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Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Iron the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera in today with me is Blake Eagert from the Southern Arizona Sports Tourasament film Authority. Thanks for having me. We got that big doubt. Now if I don't did a ruptue, I'm good. We got Kobe winning the system, so don't blame me ifything bad happens. It's all on Kobe. This like you're fifth time by yourself. Yeah, it's sorting to get the
hang of it. Yeah, okay, here we go berserk here. Hey, good, good afternoon, everybody. Well it's Tuesday, not Monday. It feels like a Monday though, doesn't it does? It does? Which I'm glad as Tuesday. Did you watch your game last night? I did?
What did you think? I thought the team that should have won one? Yeah, I mean you're you're arguably the most talented team in college football should have come on top and did so.
Yeah, and by the by the margin, I think not maybe how it happened by the margin they won by, if not more. You know, they had that comfortable lead. They kind of like played backs of days ago whatever word, and then the guy fumbled before he fell and blah blah blah. Yeah, fourteen points or whatever it was. That's that's about right.
Yeah, I would think so, I mean you would hope for maybe a little bit more competitive National championship game.
Yeah, NFL. It was for like a second, yeah, for a quick second, yeah, quick second, but it was. It was Okay. I I'll wait for Jay when he comes on the show eventually to gloat with him, because everybody who follows us knows that we have this competition. And I pulled it off. So I won and lost the field goal, so I won. So that's for another day. So I gotta tell you.
So, my cousin, my so my my mom's side of the family lives in Cleveland and Akron area. Uh, and they're all Ohio state diehards, right yeah, And so when they lost to Michigan this year, our and gets in the group chat and he's like, oh, they got a fire and I was going way timeout. I said, So if they win a national champion he says, I don't care, you got to beat Michigan. I said, so, you don't care whether you win a national championship, you care more about beating Michigan.
And he's like, yeah, absolutely.
I was like, this is the dumbest conversation I've ever had, because you're talking to you of a football fans who would die for that opportunity.
Sure, sure, no, no no. I heard that conversation this morning. I think he was on Justin's show that they had somebody on and a guy who covers with somebody, and he said exactly that there's still some people, some people on that life still want him fire because of that he can't beat Michigan. He's seventy and ten I guess in the last whatever years he's been there, and a
few of them have been to Michigan. Of those ten, right, yeah, I think four or five and they say, okay, yeah, but you know, yeah, but yeah about what, there's no asterisk you won a national championship. Yeahan In fact, ESPN talked about that with him at the end. You know, sit and sit down, what can you do? I mean they won nine titles or eight titles three of the
last few years the last fifty years. You know how you know because you played and you coached, you know how difficult it is to win a national title.
Yeah, I've won two championships. I've been to the playoffs a lot, but it's so hard to win that final game of the season.
In what sense? What level?
I won?
Hi, A, we won a championship? High.
I won a winter league in Hawaii when I was still with the Mets, and then I won I guess three, I want a championship in the north Woods League.
So you want that? And when you didn't when you did, did you finish second at all? When? Oh, yeah, that on the field, it doesn't it? Did it diminish your worthiness because you didn't win it? I mean, that's a really good question. I'm a sicko.
So I sat there and watched the whole thing happen because I wanted to remember that feeling. Yeah, so it just had to I emphasize what I need to do the next day to get to that point. But yeah, you do, you do question yourself for especially like for me as the starting pitcher. So if I started that game like I started the championship game in Hawaii and we end winning, But you know, if we would have gone the other way, I would have felt the blame
on my shoulders, and sometimes rightfully so. But it's such a long season to carry that burden to the final. It's not There's so many things that could happen. So you followed your forty two. I sorry to tell you, Steve, we don't need to talk about age on the radio.
Well they wanted twenty seven years ago, twenty eight years ago. Now, I think it was NCAA til you were fourteen. She have some perspective. I know that Kobe doesn't, but Kwan does because he's followed all his life. So in your estimate, who would be the best or what team would be the best ever? At you of a? Could you have like a listen to it?
And I think we talked about this last time because we talked about me being at Putney's and everybody going crazy with ketchup and mustard and shooting all. It was like the weirdest celebration, but it was the coolest thing ever as a fourteen year old. So with the best basketball team, I don't listen. I still think I might be going. I still think that eighty eight team's pretty crazy. Yeah, but Miller's Aaron Gordon.
Wow, I just.
Think that's that's starting five. To me is arguably five of the greatest athletes in college basketball at that time.
Okay, so so they're not even in my top five I think.
Positionally Zeus, Brandon, Ashley, TJ McConnell, Nick Johnson, Nick Johnson, and Aaron Gordon.
That's not okay. I want to trump you. I want to try to trump you with this. These guys, Gilbert Luke, Richard Michael Wright, Lauren Woods, who, Jason Gardner. That's my tough one. So I'm talking team. I'm talking team absolutely. And the reason I asked this they finished second in the in the championship right then Austin Duke a couple of controversial calls, and to me, that was the best team ever here you threw me for a curve because I expect that as of you. But but they don't.
They don't. They're not talked about. They're not talked about. Yeah, we don't ever really bring that. And to me, they would beat ninety seven ninety eight given head to head. Yeah, all things equal.
I mean that run though, was crazy for the ninety seven Oh yeah, yeah, that was ridiculous.
Sure, sure, and they and you you know this, you catch light in the bottle and you right and you write it. Two thousand and one did that too, kind of but they were very good, ran into a very good Duke team and guppy. So so my point is, if you've finish second, does that diminish your you're worth? Yeah?
We have this, We have this question all the time and our family because of U A basketball, right. I mean, if we go out in the sweet sixteen, is that season? Is that season of failure? If you won you know, let's say you want a pre pre conference tournament, if you won the conference, if we won the conference tournament and you were ranked in the top ten all season or top you know eight, to me, to me, as you know, it's hard because you have to take a
step back of what the realistic outlook is. Sure for that for that year, in that team, that for that year, and for that team, that two thousand and one team, do they walk away as failures? You ran into one of the best college teams of all time in that Duke team. I don't think that season's a failure. No, no, it's not. But I think high expectations, like for me. If you look back at that mather Arin team, right, you had Terry Matharin. I mean that group is you're
looking at now, little Loco. I mean that's you have four NBA guys off that team. But they weren't mature enough and hadn't been haven't been there in the first year coach, Yeah, first year coach. I think if you go back, that's a to me, at least the Elite should be an Elite eight team.
Yeah, you know, yeah, and then they were kind of there until they weren't. Yeah, and they ran into a pretty good Houston. Houston team was really good. They should not have benified. I'm not sure why we're talking about this, but I was thinking about the Dore Dame and all that. But I like this discussion of of Arizona basket basketball. The player night.
Oh.
I run into a guy I don't know, I don't know, five, six, seven years ago, and we were talking about the failures, YadA, YadA, and if you say no, but they want to pack twelve title or packed title, packed title. They did very well. They finished you know whatever, it was twenty two and whatever. And I'm thinking, because the only I only say this because you brought this up. Okay, So now that your measurement is the PAC twelve title, are you talking about
Arizona basketball? They don't, they don't measure it by Pack twelve titles. Yeah.
It goes back to the same conversation we had last time, blue Blood, right, Yeah, you can't put yourself in a blue Blood conversation. And if the last time you went to the final four was two thousand and one, right, I mean you have to be able to show that
consistency and march matters, that's all it matters. And if you're comparing if it's an ACC or Big twelve title every year, that's a different story and a PAC twelve or PAC ten where you maybe have three teams ranked, Yeah, it's not the same makeup.
Yeah yeah, And how are you going to convince that you a fan about that?
You enjoy the ride, Steve, Right, You enjoy the ride, You enjoy the winning piece of it, you enjoy the makeup. Now, we talked about this last time as well. Now it's a different fan base, right, The Big twelve is a different fan base. Every place you go to play is a mikhale, Right, So how are we going to differ and share or differentialate ourselves from other teams and other fan bases. And that's really the evolution that we need to make at this point.
Right, And I get that because the quality of play in the Big twelve is much different than it than it was in the PA Pack ten Pack twelve. So there's that, and it may be a while, maybe a long while, before Arizona wins a Pack twelve regular season title.
Yeah, I mean with the Big twelve, I mean it's gonna be tough. You've got so many things that need to fall in place for that to happen. I mean you're talking about what was it, five teams or preseason ten y right, ranked in the top ten. I mean you look at Kansas, l Houston, yeah, twelve, And I mean you even look at teams that we just played. UCF is not a it's not a it's not a blowover team by any means. They're physical. They just beat somebody, didn't they or they played well.
So I think they lost by two to Houston, Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then West Virginia beats I would say, yeah, I mean that's kind of how goofy this this season is going to be, or has been, so far Arizona could lose again tonight. I don't think they will. We're gonna, in fact, we're gonna talk to Ryan Hanson at the four seventeen hour about tonight's game and just you know, ask him because he's close to it. Obviously he's been close to it for a long time. Just what the
hell does he think is going on? Because I think that's the question for seven straight games. I think you were with me last week. We talked, Well, they hey, they found their way, right, they're good now, they're good again.
Yeah.
And when I say they haven't played anybody, they haven't played any of quality to kind of determine how good you are. And then they lay the egg against Texas Tech. All right, but that stuff happens. That stuff happens. I'm gonna go Tan Gentle here. Uh, because you're a player and your coach, I'm a believer of every game is a season. How you play that day is how important.
How you play the next day is important because yesterday has nothing to It's like, really, the ball doesn't care what happened yesterday in spinning right now it's gonna land somewhere else. And did you feel that you have that philosophy where Okay, you pitched one day, Jimmy pitched the next day. Every game is a different season.
Yeah, I mean every five days, I got the ball in my hand, right, and I had to perform every five days, right, So I couldn't I couldn't think. And relievers have a really difficult time. I don't say they the most difficult time in sports. But you've got to have a goldfish memory. You've got to get rid of it in thirty seconds because you've got to reperform, and if you don't, that's your career. And every time a coach writes a lineup, that's his job, and that's it.
We we tend to not realize that. We try to put too many things into that. But every time a coach writes a lineup, it's his job at the end of the day. And every good team doesn't show up to be good that day. You know, Notre Dame is pretty good, but but enough that they weren't deserving. They ran up against a pretty good Ohio State team. So here's a good here's a good question. Who's the second? In your mind, who's the second best football team this year in college football? Was it Notre Dame.
Uh, good question. I would I would venture to guess apples to apples, I would take Oregon probably, Yeah, I would too.
I mean I just as soon as that matchup happened, I said, there's no way Organs being on. No, No, it's just a bad matchup, right, So that's what we were just talking about. Like, it also comes down to matchups, sure, a lot match ups. Time of they had already beaten beaten them. That's tough to be the time team twice they beat them at home, right the first time, that's worth some points.
They beat him at the last second or the final final score. Yeah, no, that would be my guests. Who's the second best basketball at U of A. Oh no, we can go into that too, but attend we have we have about two minutes, two minutes, two a half minutes. Okay, cool, cool, your second best team? Okay, let me ask you this question first. So, what what's what's the best decade for
you of a basketball out of ninety Okay I didn't hesitate. Yeah, no, I mean you're right, yeah, ninety four, ninety seven, ninety eight they were even better than ninety seven. They just layed an eight ninety nine. It was Jake and Terry's senior year. They weren't that good. Ninety five, ninety six to what to Sweet sixteen could have beat Kansas in the final final moments, they didn't. Ninety three first round lossninety two first one loss.
So you don't rank that Illinois loss up there. You know they were up with three minutes. Yeah, you were talking about loss.
Yeah, lost or team just that team and that loss because that team was good team. Yeah, the team had that team had some dysfunction on it, but they played really well in the tournament. Uh hasan loss the Salem Channing McMillan. McMillan, McLellan was Iguodala on that team, Okay left at Yeah, so yeah, yeah, no, no, no, this is the second or third best team. Who's your second team.
I think that eighty eight team is probably myself, Yes, I said in two thousand and one. I would change my answer two thousand and one. I still think that Gordon It's pretty solid, but I think that eighty eight team was was really good.
See.
The funny thing is I don't disagree with I'm gonna go two thousand and one. It's between ninety eight and two thousand and eighty eight, because eighty eight and then you're first born. Right now, you're first born. How do you not love your firstborn? Go in the final four? Good dudes. They had that mentality of let's kick the crap out of teams. They had a good NBA career for that team too, coming out of there. Uh so you're Gordon, I didn't. I haven't even thought about maybe
fifth or sixth. Here's what, here's a here's a caveat, here's the asterisk for me. I covered the team, but we were never close to any of his team. To Miller, yeah, but that's a conversation we had last time.
That's always it was always an you know, you're always six feet apart from there, like you can never get close. There was never a connection of community to team, and I think that takes away from that. I think that's where Lloyd's been so successful, as there's been some community.
There's been some community. Yeah, yeah, well because of him. It's like it's like a Last Night's coach, the coach from Freeman with Notre Dame. You may not like do to day. A lot of people don't like Notre because but you like them because of the coach.
Yeah, you love them because of the coach. Yeah, like the Lions we talked about you love them because of the coach.
Right right, And we'll talk about that pros because that was a really funky Weekenducky weekend. Okay, let's go. We're gonna talk to whom? Are we gonna talk to? Love? I love it talking about the last night's game and what's going on U of A with recruiting and stuff.
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I just realized that the first letter of every line of this review spells help me. It seems like everyone's a critic these days, blessing the world with our slightest opinions, all on our own mini platforms.
I have another user review here.
It's impossible to get into the lives of characters.
Nope, it's entirely possible. That's the profession of filmmaking.
Hate Batman, and the only thing we have left to criticize is criticism itself.
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Citizen Critic a podcast where we will critique the critics and review the reviews of everything from movies, music, and television, to toasters, toiletries and pink colors.
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Here's my review, Coldness and heartlessness are undermining today's suspense movies.
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Movie about bobsters or they don't Where we'll uncover some startling truths.
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He claiming mister Rogers has something to do with nine to eleven.
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Greg.
We'll go on a journey of self discovery. That of the Common is one of the greatest movies.
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But I immediately back on this and confront our own shameful opinions. Why should the pros who get at least they get paidful.
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Like my opinion on what was that band that I really got out in front of the new radical stun who raticus.
Yeah, I was like, I think this guy's the next team, but mostly it'll be a bunch of nonsense like this. Yeah, he was being he was a big let me bing it.
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Breaking down all they says it. Ohs, this is eye on the ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.
Going the ball here on Flexible fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rovera. You're blank eager, You're okay from this lace everywhere? Get up and shop cut. What's what's going on? Man? It's a dangerous and I'm a sensitive man. You saw my face. Do we have lamt love it on the phone. No, let's do this. I will have him call us. Go ahead and disconnecttion from that phone, and we'll have him call us once we uh, once we find him. Okay, So Blake, we can always talk about this topic. Were
you talking about teams again or no? What were we talking about before?
Yeah, we were talking about the greatest teams that come from you there in our own opinion, and I thought yours was wrong and you thought mine was wrong.
So I didn't like your order. Yeah you know, I didn't even think about you. Yeah.
Yeah, you said this will be the last time you ever come to the show. I was just thinking dead like that. And it's it's Cody right first time? Uh, Kobe, Kobe, Sorry, Kobe, I apologize. You can mispronounce my name all you want. So anyway, I was talking to Kobe before and we were talking about you're from New York, right, Uh, and my best friends from New York as well, and you guys both suffer from the same disease, which is being
a Jets fan and it's just so depressing. So what what's your outlook on the season now that you saw this last one and going to next season?
I think Greeney said the biggest failure in sports on it's on history, It's it's up there, the expectations they had and then the results. I guess you got to give Rogers one more year is what I would do, and then draft.
But so you're not you're not going into the mindset in this draft that you need to get I think draft a quarterback.
I do have him learned behind Rogers?
One, What are you gonna learn behind Rodgers? Because you know he doesn't want to teach them.
You well, I mean you can look at love for that, right, But I mean it's not can you blame Rogers because you get the same trem with far So it's not like he had a mentor to carry him.
Along, right right?
Right?
Yeah, I don't. I don't know. Oh unplugged us are you? Are we off that? He says he's got to get in this busy signal, So just make sure you're out of there or disconnected from that phone.
I just got a tax from one of my buddies. He's like, I go with the two thousand, two thousand and one team and you can't argue it. I mean, it's it's arguably the best team.
Yeah, the one I mentioned. Yeah, I do this for a living blake.
I know, you know, And I'm a fan who has opinions that nobody cares about.
But yet I tell people. But I don't know about you, but you're you're you know that that team is pretty good. And I did like a strange not a strange in our final year at at the Citizen. I put all the teams that were good together, maybe the top sixteen, and play it out, you know, yeah, who. Of course, everything has to be picture perfect because you have injuries and you have you know, day of game and intangibles and matchups like you talk about. But two thousand and
one was the best to me. It was a special team. It was. There was a lot of things that happened in that year. Remember Bobby Pass that time. Yeah, Loot was out for about two weeks. Jim Rosborough took over. They lost to Connecticut and last the second field goal. You know, so I don't know is the on of here? He hasn't called yet, So busy. Okay, how about this? That's strange.
What's the what's the U of a basketball team that outperformed the number one team that most outperformed in your mind?
Wow, overperformed? Yeah I would. I'll just tell you.
I think it's a Derek Williams team with melon right getting to the Alleitiate and losing to Yukon. They go on to winnin Natty like it was unheard of, and then puts him into the number two, I mean gets drapped in number two. I mean, it's a really good team when you in hindsight, but at that time, I think I think they outperformed what everybody's expectations were.
For sure.
That's a good one. That's a real good one. Oh God.
Mostly in the loop time, it was kind of the underperformed. Yeah, and you had a lot of first round and second round losses.
Right, wow, even maybe even the one you refer to with with Slim and the Yeah, they may not have been able to get there, but they got there. They beat Ole Clone State and maybe in the last second shot. Yeah, that's a good point.
I just think that I look at that team with such a disappointing loss against Illinois that maybe I don't put him that same category.
But you're not wrong about that by anymore. That was just that would that had to be one of the worst losses in the history. Yeah. I don't know if you ever were in eighty nine. I was seven, so you wouldn't remember this or that eighty nine lost to Vegas when when they tried went over. Yeah, just guess that's seven years old you pay attention to. I mean, that's why I loved the Cubs and I loved juve basketball.
Yeah, we're still trying to figure out how to work a rotary phone in here, but it's just.
Not popping up. I don't know why it's not popping up here. Try calling me again. Okay, let's try calling him again and see if we can get him. Okay, I won't tell you the number on the air. So h that's strange.
So what it comes? Yeah, I guess you've had a hard life. I mean, won in World Series in twenty sixteen. My dad and I got to go to the games. So one time it was yeah, like I said the other day to that, I said, you're a fan no matter what, right, and yeah, we've had some we've had some tough times.
Always next year, right.
Do this.
Take that?
Okay, we'll see. This is make for great radio on these calls that are aren't getting out there. Yeah, but it's part of the process. Yeah, enjoy the process, under the process. Honor the process, Trust the process, Honor the process. If this doesn't work, I'll get to our technician to come in and maybe look at it and see what happens. I'll let them know. We'll get them on the second. On the other hand, go ahead and hang up and
we'll be fine. All right. That was exciting radio. Yeah, but we'll talk to we'll try to get ahold of them. Three forty see, I did it again. I mean you get you slippers or drag? Stop dragging? Yeah, by knuckles. Okay, So if you want to talk a little bit more, we'll wait for love month to talk about last night's game. But basketball, we'll talked with Rhino on the other side. Are you surprised? Are you not surprised about what happened last week?
I mean I'm a little surprised, but I also know this team. They get away from how they were playing. So I mean, call him again because he heard us. He's just not on the phone. I'm not sure what's going on with the phone ahead it's technology. No, Yeah, I'll keep I think I can keep that air. Which story you want me to tell about my past? So yeah, I mean I'm not surprised about it. I think you get the team out of the way they move, right, I mean, uh, they get away from playing team basketball.
You look at the assists in that margin getting out rebounded. It was something that you didn't see in the prior seven games. So uh, it does show weakness. But at the same time, I'm not pulling I'm not pushing a panic button at all. I think if I looked at eight games ago and said we're going to be seven and one at this point, I'd be pretty happy about it, especially with the start of the Big Twelve.
Yeah, well seven, they're six and one right six months five on one because they went five straight and then they and then they lost. Because I think would be seven if they win. They're like a nine point favorite tonight. Yeah, I mean, it's doesn't mean they're gonna win. It doesn't mean they're gonna win.
But you said it before, this is it's one of those categories of the lower tier Big twelve program that you should be able to beat. I thought Texas Tech is a tough place to go in and play as well. Yeah, you know, and they got pushed around a little bit when they shouldn't have U and the two guys that we talked about a lot is Visar didn't have the game that you're expecting them to have and dolorso was pretty much a no show. Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, yeah, I.
Don't know what's going to want to say, we'll get them at the other set.
You can have them text converse stations and I'll just do his voice. Yeah, and you took some bad shots down the stretch, right, I mean, you're if you stayed inside out, you're you're you're you're keeping the game within one to three points there with five minutes left, you've got a chance. And you start, you start going against what you were actually doing well and start shooting threes. And I mean, I I don't I don't knock like a guy like de La orso when they had the
ball move they had to get open. But you've got to hit, and you've got some You've got to knock down some of those shots.
So to that point, that'sch let me ask you a quick question. Yeah, given who who needs to show up? Who needs to show up? If you're not named Love or Bradley or or kJ like you need you, who do you need to show up? You gotta have visa show up. I was gonna say, besides you, besides those four because you're not getting much from Milwauka. You're just not and you're not getting anything from Townson.
I think a WAKA might be outperforming what our expectations are at this point.
And maybe that's my own personal thing.
But I thought, I thought, I think his improvement over the last five to six game stretch is there. I mean he I thought for what it was, he played well in the in the minutes that he had on the court, because if we saw was in foul, trouble, trouble. But I think a guy like Doloreso needs to hit some shots because it creates it creates a better offensive flow, and that's really what you need. You also just need a guy to be unselfish and start passing the ball
a little bit more. Because we talked about it. You look at that assistant margin margin, assist margin last game. It's nowhere near what we've been or averaging. And the team we've become is that's not us. We're not We're not a one on one team. And then shots haven't been falling. So you need those.
You gotta, Yeah, you gotta find out the most you need better play obviously from from love. You need a lot of different things.
He's an All American, you need to you need him to act like an All American. We don't need him to average twenty five points to thirty points, but he's a guy that needs to knock down.
What do you what do you tell me? What do you mean by act? He needs to be more of a leader on the floor. Do you think that he's Do you think this team right now looks to him?
No?
Yeah, And that's what you need. You get all American on the shore. I mean, you're looking at the teams that we've lost to or even gone down the stretch. They have a dude. There's a dude in that game.
Who is the dude?
Last game, they don't have a dude. They don't have a dude. So it's got to be a team effort. When you saw it last you saw it last game. When it's not falling, you got to have one guy that says, you know, after give me the ball.
That's that's the funny thing. I asked Todd me about that. Do you have a leader on this team? This was four months ago, four weeks ago, and maybe even less, And he says no, But you know, we're still looking and it could be by committee. But even that's not happening. I think the only guy that would be described as that is Bradley, But he's not one hundred percent the leader all the time, even though he has the ball
in his hands all the time. But I would trust him more than I would trust anybody on that team.
Yeah, and I think he finds a way to get buckets, right, I mean, yeah, he can drive, he can take a jumper, he finds open looks. That's it, I think right now, since we're having this conversation, that's a guy I'm most comfortable with having the ball in his hand fifteen seconds.
Left in the game, right, right, Usually get a foul, get to the basket. He hit a jumper, He makes tough shots, makes tough shots and creates to help. Yeah. But Caleb, it's I don't know how much money he's making, but this has been on the internet and probably some of the boards you read that he's getting paid overpaid for what he's worth or what he's doing.
Yeah, I mean I think in this day in IL, right, you're going to treat it like a business, because it is a business.
It is a business. What let me ask you to before you say, are they worthy of what we're doing right now? Be criticized given they are paid now not just party, not what you make, partly not what I make, probably a lot more than what you make and what I make Steve, that's a great question, because my defense in the past has always been like, these are student athletes. They're not getting paid.
Now you're getting you're you're getting paid, right, You're making a living, You're supporting your family, your immediate family, sometimes your secondary family. I think it's fair to say that you can get treated as a professional athlete at this point critical game. I think so, I mean, I think I think you still have to take in the maturity factor. So, right, you're still talking about seventeen to twenty one, twenty two year olds, but now it's seventeen to twenty six year olds.
Now, well, when you were when you were in the minor leagues, you were what twenty twenty twenty one.
I was twenty two, But I mean as a college athlete, yeah, I understand that perspective.
Okay, so many of the kids that you were, you're playing against and with, did not go to college. They're right, I mean, and now the seventeen as another are proach right and not making what these kids are making. And were they criticized although the media probably wasn't following them, like yeah, not at that level. I mean, that didn't really still start to Clay I mean, I won't take that back. I mean short season in Brooklyn when that was you had a lot of media on hand, and
they were i mean, it's New York. You're still playing in New York. And then were they criticized Oh yeah, well because you're in New York. Yeah, you're in Brooklyn. The demographics were the at least the not democratic. The sites yeah, don't change. I mean they changed, but they're not really in the circumstances areting different. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's a really tough there's there's I'm like split in the middle on that because because baseball.
I'm not saying you have to coddle these athletes by any means, and they should. They need to be accountable for the mistakes they're making. But I think you also have to give them a little bit more leeway. They're not professor, they're not playing in a professional sport. They're playing a collegiate sport getting paid as a professional.
Well, are you think, okay, here, let me be your your devil's advocate im with that? Times have changed? Are you thinking from pre ni L or post ni L, because there's there's a mark there that's totally different. Okay, you gotta you know they're they're on stipend. Now they're now they're buying nice things.
Yeah, yeah, I mean now they're you know, you're you're looking at maybe sometimes six to seven figures depending on what it is. Right, Uh, you're probably right. My mindset's still in that pre and ils.
Yeah. And I don't and I don't disagree with you there. Yeah, And I'm not trying to defend what I write, will write, or how I think. But you know, what's the heavy is heavy is hit the head that hoars the ground or you know, you're much given as much as expected heavy as I had. Yeah, So here we are. Yeah, and then maybe you're just as good as you are going to be and that's as good as.
Yeah, maybe you're your ceiling. But if that's your ceiling, you better be you better be really good, right, you better be as good as your ceiling can be. Look at McConnell, Right, everybody said that's a ceiling, right, but he was the best at that ceiling and game in game out found ways if he wasn't shooting well, he's passing well. If he's not passing well, he's defending well. Like there's just there's fighting, there's fine. You gotta find
a way. And that's that's where I thought this team had done really well for that stretch, is a finding ways. We go back to this and it's probably been talked about and nausingham, but that first half against Baylor, right, I mean, that's arguably the best U basketball first half I've seen in ten years.
Would you argue with that? I mean, defensive effort, it was pretty good, It was pretty good. I thought some some of that too. Yeah, who is so like? You know that team is that team is capable people of being that team.
But how do you get him in? And Tommy said this, how do you get him to the point where it's consistency. You can't be highs and lows. Just find that middle ground where you're gonna go out and grind and grind.
And the good thing, Blake is I have somebody who would know something about it in the studio right now. You're a former player, you're a former coach. And one of the things I learned, if anything I've learned in this business, in my business is emotions and getting up for games, getting challenged. You're told you're not worth it, that team's going to crush you. Teams get up for those teams, right, there was a purpose why he said. We saw the week before he was saying this ain't
gonna work. He got on them. That might have been all psychological, We're gonna suck if you don't get better, or you gotta be physical bluff. The next game they played out of their mind and they did. Yeah, absolutely right, So if you could bottle up, I'm sure there are days when you didn't feel like pitching, but you guess what you had to do that day? You had to pitch.
And there were days where I name a couple of games, and then then there were days wh when you were the underdog against the Yankees or whoever you played, and you pitched out of your mind. You found something within. Not every day you're gonna find something within. That's why the every game is the season type of thing. For me, how you play that day matters. Am I inaccurate or am I accurate?
And I think that's how we're going to be judged, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, So that day with Baylor, or at least that half or thirty five or seventy the game, they played great, great, And you're saying this team is capable of doing a lot, and then you see the last few minutes.
You think, oh crap, what the hell? Yeah, I mean it's a focused level.
Right, you lose focus and you see this with this team, Right, we're here, we've already done it. You lose focus in the last five minutes, and you see how fast that game can change. Cincinnati gained the same way West Virginia to extant. I mean, so the tell tale of a good sign is how to nip that in the butt as soon as you possibly can or at least recognize it. And I think that's where I struggle with this team, putting them in the top tier. I think they're a
really good middle tier team. I think they have the capability when they play unselfishly to be in that top tier. But I don't think they recognize those actions fast enough and they're able to course correct.
The funny thing about is we talk about this all day over the weekend. After they lost on Thursday, one of one of the callers, one of my friends, sent me a note. He says, well, they'll learn from this, And I'm thinking, and I see this every year, how many learning lessons do you have to have before you learn. It's every game you get to come up against the same stuff and either corrected or not corrected, or the other team has some say in this because they're pretty
damn good. And it's not about fixing it or learning from it. It's just doing what needs to be done. You know. It's like your shortstop. I'm sure he's muffed the ground ball or two and he says, well, you'll learn next time. Sometimes it's not learning. It's just opportunity that you didn't have, or something you have with the ball, or took a bad hop, or you just had the bad It's not about learning. You've been doing this all your life.
I mean as human though, right, so exactly so, I still find myself and I've had this conversation a ton of times with myself, is that, uh, there's a bit of insanity in me because I repeat the same mistake and you are who you are, but I expect a different result.
Yeah. I hate that.
Saying I am who I am because I think you can course correct at some point, and you don't really fully know who you are until you acknowledge there's more potential and soulf If you get.
Tired of getting hit in the head a few Times's I got a bunch of plenty of times you start protecting that there? Yeah, yeah, okay, let's take a break. Maybe we'll get ahold little monto. Le's see what's up with these phones. If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio AP. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Why on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. You're Blake Eager. Got Kobe here now on the phone. Finally we got Lamont love it. How were you? Lamont? Do you have that little black long you want them on? Kobe? Don't kill me? Kobe?
Well, we had it, folks, So I did hear it? We're not crazy here? So he was on the phone. I heard his voice. It was buttery smooth. I was still excited to hear him.
He's right, this is.
There.
Shoot, what's going on here?
This is not right?
Oh, the technology it's finest.
This hasn't happened in a while. I used to do this by myself. So are you here? Not here? That's not on right there, So they gotta calibrate what's going on. Don't don't touch those ones.
I've got a pretty solid five minute stand up act if you guys needed me to like take over for some dead air.
Are you there, mister Lamont? This is bizarre there. We're gonna have to Lamont. We don't have to get ahold of you tomorrow with this mess and see what's going on there? He is, but mind you there?
Yeah, I'm still here, like.
We got it. It was good.
It was gonna be a really bad Verizon commercial if we can't get him on.
So No, that's great, that's great, thank you. Okay, that's strange. We just couldn't hear you. Hey, just real quick, because you've been around the we're discussing Blink and I. Who's the best basketball team that you've seen at Ua? Because you've been here forever.
Oh wow, I would say I'd probably say my freshman year was my freshman year somewhere. It's the year that had Chris Mills.
Oh wow. No, in fact, that was that's like night were you nighty one ninety one ninety two?
Yeah, yeah, because I graduated high school in eighty nine, so I was. I was at the U of A when when Chris was there. Yeah, okay, team to me was was just loaded. I don't know how they lost load.
Well, they won. They went seventeen to one in the in the league. They almost went undefeated in the league, and they lost to Santa Clara. That was the Senate Santa Clara loss. So thanks for bringing up bad memories.
I remember meeting Mills in the Fries grocery store and I was a diehard, right, I mean I was young then, but that was, like, I still one of my like core memories of meeting an athlete at that point in my life and meeting him in Fry. He was shopping in the frozen food section. I was like, hey, mister Mesn. He's like he picked me up. Yeah, there's a giant human though.
Yeah, yeah, and he's probably guys to me the most underrated or underappreciated ex cat. Ever, Yeah, I wouldn't argue that at all. Yeah, because he was pretty damn good. Okay, okay, good good good, good pool, good pool. Hey, what did you see last night's game?
I did, I did. It was it was a really good game, very very well played game.
Uh the team that should have won one.
I think so. I think so. I felt like they definitely had more talent. I thought Notre Dame played their hearts out, but I just think that they just didn't have enough on the offensive side and involved and yet still they still messed to get it down to a one score late in the game. But I just you know, I think at this at this uh, this day and age,
you have to be better on offense. I think they need to take the approach like that Nick Saban took later in his career, because you remember Nick Sable used to kind of be like Notre Dame. They were playing vicious defense and then just try to run the ball, but but not really explosive on offense. And then he had a change of heart and started really getting some great receivers, probably rough around the time when he signed Toua to his squad, and that's what Notre Dame's approach
needs to be. They need to get get you know, it's great to be going to run the wall, but you still need to be able to throw it and you need to be on any balance when you get to that level, to the top level, you know, when you're trying to win a championship, but you need to be able to do everything.
Lamont, this is Blake Eager. Hey, did you do you think this is a start of a I don't want to say dynasty by any means with Notre Dame and that's not the right word because you have to win, but a long lasting effect of them being a top tier program year in, year out. I know they had that a little bit with Kelly obviously, but I mean they've been they've been pretty good for a while now. We haven't seen that that kind of run with Notre Dame in a long time.
It's possible. I mean, you know that they have the resources there and this is a new day and age, and they just pocketed twenty mili the last night, so I would say absolutely. And I really like their coach. I mean, he's yeah movement and he got some jobs, you know, right away, and he's got those guys playing hard. If he can maintain that same time with the culture and just continue to get some players, and I mean, you can definitely win it.
So this may be a dumb, naive, dumb question, but Arizona dreams of being in this spot right Last year they played at Oklahoma. They plaid Oklahoma in the in the Bowl in San Antonio. Do you think do you think if they caught lightning in a bottle or whatever, they could eventually make a run at something like this.
It's not it's not impossible. I mean, you know, it's crazy as it sounds. We did it. You know, the team that we had when we beat Oklahoma. I mean that team could you know, I think they could have done a little damage. They could have made some made some noise late in the season. They're playing running pretty well late in the year, just like an issue this year, and you know they kind of caught fire and got a bit of a run. I mean, it can happen.
You just have to have you know, you got I think it's you can get the right guy, that quarterback, get get get a you know, a nasty defense.
You have a chance.
I mean, anybody can catch it because especially you know, when we're talking about playoffs, because before it was you just had to be perfect the whole year. But you just have to find a way to get in to get in, and it could be.
Yeah, yeah, we'll see. Uh now, let's talk because we don't have a whole lot of time with you talking about you of a you like what's happening, what you're seeing I do.
I feel like they kind of got some new life, you know. I feel like they you know, they gave him some resources and we had a little bit of time. I think the first time around, I really felt like they didn't have really I don't think they had a good crack at it. I mean, you know, everybody got an impression of what the team was going to be. But I really feel like this time around, I mean, it's show. It seems like they really focused on trying to get some needs met and they seem to have
a direction and a focus. And I really like the changes that made on the staff. I mean, I think that they need he's going to be a superstar. I think he's gonna be really good. I've liked everything I've seen from him, and I started watching, you know, Marshall games is to try to get a feel for, you know, the direction and what he wants to do, and that
I just like everything I've seen from him. And he's a quarterback, he's a quarterback coach, an ex quarterback, and you know it comes from that Mike Boots coaching treats and gotta be excited there. And then I just like to change. I love that they got you know, Joe Salada back on the staff. I just think that's going to pay some real dividends and recruiting, particularly in the Polynesian community. And he's just he's kind of been just
a guy there. I mean, he's a man back. If he goes back to the Islands and goes with Samoa, I mean's from He's from Samoa. He needs to be the legend out there. So that could bake some dividends for Arizona on the defensive front and getting this big guys up front, and I just yeah, and Danny Gonzalez, that's has got a great reputation in the coaching community and everywhere he's coached the corner he's done a nice job. So it's all about getting the right pieces together. They
can get the right pieces together. You know, anything can happen.
I was gonna ask we had Brian last week and I didn't ask him this question because, uh, we just ran out of time. And and I know Brian have traveled with Brian for a long long time. And when you're covering a good team and doing what you guys do, uh, it kind of rubs off on you because you're identified by that team. Is that the case with you? When things are going really well like the previous year, Uh,
you know, people ask you questions. God, it's so fun watch his team and you kind of maybe even have a different step because you're kind of with the team, and then last year you didn't have that step, and people are what the hell's going on?
Yeah, that's that's pretty accurate. I mean, I think at the end of the day, we're all fans. I mean I am. I can't speak for everybody else, but I mean I'm a fan too as much as I mean, you know, I kind of believe the colors, and so when the team is doing well, you know it is I'm I'm definitely it's fun. There's probably doesn't go by that I don't think about the team and I'm playing you know, uh, I'm actin like I'm a general manager, and so I was just thinking about moves on the
team and think about how they can get better. So I'm thrilled when the team is good and when it looks like, you know, they can they can make some noise nationally. I really just you know, I wanted to see this guy get through the Rose Wolte before my life is over. Yeah, I don't I think of change. Who knows now, it's kind of gee. I was feeling. There's a few times where I was like, you know, when rich Rod was here and we had some really
good years, I'm like, this could happen. And then when when Jed you know, came in last year they were doing it, I was like, could you know, another year or two we could get there, and and everything college football just blew up. So I don't know, but I still, you know, I'm holding I hope that they can they can do something great.
Yeah, I mean we were talking about a little bit off air, But the change with Nil and how college athletes are looked upon nowadays is I mean, they are professional athletes because they're getting paid in that sense. I thought Fish in his small time here did change the face of U of A football from an entertainment standpoint and was able to connect with communities in our younger
generation and younger population from an entertainments factor. Do you think you think Brennan's going to try to maintain that as he moves forward? Is that is that kind of the the level that we need to maintain at the U of A to create a larger sense of culture in our community.
I think that, you know, you may get there differently. I don't think you know, you'd be silly to try to act like Jets because Jenni Fish is Jeen Fish. He's got that personality that you know that's it's pretty dynamic in terms of as a showman. You know, I don't see that Britain, this bees showman. But if you can find a way to win games, it doesn't matter about being a showman. It matters about winning. At the end of the day, if you're if you're if you're
boring his hey, can you win ten games? This community is going to burse you like nobody's business. So I just think that, you know, at the end of the day, it's just about building the team and and he's proven in the past that he can. He can do that last year, you know, this one season, but I don't
think that that defined him. And the good thing is the good news is he has an opportunity to define what what his uh his legacy is going to be here at the U of A. And so I'm just interested to you know, the big final wall and just watch it kind of come together. I'm obviously hopeful and I think he does good things. So we'll see, I mean, we'll see medicon beck and watching and see how it comes together.
So we have about thirty seconds. So just to go back to your question, my question to you and your statement. So if it's not the Rose Bull, what's the what's the Mendoza line? Now, what are you hoping for?
I'm thinking to do, like as you did last year, get to the playoffs.
Man.
I feel like you just got to get in there, you know, try to try to win your conference and in the way our common is set up. Man, anybody can do it, especially with a transfer port on it. Every year is a new year, so you know, your your goal's got to be when your whin your league first and from there, you know, get to the playoffs. So that's the new that's the new you know, Rose Bull now for us, you know, it's a new benchmark.
Okay, No, that's good. That's a good one. I hope that's easier than the other one. Yeah, atable, Thanks Lemon, thanks for hanging with us. Yeah we got to go. Thank you, guys. Does Lemon love it from the other station? Twelve ninety does a big drop as the color analyst. So let's take a break. Come here, and then you've got some breaking news maybe, Okay, cool,