lineup with pitching. Wisely, what do you think that looks like for Zona next year that you've seen I think, yeah, I think you're going to see a lot of girls returning, which is great. We had a we had a big staff this year, but unfortunately had a couple of injuries that were left us to four that were available, if I'm remembering correctly, yeah, four, And so next year we'll be reloading with a big big girls as well. And so I'm curious to see we have an incoming freshman

and Sarah Wright, so I'm curious to see how she throws. And then they can grab anyone from the portal. I'm not sure exactly who all is in the portal right now for pitching, but I'm hoping that they can they can pick up another really strong arm so that they can have that to lean on next year as well. Well, you're pitching coach send on an emoji a couple of days ago of a cactus dancing, So there's probably somebody coming

pretty soon. But yeah, I haven't heard any news about who yet, but I'm curious to see the announcement closed on Twitter, right, Okay, I know that we talked about you and your future off the field. Are you done playing and you hope to maybe latch on somewhere, Yeah, I'm not. I'm so I'm kind of in the middle with that as well. Right now. I'm not opposed at all to the idea of continuing to play.

It's just I'm excited for this number to kind of sit back and just let myself fully reset before I decide what I want to do now with playing. I'm excited to see what the next couple of years look like for the sport of for the professional side of the sport, just because I think if it's more of a sustainable career in the next couple of years, that's something

that's really appealing to me. But it's tough to make a lot of money in professional softball right now, So that's more of something that I feel like I could I could do if I love playing it, and then go find something else to do for the rest of the month of the year. But it's kind of it's a it's a tough choice right now. I'm I'm excited to let my body kind of recover and let my mind recover as well, and just see if it's really something that I want to continue to try and

play versus just coach. Well, Alie, well appreciate your time. Congratulations on a super career. Thank you guys, thank you for having me. Good luck in your career too, with the with the broadcast journalism. You'll be great. You'll be great much right, Yeah, yeah, thanks, thanks a bunch. That was that was always That was Alex Skaggs from the UA softball team All American correct, All American First Team, All Americans with D one softball or E one softball. A great defensive player. Yeah,

reading it a chance to ask BYCT to Coda Kennedy. She she was the one that the defensive player of the Year this year right right in left field. But yeah, she's I mean, she'll be forever one of those greats. He looked back on and you have a softball right, all the great safe out right. No, they had a number of them and that's why they are who they are. Okay, let's take a break and come back

and talk. Maybe get a caller two five two. On the other side, if 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 Loudolsen 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 to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them.

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Rivera and Jacin sALS they have their eye on the ball. On Tucson Sports stage Chat Fox Sports fourteen fifty Hey Welcome back to Wayne the Well hero Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve. He's He's not Jay, He's Javier. Well, I guess heresy that is Jay. Yeah, yeah, because his real name is Javier. Well, you're Javier Morales allesports Susan dot com. Be sure to look it up. If you haven't done there, shame on you. You gotta go. Kevin working the UH College five two o four

one six seven four four zero. Good to talk to. Elie Skegg's head never speaks well, Yeah, she speaks better than me. She'll be a good broadcaster and a good coach. Yeah, she'll be doing coach. Yeah, I can imagine. I wish I would have seen her in the short stop work together, because I appreciate a good infielder, and she obviously is a very good one, especially good with errors or no errors, and how she handles, you know, the hand eye coordination. Oh yeah, three

errors in two years. Can you imagine how I mean? You have to be on top you did that three errors today? For me? You have to be on top of grounding, you know, double playballs, making sure you throw it to the second the short stop covering correctly. But throwing to the first base on the ground. I mean there's catching a fly ball that maybe is I mean, there's so many things that could go wrong, but it didn't go wrong for her because she was she took care of Uh in

your in your thought process. So now you know you're a happy guy like my TV four guy. Uh. Do you think think that Arizona will get back to what it used to be in basketball and softball? No, no, I'll give you basketball to well. No, no, I don't think it because because there's so much more parody and so much more strength now in the SEC are in the and then the East Coast that but all did like we talk about with it all it tickes is one. If you can maybe

get lucky with two pictures, you're back, right. I mean Arizona isn't a destination as much now as like Oklahoma, a lot of these sea schools like Alabama, but it used to be. You're right, it's gonna take Arizona having like two three really good years, like to go to the women's called World Series and they win win one or two titles, and I think, yeah, then it could get back to what it was when Ca Andrea was was there, and you never know if you get a dominant picture.

Yeah, maybe something in the transfer portal comes and and dominates. Yeah, because it's gonna take it's gonna be hard for a freshmen to come in and do that right away. Sure then yeah, I think in that case it can. But it's just the odds are so much more against that happening as it was. You know, sure even ten fifteen years Sure, because it's still but it still has that reputation. I'm in Oklahoma's got that reputation.

Look at Auburn when they were doing well with with Myers, Clinton Myers and and a issue who found Lightning in a bottle for a year or two, right, because they had a pretty good picture, right, And you're just looking for that one. Maybe there's one in Tucson now. She's fourteen years old and she's fantastic and she's always wanted to do what Ali said is becoming a wildcat. And you're back in the business. You're back in business. But but I get it. The SEC teams and some of the other ones

are Oklahoma's and Texas is now are are snapping are snapping them up? Yeah? Money too. Now, then now that you have and I am sure sure people allowed to pay players. It's it's Arizona faces a tough challenge with that. Well, I'm sure you heard. I think you may even posted it. What which coach coach Adia Barnes talked about with the nil but they haven't. She has no chance against the big, bigger schools. I mean, she's talking one two hundred thousand dollars and they're coming in with two mil.

Right a budget budget was Well, look at Arizona women's basketball before she got here less than ten years ago, nothing and and now she's building it into something that could be regularly good. But she's going against established programs like South Carolina, Sure, you know, uh, Maryland, Connecticut, you know all these all these teams that have been good for so many years. She's trying to get her place on that and it's hard Stanford, and it's

hard to do that unless you're consistently going deep in the nca Tournament. It's hard to do that, right, Yeah, it's it's what they had is not so much a one off, but but when they get to the final game, it's those kind of a one off catching again lightning in the bottle with area, but they've been consistently good this year. To me, despite all the rumblings behind the scenes that she did a fantastic job. But I

mean she had seven players. Seven players at the end, you covered the team seven players and took USC to the brink twice and a couple of other school to the brink twice a few times. And uh, with seven players, I mean seven players, even though you only go seven or eight deep anyway, but you need to have the security of having maybe a minute or

two for the other people, just to give them some rest. I think that the way they played during that last month or so is shows what kind of coach Adia Barnes can be. There was a lot of criticism about her losing these players, What is she doing? What is she not doing? But to get that core that believed in her and their system. Look what happened when she's down to seven players. They didn't They just didn't play bad. Yeah, they played great. They some of them played above their heads.

Yea. And that's good coaching. That's what I was gonna say, That's what you want from players because you're they're playing hard for the coach, right and for themselves. Yeah, So I think she answered a lot of credits with that, at least temporarily, that that she can coach. And I'd noticed that she is getting a lot of players coming in like transfer portal players. So now she's gonna have to do that again. As far as yeah, chemistry wise, meshing him together, making them understand their roles.

Every every coach is that way. Tommy Lloyd's gonna have to be that way. It's funny, which she reminds me of lut Luke would have been uh uh. I don't say when he'd been horrible at this, but he would have disliked this to the end because because it's so fluid and and and the thing about it with him is the kid the guys, now I mean the kids I covered him. Uh they played hard for Lute and you were you witnessed it throughout growing up, but you covered it. And those dudes they

were not all five stars, they were all not three stars. They played they played hard for him because the one they didn't want to disappoint him, and they played well together. That that's what made lou Olsen separate himself from a lot of people. That he was able to get really good players and some second level players and still be able to build a power that way.

And he knew that he couldn't bring all these five star guys in at one time because you have to develop that sure you know that sure that role, that that hierarchy on the team, and make sure that everybody understands their role and right, and then when their turn would would happen. Right. And that was one of the beauties. I think you can correct me if I'm wrong, is they had eight, nine, ten deep. The second five

knew their roles and they pushed the first five. And so there were sometimes when the second team would beat the first five, you know, luckily or whatever. But that made everybody better, right, and then when the first five were left, the second five just came up. Yeah. How many

times you know this because you covered the team for so many years. How many times did you say when the especially when the Pack when they were starting to dominate the Pack ten, that the second team can beat half the teams in the conference. No, in fact, two thousand and one, two thousand, when they're really really good. Behind the title game in ninety seven,

Gilbert Arenas kind of scared guys off because he was so good. That's when you kind of say, like today, if you're not going to be in the top five, and then we'll talk about this, because you wrote the story that you get here and you see somebody that could post potentially be better, I gotta go. I gotta go and play for somebody who again some time and back then Arena scared away, Luke Recor and and Gilbert and not Gilbert Ruben Douglas. Yeah, and that's like how many times over now?

Yeah, yeah, in every program, And you did the story for me last week was with when Caleb Love decided to come back, and that was not a that was that was an obvious thing that was going to happen. And people who knew Poop you on the inside knew that Sonnan would not would not come here. I didn't know much about Phillips, but you know your your story about you know the chain reaction that it created. Yeah.

I think everybody's told one thing during their career process, and if they find out something doesn't doesn't happen the way they were told, then they're gonna they're gonna pack up. What could you tell? What did you tell them exactly? And I mean I'm not doing what Tommy Lloyd said to them. But I'm sure Tommy Lloyd was was honest and frank with them, and they're probably just hope. He kind of think, Oh, if he doesn't come, then I can step right in. Sure, But here he comes, and

he's gonna take a lot of minutes. He shouldn't, but he's gonna take up some minutes. I think they should reduce his He he had what he ever's like thirty two minutes a game last year? Who loves yeah, yeah, yeah, So I don't mind if he goes thirty two. But if he's more productive in inconsistency, right, I wouldn't have any problem with that. That's the problem is who is he? Who is he is the inconsistent

dude or the inconsistent dude. He's got a year under standing going through the program, going through Tommy Lloyd's system and then trying out the NBA waters He's he's I'm sure he's heard a ton of feedback of what sure, what he's not lack, what he's lacking in is not letting him get drafted this year.

Yeah, So I'm sure that he's using that as a guideline one of the things, and step in, Kevin, if you want to chime in, but I think today's kids and I did a story about this, I don't know, twenty twenty five years ago, and I know Matt Miilboch read it at the time he was an agent. And today's kids and heck, my generation probably too saw their stat sheet or see their stat sheet, and you see it all the time. It's one of the things I hate the most after a game and say, Okay, I got this, I got

this, got this. The the people watching them, the scouts aren't going through those stats and saying, oh, he did this. You know what they're doing. Can he play? Can play? Can you go four points, eight rebounds or whatever? But can he play? I do feel like that's kind of been, at some point an element of every generation, because you do know you're stats at some point at every generator point. I think

the difference is social media. I think, like understanding how to play and what is identified as winning basketball or winning football or whatever the sport is. The scouts are looking for winning players. I think a lot of players nowadays are looking to be the hottest thing on Instagram or have the most followers, or have the hottest mixtape, like on you know, highlight wise, I think that's more the issue than looking at their stats and being like, well

I did this, that and the third. I think they're looking at their highlights and saying, oh, look at what I did, right, but their team might have lost by twenty Yeah, So yeah, I think that's kind of more so the issue with my generation and maybe kids of like five six years younger than me, more so than stat like stat chasing and stuff like that. Right, right, So with Caleb Love, but those are

good points. But with Caleb Love and now Jayden Bradley coming back, that's everybody thinks that's going to be the backcard, right, m doesn't Caleb Love he needs to become more of a facilitator, right, But with Jayane Bradley there is that going to be the case. So that's a Tommy has has has some work to do as far as getting those guys to be on the same page, getting some chemistry going, understanding their roles right, knowing knowing

when to pass and when to shoot something like that. Well, no question, it's funny because Roley Alkins Uh went up to see what he needed to work on. Well, here's Roy alkins problem. He was six three six for whatever he was, he was a betweener, couldn't handle the ball, couldn't do it, but he was a fantastic athlete. Well, the NBA is not built for him. It just wasn't built for him. So Caleb has his instructions from wherever. Okay, so now you have two dudes,

two dudes who are ball dominant. How many balls do they play with one? How is that going to work out for a guy who Caleb, who now needs to become more of a ball handler. You know what gleb Caleb Love should be doing right now, handling the ball, handling the ball, just dribbling up and down, doing whatever, and not even worried about shooting the ball exactly. I could be wrong. Well, no, I think that's what's gonna have to happen. He covered Richard. Would you you hear

when Richard Jefferson was there? I wasn't. I didn't cover the team. So he was, he was, He was an athlete, He jumped out of the gym. Pretty good basketball player. Didn't have great numbers. In fact, that here's one of my examples. One of our colleagues said, he's averaged like ten points to different points in a few rebounds. He's not good enough to be in the NBA. Those numbers don't match. And this is when I kind of saw it's not about that, it's whether you're good

enough to play in the league. Richard played a number of years. The one thing that Richard did after he finished school, after because he was here for two three years, right, he worked on his handles, worked on his handles, worked on his handles because guess what he needed to do. He needed to work on his handles. Right, it wasn't about a shot at the next level. It was about him becoming better at what he needed to do. And I was working on his handles. Look at these guys.

You saw the kid from North Carolina State, that big dude. He lost forty pounds. Forty pounds. Imagine had he done this in school. Right, Yeah, it's you know, I know it run out of time. But at that Florida Atlanta game in Las Vegas, I was there at that last play and that in the overtime, second overtime where he just resorted is shooting a long jump jump shot. He's got to be more of a guy that's gonna penetrate, kick off or shoot and not result for a resort

to a jump shot. Yeah, no, I get it. So there's a lot to learn from a lot of different avenues, if that's the right word. So we'll see what happens and guess what. Tommy Lloyd gets paid a lot of money to see if this can work out. So we'll see. We'll come back with the bricking news. Kevin indeed, Okay, cool,