This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifth Day, powered by Nova Insurance Services in sure your most prized possessions.
By good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In today with me is Troy Hutchinson from goezycats dot Com. And now we have Kobe with a more veteran Kobe, I'll say, after a few games right now, you got a little more confidence. Yeah, just don't just don't shoot miss Nope, like you kill have an assister too, no turnovers, So okay, thank you, Kobe. I think we can be
able to take some calls today. We figured out what could have been the problem yesterday the day before, So if you want to call us five to two zero four one, six seventy four forty. We had a pretty good show yesterday on a lot of levels. Talked to Bob Elliott and talk to Eric Rhodes from the Arizona Ball So if you'd like to give us a call on any of that, and then today we're going to talk about a few things. Still, basketball, women's basketball. You
didn't go to the game, did you? Women's best. No, no, I didn't cads, you betteran what are you doing? You've given other simus to other people. Are you can like some interns that that get to go to some games? You know? Okay, cool, go cool? And the women won last night? It played well? What ten point victory? I guess yeah, yeah, did they play well? Or is it one of those Cincinnati games? Not really any city team to anything. It wins to win win. Thanks for the answer.
That didn't answer my question. But okay, you know you left to right handed? Yes? What what?
Okay, well, I mean, we'll see, we'll see how they said stack up the Big twelve.
To be honest, it isn't what the packball.
Was in the women's in the women's league, especially men's, it's better than what it was in the packwall. But arizonather gritty team, and can you stack up the wins that you need to and get those those wins that your favorite and because the teams that they've gone against where they were the underdog, it hasn't been close, so you need to stack up those victories.
When the picked, do you remember where they we picked? They were fish nice, eighth or ninth? Okay, yeah, all right, well, so good, good for them. The one and win is a win, as to quote you, and that's good. That's fine. If you want to talk about them, we can call get a ticket call from from you guys if you want five to two O four six four forty men's basketball. Obviously either could play Saturday afternoon. WHEI ish one o'clock gives Colorado should win that game? Right? Oh? I think so.
I mean Colorado when you look at it, Uh, they have some pieces, but they're clearly missing guys from last year. They're kind of in a rebuild. Red tool Arow of Colorado basketball. Dad Oil is a very good coach, but just that's.
That's funny when you said that, because I was gonna throw the tag Boyle's name out there. He's a pretty good coach, but he hasn't really done much because he.
I think he's done more than what people expected you could do at Colorado. Well that's why he's holding his jobs. I mean, what what what was there before him? I think they probably haven't been really good since John slips.
Yeah, I guess I just want to play they just want to play them in the tournament. I think they did. Uh, you toested it maybe not. Maybe they played Utah, they played you just take a round something there. They were halfway decent. I guess they're halfway decent now halfway decent, halfway decent.
I mean they're usually consist in eighteen twenty one. Yeah, the tournament, Yeah, maybe you make a Sweet sixteen, right matchup Colorado? Maybe where did.
You go to Pollyanna School? Yuh?
The schedule, you know, but we haven't even gone through most of it. No, and I think some teams kind of underwhelmed that. Yeah, maybe we're a little bit better than what they were.
Yeah. So the first one really that was halfway decent was Baylor. Did they win last night or they would lose? I think they came back and won, came and yeah, you know, there's been a lot of really strange outcomes. Arkansas finally won one last night after going zero five in the league. Your guy Coler Parry tell Yeah, yeah, I've been saying this, you know, I've been saying this for like a decade now, that he's the most overrated
college coach in a round. And your guys Sean had a nice lead and then lost to Patino in overtime.
Yeah, you know, It's kind of Sean's own entire coaching career. You have the lead, get a little conservative. The better coach that knows how to coach in game out coaches you and man and you're mad at the end of the day.
Yeah, did you see the post I didn't see anything.
I did not I did not see the post game, but I saw the way that they played down that stretch and then the way that they played the overtime.
Yeah did it?
Huh?
I was gonna say, did it remind you of the Xavier game when they lost and they had that lead?
And it reminds me of Xavier, kind of reminds me of Yukon, kind of reminds me of other games throughout Arizona's time with Sean Miller.
Yeah. Yeah, they've been so well. Tommy's done that a couple of times already for sure. Yeah, with maybe more talent early on than Sean had early I don't look this good all the time, Troy. I go to bed and wake up of looking at crap. So that's my my giving up ten to fifteen points. I don't know if that analogy fits, but that's what I used. Okay, So that's on our schedule. Today, I have Troy with me, have our guy Kobe, and at three fifteen we're not
gonna do with three fifteen. We had a change. So at three point thirty, we're gonna have coach O'Brien from the Sunnyside soccer team boys soccer team with a fifteenth rank soccer team in the country, probably the best team in the state at any level. We'll see they were that way that last year. They fell in the semis or the quarterfinals last year. We'll see what he's up to this year because they're that good again. You know, heavy is the head, The heavy is the head. Where's the ground?
Yeah, you know it seems like you're in and you're out there one of the premier soccer programs.
Yeah, they do a great job over there. Yeah. Now guess what you get to win? Yeah, you gotta win. Great jobs are great jobs, but you gotta win or do deep beast like Arizona. You could go twenty five and five and whatever it is and not get deep into the tournament. What does it mean? Not a damn thing of the day, not a damn thing.
And honestly, you kind of go through a season and I think Arizona fans are experiencing this right now. You're getting these we have some top twenty five wins. Yeah, okay, who cares?
Yeah? What are you going to do come March? I think I talked about this a day or so ago. Uh, and you've been around long enough. Now where where Okay and Seana slot you win the PAC twelve tournament, You get a nice seed in the tournament, and then do halfway decent or not decent at all? And people, at least we want the PAC tweal tournament. I'm thinking, you're Arizona. Is that good? Is that what you want? No? No, of course not. You don't measure yourself by that. No.
And you know what, It's funny early on this year I heard somebody say, well, now now a number one seed, the number two. See, we're not even I'm close to that, And so I asked some doesn't matter?
What?
Yeah, what is it done for you? Yeah? What is it done for Arizona? You sound like, are you my son? That? So you been listening to me? What's up with that? Well?
I mean it's just like you're right, So you're right, I mean for seed, Houston kicks the crap out of Arizona. Then you have Exavier with the Shawn Miller area beats Arizona. Well Princeton, Princeton was whatever an eight.
Yeah. Yeah, seeds don't really matter. If you're really good, you're really good and you'll find a way. Yeah. Yeah, Uh they're bitching about seats. Yeah, well you have a do you have at your site? Do you have a which is go easy catch to come? Do you have a message board? We do have a message is active? It's active for football, a little bit less active for basketball.
I think everybody's excited about Joe Salavea and then he assistant coaches coming in. You have all these offers going out in the state of Texas, California.
Uh, you know Polynesian community.
They're really excited about the football side of things right now.
Yeah, but it's it's people can go to the board. Oh yeah, yeah, it's active, but not that, not that. Not a lot of talk in the basketball A lot of talk in the floor. That's strange to me because basketball is the king in this time. Yeah.
It's just a weird thing where if the basketball team isn't doing what you want them to do, be it in top ten team. People are like this season is the disappointment?
Who cares well? So I was just gonna ask you, what's the chatter and is there a lot of complaining going on?
I think there's always complaining game in and game out. And the two complaints we hear most about our Caleb Love that he's not doing enough. Why did we recruit this? Play number two? And I think everybody gets this across the board is Trey Townsend? Where was that guy from Oakland again? Why did they recruit him? And what are we going to do in March at the end of
the day. And I think a lot of Arizona fans that are on these websites understand that is what you do during the regular season doesn't matter in the postseason. Get to an elite eight with a shot to get to a Final four or legitimate shot if you have that.
That's whereas in a basketball really should be Yeah, no question anything this year anything less than a what is a disappoint sweet sixteen? So if they get Sweet sixteen, lose and it'll be considered okay. No, I don't think it'll be considered okay. But given where they start, how they started the year in terms of four and five, and how discombobulated the team looked. I think that's a
surprise that they were able to get that far. Show you that point, you're saying that the expectations were kind of lowered or I think calibrated.
I think at the beginning of the excitations are lead a final four, but the roster you have their top ten team. But given the four and five start and how bad they looked offensively and how discombobulated they looked defensively, there are some people saying they're not going to make the tournament.
So there was a time the.
Way I said it, I mean, if you get to a sweet sixteen at that point, okay, they kind of figured it out.
Let's se what they could do the following year. Yeah, well, we'll see. We got two months from now. You know, they'll be in the second week or so, first week of the tournament by now. And I talked to you know you, I think I don't think you were there when to ask the question, you've spent two months watching what you have and saw what you have, What do you think is gonna happen next two months? Because it's that it was, And he said, I don't want to speculate.
I'm not want to speculate. I said, okay, but but it is what it is. I mean, you've got to get better. They've got to get better. They look good in other days and some days. No. In fact, my guy Kobe said, what did you say to me when we first started the show? So they look good? And what I take the competition? Yeah, that they're playing was not great. Right, you played ball, did you? Yeah? Did you beat teams that you were supposed to beat? Yeah?
Did you beat them bad? Yeah? What did you lose to teams you were supposed to That's that's what they are. And I don't know how far Oklahoma State is on the bottom of the league. I'd say the other the bottom.
Well, okay, so of a very competitive league, but still nonetheless yeah, no, no, that's said.
It beats the alternative. Yeah, yeah, where I think.
Okay, so you have the wins against West Virginia and West Virginia's being Kansas, and ioway, stay, you have to win against Cincinnati. Cincinnati has gotten off on the slow start. I think in a traditional back twelve, Arizona sitting at the top of the back twelve. Right now, you are clearly behind Houston and Iowa State and it's not even close. And you can even though they're ahead of them, Kansas is a better basketball team.
Right now, right, and they're kind of sketchy. I'm sure people if this show was in Kansas, people would be saying, Steve, what the hell is going on with this team? You know what? Oh? Yeah, this is now where are you used to I'm sure. I'm sure the fans, they're and everywhere else that follow a good team are up in arms, just like people here yeah and here there. They're up in arms when they losing. They're you know, their best friends when they're not losing. Yeah.
But I think the difference is you're talking about teams that have won national championships within the last five years. Imagine, yeah, Kansas, North Carolina or Duke as in one in twenty years, right, and this is going on, Well you're saying twenty seven years, twenty seven but you get what I'm saying.
I totally agree, totally agree, because those are the blue bloods. Those are the guys that are normally they're chasing the title. There was one of kind of jabs that efforts with it every now and again. Yeah, Okay, we got about a minute or so, Kobe. Yeah, we're not gonna have a We're not gonna have our guests. At three fifteen, we're gonna go directly to our Quebec do our show. And then at the three forty hour we'll talk to
coach O'Brian from from Sunnyside. And then at the four fifteen hour, four to seventeen hour, we're gonna talk to PJ. Brown talk about women's Basketball's covers the team for a long time. We'll see her Pollyanna approach to this team because she's very she's very positive about what she sees.
Yeah, you know, looking at women's basketball, I think it's clear that there are these top teams in the Big twelve. I always state Kansas State, you know, TCU top top teams, and then there's the fall off and Arizon. This in that falloff group where they're near you know, Cincinnati, they're near, they're near the middle of the bottom. In the middle that the top of the bottom, the.
Twelve of the twelve, the twelve.
That's six seven eight, that's not bad, but the ones above them are super Utah. I always state West Virginia, Kansas State, you know, Yeah, that they have difference makers TCU.
Yeah, and there as one as young you know they are, but they're kind of the same problems that they've have yearn and you're out. We'll talk to her about that. We'll see kind of her response to that and see what you know, idea has to go through and or deals with because you know, there's a lot of things going on, people coming on, coming off the roster. Okay, cool, Let's take a break now, Kobe and incomeback.
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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 Wile just search I on the ball.
Well here on Fox Sport fifty, I'm Steve Rivera. You're Troy Hutchinson. Hi, Yes, goasy Cats, And we have Kobe with us handling the mics for us. Thank you, Kobe. Hey, if you want to call fire two four, one, six, seventour forty, if you had a chance, give us a call, or you had a chance but didn't call us yesterday because we couldn't get to the phone, so we can't today and this will be the time that we can have open phones. We have a guest here after this
next segment, just go back to talking about basketball. Uh, do you how would you how would you grade Caleb season to this point? And see the go ahead answer that, and then I'll ask you that the next question.
You know, if you had to think of a guy that needed to be the guy on the team, it would probably be Caleb Love with this roster and they kind of built it for him and he's had his ups and downs, and to be honest, I would give him a C plus a minus, yeah.
Because because you expect more from him.
You expect more from a guy that's been a Conference Player of the Year, has played how much basketball he has and has been a consistent score throughout his career, where his scoring numbers have dropped this season.
Right right, I wonder, I wonder, well, he scored more than twenty four hundred points. So there goes to yours. Can I see Rosinari, mister I love, mister Love, and sure you've scored twenty four hundred points, you ust have a pretty good score percentage? Well, yes, yes, just not this year because he's scored a lot of points obviously,
but they come in weird sequences. What before the last five six games, a few and double figures maybe four, but the ones when he's got five or six, it's kind of like, what the hell, what did this happen?
And if he doesn't start off the game hot, scored in the first you know, I want to say, eight of the first fifteen points something like that, you probably won't see him the rest of the game.
And it's an issue. He disappears physically and mentally.
He stands in the corner, which I think is one thing that they've been trying to solve, is having him play off the ball and moving without the basketball. I think he's gotten better throughout the season at that, but you're still seeing times where hey, he only has six points and he took thirteen shots to get to those six points.
Yeah. No, And then you see those great games, you think, oh, that's the guy, and you don't hear anybody complaining, Oh, you know, you know, here he is finally well.
And you know, we've seen Arizona fans on the message board to go like, oh, that's that's a great game, But what is he going to do next time?
Out right?
Like, yeah, why doesn't matter? You need to do this consistently. Sure, And I think that's I think that's the most frustrating barner, not only for Arizona fans, but college basketball fans going back to North Carolina. This guy can be a star on the court when he when he's locked when he can't, Yeah, when he can be, But when it's going bad, it's going really.
Right, right, I would assume that, I would assume. I don't know, because I haven't talked to any of the NBA guys, but that's the issue. It's one of the issues that he has. He's not locked in, you know for forty minutes, and I uh, and.
That's an issue, and I think one of one of the major issues too, is when he's not going well and you're seeing those six points of thirteen shots, seven of those thirteen shots are from beyond the arc. Yeah, it's over seven, oh for six. Stop shooting it well. And then if you're not shooting it, you need to do other things.
Attack the bucket, attack it, do the assist passes and all that other stuff. It's because to me, uh, and I've court the team for a long time, and I don't remember a guy like him. Maybe Trier a little who had the ball in his hands a lot, but he's pose Trier, which, okay, how that go not very least he played in the NBA, Well we won't know. Well, we we won't know. And but he almost didn't play
in the NBA. He impressed one team and they signed him and then he was in for a year and then he was gone because he didn't know how to share the ball.
But I think that goes to it's not an opinion of love, just his realisticness of playing that I don't think he will play in them.
No, no, no, I get that. I think he'll get a nice summer job with them, and maybe if he gets hot, can do it. But to me. And when he's the I guess maybe a month or so ago he was the eighty fourth best team player in the NBA, and I'm thinking, okay, and then you have who Carter Bryant is probably the better one, best one, kJ Lewis, Henry Vasar maybe drawing more interests maybe yeah, maybe, and then JB. There's there's four, right, And I think that's
about it. But it's no surprise. It's no surprise. He just has to be Caleb Love, you know, fifteen to twenty, no stupid turnovers, five rebounds, six assists, yeah something like yeah, yeah, three is this whatever? But just kind of get close to twenty efficiently. Do you think that the requirements that Tommy put on him, whatever they were, you know, because you know he said, we always talk, we always talk, and they wanted to change his game before this season started.
Not so many shots, you know, be be efficient, don't you know, throw up a bunch of twenty twenty shut games, move without the basketball in your hand. Do you think that affected him? Oh? For sure.
You're you're asking somebody to do something that they don't do. Yeah, you're asking him to play more light. So for me, the comparison would be a if you asked a Derrick Rose type of player where he always has the ball in his hands, to play like Klay Thompson, to play without the ball ball trying trying to move around screens and get open and stay active without the basketball in your hands.
I don't.
I don't think Derrek Ors could do that, and I don't think Caleb Love could do that. He's getting better at it, Yeah, but it's still a struggle.
Well, you're running out of time. You agree with that, Yeah, I agree with that.
I think ca Love's best when he has the ball in his hands and driving to the rim.
He's not an off the ball type player.
No, but I think for the better man of the team, you needed him off the ball.
Yeah, of course that's who he is. It should be. You don't need twenty five shots.
No, no.
No. The guy that that's good and bad a lot of there's a lot of guys on this team that are good and then bad and then good again is Dolorso he's kind of he's the catch and shoot guy if he has to kind of dribble and shoot, dribble, stop shot. He's not very good, but he's a he's a catch and shoot guy, and when he does that more often hes shooting in little less than fifty percent I think it is. But but when he doesn't do the catch and shoot, he's not gonna make this shot. No,
it's kind of just having a body out there. If he's not if he's not.
Catching shooting, yeah, it's kind having a Okay, somebody kind of compared him to the other day Dylan Uh not Dylan Anderson, Dylan Smith kind of catch and shoot. But if he's Jill Smith from uh the transfer that Sean got his last.
Couple of years.
God, Okay, Well, if if you don't remember him, you don't remember no Dylan, No, No, they called him Anaheim Dylan. He had that big, big tournament in non conference in Anaheim.
Dude, I'm getting old. I don't remember.
But anyway, if he's dribbling, you're worried. It's not just a catching. It's like, what did you how did you describe him before this? He's that guy that's another body or what.
Do you say if he's not shooting, he's just another Well okay, okay, Now Townsend was like that. More often they have a lot of dudes like that. Yeah, if you're not doing well, you're just another body and they have only eight nine bodies.
If you're not doing what you're specifically good at doing, you can't give me more outside of that.
Well, Townsend was that guy until this last game. Townsend's been that guy.
Waka has been that guy, Caleb Love has been that guy.
Del Rosso has been that guy, and to a degree, kJ Lewis has been that guy because he disappears too. I mean you need him to be who he is. Yes, athletic dude gets the basket and does a lot of things.
That starts everything on the defensive end. I think when he's going right defensively, that's when kJ Lewis starts playing well offensively, when you get him ramped up on the defensive end.
Yeah, I already got my senior moment in text. I don't know who you're talking about, Dylan, Dylan whomever, Anaheim whomever, Tucson Steve. I have no idea you can come out to google him out to break. Yeah, so you agree with all that, Yeah, I agree with that.
Dolorso is great for stretching the floor, which helps a lot actually, but.
He's got to hit shots.
And he's got to take shots. I think there's been a couple of games this year where it's been like three shots one for three from deep for three points, maybe five points, and a remount throw up some shot.
Well, here's another thing. On the other side of the ball. You have to defend. He's not a good defender, neither is a Townsend. Yeah. So there you lose what you gain on offense, maybe you lose a lot on defense for sure. True, very true.
And you know that's that's one thing about Tommy Lloyd that he gets criticized for as the head coach is the defensive side of the ball isn't always stellar. I think he's Their defenses have been solid, but it's not that same Sean miller As style defensively. So if you're not getting anything offensively from that side of the ball, then what are you doing right?
Right?
And then Tommy and Tommy obviously needs that, but he's more of an offensive guy.
I mean, so, for example, Steve Nash, if he's not dropping dimes and shooting the basketball, well, well you're not having Steve Nash out there to play defense.
So no, yeah, you better do what you do well or or your liability. Yeah, yeah, no question. What else? And this team is full of that. There's no real I don't know this year, there's no real superstar.
There's no Ben Mathern out there and to a degree, and I always thought when he was the best player on the court, it wasn't. I had a problem because I think if your big is the best player, you have an issue. Is there's no Zuela Stabellas either. Yeah, and he disappeared in the later half of that season as well. But who I mean if there was a game, I mean it would be Caleb Love. But there's a game trailing or up by one possession, who's all going to?
Oh, I don't know if I'd go him, but I'll go with him or to whatever. There's not that one guy that you trust, No, no, But if there's a guy that I would trust more than anybody, it would be Jaden.
I agree, get get him and clear cleared out. But do you really think Caleb Loves gonna give James and the ball?
Well, it's me would maybe maybe maybe it's like a twenty chance. Maybe because if Caleb is not shooting the ball, well you saying get out of there and get out of his way, because he could create, get to the basket or stop and pop or find, you know, do the things that you and I sat next to each other last year's thay. No, you know he's got his head down to go to the basket and hopefully he gets bolved. Yeah, and most of the time that happened, but he didn't know that he had dudes on the piphery.
He's gotten better at that, well, no question. No, I don't know where this team would be without him as a point guard. Yah, because they he's kind of had a he's had a very good season without having a very good season. And I know that makes no sense, but he's exactly what this team needs because it needs him blown off age, right, But but but he's great for this team. Not very efficient.
Yeah, every night you look, he has around eleven to fourteen points. Yeah, six or seven shots, four or five assists with like one turnover.
Well, here here's the thing. You have kJ you have Jaden, you have you have Caleb. If if I'm not saying it will happen, but I think it could happen the next maybe two times, the next ten twelve games where they all play together. Well, and you were saying holdly crap and then everyone get all happy again. I mean you a had and I said this before the season, and maybe I was guilty of being over zealous, Uh, Bibby, Simon, Terry Dickerson, And you can put just three of those
in interchangem because they're all interchangeable. And you had kJ, jb and and Caleb pretty good three, not not to the level of those guys, but the best three some probably since that time where you could you know, saying since And I'm just because Seawn's time to me was just whatever he had. He had Johnson, and he had McConnell and who's your three guy, Gordon?
In terms of offensively, yeah, I agree, I agree, But yeah, I because I was thinking of the five or the Salim style or Hassan, Adams, Shannon and Fry that No.
Because Hassan was what he was, he was more of before than he was or three, and and McClellan was not. Who's not that guy? But he used to be the guy that he got hurt. So no, I still stand by that that offensively and defensive because that Miles and Bibby and and JT. And they were not defenders, they
were creators and this team could have that. The thing about it is what if they get hot at that right time and you're thinking, you know where everyone's gonna say, oh, we knew this, it was possible all the time, and kind of except that you got to start showing it at East in glimpses.
And again, this is across college basketball. The main issue is those guys had time to develop throughout the years together. Outside of Bibby, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right where these guys okay, two years and that's considered a veteran group.
Yeah yeah, so yeah, no, you're right. They spent a lot of time together, a lot of basketball. Yeah, And Bibby was kind of like the catalyst.
And I kind of asked Tommy that at the beginning of the season in terms of, Okay, you have these three really good guards coming back. But now and yes, they played together last year, but now they're in the starting lineup, how is that cohesion gonna work? And he said, well, they played together last year. We're not worried about that. Yeah, yeah, but they weren't starting together last year.
Yeah, the dynamics of her, We'll see what happens. I mean, they're capable of doing something. You just got to catch fire. That's easy. You know. When I leave this place, I just gotta find that right woman, Christie State, the right woman, the right the right club, the right air in the wind right. Yeah, and I gotta find a lot of money to put my walt. So all those factors are factors, right, Yeah, So collected me and colected this back court.
But and you know, at the end of the day, I think you look at college basketball and it's the veteran groups that still win Yukon back to back national championship. They've had veteran groups along the way. Kansas when they won, veteran group. North Carolina got there with a veteran group.
Well, no one, No one's that team anymore. No, yeah, you know Clark saw I look at any Yeah, and he's a weird good coach.
Yeah, you know, he's a weird that's a great way well to me. And again, Bruce Pearl might be a little bit better, but that Sean Miller, Bruce Pearl, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, Yeah, kind of all in the same category.
They can't win the big game. Oh yeah, right good. Yeah, And to his credit, the Pearl has gone to the Final four, and so Rick Barnes.
Yeah, but Rick didn't get there with Kevin Garnett. No, I mean Kevin Durant. Bruce Pearl couldn't get there with Tennessee, with Tennessee when he had all those great teams.
Yeah, yeah, we'll see what happens. Let's take a break here, come back and get a hold of the coach from the city side. If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for newly forty years. Now take a look back at the Ludelson era. In my new book, Lessons from Loot, it was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends. They give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them.
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This is Eye on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. You belong to take part in the show call up Steve now went five to two oh four one six, seventy four to forty.
Two the ball Here Sports four team to hie Steve Bavara and with me today is Troy Hutchinson. And now when to po have Sunnyside Boys soccer coach. Coach O'Brien, how what are you, coach?
I'm doing very well, Sarah.
How are you today?
We're doing fine. You guys are doing really well with what a couple of three weeks left? How much how much time you have?
Yes, sir, so we got two weeks left starting next week, we got five games, five home games, and then we'll be headed into the playoffs after that.
Let me just remind everybody last year you were one of the best teams in the state, if not the best teams in the in the state. At the higher higher level. You were in the rankings of the of the state, of the national national rankings. How did that help you? Even though what happened happened to get ready for this year.
So, I think last year was kind of a chance for us to get back to kind.
Of where we were prior to COVID.
I think that two years ago we were so sawid, kind of built ourselves back up, and then last year I think we were able to compete with anybody in the state. Obviously we saw a little short in the quarterfinals, but you know, we ended the year right number one
and then number sixty nationally. So I think It just kind of gave us that confidence that Sunnyside was back and that, you know, going into this year, we were just a little bit more hungry to finish off the season better than we did last year.
You know, when you get that far and losing that type of game and have those moments as the program. I know from covering at least high school football in high school basketball here locally, a lot of those teams when they welcome back a lot of the players and similar faces for the next season, that's the talk usually of the offseason as you're preparing for the year and kind of remembering that game, at least the players getting
ready for that. Was it like that for you guys in terms of that hunger, that drive thinking about that game.
Yeah, I think it's one of the things that we talked about quite a bit at the beginning of the year, and you're right, it is something as a coach that you want to remind the kids of of you know that we tell short and obviously there's some things we could do a little bit better and we will do them better.
This year, which I think we've done a good job of just that.
And then you know, getting back to the standard of really what we want Sunnyside Soccer to be. I mean, it is the top program in the state and we want to finish back at the top, and I think those two things have really motivated the kids this year.
We're talking to Casey Obrian. The Sunnyside Boys High School a very good soccer team. So let me ask you just if we can remind the listeners of who you are, because what you've been doing here at Sunnyside is not by accident, because you guys have been very good. Give me your background and how you got to be where you're at.
Okay, so what we're talking about myself, I'm not really the biggest, biggest fan, but yeah, so I've been the head coach at Sunnyside. This is my ninth season. We've been a playoff team all nine years. Obviously, we've had winning records all nine years. In twenty eighteen nineteen we want to state title.
We went underfeed.
It's actually probably one of the best seasons Arizona Soccer's ever had because we beat the six A state champs, we won the five A title, we beat the four A state champs, and we beat the runner up from both conferences as well. So the year after that we were a state runner up team. We only lost two games. One was to a really big school and Los Angeles that was a really like a premiere program, and then the second one was in the title game. And again
we finished top twenty five nationally. The year prior we were top four in the main nation. Yeah, it's been a good run at to any side. COVID knocked this down a little bit. We were a semi finalist team the COVID year and then we've been kind of building back. Last year we were at number one seed in six A and we fell short in the quarterfinals. Right now we're the number one seed in the Open and the six A. I along the way have been a state coach of the Year, West Coast Region Coach of the Year.
That's a national honor, and you know it's just some other things kind of that was picked up along the journey.
Very very nice. I'm assuming that some of these kids, some of them, many of them have moved on after they finished with you, maybe Pima or somewhere else because I know, well, and then we'll talk about the kid you have now that scores goal all the goals.
Yes, yes, sir. So the kids that have gone on. Last year's class was a really good class. We had a kid signed at Saint Mary's, which is a Division one school in California. He started about maybe like a third of the year as a true freshman last year for them, and then we have a starter on Pima from this year.
We've had quite a few of the kids from.
The national championship team at PEMA from four or five years ago. We've had kids scattered throughout the country. Typically they'll go to Pima Yava Pie. We've had a couple of quite a few kids actually go into California. So we've been on a good job of promoting and right now we have five seniors with offers, so we're trying to continue doing that, get the kids to the next level and really give them.
An opportunity to grow and earn a degree.
Yeah, good for you, Great for you.
It turns out the recruiting and you know, you were saying mostly Pema ya Api and stuff like that, How have you seen a progress since the point where you got there nine years ago to where it is today in terms of the national recognition from colleges across the country.
For the Sunnyside.
So when I first got there, that's interesting to think about. I couldn't sell a player to anybody. You know, there was just I guess we weren't really on the radar.
Maybe a lack of discipline, a lack of results.
I'm not really sure what it was.
But our first.
Year, I couldn't get anybody out the door anywhere, even though we did have.
A pretty good team.
And then our second year, when we continue to have success and people started and noticed like that we had a lot of structure and discipline in our program. We were able to get a kid named Brian Tumasera to Pima, and he actually was a starter in day one there, and he kind of just broke through for us ever since he went to Tema, and we could kind of use him as a reference, and then you know, we could reference our results and how we were doing.
Coaches are really interested to take our call.
I thought to a coach from Nebraska today, talked to a couple of coaches from California this week, just you know, and they're really interested because I think our profile is pretty strong right now, and you know, you just mentioned that you're a top team in the Nation and.
Their years perk up pretty quick.
So it really is opening doors for our kids.
Yeah, I'm used to seeing because my kids played back in the day at Foothills and the CDO and and you know South Point do those names you know, you know, Wolfgang does a tremendous job. Cosgroup does a triminous stub people. So do many of your kids are at the club level play for I guess I have see twoson maybe it was TSA before or do they stick with you? What's how does that work?
Yeah, so a few of them do play at that CE Tucson, a couple of player at a couple other local club teams. But we we train year round and I think we have like pretty much an in house club system. So I mean, I would say almost sixty percent of our kids, maybe seventy just play at Sunnyside, just train at Sunnyside with me, And I mean we're on We're on the field pretty much all day every day.
Today we already trained three times today. We had a workout, a lift in the morning, we hit the field in the morning, and then this afternoon we had another training session. And that's pretty typical of you know, all year, So I think what we provide a Sunnyside really does get the kids ready for the next level, just because they're training,
you know, very systematically and we're building them there. So we call her and the off season, we actually do have our own kind of club system called south Side f Sea and a lot of the kids play for that team as well.
Do you play against those teams that I mentioned the the FC two songs and maybe go on the road a little we have.
We don't go on the road because we just typically try to keep it in house, try to keep it at Sunnyside because a lot of the kids don't really have a ton of support to get away from the campus. It's kind of hard to organize in the off season, so we keep everything pretty local and those teams typically will.
Travel because we can give them some pretty good competition.
Sure.
Sure, no, you'd be the first guy we call, Hey, we want to get better? Can you play us? Yeah?
And I'll feel that call instantly.
Man.
I love it.
It's great for the kids, you know, they have a lot of pride. I think when they play at Sunnyside, even when it is club, they're just you know, they really do take it means a lot to them. So it's really fun to have teams that come and it's cool to have that reputation. Well though even you know, want to think of us. It's pretty cool to be in that conversation.
Yeah, how much do you because you mentioned, you know, having the the the south Side Club team, how much do you think that having the one voice, the one this is how we do it has helped not only your program on Sunnyside, but these kids move on to colleges and being trained by one voice the proper way and not having so many coaches and so many different player people talking to them and leorrying about well this coach likes it this way and this coach likes it this way.
Yeah, it helps. We have a super intense environment. It's super super competitive. It's uber competitive, to be honest. So I think that just the training conditions that we have and the expectations of the way that we train in the way that we practice, and the way we condition it just it.
Really does lead the kids to success because it's it's.
A pretty relentless grind, and I mean, our goal is to get the kids to the next level, so we're not necessarily training as a high school team, We're really trying to train.
The kids as athletes.
We rate, we rate, we rate trained probably more than any other soccer team, you know. And I mean we're running constantly, And I think just giving them those tools, you know, and and teaching them that discipline and that work ethic really does prepare them for the next level. And I guess it's good to have one voice more consistently than anything else, just because that's the only way that they know. So you know, they don't slack off,
they're not lazy. They love the work hard because they don't really know anything else.
Yeah, that makes sense. Going back to the question I had before with the kid who's scoring all the points. Uh, I forgot his name. I saw on TV. I guess yesterday or the day before. But he must be a stud.
Uh. Yeah, he's definitely a stud. Last year he was six A Conference Offensive Player of the Year, which in Tucson is pretty much unheard of for anybody to get a six A recognition like that. He's the first kid that I know of that's been ranked or had that kind of an accolade to sixth A. Last year, he led the state in points assists. I think he was second in goals number eight nationally actually last year in points scored, which is a combination of goals and assists.
This year he leads the state and assists.
He's second in goals and he's second in points. And he's making a really strong case to be the six A Player of the Year this year. And I think probably should be the conversation for Gatorade Player of the Year, which I think he was runner up last year. Angel Bacamants, Toledo.
So I'm sure that you've gotten a lot of calls about.
Him, Yes, sir, Yeah, we've gotten a lot of calls about him. He's probably going to go the junior college route, if not try to bypass college altogether. It's just kind of he wants to grow and mature a little bit more. He's really coming into his own, Lady. It's kind of like a more reserved kid.
This year.
He's really gotten more confident in himself and started believing in himself.
So I think, you know, he wants to.
Keep on going, but he wants to try to do something a little bit smaller where he can continue to grow his mentality and his mindset, and you know, his habits, and I think he's going to really flourish this summer. He should have an opportunity to play with the sets on men's team, which is a USL two team. I think he has a strong shot at getting some really good playing time there as well. So I think he's about to take off.
Yeah, you have no question. We all know the history of the wrestling program. Very strong, obviously very successful, and their kids go to college and thrive as well. There's other programs there at Sunnyside that have done really well. I'm sure the parents love you because of what you've done for the kids, and they love you because you're helping them get an education beyond high school.
Yeah, I mean, well I hope they love me. I mean I'm around their kids quite a bit, and I mean I'm trying to teach them, you know, the right things. Like I said, it is a really intense competitive environment, so it can be a little bit daunting at the beginning. I think some parents are kind of taken aback by, you know, the intensity with the way that we approach everything. But you know, the basically what I tell them is that the kids come here and they can be successful here.
You really can translate that to life, because right, you know, we set a goal and instead of just thinking about it and dreaming about it, we just worked for it and every single day. And that's what I've learned from the wrestling program, to be honest with you, is that they say what their goal is and instead of just talking about it all year, they just go to work every day and they work out three four times a
day all summer, all year. And what I learned from that program is like, if you have a goal, you better be able to back it up with your work. And I think the parents see that, and they see their kids blossom and grow and become more confident and start talking about college, probably more than they've talked about before. And I think that they like that the ideas on their mind and that they're on the path. So that so I think I gained their respect very early on in the process.
Sure, you know, at the at the beginning of this interview, you mentioned that you had some things last year that you guys needed to clean up, especially in that quarterfinal game, that you worked on during the offseason, and you've seen results from that. What were those things that you guys tried to clean up as a team.
So, like speaking of from a soccer perspective, one of the big things, you know, and everybody will always harp on scoring goals and finishing, but we truly did have an issue with that, just scoring on certain sequences and plays, and so this year we focused on it and it's become actually a strength, which is really cool to turn something that was a weakness into his strength this year, talking more, being more positive, having better leadership on the team,
not just coming from me. Those are all kinds of things that we needed to clean up this year and it's really rounding in the form right now. And I think that the kids kind of, like you said previously, saying that so much in the off season about how we fell short makes the kids actually want to fix those things and change them, and they've done a great job of doing that.
Yeah, well you have any games? You got five left? Do you think regular season?
Yes, sir, we got five regular season games left.
On Tuesday, we go to San Luis, who's been in the six eight title game. I want to say three out of the last four years, they've been a runner up all three times. But it's one of the top programs in the state. First time I'll ever play them, so we're really excited for that one.
Well, good luck to the rest of the way. Coach, we've been talking to you.
When you win it, I really appreciate it.
Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate your time.
Sure, thank you. Same here. Let's take a break. What a great what a great school, what a good program. Let's take a break and come back with the breaking news.