This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services ensure your most prized possessiets.
May good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera.
Look we have here today, d Welcome back to your place of education.
Can we call it education or can we just call it home?
You could call it well you feature your possible future home. Who knows? You're your station now in Los Angeles. The big city has a big city.
The Big City secks.
It does suck. Okay, hey yellen, it's.
Very loud and very state.
How does it take you to go to work? Just as a commute, So.
For reference, I live less than ten miles from our production studio in LA and it can take me anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour.
Oh, there are you downtown?
No, so I am a little further south. So our studio is like right next to the Lax Airport, so I'm just south of that. But no, it can take me upwards of an hour sometime.
Yeah at l A l A. And we have one today one, yes, sir, good to see you. Again. Yes, sir, it feels good to be back. This is my fourth straight show.
Yes, Friday, Friday, Thursday, Friday, well, yesterday, you're going to put you.
On the clock.
I remember those days.
Yes, we need you guys, I need you guys. Good to have you back. What are you here for?
My brother's graduation on Thursday. Whole family's coming into town. It's a very big deal.
My boy, Doug, he's probably listening right now. Doug, you've ignored me.
He's probably at work because he's an hour behind. He's an hour bind.
Okay, specific time, so we won't get any tweets about anything. And my mom she's doing okay, she's all right. She's good. MENI you or you're the mini to her? Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah sorry you last at the Breeders Cup. Had a great time one Friday, lost Saturday, so it's still a great time.
That's okay. I lost Friday and one Saturday.
You you must have done well Saturday because all the long shots would coming. I did okay.
On Saturday. I laid off the Japanese horses and decided that they weren't it this year, and made some other decisions and it worked out well.
For me hit crap Saturday day.
Just had to be on the correct Bafford horse to even it out.
Yeah yeah, well and that was he finished first, third and fourth right, and he in the Juvenile Yeah yeah, which was.
Which is great.
And one of the horses from Tucson are owned by Tucson finished third, so I think he's going to.
Be the Derby.
Well and Gaming just ran in the Lost Alamitos Futurity this past weekend. He did not run fantastic.
What did he finish?
I believe it was third. He was beat by Journalism, who is named Michael McCarthy.
Really, that's the name of the horse.
Journalism, Yeah, texted me.
I would have been all over. Both of those horses were one.
First went off at like five to two.
Journalism, Journalism, it's never been that favorite.
Journalism is now ten to one in the world.
But uh yeah, lots of good stuff coming along. Bob Baffort had three of those horses in the Los Ale Futurity and he's won it the last leg. He had Journalists, No, Michael McCarthy had Journalism, he had Mel Baffert had Mellencamp, Gaming and get Away Car.
Okay, and he didn't do fast second third, Gaming ran third and that was his best horse probably.
In that race.
That's not good.
Well, Bowls back on the worktab. Barnes is on the worktab, so I mean he's very flushed with two year old soon to be three year olds. And if I had to guess, he's gonna pull out a three year old that we haven't seen yet, I'm running for that Derby trail now that he's back in Well, we had him.
On the show right after the dirt, after the the the the what you call it cup, That's what I.
Call it, Yeah, the Beach Cup, and he was fantastic. So I haven't gone on again. Party of March April as we prepare for the for the Derby.
If I had to guess, he's going to have at least two contenders in the Derby this year.
Yeah, okay, no, super, we're gonna we might cut to the Sean Miller I down the dum.
J got Tommy Lloyd. Well, everyone on the internet is talking about what.
You have, Sean. This is Sehn Miller's offense, same exactly, it's same. It's not good. It's not good, Tommy. He needs to go back to what he's doing. But again I say, this is not about Tom.
What is he doing? What does he need to go back to doing?
He's a running movement to move the ball around to coach, and if if if I can, if I'm very good at transition points, running and and all that moving around, what are you trying to prevent all that?
Right? All the teams are doing exactly that.
But was he good at that because of who he had two to three years ago?
Or is he just I hate you the hatred discussion you're making me think now controversial topics, yes, no, you're You're exactly right. I think they're not as good as the ones in the past, but they're still damn good.
Uh.
It seems like it's just stagnant, right, Yeah, the of standing around waiting for the ball, that's.
Like number one role in basketball. Elvis has left the building. You can't be standing up right, exactly right?
Okayleb loves guilty number one.
Yeah.
You see it almost every game.
If he doesn't have the ball, he's waiting for the ball, not creating anything else anyone else.
Right, Right, So that's probably one A or A one and b whatever. Then there's one of a thousand when yesterday we talked about all of them if we could.
There was so many, so many, So we'll wait for that.
Right, there's nothing yet five after so we'll go to that. So I think we have a pretty good show. D Thanks for showing up visiting in town. I might you might see me.
A couple of times, right, Yeah, we might be back.
Saturday, Friday, Monday. Yeah.
Yeah, I'm sure we might get a call from your admirers.
From the past.
That's okay. Maybe maybe I bring Collar Doug with me one day.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought that if we.
Do it Friday, I can bring Collar Doug with me.
He does, he doesn't have an opinion and a lot of different things. He his Seahawks are.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's it's a very sad situation up in Seattle right now. There's currently a saying going around called a Gino Special, whereas you're getting on a drive and you get down in the red zone and you throw a pick in the end zone. It's now called a Gino Special.
Gino Special. So that's all. Yeah, he didn't have. He didn't look good. I had. I had. Who did they play? Oh? Green Bay?
Green Bay?
Yeah? I had green Bay.
That was one of my pick I told people that it was not going to be an easy game, and that was not a game I would have bet for Seattle. With Seattle, it was the inconsistent. Nope, they looked soft and asleep.
That's Arizona football.
That's Arizona right now, right right, the whole except for volleyball, right So we're going to keep our eye on that.
We're going to have Michael.
Lev here in the first hour about three seventeen, get caught up with what's going on with football, all the transfers and all that stuff, and then at the end of basketball situation get his view on it and probably maxes us or that doesn't and uh. And then in the second hour, we're gonna have oh, Pat Nuchen, who just retired after a great career at all over the place in town at the high school level. So we got some stuff. It's three seven, let's go for like five minutes and just see what he says.
Come on you, you can't have a thirteen point lead with ten minutes to go. And then I mean, maybe maybe you might lose it, but it better because they hit a bunch of threes and a couple bunch of crazy stuff happens to better not because.
You don't score, and and we just you know, couldn't score.
So you know, I was, you know, pretty frustrated with myself that, you know, I just wasn't able to give maybe a little more certainty on how we wanted to attack their pressure. And you know, the frustrating thing. I think we were in the bonus at the fourteen minute mark. I mean, just hey, run into somebody, fall down, get a couple of free throws. But but you know, just just none of it came together and it kind of unraveled in front of us.
And you know, when you're when you're a team with a.
Little bit of a fractured psyche, you know, you you know, you the belief probably isn't where you'd want it to be. And that's what we got to fight for. We got to fight to get there. And what an awesome challenge.
Did What did you think specifically against their defense? And you'll it sounds like you'll have a.
More extreme version of it, was what Samford does?
Do you think that you exposed Anything's.
Just they just they took the ball from us like fifteen times. I mean, these turnovers weren't like crazy passes. They just literally came and took the ball out of our hands, like you know, and just you know, hey, and and they're ballhawks. I'll give them credit. But but we got to be tougher than that. I mean, we got we gotta have a little more toughness, you know. I mean it's you know, that's one of those things. You know, you can say the scheme, the you know,
the concepts, whatever. The dudes got to hold onto the ball and you know that that's where that's their responsibility and they're accountable for that.
And we didn't do a great job of.
It six minutes stretched there in that second half when the league was going away, where you didn't make any sort of subs.
Looking back on it.
Was a choice for well, I don't think there was a lot of dead balls, for one. I mean, I think that probably played into it too, because I know Murph and I were talking.
You know, hey, should we do this, should we do that? And you know this is just you.
Know, only having that one time out, you know, I mean obviously, I mean, if you're asking me, in hindsight, I should.
Have called it. You know, that's easy in hindsight.
But also you know, I could have called it, and we get to the last minute of the game and we don't have a timeout, and you guys could be saying we.
Wasted all your time, you know what I mean.
So like you just never know with that what what's going to sway it one way or the other. And you know, traditionally, I'm a guy who likes to have a timeout, and you guys know I usually like having a couple.
Of timeouts the last minute or two of a game.
But you know, we lost those two timeouts when guys, you know, we're trying to save possessions, and I'm not faulting them for that. You know that that's what they did, and that's what they did and their instincts told them to do in that moment, we saved the possession and and we just didn't have any timeouts down the stretch to maybe you know that we would have liked to have or you know, maybe I should have used that one, but but I didn't.
You regularly talked about how you give your players a lot of freedom. Is there such a thing as too much freedom? Maybe that they they are able to freelance so much that it goes out of assist.
Me listen, it's not it's not freelancing like you think.
I mean, there's definitely concepts we play within and and but but there there needs to.
Be when we're doing it right.
There's a randomness to it that that maybe to the eye, but there's structure from within and and I mean it's just it's the same concepts. You know, we've we've we've drilled for years, but you know, we we just got to keep hammer and we've got to keep hammering. And part of it is just trusting that you know, if you get the body of your hands and that's something that's gonna happen for someone else or it's going to
come back to you. And we just got to have a little more trust in the game moments of that, and and and we're working for it.
The cultivates the kind of taughtness that you feel may not be whacking with these guys right now.
I mean, I think you got to challenge guys, you know, you you got to teach them what winning plays are, and you got you got to hone in on those things, and then you try to hold them accountable for it. I mean, it's not really much more complicated on that than that I didn't think our effort, you know, for
the most part, was lacking, you know. I mean, I think in a lot of these games, the guys have played hard, you know, like like like really hard, and just maybe this a little bit of our our execution and and and and making things a little bit easier for each other could could be better, you know, at
both ends of the floor. So I mean, I I don't I'm not like, you know, questioning the toughness overall, but but you know, just we just got to get a little bit better at you know, some of the you know, late game execution, you know, and hey, you're looking at some of these games like that game, I think we out rebounded of my ten, which is you know, that's pretty good against UCLA, but just there were timely rebounds down the stretch that you know, you're just like that,
we're just backbreakers and and those are those are the winning plays you got to fight for. You know, if you win by ten on the glass, but you give them two or three offensive rebounds down the stretch, you know, it's almost like undoing all the positive you did. So so we we got we can get better in those areas.
Yeah, let's let's go so d if I can remember this, and it's been two a.
Couple of years, right, since you've been a couple of years, so so, and I don't think one we had to discussion. And I've said this all the time, can you teach tough?
Right? I think we talked about this.
We talked about this so many times in Tommy's first season here at the u of A, and they didn't have it, and they didn't have it then and I'm hearing that they still don't have it. Mentally tough versus physically tough is something that's incredibly different. And you can train mentally tough, that's something that you can train, but you cannot train physical toughness. Like if these guys are going to get pushed around, the other team's going to know it and they're going to take advantage of it.
And that's what other teams have done and they've figured it out. They walk all over us because they start throwing elbows, they actually box out, they get a body on someone, and you get cry babies crying for a foul because they don't know how to take it.
I think I think you can.
Kind of leak that into from mentally tough to physically tough. You know, yeah, they're upblowing you. So what go on to the next play, Go and make a play on the next one.
And I think that's a huge thing is because they get in the lax mind if they get stuck. You should have Ted Lasso said it best. You need to have a memory of a goldfish. Ten second. It's got to be done. You get back up, you get pushed on the ground like that's it. It's done. You have to get up and go make a play. The other thing that I really want to capitalize on is what Tommy said is time management. His time management has not been what it's been in the last couple of years.
He has not controlled the game as much as he has in the last couple of years, and they suffered in that UCLA game, they suffered in the Duke game because of time management.
Well, they've never been in this spot this early, and so we've never really had to kind of call him on it, call him on the carpet on it, because the last three years it's been an eight to nine and one.
Everybody's happy and giddy.
But while they were winning those games and they had winning seasons the first half of the game. They'd always be asleep. They'd always put themselves in a hole. They'd let teams stick with them, and then in the second half they'd come out and they put them away and they would do what Arizona's supposed to do.
I don't know about that. I have to fact check you, because I'm not sure about that either from a student's perspective.
I want to back me on this one.
I've been going to almost every game since I got into the UVAIL. It's been that case, even from every student, like why are they within ten? Oh, I see what this is.
Within ten They let teams stick around when they shouldn't be like to stick around.
Yes, yes, and no.
In fact, he said this yesterday, and he said this a couple of years ago. They want to have enough wiggle room, get out to the fifteen point lead, have enough wiggle rooms so they won't catch up. They won't if they go on a run. They were not going to catch up. Well, that proved otherwise Saturday, right, it proved otherwise against Princeton. Remember Princeton, they had a double digit and they came back and won that game.
Yeah, it goes to the mental toughness that you're talking about.
It goes to the physical toughness that you're talking about Arizona. I don't if they're lacking And I didn't even put this in the in the scenarios yesterday of what they needed or lacked was toughness, because that was kind of just assumed.
But if they don't have your teams walk all over them and they have four years, that's what Tommy said.
I mean almost fifteen times on during the UCLA game, they just got the ball taken away.
From them, which was very odd, just very I mean, just you can slap it away and then they come up with the ball and and then.
You get butt hurt and then you're stuck in a hole and you can't re rally to be able to put something together. Yeah, it's never, it's never any cycle.
I think I had to put the old butt hurt on the old zapper. So I'll do. Let go, So let's go.
Let's go and talk to Michael Levan, see what he says about this team and the football program. Where we're at with it right now.
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Today, Streamy Live on the iHeartRadio, while this is Eye on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. You're an Eye on the ball. You ared, welcome back to AM And now we have Michael lib from the is an Early Star on the phone. Michael, how are you?
I'm doing fine? How are you?
Guys?
We're doing fine? Thank you? Are you?
This is a tough time. You've been here about eight years give or take. I really don't know. Uh, this is probably the toughest time for Arizona Athletics that you've been here.
Yes, I don't know about that.
I know there's a lot of doom and gloom because football didn't have a good season and basketball is not having a good season men's basketball, that is. But you have to remember, I mean I covered a football team that lost twenty games in a row. There was also that little thing called the FBI investigation. There have been off the field and off the court situations that have come up that are kind of worse than any losing streak. So I don't know, I don't know if I can go that far.
Okay, no, I think that put me in my reality check. Thank you. It is it is, But I don't know if they happened all simultaneously though, But I'll give you that because you're right, there's been other things that have been worse. Let's start with football. And first, because we haven't talked to you since all the portal and all that stuff, what did you make of the number, the rash number of thirty whatever it was, or thirty who left?
Was it because they just didn't want to play year because the coach or they just you know, said okay, I'm tired.
Movie on.
It's a lot of reasons, right. Some of it is this is an opportunity for a lot of these guys to make money that they might not get at any other point in their lives, to capitalize and monetize their
football playing ability. So that's one thing. Another is the last season didn't go very well, and it doesn't look like next season is you know, they're going to be championship contenders, right, So if you got one year left and you want to play in a bowl game or want to compete for the college football playoffs, Arizona might not be the best place to do it. I also think that, you know, last year was kind of like viewed as the last ride for some of these guys.
You know, like, hey, let's give this new coaching staff a chance. We got most of our roster back, let's make a run. And if it doesn't happen, you know, if I have eligibility left, I will pursue some other possibilities. There's a couple guys you know who weren't supposed to have any eligibility anymore. I think normaldonado Is only has another year because it got injured. I think that's I
think it's the same for trade and Stukes. So you know, those guys, if they hadn't gotten hurt, they wouldn't have been back here anyway. It it feels a little bit different from a fan perspective if you know someone's eligibility expires versus they're leaving voluntarily to go play someplace else, but I think it is many many.
Let me ask you how pitch on the spot? Do you work with jet kind of a little bit. Yeah, we saw him.
Good coach.
Yeah, he was always inspiring his players. I cannot speak to what Brent Brennan says at practices. I'm obviously not there, but Jetfish was always inspiring. He was inspiring and meetings, he was at practices and he pushed those kids to
be the best that they could be every day. And Gutrimal Nado and Trade Stukes were guys that I worked with when I was at the UFA, in that training room and at practices and on games, and so those those are guys that I hope they find good landing spots and they have a bright future because I've seen them through some bad times.
So, Michael, I've said this, and probably you were on the show a time or two when we said this to me, and you can see it, at least in my mind three games in four games in that there was a disconnect when the players that he got, you know that they were here, and that it was almost like a disconnect that he couldn't get to them or they couldn't play for him or didn't want to play for him. I know that kind of saying a lot in extreme, But did you sense that at all?
Not really, No, just because it's hard to, you know, psychoanalyze these guys sometimes hard. It's hard to get into their minds and maybe you could, maybe you could see it out on the field. In certain games, it felt like they were really discouraged. The UCF game is I think one example of that, and the last game as well, where they just kind of had nothing left in the tank. And it's also hard because you know, they say all the right things every time you talk to them, you know, oh, yeah,
we love coach Brennan, we're buying in et cetera. So it's difficult to say that, but I do understand where you're coming from. It's also just hard for any new coach who comes in to you know, conform a perfect connection with the team that he's inheriting. You know, like every you know, when all these coaching dominoes happened, like every team that was impacted by it was worse the next season. You know, we expected Washington to fall off because they lost most of their NFL guys, and they
were really kind of in a rebuilding mode. But they went from whatever, like fourteen and two or whatever the record was last year.
To six and six.
Alabama make the College Football Playoff, they expanded College Football Playoff, went nine in three. Arizona went from ten to three to four and eight. So it is difficult. There are exceptions to that, of course, like Kurt Signetti, you know, went to Indiana and right away they're good. But he also was able to, you know, execute a plan in early December of last year and bring a lot of his best players with them from James Madison. So every
circumstance is different. But I do think in general that it is hard to form that connection between a new coach and his players. And Brent Brennan he tried. I mean, he put a lot of effort into it. During the offseason. He was able to, you know, coax a lot of guys into staying at least for one year, and then when that one year didn't go great, a lot of them changed their minds and decided to be with.
So Michael, with the transfer portal evolving and we've lost so many guys, where is it important for Brent Brennan to go after new players? Is it in recruiting we've had early signing day. Does he need to go back to the transfer portal? California has always been a huge poll for Arizona to be able to bring in players. Does he go back to California? Does he look elsewhere for talent? Where's where's he going to go?
Well?
I think right now, account of incoming high school slash junior college recruits is twenty two and you don't count on many of those players, you know, being really good right away. They're all almost all three stars, maybe one or two four stars in that mix. Unless you're a five star high four star player, you know you're not generally coming into college and dominating right away, or you're
not ready to play right away. So I think they have a lot more work to do in the transfer portal, and I think that they will announce more and more signs here in the coming days. Out of the portal. They've lost I think it's thirty one thirty two players. Some of them could come back, I doubt many of them will, so they need replacements. They need replacements for
twenty twenty five. And the best thing that Arizona has going for it as a selling point right now is playing time, right Like, come here and you will play right away. If you're good in the Big twelve against really good competition, you will get a lot of good tape if you're hoping to become a professional football player someday. So I think that most of the starting lineup next year will be players that they are pulling out of the transfer portal over the next few weeks.
So you kind of already hinted that you don't expect a team to do well next year given the circumstances. Let me ask you, I just kind of threw that in there. But the nil, how much do you think that's going to play a part here? Given the state of the finances at Arizona.
I think an il plays a part. That part might be slightly reduced when revenue sharing kicks in. Just you know, throwing some numbers out there. If the figure is twenty million dollars that is going to be shared with athletes, and let's just say that football is getting sixty five percent of that, that would be thirteen million dollars that could then be you know, distributed to one hundred and
five players. I think that comes out to what about you know, one hundred and thirty thousand dollars per player. So that's not nothing, right, I mean, obviously there there would be taxes and then all that kind of thing, but still that's something. It's more than I make, so
I think it'll be lesson to an extent. But then, okay, how do you know if everyone is getting that and those figures are roughly the same, there's still going to be a market out there for the top players, you know, some sort of inducement to bring them to your school. And that could be culture, That could be the head coach, that could be NFL development, or it could be an NIL package right which include could include money, could include you know, use of an apartment or a car or something.
So I do think it will continue to be a factor. I don't think that Arizona is in the upper tier when it comes to that, but I think that the revenue sharing piece will kind of level the playing field overall a little bit for everybody.
Well, good luck with all that, right, see what happens with that. Let's go to basketball real quick while we have you your thoughts, your thoughts on what Tommy's dealing with right now. He's just finished his press conference. He's owning up to all this, you know, good and bad. Right now, it's not that good. What do you think the issues are?
Well, I think if you're gonna question anything about what Tommy has done, yeah, I think you have to look at roster construction, which he's obviously intimately involved in that process. You know, he couldn't really do anything about Pella Larson and Keisha Johnson running out of eligibility and going to the NBA. It seemed like there was a mutual parting of the ways with Lumar Balo. So okay, how do you replace these guys?
Right?
And they brought in Tred Townsend from Oakland where he was one of the best mid major players in the country. But different system, different role. Not an outside shooter either, So is that, you know, necessarily the best fit for Arizona. Tobeywaca very good rebounder, not a post presence though on offense, like Ballow was someone who could throw in the ball and he might be able to get your old baby
hook or get dunk or whatever. When you look at this team, they don't shoot the ball from the outside very well. They are last in the Big twelve and three pointers made and three point percentage despite being in the upper half in scoring. So it is really hard to win in modern basketball if you can't shoot the three. I think we've seen that with the women's team quite
a bit over the last few years. They have not had a lot of outside shooting, so you have to rely on other stuff going inside, defense, rebounding, transition game, all of those things. But man, that three pointer. It's a great equalizer. And because they don't have a great shooting floor, spacing has suffered in a big way. If you watch that UCLA game, which I'm sure most of
your audience did, like, the spacing was terrible at times. Now, some of that is because of the way Mick Cronin coaches and how hard they play on defense and how they tax you in that way. But it helps if you can spread the floor. Throw some guys in the corners who can you know, hit a spot up, hit a spot up jumper. They don't have a lot of guys like that, and it's making it really hard for them to do the things that were used to seeing them do since Tommy Way came here.
So we've talked about the miss cues both offensively and defensively, but there's there's a lack of performance from key players like Caleb Love, Carter Bryant, who's someone that should be stepping up maybe from the bench outside of kJ Lewis, who's gets gets significant minutes, Who's someone that should and probably could step up.
Well.
I wrote a column today about Caleb Love that might be online right now. If you're a subscriber to the Arizondao Star, you can check it out. Just trying to analyze what has gone on with this guy. Really inexplicable decline in his play that really started after they clinched the Pac twelve Regular season tournament or Pack twelve regular season title last year against UCLA. Just has not been the same guy. That's a very strange situation. He's one
person who has to step up, for sure. I don't have great expectations, you know, this year for Carter Bryant, because he's a true freshman. Physically, he's not fully developed yet. I do think he has a great skill set and could be utilized as both a spot up shooter and you know, someone who could maybe help you with the press defend multiple positions. I think Anthony del also needs to play more, even if he is a liability on defense. He does provide that shooting that the team is lacking.
So I think those are some of the pieces let me to step up. And then, of course there's the whole situation with Mo Crebus. We don't know what's going on with his foot, how long he's going to be out. I don't know if Tommy gave an update today. I wasn't over there, but he was supposed to be a guy, you know, like a first round type of talent. He's
seven foot two, he's very skilled. Clearly was you know, hampered by missing time in training camp, hasn't really been right since then, and now he's out again and you just don't even know what you're going to get out of him. So those are some of the Those are some of the many pieces that are kind of in flux right now and some of the reasons that this team is struggling.
So last question, Michael, before before we go, I asked these guys yesterday, do they make the tournament?
I think he was fifty to fifty split or something like that. Do they make the tournament?
I would say I'm probably in that same territory, you know, maybe fifty five percent. Yes, because you know, still have faith in Tommy's ability to figure it out and turn things around. They could make the tournament with a record like seventeen and fifteen. It's not inconceivable. They will have one of the highest strength of schedules by the end
of the season. But I think if you're going into that Big Twelve play at six and five, which is the best their record can be, Like, you got to go above five hundred in the Big Twelve to even get to that point, So that means going, you know, it will red worst eleven and nine. If you do that, what's your record then seventeen and fourteen. Then maybe you win a game or two in the Big Twelve tournament
and you're in good shape. But if they don't, you'll get above five hundred in a very tough league, and right now it's hard to say that that's gonna happen. Then they probably won't make it.
Oh yeah, I agree, I'm all with the same percentage. It's got to step up. Obviously. No one needs to tell us that because it's all it's obvious. Okay, Michael, thanks bunch.
You will, thank you, guys, appreciate it.
Thank you. They're good insight. I think we all kind of on the same page, right, I mean, who can't see it.
Tommy's got to figure this out. I mean, the thing is he can't change his roster, and I don't know if Mo's absence is going to mean anything now.
He regardless, they needed to find presence downbow.
Yeah, and Henry could maybe do that, make better decisions at WAKA and Hey, to me, it's the front the backcourt who can't hit shots. He said that, he said that they're the highest scoring team, but they're beating conacious and in no dominion and all that. That's where the points are coming from, not the other teams. You know, the other teams don't matter. Okay, so let's take a break. Maybe we get a call to If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly
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Streaming live on the Ihearts Radio WAB. This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to iyan about here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera.
In with me today is guest House D from our past, every Windows.
D Rich, Krele, present, future, maybe Chrich career.
If you want to call, now's your chance. You haven't called him forever, but I rob D just so you could call. Yeah, Nico, I know you want to call it to anybody want to call.
I know someone tried to call during the interview, right, so we couldn't go to that question. But if you want to call back, that'd be great. We have some time. We got about fourteen minutes, so that'd be great. Uh.
One, it'll be on the tip here or whatever he got his hands on the horns on the horns.
So I'll just give his quick call.
Any disagreements with Lev or me or d or Juan, I mean, did you agree with him there'd be worst times. I don't think there'd been worse time together together.
Yes, we've combined programs of them like trying to mimic each other. Almost like it looks it's bad from a fan standpoint. There have obviously been such larger problems per program, but nothing I think has happened at the same time.
Right And I think it's it's real bad right now because it doesn't look like there's any hope right now. Sure, you know, if this was a four and five Arizona basketball team heading into Pac twelve play, you feel all right, you're going to.
Have I guess what this isn't the Pac twelve, This was the Big twelve. This is a basketball conference. It is time for them to put on their big boy pants and start playing.
Well, that's the whole thing. Do they have those pants?
I think Lev made an interesting comment about, you know, the Tommy's bigges struggle right now is his roster, which I find kind of ironic because he picked these guys. These were his guys. That he brought in. And so how do you go from picking your own guys and thinking that that is going to get you to the top level. So all of a sudden, now you are less than five hundred on the season and that's your biggest struggle as your roster.
Well, I was I don't know about you, one, but I was guilty of it two because I talked to an assistant coach I don't know, a month ago, maybe three weeks ago. I really like this team because they were put together. You thought, okay, they went to have crews. They have a waka who's a big guy inside, a bully guy, Talenton who was halfway decent, you know, with what we saw, all the pits, the pits, all the pieces fit to me.
But yet the team doesn't fit.
No, but you know what, I think, that's just it fits in theory, but not in talent because because the I may have been wrong and over evaluated what I saw earlier, because the talent is probably not there.
You have to have talent that compliments each other. And I don't think they have that same kind of complimentary talent that we saw three years ago when Tommy first came in. No, No, no, they don't have that same kind of mojo on the court.
Well, that's that's been his knocking. I'm sure you've seen it, you know, because they were Sean's guys.
Yea.
I was just about to mean that his most successful season right now was with Sean Miller's guy.
Yeah. Yeah, And let me see, there's more to it than just Sean Miller's guys.
Sean had those guys, and how did he do with them? So so so right, so, and I've said this and I've written a few magazine stories about a couple of magazine stories about it.
With Tommy.
He was the perfect guy to come in and take over for Sewan because Sean they're two totally different coaches. And at the time that he came in, they needed that guy because because Sean was a tough dude.
But they had a leader on the court in Nathron. They had someone that they could go to. They had so many people within there that could lead an offense or lead a defense. They don't necessarily have, as lev led into. They don't have one particular person that can lead them to say, hey, this is what we're gonna do.
Right right, So let me before we start changing the history of the course of college basketball or uba basketball.
Where did they go? How far did they go?
How far do they go?
I'll give you again, I have the answer to this is the quiz.
I don't think they make the tournament?
No, no, no, how far did they go? Back?
Then they got a limited and they lost to Houston.
Right in the sweet sixteen. Yes, So so, okay, was that good enough?
I mean my point, My point is, okay, he had these good guys and they played well, but they get to the sweet sixteen and no further.
But it's the same problem that they're having now, mental toughness, physical deftness, Like it's the same problem.
With good guys, even with good guys. So so now these guys have to step up too at some point.
I think this is very similar to some of that talks we had over the summer about the Sun's team last year where it just didn't look like it clicked. It kind of feels like that right now, Yeah, so clicked in what way? They didn't look together on the court. Yeah, it was just kind of let Katie go out there.
So what has to happen for this U of a basketball team for them to click is it bringing in somebody else new, Is it someone stepping up? Like what has to happen for the pieces to all of a sudden click like they did on paper.
I think it's it's going to be something to the extent of kJ Lewis having to step up. Yes, he's coming off the bench, but he needs to be that vocal leader.
But he's not coming off the bench anymore because Crewis didn't he start Laska, because Creamis didn't start, right.
Is that right? I'm not sure. I think he's back in the start line because Crewis is not starting.
But you need that six person on the bench to change the energy. We had Pel Larson who would come off the bench and change that energy that you could still have a point guard, you could have a shooter.
So so d uh, Pelle Larson and mister Johnson are not coming through that locker room.
I know it makes you know.
Yeah.
So so they have what they are who they are, and they're not as good as we thought, at least I thought they are. And they need they need at the very least, they need Caleb Glove to start playing like we've seen Caleb Bloke perform. Okay, that will help, Maybe kJ lewis kind of spark. We've seen Jayden Bradley and maybe it's Jayden Bradley in the chemistry in the backcourt, because Jaden's more of a bass specific handler who likes to attack. And guess who else is to Caleb Love?
How many Tony balls around the court at the same time?
Once? Okay, one? And who has that ball?
Right?
Hey? Well, hello, thanks for going. You're in the air.
Hi, It's Howard Howard.
What do you got?
What I got? Is nice to hear her d and then but it's said in the guests it said something like Delilah or something.
Right, Well, Delena is my full name, but I do d Yeah, I don't want to.
Say Delena because I forget her name.
I was confused. Anyway, all three of you are spot on, and lev he was really an eye opener. We have such a good strength of schedule. But if they could get it together, you know they can, But i'd hope. I'm sure Tommy has at least a five hundred record in the in the tough Big twelve.
Yeah, he's got to have at least at least.
I would take a better But okay, who are the four big boys obviously Kansas and Iowa State or two of the real big ones. Oh yeah, us, I always forget Houston, and then who else. Baylor's good, Baylor's sometimes they're Yeah, they have a good coach. They have one of the Homer Homer coaches, right of that big family.
Yes, yes, so those are four.
Those are three four Texas Tech, and there's another one Kansas State maybe possibly, but.
Yeah, but that's I think that Kansas State is more.
And don't forget where good and don't forget what's Virginia already beat them?
Well, yeah, West Virginia. But the four big ones, I would think of Ohio, Iowa State because they're coming to Tucson.
Right, so Howard right now? Okay, yeah, I know, I know.
Oh and as far as I think, they're just goause the guards are gonna have to play a lot better. And it's obviously point guard by committee because the Sons were. That's why they're so much better because they have a really good point guard. Yeah, and you know, I don't they have a bunch of shooting guards and combo guards with Arizona.
Ariza doesn't have a point guard or a shooting guard. I mean, do they am I missing something.
No, No, you're right, you're right. But someone's gonna have to set the table. That's the that's the bottom. Why.
Yeah, and it's not Martinez. Martinez doesn't.
They got to be Timmy on the court and that's not possible, right, right, Okay, hen all right, you talk to you guys later.
Take some more calls. If you'd like to give us a quick call. Five two zero four one six Sety Rick, I didn't understand your text to me. If you want to give me a quick call, and I'll take the call, because he said eighty one eighty two that was a long type ago.
When they were that bad.
Yeah, they were that bad back then, but still eighty two eighty three with Ben lindsay, I don't know, we're not going to solve the world problem here, but but guess what, the next two games they'll get right, the win, win big, get right.
That's my point. And then the win, the point totals will get older. They can still score blah blah blah. Well, no, they're not playing against teams that are going to be in the tournament.
What's the point the point you got to sort these things out against those kind of teams. That you can still get the win against. You have to get your coordinations. You've got to get it sorted out in those easy cupcake games to make sure that you can get those wins.
Well, they can't screw those cupcakes exactly. Yeah, you're on the ar and I on the ball. Who's this Hi the Frank, Frank, give me your wisdom, Frank.
Okay, here you go get it. Getting your way from football and basketball for a little bit. I'm really happy and excited with the women's volleyball team that you of a yes, ten k winning streak. So I'll be heading out again this evening to see if they can win this championship.
Yeah. Did you listen to our conversation yesterday with the coach Stubbs?
Unfortunately not, I spent three hours three hours of the deathless chair.
So yeah, you should have listened to us.
Yeah, just a.
Short comment that you know, Uh, the one thing that that is lacking is more fans out of the stands. I mean, it's pretty ridiculous in these first three games that there's been no support from more fans. Of course, they have a loyal very.
Small Are you talking about Who's volleyball?
Oh?
Yeah, volleyball.
Okay, yeah, yesterday we talked to the coaches. She said she's hoping for four thousand tonight. Is it tomorrow? Tonight? Tonight? Tonight? Yeah, so four thousand.
I wasn't aware of that that there was a small crowd. Maybe they're acquired taste and people don't know. But yeah, we'll see tonight. Because what was it she's hoping for for tonight? What did you see the last couple of games?
Uh? A few hundred really few hundred?
Wowah, I think they said seven hundred for something, but then maybe that maybe you know, tickets that they that they give away and so and so forth. But in the stands, it's just, uh, you know, a few hundred.
So okay.
I hope that the fans will go out there and support them.
Yeah, makes sense. Well, let's see, she hoped for four thousand, maybe she can get three. Yeah, okay, thanks Frank.
All right, so get out there, Wildcat fans.
Yeah, thank you, thank you, Frank. Yeah, I appreciate it.
I think that really plays too.
You know.
The Olympic sports are really good. Yeah, we get stuck so many times on football and men's basketball, but we forget that we have other really incredible.
Sports teams here too, So no question we got another call. Yeah, this sick call. Hello, you're on the air and I on the ball.
Who's this shave?
It's Rick?
Rick?
What's the word?
Well, I was thinking of right at the end where Tony Mason and he got busted for giving out money out of the back of his car. And then you had Ben Lindsay.
Now I could have had the I see, I see what you're saying during that era.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I mean Arizona.
Lindsey was eighty eighty.
Three, Okay, but we had the residual I think Larry Smith and Er did scenario where Arizona was penalized a probation or whatever they had whatever they called it.
Get your point, I get your.
Yeah, it was very very a very unrestful scenario here in Southern Arizona Coronic game to Arizona. Now, having said that Arizona baseball was teaking along with Frank Cush up there or not Cush the coach up at a s U Arizona and area A s U had great baseball?
Was it Brock? Who's Who's Who's the baseball coach? I should know this.
And what it might have been Brock. We had Larry Uh, Jerry Candle, Jerry Stitt was the hitting coach, Jim Wing was the pitching coach. That was a great Arizona team. He had Bosburg. I want to say that was his might have been his freshman or sophomore year. I mean Arizona was that was a tough, tough baseball team and really enjoyable a lot. So but anyway, there goes there goes my sports illustrated moment.
Okay, okay, well thanks Rick, thanks for the call. I don't disagree with you in the eighty two eighty three kind of but still not that same moment in time horse exactly the same, because it's not it's like the book. There's a cloud over this program.
Oh Steve, We've been through this how many times over there? I've been going here for over sixty years. Since I was a kid, Arizona football.
Was up and down and up and down.
Arizona basketball was almost nonexistent until Freddie de Fox Snowden showed up and you brought in. You had Pete Fleming, you had you know, he was a little bit later. You had Bob Elliott. You had Corneil, Norman, Eric Money. I mean, you had some serious basketball talent, and those
three guys actually all went to the NBA. So Freddie Stoden put Arizona basketball on the map, and that was probably part of the reason that Luke came here because he had some of the talent left over from Fred Snowden.
Right.
Well, so I just got an email from eighty one two with stones last year, Smith's second year, and Jim Brock was the issue of baseball coach.
So we knew that. We knew that Snowden's last year was eighty one.
Eighty two, yeah, so it was so it was eighty eighty one whatever, So all right, buddy
Okay, thank you, well, yeah, thank you for We gotta go, right, we've got to go and come back with you breaking news, right, the good old days with d and now we have, oh technogene or pattern egen better