This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services ensure your most prized possessions.
Good enough to do and everybody Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera in with me.
Today's Troy Hutches sin from gys you can't start coming and our guy Ray at the controls. Let me tell you something. To Troy, you suck at predictions. She never told me that, But let me tell you something. Go ahead respond to that.
No, I was gonna say, you're You're one of several people I even got to you should retire, you know at thirty. You know I'm good. That's it right. No, but ub Arizona Baseball and you know what, congratulations. But I don't think anybody thought after that eighteenth two game no, that this is going to be the case. But they battle back and phenomenal bullpen work from the Wildcats.
Doesn't You've been here all You've been all here all your life. I've been here more than your life, your years. Tucson, Tucson, the sun is bluer. Even when it's hot. It's not that hot. When stuff like this happens to the version the birds are chirping.
You know, you might get a date, you might not.
You know what these are? Excuse me. You wouldn't want to date me, would you. You know what I'm saying. It's it's just different. Football wins, basketball wins, baseball wins, softball wins.
Uh.
And it was just kind of to my appointment you're asking you that question. It's out of the blue, but it's a great blue that they do this right and and nobody, nobody had them.
Winning no, And you just think about this time last year, you're talking about them going oh and to hosting a regional and then at the end of this season it's they lose to Houston, they lose to Utah, and it's like, uh oh, this is like classic chip Hill baseball this last couple of years.
And you want he said to that classic chip Hill baseball.
If you yeah pretty much, If you yeah, I don't care what you think, We're going to go to the College World Series.
And that's what baseball is. Jay was in the show on Friday and we talked about that. He talked about it a lot, where it's baseball right and who knows, and I played it for a long time. Who knows on that given day it happens. And let me see, they were dead. They were dead in the seventh the dude didn't have an error.
See that guy was crushing I forget his name, but yeah, that picture was going crazy.
Yeah, so they don't have an air. They don't win that game.
And and to Arizona's credit, they had that error in the previous sting and then Mason White wait makes up for it. And I know they were blaming Mason White on the broadcast for not catching the ball. But that was a bad throw. That was not a good throat. Should he have got it, Yes, but I don't know if you're going to get a double playoff.
It's a tough angle. He's a shorter guy. The guy was running directly in line with him.
It was what it was.
They got out of it, but then they didn't have got out of it.
Yeah, and he didn't slumping I think of that game at least, Yeah, he didn't. He didn't really have a good series.
A lot of fly deep flay balls or whatever, and then he came through.
With a hit.
You know, it's funny. He was crushing it at Oregon hitting all the homers, and then all these North Carolina batters are hitting bombs out of the yard. They're like, Okay, Mason White's gonna hit one. It's like, man, are they liking Seattle because this ball is just not traveling.
It was, you know, eighteen to two when you're thinking, okay, nice, nice season, and then they you said, yesterday's game was good, which it was. It was Saturday's game was Wonker's crazy back and forth, back and forth. Who was going to be the last guy to succeed?
And they did?
They pulled it off.
No, And it was crazy that Pluto was I mean he was Oh they used.
And then they came back.
Yeah, they're fighting, no choice right, yeah, exactly.
Well he has fifty two pitches and it's unbelievable, you know, and everybody's like, are they really going to pitch him in the ninth? Well yeah, because if you don't and you lose, you're gonna regret that your your wrest of your proaching career, His career he's always going to think of.
And he's and I'm sure he's good to go. Hell yeah, let's go.
We're talking about now because we already know the results. But to my point with you, you, whatever the hell your name is, Troy, is that people can give you crap, but the people giving you crap had no idea that to get this one. I mean, you're an easy target because you lost. Yeah, because you were wrong. But if you're right, guess what no one's telling you in no, no, no, Well we'll do it next year. You'll see. That's why I call people seismologists. Everybody has answers after the earthquake,
Well tell me before the earthquake happens. Then I'll be prepared well.
And you know what.
It kind of reminds me of the Women's College World Series Caitlin Lowe's first year. I didn't think that they deserve to get in. I was very vocal about that. And Naggie, her husband, who was the former soccer coach at the UFA assistant coach, Paul Naggie, was like, you'll see that. Yeah, yeah, there he was the assistant coach underneath Tony. But he was like, you'll see, Troy, you're ron that we didn't deserve to get in. THEYD made it to the Women's College World Series. A lot of
things fall into place. It's like, see I told you. It's like okay, yeah, okay, good for you.
And she's going to defend his wife and he has every right to put deep in your heart you believe that, right.
It's like what I made predictions.
Do it rarely here unless Jay's here, because you know, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.
And I was wrong.
Guess what, I think the Sun's gonna be fine whether I am or not.
And not only that, you know, you could talk about who's the more talent team and all that, but I feel like in college baseball specifically, if a pitching staff gets hot, or it offense gets hot, it can be anybody in the country.
Yeah, and we've seen it in basketball.
How many times have we not seen in the basketball whoever, the best team doesn't always win. Yeah, yeah, it happens very often. And here we are, so congrats to them. We're gonna have more on this later in the show. And Brian Peterson right and early in the show at Rosburg is gonna talk about his excitement for the team. He texted me during the games all the time, and you know, he's just he was a dude who won the title in college. He compared the team to the
nineteen eighty team. He's just kind of gritty, kind of whatever. We'll talk to you more about that. I don't want to get into what he says because of let him say so, you know, just again, everybody all the lumbs, you know, happy, and yet he had and.
What is showing by the Arizona fans out in North Carolina. There was a lot of u of a fans.
Right, Well, it's it's it's kind of inner house, right, wasn't it mostly the friends and family of the program.
Yeah, But they had a lot of alumni there too.
Yeah, yeah, because I'm sure there's a lot of alums out there already. You know, it's like basketball, they travel well, they don't travel well. They have a lot of alums in the areas that they play, you know, like you know, when they were in the Norst California, so in California, northern you know, Seattle, San Francisco. But yeah, how could you not notice them? Right? Every time they panned to them, they had that block of area.
Every time they panned to some North Carolina phone holding up their phone like it's Simba. For some reason, there's a u of A fan right there right by them. I'm sorry I got annoyed by that. It's like, okay, it was funny the first time. You don't have to show the fans every single time.
Yeah, and then there's good. And I saw Brian Ryan had a story today about all the connections with Arizona everybody six degrees of everything, right, and how the connections are just Coast Carolina and.
Then Lo and behold l s U.
So the guys who are going them Levs and the Brians and then years have some stuff to write about that are connected to u A but not specific to you of A with j Johnson.
Yeah, and you know what, like he brought up before we got on here, nobody's talked to Jay Johnson since leaving Tucson, no one on the record. Yeah, so it's gonna be interesting. Yeah, I think Arizona will again. You don't, you don't know what's gonna happen, but get past the first round at least then if you have that matchup Arizona LSU, it's gonna be must C TV.
Oh oh yeah, at least in Tucson. And could you imagine Twitter now and and and all that stuff I hate the guy. Why do you do that?
But you know, we'll see.
I'm sure someone's gonna if there's a press company that's random for everybody that you'll get some he'll get some questions. And I really don't want to talk about it. But that doesn't prevent you from writing a story. Yeah, you know, no comment, that's all I need, that's all you need. Yeah, yeah, I already know how I would start my story, you know with that, you know, but it is what it is. No, so good, nice time, good congrats. Uh, there's more victories
to be earned. So we'll see what happens.
And you never know.
As Kobe once said, the job's not finished. You got there. It's time to do something.
Yeah, but it'll be remembered as a nice, nice nice not a little run, but a nice run.
Yeah. Okay, what do you want to say anything with your your hockey and your.
I'm just excited for I'm excited for the final rockets.
Did you play you wrestled?
You say?
Did you play ball?
No?
I never played.
I watched it.
I had a lot of friends that played. But yeah, I mean parents didn't have tim you know what I mean.
Yeah, but you wrestled.
Yeah, you're tougher than most because wrestling is the toughest sport out there. You run a lot, you know angles. I wouldn't want to fight with any wrestler. That's what they're sure. Okay, anything else. We'll talk a little about the NBA before we start. Yeah, you have breaking news enough? Yeah stuff? Yeah, finals recruiting hairs on a football picking up two recruit I saw you you tweeted some stuff. Did you just retweeted some stuff? I saw it on my way here.
So they got a I believe, a defensive defensive end out of Utah, so three star guy there, and then an offensive tackle late last night. I saw Justin had it this morning or sixteen hours ago. I just saw you know, twitters all nice up now because he's doing something else with treesla huh. Yeah, I'm not going down that route, but nice offensive tackle anytime you can get you a big body offense. Yeah, high schools too, high school recruits, so that brings them to seven. I believe for the six.
So in your because I don't fall. I hate more than I hate recruiting. Arizona is Arizona with recruiting three stars, two stars three stars, four stars every now and then, so are they they're still in that same wheelhouse. Yeah, but there's promise for that that slew maybe, Like I don't know five six four star recruits in this class.
Tell me four or five, four or five? You never know what are your.
Quarterback that's committed to Oklahoma took the official visit to use on his quarterback. Coach and trainer is Ortiz Jenkins, who we've had on the radio here before. So there's a uf A connection there. If you can get one of those quarterbacks to flip who's the highly talented, get more possibly will follow. And then you have a few four start guys out of Texas, And they already got one last year.
Right right, and over the weekend Friday night, In fact, it was the final decision on the the million dollar twenty twenty million dollars in IL in IL which you were trying to get the desiree on here. That should be perfect to have one to talk about stuff like that. I still believe, Well, I have a lot of questions about it because that doesn't include the nil that they're already getting.
Right, I don't think so. And there was also a settlement I thought in I think it was the House of Representatives that athletes from twenty twenty six, yeah, or twenty sixty to twenty twenty four get what was it, three point eight billion dollars?
Right, Yeah, so they're gonna get paid to the issue that I had and I don't have a fighting a dog in the fight or whatever is the females, I mean the females and the Olympic sports athletes where they're gonna get what eighty ninety percent of the football people and the basketball perore getting nety percent of eighty whatever and the rest is for the other people where sports could be cut, rosters could be blah blah blah, and and the women and men in those sports are not
going to get paid a lot of money.
Well, I mean football, football's that end all beyond terms like get it revenue. I totally get it, and you got it. They had to fix what was going on in terms of an ails. So they're trying to do that. But hopefully you get that eighteen million, you're successful and everything trickles down. But Nigie Kennedy getting a million dollars, Yeah, that was fun.
Well that's yeah, that was fun. That was fun.
And that kind of opens the door for not opens the door, but it shows what the potential can be in Tucson. You'd have to have that that gem right to bring someone like here, someone like her to at some point, you know, like the Jenny Finch's of the world would be Okay, well we got to have right here do this stuff and we'll pay her whatever.
Not only Jenny Finch. Look at other alumni like Richard Jefferson. Was that the Women's College World Series and talking about promoting you female sports and helping grow the game. Well, Richard put together that indoor practice or facility. I know, probably not just by himself, but well.
That's the look, that's the that's the problem problem or a good solution. A lot of the athletes, and I can't remember something maybe two or three years ago where former athletes who are not specific Arizona but overall don't look back and say, Okay, this is where it all started for me and I want to help you. It's very very rare that they do that they give back in that way. There's some obviously Steve Courage and Purich.
I'm just saying here, damon, but right, you don't see that happen very often because they got theirs.
We'll see.
Yeah, well they get that. I think you brought it up on the show where you had uh somebody on the show on Thursday, I believe co hosting who is co hosting with you?
Andy?
Andy talking about getting that alumni call, ignoring the call and then you know you got to answer.
Help. Well, here's the issue, I mean, because everybody's everybody's calling. Yeah, not just the Florence department. It's the university department where you got your degree from right right right. And I don't blame them. I mean they're they're there to do their job and try to collect. But you know, a heck I get I get calls all the time about the I'll say this public feed the cops. You know, the cops say you've helped in the past. It's like you ever fed a dead cat? Let me tell you
you don't do it because he won't eat. But you ever you ever fed a hugry cat? Oh yeah, guess what happens?
They come back.
They come back, dude. One I went into my apartment one time, the dead.
Cat, not not the dead.
That's like they say, don't feed the the bears out in the widow.
Yeah they'll come back and yeah yeah, So like you know, I did that with the cops for a few times and they keep calling me back. I I can't trying to find something I will. But and even when I say that, they call back again a week later. Can you do it?
I'm guilted, me guilted.
That never happens. Guilt guilty. Steve at stage help, we gotta go, we gotta go, We got ed Boshburn.
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio just search I.
On the Ball. Hey Welcome back to my on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera and with me today is Troy Hutchison from Goasycats dot Com. Now on the phone, we have former you of a national title holder picture Major leaguer at Blasberg.
How were you ed, Hey, Jim Gray, how are you guys?
We're doing well, I said to Troy before you came on to the people out there. Two sons always sunnier and nicer when stuff like this happens.
I know you feel that way probably, oh, no.
Doubt about it.
I mean I was.
I just find incredibly exciting how Trucson is really buzzing because of this team, and I think everybody's excited, and I think it's crazy. The uncanny resemblance for me of the nineteen eighty team. You know, the nineteen seventy nineteen goes to the World Series, they lose a lot of
remaining guys come back for nineteen eighty. It kind of reminds me, look at what happened last year the team, This team hosted the regionals, they didn't do as well as they had hoped, and look what happens the next year. They have a couple of rocky roads, bumps in the road, and I don't know, I just had a feeling all along that this team was going to be resilient, resilient and somehow come out and you know, they got a chance to bring home the trophy real soon.
You know, looking back during that nineteen eighty season, refresh for you know, viewers that are my age a little bit, you know, to refresh us in terms of how ariz Gonna won the national championship that year in nineteen eighty.
Well, it's interesting because we had a lot of guys returning and we got off to kind of a shaky start in conference play. I think we lost, you know, four out of our first six conference games. This year's team lost I think what three or four games early in the season, and it just resembles a lot, you know, we had. I remember we played in a tournament in San Diego. We got run ruled by the University of San Diego. I remember we were we were scuffling. We
had a players only team meeting. We just realized, gosh, we're way too good to be playing the way we're playing. And somehow guys got it together. Craig Lefferts having not a great year. He was really good the year before, and then look what happens. He goes into the World Series and throws a shutout against University of Michigan, and then he comes back wins the final game against the University of Hawaii. So just a lot of resemblances of
nineteen eighty. We had great players, obviously, like Terry Francona, who was Player of the Year. Wes Clements was the first base And it reminds me really because there's a lot of local guys on the team. Look at the Mason Whites and there's a few local guys here that are really doing well. We had a great local flavor that year with Clark christ and Jeff Morris, and you know, Scott Stanley had a big home run in the World Series when we were down two enough into Hawaii and
the eighth innings. So a lot of resemblances from me of the two years, which is really kind of kind of strange, kind of uncanny.
You were texting me at points of the game and you were very proud, obviously, how proud maybe because you're a local guy. Because for the Whites and the sub one kids.
I am, and I.
Always I always thought we had some great local talent here throughout the years, and you know, that year we were able to take advantage of it. I always tell people the story of when I was a twelve year old playing Little League All Stars with Mark Wing and I got a chance to meet Jim Wing that year and I and then he got the job at the University of Arizona. That was his first year in nineteen
seventy four. And I always told myself, if I ever got the opportunity to play for Jim Wing and the University of Arizona, it was going to be a dream for me. And then hearing the interview with Mason White and hearing him basically tell the same story how he grew up as a Wildcat fan and always, I think wanted to follow his dad's footsteps and his grandfather's footsteps. So it's really really cool to see the local guys who were be able to come and play in their hometown.
You know, you mentioned it from last season, the way that they ended their year with two regional, getting out of a regional, getting to the super regionals, but then going down eighteen to two with your backup against the wall. Just your thoughts on the resilience of that and how it seems that this team's kind of taken on the mentality of their head coach, Chipale, being the gritty player that he was at Arizona, you know.
And I heard an interesting statistics from this year is I think Brian Jeffries was saying that seven times this year the universe of Arizona has lost the first game of the series and they've come back and won. And so I knew that when they lost that game. Yes, eighteen to two was disappointing, but I realized that these guys are used to coming back, They're used to not getting two down. I think the great thing about baseball is every day it's a different day. You're only as
good as your starting pitcher. And I always remind people of a story I was fortunate to meet Chip Hale when he was at seventeen year old kid. I took him on his recruiting trip and I realized I met this kid, and I thought, man, this kid is really mature, sharp beyond his years. And I thought I didn't know he was going to be such a great player. He was a great player at VE played in the big leagues.
Managed in the big Leagues with the Diamondbacks, but I always thought he would be a great coach and a great manager because he just seemed very mature, very smart. And I think the fact that he was able to play for Jerry Kendall and Jim Jim Wing and Jerry Stitt the same way that I was. We learned so much from those guys. And you look at the Terry Francones and the Kevin Longs. There's so many guys in the game today that are, you know, products of Coach Kendall.
Look at the scouts, Clark christ and Jeff Morris and Alan Ragee and Pat Rossler. There's so many guys that are continuing with their baseball careers because of great people like coach Wing, Coach Kendall, and coach Sit. So it's really you know, and I'm not surprised that that coach that Chip Hale has done successful. He's just he's always had He's always been successful whatever he's done.
Somebody ask you, how would you in a scale of one to ten, how would you say you are? Well, you know him, Oh Chi.
No, Chip, I mean I was able to you know, Chip brought me over to the Diamondbacks, and I helped out in spring training when he was managing the Diamondbacks, and I got to see firsthand how he handled you know, professionals, and obviously professionals are different than college kids. But I think Chip has always had the ability to communicate incredibly well, just like coach Kendall could, and and Chip has just has an ability. He's not he's not a hard ass.
He really he knows how, he knows how to coach these kids up. I think he's a very positive guy. I think the key of me to being successful as a coach. And that's why I look at Terry Francona. I played for Terry and I played with him. Terry so so positive and just like coach Kendall and and Chip is the same way. If you're positive and you try to you know, to let these guys coach them up and let them do their things, try not to
micro manage them like some guys do. There's there's just that's that's the key to success is just kind of letting them let their ability come come.
Through well before.
The reason I asked that question is because, uh, and I Chip, I covered him a little when he was coaching Triple A or whatever it was here. I mean, knew of each other. But what struck me over the weekend when he does does the in between game, struck me as very casual, very engaging, very self effacing, kind of almost just a dude who's coaching this team and having a good time. And I'm thinking, you know, that's
he's not anal. He's not anal about this. You know, he's just kind of just here coaching.
Well, I think, and I think the key to success for me is and the baseball season is a long season. Obviously, professional baseball seasons a lot longer, but you just can't get too higher, get too low. You know you're going to go through bumps in the road, and you've got to just take it with a grain of salt and realize, you know, when you're going good, try not to celebrate too much, and then when you're struggling, you realize you're
going to get out of it. So I think Chip has that ability to not let the guys freak out when they're struggling and not get too crazy when you're on a hot, winning streak. You just got to try to stay even keeled, and that's what coach Kendall was able to do.
You know, as a former pitcher of yourself, looking at the job Tony did this weekend. Fifty two pitches in that second game, and then to come back out there and close down the ninth, it's got to be refreshing to see a reliever go multiple innings and really not care about the pitch count and get the job done, you know.
And I was talking to Steve about that, because I asked him I got you know, I knew he threw a lot of pitches and again a lot of times in baseball. You know, adrenaline is such an incredible thing. I know that Tony probably was feeling it that yes, that last game, but you know, you realize as a reliever, you know, he had one job to do that last game was to come out and get the three outs. And he knew that he had such a great year, and that was kind of an anomaly that game where
when he struggled a little bit. I was watching the game and I saw the slider that he gave up for the home run, and then I saw him walk the batter walk in the run, and I thought, man, for a second, there I had my doubts, But then I realized these guys have come back so many different times, and I was just hoping that he was going to get another chance the next day to redeem himself. And look what he did. He came back and got those last three outs.
Yeah, I mean, what was your discussion? How would how do you not go to him right?
Ye?
Yesterday?
Because he is who he is, he's your closure, And if he didn't go with him, how do you explain it if it doesn't work out?
Yeah, I mean, you're always you know.
And I had the pleasure of playing with Trevor Hoffman maybe the greatest year that maybe any reliever ever had in nineteen ninety eight. He saved fifty fifty three out of fifty four games, and I got a chance to see him how professional he was and how when he didn't have a good day he was able to turn the page. And you know, as a closer, you got to have a short memory. You know, you're not always going to be perfect. He that year he pretty much
was perfect. But you know, he was such a professional and he worked his butt off, and again, look at him, he's the u of a product, the short stop. I think they realized he wasn't going to make it as a short stop, and somebody was smart enough to give him an opportunity to get on the mound and look what happened. He saved six hundred games in the Big League. So, you know, Arizona has a history of having some great players, you know, the throughout the years, and it's just crazy.
Every time I look up, I see another Arizona ballplayer. It's just really cool to see how many guys have come through this program and have done well professionally.
You know, one of the storylines going into this College World Series obviously is Arizona versus Coastal Carolina in a rematch of the twenty sixteen World Series. But you also have LSU withd coach Ja Johnson there and that history just your excitement level not only to see Arizona in the College World Series, but just to see those matchups, to see the matchups that U of a fans alum and everybody wants to see happen.
You know, it's a great storyline. I know Coastal Carolina, I remember when we were playing them, and you know what a great story that their program is. But you know that's the beauty and then you look at the Oregon stage and you look at the UCLA's that are going to be there as well, So you know, it's really it seems like most of the great program a year in and year out, they seem like they find a way to get there and to represent and you know, it's a heck of a lot more difficult nowadays with
you know, every the transfer portal and everything. And that's just more of a tribute for me to guys like Chip hal who can keep finding talent, bringing these guys in and just always being really competitive. And it's just it's harder and harder and harder. But that's just a tribute to Chip and his coaching staff.
We know the history of Arizona baseball, right, we know the history of Arizona softball. I've often said, and if you listen to the show I'm sure you do every now and again, that I don't think Arizona basketball is a blue blood. Just you know, you you win one title. It's a good program. Don't get me wrong, it's a good problem. It's not a blue blood. Would you say that baseball is a blue blood?
Oh, no doubt about it. I mean, look at the Frank since that what he did early on. And you know, this program is having as a history. I mean, you know, you think about all the records and how many times they've been in the World Series and and you know, and and coach Kendall was able to win three and then Andy Lopez comes in and wins one. You know,
it's they They've been so consistent over the years. And I know our basketball program has had so many great teams, and it just goes to show you how hard it is to win. They've only won one. Look at the fact that our our football program, you know, has had success but never went to the Rose Bowl. But the baseball program, the softball program, they seem like they have stood the test of time. They've always been able to you know, the softball program with with Mike and Andrea
winning all those championships. But look at the baseball program with four and let's hope that they can bring home number five this year.
Okay, Ed, So we'll see what happens. I'm sure you'll be texting me every now and again, you know, to chick in, so good luck and we'll see what happens.
Thank you, go Cat. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed. It should be exciting.
Thanks guys at Orosburg.
Chapman in one of only three I think I always ask him this question. To win the Little League World Series, the College World Series, and a World Series World Series?
Right, so cool? Good to talk to Ed real quick.
We'll take a break and maybe take some calls from people who are excited to call about what happened over the weekend. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you
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Steve Rovera, he's got his eye on the ball on Tucson's sports station, Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
H Hey, welcome back to.
My bout here at Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Roberta.
You're Troy.
You'r ray.
Don't call me late for supper, right.
Yeah, Well we'll talk about it after after this next break.
You just lost some money in your paycheck, oh man, zero minus zero is still.
Zero is still zero. I'm not going to financially recover.
Hey, if you're gonna call, if you want to call, five to zero four one six seventy four forty. I think that's the number a year, all right, because we're in moved studios. We're in the the east side now upper. We moved to a nicer studio for the day. At least, yeah, moving on up, at least spend more spacies again. Five to two oh four one four forty. Your thoughts on the game yesterday or the weekend? How cool that was? You have some breaking news about softball, right that's coming on.
They've signed up a player or two in addition to whatever else they have.
Going on.
So yeah, I picked up a couple of pitchers, right, I believe one from Iowa. D is it Iowa Iowa Iowa? Or d it was Iowaka? And then there's a rumor for another one. I don't know what that one came through a D two D two yeah, D two picture, So I don't know if that one happened yet. But I mean, you need somebody to pitch, so yeah, I got to get some some arms.
Plus you have some pretty good arms coming in, right, some high school kids that are pretty good.
Some high school kids that are ranked highly. But you know, over the last couple of years, they've had highly ranked arms before.
They didn't come in.
You know.
The one thing that and I've played baseball for a long time, that struck me positive. And I'm sure this is a dumb question because it happens when football happen in basketball, the one and done or the freshman that came in. Because you saw two starting freshmen yesterday, right for Uba and for the other team, who were fantastic and they're freshmen, and you think, how could they be
freshmen and they're just good because they're good. If that makes me scent the travel ball blah blah blah, And here you're relying your season on two freshmen.
Yeah, yeah, well, I mean that's how good. I mean, that's kind of what the basketball is, right.
Right, So yeah, you know Cooper Flag, right, you got Carter Bryant who didn't play all that much, but you know he's a freshman.
Well, this year coming up, you're gonna have called Pete, You're gonna have Brandon Burry's and and rely heavily on those dudes.
Right, I'm sure the.
Question I would ask Tommy and and I'd give me a little funny flip answer. But you know, you go to work, you make millions of dollars, and your job is contingent on freshmen doing really well.
You know, he he did stay at a holiday inn.
But yeah, right, yeah, yeah, beyond me, Troy, you know, I'm still gonna ask him one question that I want to know. What the hell was up with him saying that you you expect us to lose against Houston. Get asked by somebody. I can't remember what he was looking at me after? What was that all about? Nobody said that. Nobody said that I thought were smart. I would have said, I don't think we care. We're just here to do
a story. Was it Houston or was it was it was Hugeon they had just been beat and I think something like it was I can't remember which it was you expect.
No, it was the Baylor road game, that they're going to go on the road get their butts beat by bailor.
Had just gotten beat by ho Yeah yeah, yeah, And you're thinking, we're not thinking that.
We just want to quote. Thanks for the quote, though.
One you should beat Baylor to cool.
Thanks.
One of these days when I run into him, this summer and asking what the wolves up with that being cranky? But I liked it because you already saw him cranky, kind of became that guy this year came a little.
Edgy, a little a little hard around the edges. And still I mean, I think it's good. Yeah, and still very respectful. Is still a great interview. It's not like the complete opposite we've seen at other times here at the university. But I think it was for the good of the program, for the good of the players. And there's there's not that Oh yeah, it's a West Coast and there's soft There wasn't that softness.
You think it's because he like that greenness of being a head coach is like starting to wear off.
Possibly, possibly that's that's a good play, right, Possibly, Yeah, he's been here almost four years, right, Yeah, you know he's a little terror Bruce in a fun way because him and Bruce have you don't want to ask me, they just he likes He just gives it a lot of grief.
No, I think it's I think it's part of that. You know, you're comfortable and you're not worried about stepping on toes and alumni that you know, I don't want to, you know, I'm the head coach to deal with it, right. Uh, part of it is that, but I also think part of it was, well, you've been bouncing in the first round, you had an underwoman performance against Houston. You should be Clemson. Everybody feels like the pressure is oneah and once the pressures on, that kind of changes your attitude.
Right, right, And then not being able to beat those guys, I mean, I know one of my questions was, and he got a little offended by it because he heard about it later, was the Houston And this was a legit question. The Houston team wore them down. Yeah, and that's what they do. And I said, did you feel that they wore you down? I mean, that's their mo And he kind of got, you know, hammed it hot a little. But but that was a fair question because it happened.
You know what I feel like looking at Houston and what they were able to do defensively and get to the championship game and probably should have wont it, you know, could have won it. Arizona was like the the discounted version of Houston. They did similar things that were very good defensively. They locked in when they wanted to, didn't
turn over the ball. In the beginning of the year, they were but Houston, Houston liked, but they weren't at that It was like yeah, you're yeah, you're almost there, but you're not quite there.
They could they could beat the teams that they were supposed to be, right, but they couldn't out physical the teams that they couldn't, like the Houston's.
And the physically there, but they just didn't have enough to get over that, right, well because the other teams had better. Yeah, and Houston, hey's no slouch. And losing to Houston, it's just what it was. Or Duke, Duke is damn good. You know, some people thought it was the best team in the country. Well, and they improved upon you because here in Tucson that season they got they got their butts swamped.
Yeah it was not even close.
Oh and then you improve it.
Yeah, it was a it was a good showing. I mean, I don't know how we got went.
I switched to basketball of a sudden because that's keep the listeners happy.
I guess.
But but let's talk more about baseball. When Brian comes on, because he was there, he's coming back getting ready to take head to Omaha and you know, so we'll.
See Oregon and North Carolina to Omaha. Yeah, yeah, man, I used to I used to do those things all the time for twenty five years covering the teams. Did you just back your bag, change your clothes and say hello and get the hell out again?
You know?
There was part of me that thought he might drive, you know how, Yes, that might drive. And then I heard he was fine. I was like, yeah, I wouldn't want to Omaha. Yeah, yeah, you have to leave today.
We him and I drove to all the NCAA tournaments the last three years except for this year.
I just said no two O.
Yeah.
I was checking out, like I don't know why.
I just woke up super early this morning and I was just like checking out, like what it would be, what it would cost it like potentially to go, and it was like the cheapest I found was like seven hundred oh the flight flight.
The cheapest room was seven hundred. Oh yeah, the flight was another seven hundred.
Right, Well, they have a media rate, but I'm sure it's probably.
Well we do that in Vegas and it's still kind of you know, that's why we did. We all shut up.
You know, hey, you know what, but Vegas for for two people for six hundred for the week in Vegas, that's a good price compared to where where was it? This pass trip that I made was Oh no, no, I was looking at the Big twelve tournament and that media hotel where it was like twelve hundred dollars is like for three days, four days for the for the week for yeah, it was like two hundred.
Well they know how to do that, they know how to take like Vegas. How are you more expensive than Vegas? Yeah, yeah, well we'll see what happens. Oh and trip to Duke was not that bad. No flight just the flight was the flight was? The hotel is like one hundred, one hundred dollars for the weekend.
Yeah, that included a bad meal and yeah oh I got food poison Yeah I got salmonella poisoning. What was that from cookouts? Never go to book?
You know.
I lost my sponsorship with.
Watching the baseball this weekend North Carolina fans they were munching on some boat jangleos. I was like, don't eat it, don't do it.
I always get excited at like when it comes to like the College World Series because like I didn't, I'm like recently getting into college baseball, probably since like I just started going into the UV. And one of my favorite things is always like the Rocos count the Rocos Jello shot count.
Oh yeah, I'm really excited to see how we end up this year, you.
Know what he's talking about. So they have the jello They had the jello shots at the College World Series and l s U and I think the other team was what was it ole, miss Tennessee, Texas, and they were breaking records of yellow shots consumed by their fan bases per.
Day after struck out, just buying them like de generate.
A couple of you know, jello shots.
And another thing, umpire.
Tell you what I can pitch better than you.
I can see better right now after fours.
And imagine all those SEC fans with.
You're sneaking you're talking about that.
I mean, the PAC twelve former PAC twelve has some pretty good teams in there very much. You know what, Oregon State, UCLA, Arizona.
Really the outside of a s U, because a SU has had success in the past. In Stanford you have the n USC, but USC has in USC for a very long time. You have the traditional powers in the pack ball at the College World Series is year.
Right, so we'll see what they do. I mean, right now, it's kind of kind of wampless because it's anybody's the favorites didn't get there.
Yeah, you know, I think Arkansas is the highest rated seed.
Are there are number three? But they number three, yeah, and killed Tennessee. So we'll see. Like we're talking about if you catch hot in baseball, I think that's more of that's more of the momentum that you talk about, and I don't agree with, but if you catch hot, well Arizona did in twenty twelve.
I was gonna say twenty twelve is the perfect example of that.
Right, And that's kind of believable. And to me, it's confidence. It's not a momentum. And they've played with that, never playing behind, always playing confident, you know whatever.
And then the it's like, okay, cool, I went seven innings to shut up all. Here you go, what can you do when six and two thirds? Here you go, what can you do? Seven inning? It was passing the baton right, no.
And especially I forget the U and the pitcher's name, but he gave the game up twice the guy with the the guy with the glasses.
Yeah, it was it was.
It was him twice both those times.
And it was like, it's funny because man and I don't follow this obviously, And they panned to him in the second game, game two, and I'm thinking, who's that Peabody and he was like, he looks like he's twelve, right, he looks like he's twelve. And then he brought him into help to finish the game, and I'm thinking, well, they beat the crap out of him. Did he come into game three? Yeah, that's why I left.
I didn't watch until the end. Yeah, okay, So.
Like they were, they were hyping him up a lot, like they were saying, like he's been like one of the like one of the premier fifteen sixteen.
Yeah, then with his last looked like Peabody to me, and then he could drop out of which trying to say.
He used to call me Harry Potter? What the hello?
I know?
And you know what, for everybody wondering why Arizona hasn't been able to compete in terms of NIL as a university, all the views they were showing in North Carolina's the Hot the field hockey facility, the facility, football, the baseball, the football, just the build it. They got money. They got money on tobacco roads.
What what if they don't have an il?
What does that have a great place to tan?
Great, great well good facilities that were upgraded recently.
Yeah, but let me tell you what's didn't you guys tell me this that I.
Knew this to to confirm what you're saying.
The number one place to party now Arizona it was the party issues down number two I think.
Yeah, it just came out right about a month ago. Yeah, best or best looking women.
There was one of those like that too.
I mean, you can whatever you want to say.
So guess what Arizona has that grunk would probably confirm that.
Oh yeah, you've heard him talk about his recruitment. Yeah, right right the Walker campus. He walked around the pool party and was like, yeah, I don't need to go anywhere else. Palm trees, every everything going on. Ye, I'm good.
I mean, like you can have a pool party almost here around here, like maybe from like I don't know all that, like Halloween till.
Like March April. It's like it's just the open season.
So why are you here? Why are you here?
Huh?
Why are you here?
Because I like Tucson.
Okay, did you have an experience with Tucson before?
Well, when I was in the military, outcome up to party in Tucson. Where were you living? Sierra Vista? Oh okay, okay, that's a lot better than that makes it. Yeah, yeah, you can't it's colder there. Oh yeah, well you can't do a lot of things serious.
Watch out for this guy. He's on the poster. How which time we got?
Uh?
You got like a minute?
Okay, okay, we'll talk.
We'll talk with you with breaking news, right, a lot of stuff going on, and then we'll have Brian Peterson just getting an update of what happened out there, how nice it was or whatever, and then we'll take more calls on the other side of O'Brien. Yeah, okay, that's cool.