This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services insure your most prized possessions.
Good enough for you to everybody.
Welcome to Iron the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera.
In with me today is Blake Eager from the Southern Arizona Sports Tourism and Film Authority.
I'm glad you say that, and we got our boy with less training wheels on signor what you make Kobe.
I wanted I wanted you to say it. Okay, Hey, what the hell did you guys do last night? I know where I was at the same place you guys were at, or you were at the game. I was at the game, yeah last night. Yeah. Uh, First, you blake what you just did for the whole game because you saw some people leaving them.
Yeah, we don't listen.
We stay no matter what happens, and then we wait till everybody leaves because we've got my uncle, my dad, so we've got I.
Know these fans, and I know these fans. I'm thinking, what the hell are you guys doing? Unbelievable but to their to their credit or whatever, what if you were ESPN the gauge of percentage to win with five seconds left, what did you give them? What would you give them to win the game? I would think you're two percent. There's no way they're winning that game. There's no way they're winning that game.
Okay, listen, five seconds now, Henry's they're down by three misses a second free throw purposely of course, puss. They want to pick the rebounds to put it back, and so does not happen. They found the other dude and by two. Right now, he hits two free throws at two position, game game over. He can't, right, so he hits his first one, it's his second one, it's the second one second one, and all the circumstances that had
happened happened. There's there's a two percent chance, maybe a three percent, Yes, so they win that game with.
Five seconds left.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm not a statician, but uh, that's a very low percentage. I mean, nearly impossible at that point.
And then how did you react to were you like at the school guy? I went crazy?
I some random guy in front of him, grabbing his shirt and shaking him, throwing them around and there's Iowa State fans all by us.
Could you they traveled?
Well?
Did you believe that?
You know?
I was sitting next to Brian Peterson, one of my regular guests, and I'm thinking, where do these guys come from? And I'm thinking that have you gone to a lot of the games? Are all the games home games?
Yeah? I have?
Yeah, Georgia, georg George, Greg Cannon, Grand Canyon. Do you remember that game with fans? They had a lot of fans.
They did.
I don't think they rivaled these guys, No, because they had younger kids and they had a lot of vocals.
Yeah, this crowd last night from Iowa State was holy crap.
I know.
And they were sitting all around us. So I was asking them the questions because I thought maybe they were just snowbirds. There was, I mean a good majority of them were from AIMS and they traveled out for the game.
Which was fantastic because they were I would say about a thousand people.
Oh yeah, they were loud. There were good over them, no question.
Because I lived in Iowa for a while, so I was able to have that conversation with him. So, oh, okay, you talked to you talked I yeah, I was. I lived in Waterloo, so I played summer baseball out there for two summers.
Okay, how does that sound that those conversations when you talk.
To one Yeah, let's put you want a role play on their go ahead? Okay, so I know. I just I asked him if the where they're from.
They said Aims and then I said, oh, I used to live in Waterloo, and then that's pretty much.
I say, how you doing? But yeah, I mean I don't pick up I.
Mean, yeah, it's a there's no food from Iowa that I'm like trying to talk about.
You don't talk about corn? Not really? Well, they they they got in your your reaction there, senor amazing. Probably the best game I've ever been to was did you behave yourselves? You guys in that in that area? Gosh, high five and random students? Yeah, meet a cute girl, no codysing? Alrighty the radiog he's not age? Yeah, okay, no? Cool?
Oh cool, great game. Fantastic game. I've been to a lot of them at home. I've this maybe ten in the last thirty five years, and most of them because of COVID.
We got a call, got a call. Hello, you're on the air. Who's this?
This is Jay?
You got J call J.
How was your night last night? Did you enjoy your night?
Mine went wild into the morning.
Uh for sure.
Uh, you know got home probably a little after midnight. I'm sure home before you got home. But I was so wound up.
I know, I saw two o'clock in the morning on my on my clock, and then had to be up at five thirty this morning.
So it's been a long day with a long night and a long day.
But then how many times I watched the climp on the shot.
I've probably seen it fifty times.
Well what are you looking for?
You know what?
The explosion of sound.
That that's what got me more than anything, because.
You know, I you know, when you're sitting there with two point two.
Seconds left and you know the other guys are shooting free throws, you've lost the game. Yeah, And while nobody left, the place was pretty quiet. When they brought the ball in, there was a little bit of a buzz, and so going from no noise.
To the explosion of sound that happened from the ball went in, I can't remember you know that extreme, you know, it's been loud in machaale before it was really loud.
Last night, yeah, it was, but to go from.
Nothing to that was crazy. I couldn't believe the sound, and I keep watching it for that.
I keep just listening to the sound of that.
Well, because I don't think you would have you would have been able to watch it live.
You personally, Yeah, in.
That instance, I do. Because there was two point two seconds left.
So you know, normally I'm looking at.
At my computers, things are happening, but with two point two seconds left, there's not a lot that can happen in there. So I watched the play because then I I'll input it after I see what okay, okay. So I actually saw the shot and actually I thought we had a pretty.
Good angle where we sat.
Yeah, right, I know about you.
But it went up and I thought that's got a shot.
And I didn't think I didn't know it was in, but I'm.
Like, that's got a shot to go in, and it did.
Well, you and I on the side.
I did get to see it.
Yeah, so you and me are right on the same line. I'm just a seat lower than you. So I felt the same way. I really didn't know. Uh, I thought, uh uh, there were some people leaving though. I saw them, and so did Kal because he talked to that. He said, he said, well, you know they left, but I we still love our fans.
No.
What I'm thinking just by visual and you you're talking sound, I'm taking visual. The Florida game, Uh you know that did that one day. Our clients hit that shot and that was the winner. I thought it was more more loud and more crazy because just it was the game winner, not a game tire. Yeah, but and that in that one, Steve, you remember, the noise was it was about what, you know, a couple of minutes of just total noise as eresone who came back, you know to win that game.
It was never quiet in that period of time. You were just loud and it stayed loud.
Yeah, you're right, You're right this time. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. You so last that was like a build up. The other night it was or the other game was just a continuous anxious, anxious, anxious maybe we're going to pull this off.
Yeah.
You know, I've been sitting here really since last night trying to think of Okay, you know, I've been going to games in MacHale for fifty years. You know, since I was in high school and trying to think of, Okay, which games did I see have I witnessed that were either better or in the same neighborhood as that game last night?
And I don't think I can come up with more than three or four.
Yeah, and and you know, and when you take in you got to take into consideration a.
Lot of things, like you know, I you know, I was going through lists of you know, top moments of machail. You know, they talk about Sean Elliott breaking the scoring record, you know, uh, the the uh, the Derek Williams block against Washington, stuff like that.
For there were moments, but.
This game from start to finish was an incredible game.
We were talking about what.
Incredible game and you know, when they're going to shoot those free throws the two point two seconds, were like, uh, this was such a good game.
You sure hate this. Here is on the loop.
Oh yeah, yeah, they did it.
I asked Blake here what he thought the percentage was when uh, when Henry went to the to the line, what would you have given him?
I said two or three percent?
Yeah, No more than that, I mean how many Okay, the percentage you give him is how many.
Times in a hundred does he make that shot? And I'm talking about Lloyd from catching the pass and shooting him on the run with a guy in his face.
How many times out of one hundred is he going to make that?
Maybe twice? Oh, you know, you're talking about a two percent shot.
To hit that.
And you know who's the funny thing. That's what I thought, who's the funny thing? Blake and Jay?
Uh.
He's known to be a good shooter.
Right, he couldn't hit a twenty two footer to save his life, but he hit a fifty five footer to continuous life.
I mean he had three wide open looks before that.
So I mean you're looking in one of his worst games of the year to turn into arguably his best game of the year in a span of five minutes and two seconds, right right, Sorry, Jake?
Yeah, Well, he was a topic. He was a topic of conversation among us the stat crew through the whole.
Game and just saying, you know what, the fans think that.
Caleb Love is a great shooter, and they get mad when she doesn't shoot great.
He's not a great shooter. He's what a thirty thirty one percent three point shooter.
Is this year.
That's what he is.
Yeah, and to expect more than that from him after five years in college basketball, it's crazy.
And these people who are upset that he doesn't shoot better, he shoots the way he's always shot.
Yeah, you know, not he was terrible. Yeah, he was one for ten at a time. Yeah, he won for tenants of yeah, and then he got fired.
You know.
And yeah, we were talking during the game, during the earlier in the game when you.
Know it was a dog fight. I mean, it was a great game from start to finish that you know, nobody took charge of the game.
You had the sixteen to nothing arison a run, but you know, Iowa State immediately turned that around on him at the end of the second first half and started the second half and he raced that.
It was a great game from start to finish.
It was two really good teams just going at it.
You know, just a dogfight of a game. And you know in the first effort thing that Caleb love or or del orso needs to have a great game if they're going to win this game, and neither was having a great game all the way.
To the are S.
Apparently they played in the second half because.
He just couldn't he couldn't you know, he could handle the speed of the of the defense.
Yeah, okay, I wanted to do historically.
Historically see historically this is you know, I don't know how many hundreds.
Of games I've been to historically. This is right now.
I put it, you know, top five, top five games. You know. I think of you know, I think of the UCLA game in seventy nine Fred Stoden's team to beat Ucla.
I think of the mcclutch shot. Right again, that was an Oregon State team.
That was when Oregon State was v team in the in the Pac twelve back ten. Arizona was just trying to establish it stuff.
I was at that game as a fan.
That was an incredible game, you know, I think of the There's two UCLA games that come to mind.
The one where ling Stardom hit a.
Three pointer, you know, right, it just walked up from about eighty five feet and hit a three pointer at what maybe.
Thirty feet a three pointer. And then there was another UCLA game. I think Arizona was down eighteen points in the second half against UCLA. Yes, I think I think I'm changing fory was on that team. I can't I couldn't figure out what year that was, and they came back and won that game.
It was nineteen twenty twenty two, because I wouldn't no, yeah, yeah, yeah, twenty twelve two or two O two o two.
OK, yeah, because I remember I just remember Chandy Fry, you know he hit the gold ahead basket in that game.
Yeah. So those and then and then those that game.
I think one that you'll remember the two two overtime ninety.
One Arizona Duke game.
Yeah right, Matt Mulebox shaves the ball, they you know, you know, get a basket, you know all that stuff.
Those are the only games I could think of that even come close now, that Florida game.
Yeah.
But when you add in the meaning of that game versus the meaning of these other.
Games, you know that were conference games and and whatnot, I think.
It's just a notch below. This was such a big game last night.
You forgot the Stanford game Lootonah when.
They stormed the court, they stormed the court, when.
Yeah, they stormed the court. That again, a meaningful game, But you know that was at a time that when you didn't feel like Arizona should be taking.
Storming the corn.
Against anybody, especially Stanford, right, I mean Stanford was.
Good, they were they number two and number two at the time or something like that country.
But but Arizona was that level of you know, of team and yeah, I guess you could throw that one in there, but this is this is the neighborhood that this game last night was in, you know, after the game was in there, trying to think of historically, where does this game set and it's it's up in that.
Up in that realm.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's one of my top five, no questions, because I started in ninety one. You talked about the Duke games and I wasn't here from a clutch, but all those games, the Duke, the Duke, Yeah, you know, the.
The Arizona Duke came in the eighty seven eighty eight season, you know, the fest of all classic game, you know. But I mean maybe that's another one because the meaning of that game was huge and that Arizona was about to become the number one team in the country.
Yeah, you know type of stuff.
Okay, get back to work.
That's where I'm a man.
You know, it's been hard to work today because.
Don't tell, don't make that public. You know the list. Okay, we'll see you soon, all right, man, thank you, thank you.
You know.
One of the things, you know, because you're a player and a coach, the one of the most difficult things to do after an emotional win. Let's keep them steady for the next game. No matter who you play, well in this case, it's your rival.
Yeah.
I think that the one advantage that they have right now is it's it's not a quick turnaround right Saturday, because there's going to be a hangover effect. No sure what I mean. I know we're talking about, you know, all time history, great games. We're talking about, you know. I was at the Michigan game, the Duke game. Yeah, I mean, those were unbelievable. I mean blue blue blood.
At that time.
This is somewhat of a blue blood, but the grind on defense on both sides last year it was fantastic. I was unbelieve I don't know if I've seen it better defensive team at home that we've played against or that we've been with them against them. Yeah, I mean, they they were. They're incredible. They're an incredible defensive team. Let me taste something it's not gonna be pleasant when
they go to games. No, no, no, it's gonna be your You're you're gonna get punched two places Baylor who just came here and did Okay and up there, it's gonna be unbelievable, tough.
Okay, let's go take a break. We're gonna meet with we will be the first Uh what do I?
God?
Who will Kelvin Evan from last night's broadcast?
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio while just search I on the Ball.
To why on the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In today with me is Blake Eager and now on the phone we have Kelvin e Fon former you a bestballer footballer and now only kind of a analyst for twelve ninety.
Kelvin, how are you?
Oh man, I'm doing good. I'm doing good.
Do good? Thank you.
Last night was a fantastic game. I listened to you guys coming home. What were your initial thoughts? Well, wait, wait, I've already asked the guys who've called in and in the studio with me. What do you think the percentage of chances? What was the percentage of them to win that game with five seconds left?
Probably zero point three? You think it's basically over man, just a full court opportunity. They didn't even call time out. Usually, you know, the coach called time out and draw up some master play like the Duke play where they threw it down to Christian later he turned around and hit the shot, or the bad Plays play where they threw it down and when they threw it over to I think Bryce drew and he hit the three or whatnot. But now, man, they just threw it in and just
you know, let him figure out. So I basically figured it was over with man, And you know, luckily Caleb didn't think it was.
Over right, Yeah, no question. And I'm going a little more back than you're talking about. Henry's at the line five seconds, they're down by three. He's gotta hit, you know, at least one. He hits one, throws the bad free throw because he hopes to get a rebound.
They don't.
Then they foul and the other guy has to has to miss a free throw and he does so the circumstances, you know, it's just so many circumstances that hadn't happened happened.
Yeah, man, and it just basketball man the day. Man, it's just an exciting, exciting, exciting game for sure.
Kelvin, this is Blake. How's it going?
Oh man, it's going great.
What I mean after last night's game just from a fan perspective, and you've been there as a player as well, Like what's a hangover effect? Like how long does this stick with you and the excitement stick with you? Is it a twenty four hour thing? Is it a forty hour window?
Is it longer? What is it like for you?
I would say a twenty four hour thing because I think at the end of the day, to me, the person that I think it would affect the most is Caleb and the freshman. And you think about Caleb, he didn't have a great night shooting, so I think he's smart enough to know that, man, he got to get back to work. I mean, he's an older guy. He's been around for a while, So I think Caleb is smart enough not to get caught up in it. He's
hit a lot of big shots. He's a guy coming back from being PAC twelve Player of the Year, even though the way people talk about him is almost like he didn't do that before, you know, so it's you know, it's it's uh. And then the freshman that we have, Carter Brian. I mean he's a sophomore now, he's a veteran.
I mean his dad raised him.
Right he Yeah.
So I think the people that we have when this team are gonna.
Be all right. kJ lewis a grinder, Jaydon Bradley. Uh, you know, you just think up and down this roster. I don't see guys that are gonna have necessarily a hangover. Now. What you do have to worry about is the other teams marking you on the calendar. You already Arizona. Now you upset one of the top teams in the Big twelve. Now they're really not gonna overlook you.
Yeah, no question.
So, as I was watching the game and then I gun the card and listen to you guys, you and DK. I think you know Kelvin. That was a Kelvin game. It was a brutal dog fight. You know, it's just a dog fight. And then I'm thinking of Waka, who don't you look great in as a tight end for the Dallas Cowboys.
Man, it if not tight end, I'll take him at d tackle, Okay, d tackle, I mean, because man, he has some bully qu all of these about him that would go excellent with football.
A lot of guys have transitioning into football, a lot.
Of them at tight end. But I think he has the size, uh in athleticism to possibly be a defensive tackle or even maybe a defensive end man. And we need him in Dallas. We need all those guys that.
We get see a lot of Dallas. But you know, the last few games, the dude has been a stud. What do you think the switch has been?
I think this conference, man, I think that he's tailor made.
I think you got to give props. I've been giving props to the coaching staff. Uh, you got to give props to the coaching staff.
Man.
Uh, you know, they knew that they had to get tougher. They remember playing Houston, They understand the conference that they would get coming into. So it wasn't ironic to me that they ended up picking up Townsend, who's physical six seven to fifty of you know, you know, you pick up a walk of sixty eight to eighty, right, I mean, because you know, you're gonna have to bump and grinding this league with the huge students in Kansas States and Kansas and Iowa States and all the other teams in
this conference, You're gonna have to bang. And so they made that transition and brought in a couple guys. Losing Creevus was was was terrible because that's you know, a huge presence on the block that we were going to use. And so now coaches had to really coach the team up and figure out, you know, how he was going to make things work. Man, And you know he's been a musician so far. Yeah.
I mean, look, in last night we talked about Walker's evolution over the season. Right, he looked like he was a step behind everybody at the start of the season. He started catching up with these last four games. I mean, he's kind of like fire. I think, you know, you look at Tommy last night. Probably went to a walk up before the game and said, listen, every rebound is yours. Yeah, because no matter what or who was around him, even if it was like kJ or anybody else, he wasn't
giving up that ball last night. And that was impressive to me that he went out there and serted dominant dominance early in the game when we needed somebody to do it.
Yeah, well, I.
Think you need to go farther than that, man. I mean, if y'all was watching the same game I was watching, I thought everybody picked it up on the defension. I thought, I mean that attitude and that usually flows over to the offensive side of the court, right, And it was
just a dollphight it was. I said, it was like playing at Randolph Gym, you know, in the summertime, one hundred degrees hot, and all the guys over there just I mean, you know, you got fifteen minutes, whoever you have the most points win I mean, these guys were in a brawl, man, and it wasn't no bragging down. The reps wasn't gonna save anybody. You had to win
this game. And I love that because that's how the tournament, the NCAA tournament, when it gets down to it, that's the way the game is gonna be rep So these guys are getting a great audition going through this conference, a practice runch as they getting ready for the tournament.
But man, having a waker, it has been here. And even Townsend, even though he hasn't been you know, aver getting the points and stuff that people thought that, you know, having a production point, why that people thought even rebound his rebound and numbers haven't been there. But he's been out there as a veteran giving the minutes that if you just put Parker in all those minutes, he's gonna break down because he is still eighteen years old. So he has that guy to buffer all of that for Carter.
After Parker for Carter, so when he comes.
In the game, he can just play his game.
Yeah, and that's not exactly to your point. I'll probably use some of your quotes for a story on Awaka. What that I do later this week likely, But when they were playing, I'm thinking one, they got him for a reason for this season, right, And we talked about this maybe two months ago. And I don't know, Kevin, if you were part of that conversation when you were on left. Okay, so Arizona's in the Big twelve. We thought, oh, this is perfect. They're gonna get they're gonna learn how
to be tough, physical when they get to March. Right. But here's the other issue. Won't they be be beat up by the time they get there? And then what the heck they're tired because they've been beat up in the conference and the tournament before.
To get to the tournament, yeah, man.
But that's what you sign up for, right, And if you end up winning that, you'll be immortalized.
That's just what it is.
There's no nobody feel sorry for nobody. Connecticut has done it a couple of years. They were beat up, hurt guys, I mean.
Playing for a coach that's out of his mind, right, And but but you gotta suck it all in.
It's worth it at the end of the day to be able to call yourself a champion. If you can get through all that. You know, I got some buddies that were national champions, man, And remember they was coming off a season where they finished fifth in conference, right, and they went through a war in that conference because everybody came after of them. We had the talent, we had the NBA guys, but it all came together in
that tournament because they had been through adversity. They had been through adversity, and they didn't want to have that feeling going out of that season. So, you know, man, I think that if you can get through this conference, if you can get into the tournament's you know, because the conference champion doesn't necessarily it's not it's certainly going
to be in the final four at this conference. Right it could be you know, Kansas could win it or Houston could win it and then Kansas and Iowa stayed in the final four. But but I do think two teams from this conference is going to be in the final four. I do think that.
Okay, okay, what impressed you the most last night? Because there were so many things, Uh, the one they had to go on sixteen zero run they did, they came back.
It was just a punch for punch type of thing.
Well, what impressed me the most, man was that they didn't back down. I mean I had said it before when we were known as West Coast. When I was here, we had so many California guys. Now we only have one California guys, and a lot of people may not This is not the Arizona teams of the past, where we were California heavy at the at the at the center and forward position right uh in the Uh for
sure at the guard position. But right now this team doesn't have a starter that's from California or even the West Coast.
So is that Kelvin Sampson Kelvin Evan's language for day worse?
Soft?
I don't you know.
Now, I came out to the West Coast thinking.
That, but when I got out here, I realized it wouldn't necessarily solve the conference called the referees. The style of play was soft. Uh you know, everything was a foul.
You couldn't touch.
Anyone and it and it hurt us when we got into the tournaments and the referees was letting the physical play happen, and it's just throwing our guys off their game. So I think it was the way the rest the man I mean, I've been on the West Coast for a long time and a lot I thought Miles Simon was soft, and he ended up being one of the toughest, toughest guys I can know. I mean a lot of times people think being tough is just fighting. Now, being
tough is not bagging down. Being tough is figuring out a way to get it done when you can't jump that high or run that fast. And so I got a lot of respect for a guy like Miles Simon because initially I didn't have it.
Yeah right, Well, you know a gun like that, and you're talking to one guy. Is Carter Bryant.
The dude what just a month or two ago, he was like a little little doe, little bamby guy, baby drought. Yeah, he was just kind of learning even, you know, kind of afraid. Now the dude's a demon man. He's hitting shots, going after stuff. You got a little chip on his shoulder too. Would I like to see a little bit of swag?
Yeah?
And I said this on twelve ninety talking to DK and j Doub, I said.
You got to get a lot of that credit to coach Lloyd for figuring out that.
You know, when you recruit most.
Of these guys, you recruit them to what they position they project at right, and then once you get him there, you figure out what position their best at being able to help the team. So I thought he did a great job.
He didn't lie to the kid he recruited him.
He let him play guard. He let him play the small forward kind of slash two guard position, and he was handling the ball a lot, and I just felt like he wasn't being that effective because you're.
Going against the Division one.
Grown men guards. You're not going against little high school guys anymore. You're going against real savvy guys. And I think last if he would have had to play guard, he wouldn't have had a good night either, like the
rest of our guards really didn't. Right, But coach moved him to forward to the power forward spot, where now he has a chance to spot up on the outside and at the free throw line and force the other team's bigs to have to come out and play him where he actually has an advantage because he does have guard skills. So you got to take your hats off the coach alluding him in the staff for putting them in a spot of where he could be effective. Now.
I know that their hand was forced because if Pree was getting injured, but regardless, they ended up making that move. And you guys have all seen the production that he's been able to have because now he doesn't have to play against the pressure of the Imagine if you had to play against the pressure of those little guards. Did you see you know how they turned over, you know Jake and Bradley last night. I mean, if he had to play against that type of pressure, it would have
been different. But notice his three point shots were wide open because a lot of the times a walker had the ball and they had to make sure they had a guy in the lane. Uh so a waker wouldn't drive because the waker made like two or three drives to the bucket with some little floaters and finishes at the rim. So now you got a help. Now you have uh Carter Bryan standing over on the wing, go on the corner, wide open for the knockdown three.
Yeah, Kevin, I think last night was the first time we've seen Brian play the three since Mo got hurt. Because there was a point where you had a walker Towns and end Brian on the floor and that was the first time we've seen it, I think since Mo got hurt, but you get you. It was a point where he's forced himself to stay on the floor. And that's great to see.
Yeah, now, and against and and and against some of these big twelve teams there are a little bigger, so you can get away with having them in there for some possessions. But I thought the best team is when they actually went four guards when they I mean, well it's not really four guards. Is when they had him at the four and then they had Townsend or Walker at the five. I thought that was, you know, our stronger teams. And and I don't know if anybody noticed,
Coach Tomy loves to run the flow offense. Where if you looked at a couple of those plays when Carter Brian knocked down the shot, kJ Love called some play that looked like a five that he put up in the sky with his hands and he held the guy off. They set a screen. It was a screen and Pop with a waker a waka caught it and immediately threw
it to Carter Brian for the knockdown three. So that was the design play that they had practice because coach understood that once the ball go to a big, the other big has to help, so it opens up your other forward if he has range from the wing. And that's what Carter Brian brings.
Yeah.
No, good, good evaluation. One last quick question, Kevin. So we're late January. We got about six weeks left before the tournament. Seven weeks Your perception of this team compared to what it was maybe two months ago?
Uh, you know, I personally knew it was gonna take some time. I liked the schedule that they had early because they got challenged and they they didn't jump out and you know, beat up on a bunch.
Of easy teams.
Uh.
Because this is a brand new team.
It was one starter back from last year in the starting lineup, So I knew this team was gonna take some time to round out and having to play Duke U. So I think they right were I thought they would be. I thought they would play well in conference. I thought Caleb Love would be playing better than what.
He's doing on a consistent basis. But he continues to.
Show, you know, glimpses of that he is that guy. So that also offers me hope that man when he really get it going, when Townsend really gets it going when Vasa becomes a little more consistent. So they still got a little time to to get better and that and that says a lot for a team that just beat the number three team in the nation, uh Iowa State. So yeah, man, I think that this team could end up making a nice little run. I think they have the pieces, they have the size, uh to be able
to get it done. I just the backup point guard. kJ is still trying to figure that out a little bit. But to me, they have everything else.
Yeah, no, no, good evaluation. Okay, Kelvin, thanks so much for joining us.
Oh man, no problem, man, appreciate you that great stuff.
Good Kelvin ethon talking about the last night's game. We'll talk more about it the rest of the couple of hours. Let's take a break. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years.
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Steve Rivera, He's got his eye on the ball on Tucson Sports station Fox Sports sporteen fIF dy.
Hey, welcome back to Why on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm eating my sure, Yeah, can we talk about this because you have a snack of champions Yeah, Butterfinger and some red Bull and some red Bull.
Yeah.
We did to get to this boring show.
Yeah.
No, listen, every time you have me on before we come on the air, you're like, I hate you. And then we go on the air and I realized that somebody's making you.
Have me on every time. But I do appreciate it.
I gotta say this before we go down. My wife calls me, says, get him out of the house. I can't stand the guy. He thinks, Uh, this is like my dream come true. So when you text me yesterday to come on the air, after listening to you for so long and being part of my life, you're not getting to raise No, no, no, I know I listened. I don't even want the Butterfinger. I just I do want to say this and I want to be I
want to be gracious about it. To come on the air after the game yesterday is like, this is incredible. This is like a twoson ins dream comes through.
So thank you.
Sure of course it's a lot of fun. Who and who thought the game would end that way? Hey, we got a call already.
Who's this? Who's on the air?
Hello?
Hi, this is this is Richard Page.
Well, Richard Page, how you're the one that called early? Thanks for calling Richard?
So Richard Page is h come like my little brother paid in the ass, little brother, and I'm bigger brother. Richard was the SID for sports information off for sure with Loot for all those years. And we were texting each other late last night and he went to that he's in Indiana and talking about big games. Where would you figure this game is perspective wise, rich with all the games that you've seen, I've seen in all the games that has happened, well, it's.
Come to put it in the perspective only because I was telling my wife what coincidentally.
Was at the game last night. It's it's the biggest game in the Big twelve this year, and it's a game that Michale Center loves. It was a you know, a top five opponent, and and and and a team looking to make a big market at home, and the McHale magic was there, so everything was was lined up for it to be a great game. And then it turns out to have an incredible finish at the end of regulation and you have five minutes of extra basketball
and the Cats win and everybody goes home happy. So it's the McHale story that you've seen so many times before that the fans kind of live for. I mean, there are a couple of ones that come to mind, you know, going back through my time. You know, Salim hit some game winners there in two thousand and five and including about a thirty footer against UCLA, the comebacks that Cats had in two thousand and two when they erased big deficits to be Oregon State and UCLA. You and I were talking about that.
Stanford game from nineteen ninety nine.
But when I saw the way the game ended yes yesterday, the first one that came to my mind wasn't even an Arizona home game that in Michale. It was when Miles Simon hit that sixty seventy footer to give Loot his five hundred victory, you know, up in Phoenix. That's the kind of shots that it reminded me of because most of the ones that I remember from my time in Tucson, you know, you don't get sixty seventy footers
at the buzzer like that very often. And what made that one interesting was it didn't decide the game.
It just tied it.
So it got a chance to get a little bit more love of the show piece there with the way he sort of closed it out in overtime. So it was kind of a cool game for everyone and a big win for the Wildcats for sure.
Sometimes some of these other games are buried in Stanford Michael Wright in that crazy gym Maples and It's people don't understand how crazy Maple's got with Arizona and how it shook. It shook and the boards of backboards shook when he.
Hit that show That was the cool thing about Maples was the court was the court felt like you were on springs. It was designed specifically that's sort of allegedly prevent knee injuries. But what it would do was the everything around it would bounce, and the baskets were connected to the ceiling, so when the building would shake, the rim would shake as well. And remember a story about Jason Gardner used to tell and you probably remember this.
He was a freshman or sophomore, and and would and went to the and went to the referees at one point during one of the games, and Maples and and and had the had him stop the crowd from bouncing because it was shaking the baskets, and and and and so those kind of crazy things always.
Happen, you know. That win.
I'll tell you the when you referenced.
Michael Wright hit that hit the buzzer beater. It was a shot down on the low block. Gave us the win at the end of the regular season in two thousand and one, which was as important of a win that we had down the stretch there before the tournament. But with Stanford, all those games were back and forth there for a while, you know, a couple of years after that.
Of course, the shoe was on the other foot when uh it was it Nick Righter if he hit it, hit a shot and and and we will lose.
And it was either four or five. And Tiger Woods was there in the whole whole nine yards, So I mean, yeah, Maple's. Maple's had it a wave just because it was two great teams going back in spurts where it was always going to be close, and somebody played hero at the end, that's for sure.
So let me we have Blake Eager here. He's there, Richard with a WBC. So he was there at the game last night. You've been to a lot of games, home games for how.
Long, going back since I was twelve, so ninety four.
So I was gonna I was just did you and and Richard brings up this point and I thought this during the game too, Arizona. In last night's game, they had them all the time if you had a ticket back in the day, and Luke didn't shy away from big games that had this feel.
Yes, yeah, absolutely, it was an old school feel from the start to the finish. It's it's hard to describe it, but it's it's almost like you feel it in your bones. And McHale last night that was the case.
And truthfully, rich because you were with Sean Miller for a long time, I didn't get that feeling a lot with him.
Well, the hard part, the hard part in you know, for it to be a big game, it's got to be a big game across the board. You know, a lot of things have to fall into place. You've got to have the right opponent, you've got to have the right ranking. You know, Zona has to be playing well. All this stuff that goes with you know, it has to happen at a time when the students are around.
All those kinds of things that fall into place, and and you know, schedules change and people, you know, leagues change and all kinds of stuff.
So I mean, it was look, a lot of us tie that magic to to loud Olson.
And all they went with it, and it's gonna be hard. You know, nobody's gonna really ever measure up to that again, you know what I mean. Sean won a lot of games and there were a lot of big wins in there as well. Uh maybe that's a credit to how good he was in hindsight, the fact that there weren't
very many buzzer beaters and things in that nature. You know, when you think about Arizona and McHale, outside of maybe mcclutch way back when, and Pete Williams doing a couple of things like that, there weren't a lot of there. There aren't a lot of games where Arizona's got to sink a shot to win it. You know what I mean, that's just not the way.
That's just not the way it goes.
And that's the credit to you know, Loot and Sean and now Tommy building something and keeping it at that pace and the and the fans showing up and putting fifteen thousand strong in there. So it's it's still a tough place to play, and that's a credit to everyone
in Tucson for making that something special. Yeah, because last night on TV, Yeah, I didn't get a chance to watch the whole game, but it was obviously electric and like he just mentioned it, I mean, it was one of those games where you knew it was going to be big and.
And and he's right, it is it.
It is Michael's one of those special places, especially when it's a big game. There are very few places like it anywhere in college basketball.
Well, especially with the whiteout too. Did you can you compare?
I thought it was better than Duke well, and they lost against Duke and they were not really in it.
Yeah, I mean you, I mean I would agree with you completely on that, but it was a different feeling last night. I think the reason why it was a different feeling last night too, is that you're starting to see this team evolve a little bit, and you're seeing
that I think we can beat anybody. And maybe you agree with me on that, Steve, we've had this conversation, but I think knowing how good we've been playing in the stretch that we've been playing, it's exciting to go into a game like this because you know they're coming into our house one of the best teams in the country. If they win the national championship, I'm not surprised at all. Really, I was state. I'm sorry, Yeah, Iowa state. You disagree
with me on that. Yeah, I mean, listen you okay, are they top Are they top five defensive team in the Yeah, no question.
Yeah. And they've got great guard play, Okay, two things you need when you're going to with a hurt guy.
I get it, okay, But yeah, electric from start to finish, and we there was never a give even like when we were down there last night, I felt the crowd was able to pick us up because I think you're you really had a true sense of a six man on the court, and that was a crowd of mikail.
But by the way, Richard, because you've seen a ton of games here, how many points. Would you say mkale is is worth because you and I had this conversation, remember what you back in the day, how much is it worth?
Well, I mean, a good hope court, I would probably say five or six points, probably a couple of.
Possessions, you know, you know, you figure a possession.
Each half or something down the stretch. But at least I'd say at least five or six.
Yeah, you know, on a night like.
On a night like that, maybe a little bit more. You know, guys, you know, the guys feed off that, and you the home team plays with a little bit more confidence and the road team plays a little tighter. So I mean, you know, maybe it stretches to a little bit more than that. But yeah, I mean, of course it has an effect.
And that's what makes college.
Basketball so special is that the fans can't have an effect on the game. You know, it affects the way they.
Were officially called the game and affects the way the guys play it. And you know, that's why there's a home court advantage because especially the plays at the Kale because you can see it and you could feel it, and you know, obviously it makes a difference in especially what you saw in a game like last night.
Rich, have you ever seen a U of eight team constructed like this that's been like this? I guess what I mean is that at any night can be a different player. I mean, you look at the span over the last eight games. I think we've had six different players of the game. Not only that, but the grind that we and the grit that we show on the floor. If you when's the last U of eight team that's kind of felt this way, Well, the last.
Time we had a team that was as probably as gritty. The first team that comes to mind for me is probably the two thousand and two team with Rick Anderson and Jason Gardner and Luke Walton and Andre I mean in those guys primarily because it's like you said, you had some talent there, but you weren't sure. I mean, anybody could start at any point in time, you know.
But I mean that's that's what makes I think this team a little bit unique in the fact that it's it's you know, there's there's a depth there across the roster where these each one of these guys could star in ways that You're right, Other teams weren't constructed that way.
There.
There were a couple of guys clearly that were you know, stars or featured or whatever phrase you want to use, and those were gonna be the guys that we're gonna drive the engine. But this year, any of those guys can And that's a wonderful luxury to have to know that multiple guys can get you ten fifteen points every game.
That's great.
Well you you pulled that one out because I think that was Andre's first year and Hassan's.
Yeah, Andre, Andre Channing, Isaiah Foxers on that team.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was kind of like a vagabond as a group of just the misfits that worked well together.
I think that was the what they lose the first round two Milwaukee.
No, they lost, they lost in They lost in the Sweet sixteen eight year in Oklahoma.
Oh that's right, Oklahoma, that's right, Okay, Okay, Yeah, Rich, thanks for calling that.
I always appreciate you.
Love you man, Sure call any time.
I love to talk about big wins.
I gotta have them. Thanks Rich.