Wednesday, January 3, Hour 2

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio while just surgery I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to Winning the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jaginsaus. Now you have some breaking news from Jacob. This is II on the Ball, Breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All right, Well, in what has become just an I don't know, I don't know what you call it. It's just

this is the this is the college college athletics world. Right. You know, we talked all year long about you know, people you know, transfer portal and guys going and chasing money and whatever. Jed Fish has made a bunch of comments about it. One of the guys that left Arizona to go to USC last year, Dorian Singer, was a big part of the U of A offense last season. He had let me let me dig this up

here. In a year before last he was a starter. He he had sixty six sixty six catches eleven and five yards, six touchdowns in the in the five and seven season, and he said that's not good enough. I'm going to USC. I want more. And so he went to USC. He had he was down on the def chart twenty three catches, two hundred and seventy six yards, three touchdowns, fifth on the team in receiving. So now he's leaving USC. He's going somewhere else. He jumped into the

transfer portal today and it's headed somewhere else. You know. It's like, so so, Jay, I joke, you joke about this. I joke about this, but seriously, joke about this. What's the divorce rate in the United States now over sixty percent? Maybe it's pretty high. If I don't like you, jakus, what I'm gonna do, I'm going somewhere. I'm going somewhere else. Yeah, I mean it sounds maybe divorce is not

the right thing, but I don't like it. I'm gonna go. Yeah, I'm gonna go somewhere else and get somewhere else and do something else. But you look at this kid, who you know, got an opportunity, a look and none. And I was blamed him for going to you, Like, Okay, you're gonna go out some money and you're gonna get a better situation. Great, but he went and he did not get a better

situation. Right. He broke up with the with the steady girlfriend that he had here, you know, kind of cute, very nice, steady girlfriend, broke up with her, followed the hot girl to to USC and she turned out to be at this Yeah, a mess. And now he's you know, he's going, he's dropping, He's going somewhere else for whatever reason. Yeah. No, it's it's the way of the world today, you know. And and you know, on the one hand, you don't want to wish anything bad on somebody, but the go, okay, dude,

lesson learned. What do you what? Now? What now for you? Right? Jed could come back? Yeah, I mean really, did he derail his his career? Did he blow it? Right? I'm completely blow an NFL a potential NFL career by what he's done by because he decided to go chase whatever he chased us. Yeah, we won't know. But I'm still on the corner of him him because I've defended him about two or three months ago, because you talked about the numbers and he's still the same player.

I'm not wishing him anything bad on him, but I'm saying he's still the same player, the guy who got sixty six balls and only caught whatever here? But wait, is he right? How much more would he have been developed here that he got developed over there? He's got these NFL guys here and that that's what Jed fish is. Sally, you come here, We're gonna get you ready for the NFL. He goes over there, and how much development did he get? Well, we don't know. Is he

a better player? We don't know. You don't know what the thing is the US. He's not a bad place to take a back step or whatever. But but you know, he's probably the same player, if not better. They just didn't use him, maybe as they should. We don't know the circumstances. But to me, he's probably the same player, probably still a very good receiver. And who knows what if he does come back, what do you think you think they take him back? Well, here's the

here's the catch. And have you been on Facebook or Doug Twitter? What was what was what happened near the end of the year with him? And DeLaura is gone? There you go? Which is our next breaking news? Uh? Jane de Laura? Uh? With this With this ruling, the court ruling that said players can transfer. It will so now he didn't even have to get his degree in Arizona. He can transfer. And he did announce during the during the holiday break, after it was it right before,

it was right before the game. It was like the Tuesday before the game or maybe even money might be you've been on Christmas Day, announced that he is in fact in the transfer and triangle finish. You know, there was a lot of attention paid to how he was reacting on the sideline, giving hugs to know Aflfeda. It seemed to be very excited for him, exciting

for the win. You know, he played, He played the good soldier and he played a big part in the Arizona's success to this point given what he did last year, kept him afloat, played very well, gave him hope. There's some people out there who continue to be very they don't like it, no because of what happened, of course because Hawaii, of course, just because of that, of course, and they say, you know, I don't like him being here. I don't want him be in here.

I'm glad he's gone. Well that's all done, and yeah, but I but I've said to those people have said that to me and said, but you can't deny how much he meant sure to what happened this year because of what he did last year by coming here to a program that had gone one and eleven and saying, I'm gonna go there and try and start to turn this thing around. And regardless of what you think he would have done if no, if he hadn't gotten hurt, YadA, YadA, YadA,

he meant a lot to what how quick Dedfish was able to. He's if you're writing a book or a big story, he is part of that story. He is and a big player in that story, a big part of the story. So you know, so he hasn't announced where he's gone. He's looking around. There's two thousand players in the in the portal, a lot more. And if you're a school, if you're a school, given his past, whether whatever, do you take them, I don't know.

I don't know. That's not for you to decide, right for me, he's gone from here, So I don't really care to you because it's say in our world, all right, speaking of the portal that been, there's been a lot of action in the portal, but most most prominently nine players from Alabama have jumped into the portal. Now, you know those are all good players. They're all four and five star recruits. You've got a a four star quarterback, couple wide received as a tight end, two offensive linemen,

defensive lineman, and two defensive backs. So this was also uh an hour and a half ago. There could be more by now, sure, but you know you've got players jumping jumping into the portal from great places. Well there was lost a couple of people, right, they lost a couple uh uh uh, well one one one player declared for the NFL, and then Konga, the defensive defensive lineman, jumped into the portal for the old Tyler Minoa. Okay, okay, yeah he's going. He's going to the

he declared for the NFL. So anyway, okay, for all of for all of you who are fretting, continuing to fret about what this Stanford loss may have done to Arizona their seed, all that kind of stuff. Joe Lenardi came out with with his latest bracketology. He's at Arizona on the two line in the West with Kansas is the one. But he did say he still thinks Arizona is a one seed. Eventually they're not today, but they eventually will be sure a one. You don't talk about the pregnancy success until

you get to the pregnancy. Here's like four months in we get the right, A lot of time left, a lot of things to happen, a lot of teams going into the weekend. Arizona was the favorite to win it all. I think they were like still the one, their second only second. There's there's still plus one thousands, so the same same same number. Who's first produce Arizona plus a thousand produced not gonna win it. I'm not

gonna say Arizona was gonna win, but produced one. So there's still the the the the odds makers who know way more than you and I. They still believe in Arizona. Uh and and there they bet Arizona had a good price too, plus one thousand, you know, bet bet ten wins one hundred, bet ten one eleven. There you go, all right, uh as we all know Washington, it's Washington, Michigan in the in the National Championship Game on Monday. Two great games. I was, yeah, very

fig was so locked into both very fun games. You know. On New Year's Day by by middle of the afternoon, late afternoon. I'm out on a couch somewhere, and I was glued. I was riveted. Well, you didn't watch very many good games earlier in the day. Oregon came in and blistered Liberty, Tennessee and Iowa. Uh and who was the other one? Uh? Uh, I can't remember what it was? God, I forgot. It was another big, big game. Obviously wasn't very good. Oh l s u and uh yeah, yeah, yeah they came back.

You one. You liked that game, didn't you. No, they didn't cover, they didn't come Yeah. I was mad for taking them instead of taking Georgia. Oh I still got a four though. Yeah, I know, this is your best week of the year. The year. Well, because I had locked Arizona, which is great, and then I had Washington in the special. So I got three points with those those two games. But rivety, both games, very riveting. Washing It almost blew it,

Washington almost blew it, and Alabama did blow it. Yeah, they had very strange They were up twenty to thirteen. Michigan had been moving the ball, gave up a long drive, got it into overtime. Uh called a crappy crappy call, you know, very strange play Hill. Well, if you listen to I don't know if you heard what Nick Saban said, saw

some of the pressures he said. He said they had a play called and they had a good look on you know what Michigan defense was going to do what they lined up for a Michigan call timeout and then they come out to the come back out. Now Michigan's in a look that Alabama doesn't like. So Alabama calls time out. So then they called another. I don't I

didn't mind them giving the putting the ball in in in the quarterbacks. Just not that, just not that, just he I mean here, I don't know where he thought he was going right And if you saw the play from behind, the right guard pulled and he had an he had an open lane, but it was a low snap. He got it paniced went straight into the line. Saban said he thought that they expected to have a gap. There there was no gap. It closed. Yeah, no, two gives

a good football. Yeah. I had Alabama and Washington on the money line on both of them. I thought both. I thought Alabama was gonna win that game too. They should have. I thought they were gonna win it. All when they were announced to be in the tournament, I picked them, and you know it was cool. I've been poking at some people on social media, but well, let me say, I saw, I saw you, go ahead, go ahead? Well about you still don't think,

well, Michael Penix, don't. I don't. I don't always agree with what you write. I don't really follow Twitter, but I read your Twitter on that, and I think you were spot on because you know what it's like Fau last year? What's his team? Oh, they're pretty good. Well, you hadn't seen them all year. How would you know until you see them? No, I guarantee you how many voters Heisman voters in this country? Okay, six hundred? How many of those six hundred actually saw

Pennis play one hundred two games? Right? One hundred? Okay, one hundred, and they're voting to see if he's the best player. You saw him the other night. That's probably who the guy was. Yeah, he was that guy all you and you wrote that. It says where you been right exactly, And that was and that was my point, like, Okay, now you're seeing and all these people were saying, Michael Pennix, Wow, unbelievable what a performance. He's the first quarterback to have back to back

forty two hundred yard passing passing seasons. What ever they're saying? And man, where did this guy come from? He's been there all damn year A damn your first time beat bow Knicks two times? Yeah, you still voted bow Nicks ahead of him or from the High or Jayden Daniels. No, So I like that tweet because it's accurate if you don't know what you're not seeing. They they gave it to Jameis Delaarden because you know, they saw him, I mean j Jaydon Daniels, because they saw him week in and

week out. Ellis, Oh, he's really good. He's got all these stats. Well yeah, how many games did he win? Yeah? He didn't get him to the promise line, right, and then he didn't show up for his bowl game. Yeah yeah, Hey you know Loo come to twenty twenty four? Oh man, I was so mad. No, No, I thought that was a good I don't know why I'm why, I'm no goud. It's a good tweet. I thought it was. It was

good because it was accurate. If you don't know what you're seeing or not seeing, don't be a voter, right, watch it pay attention to. I mean I watched them. I purposely went out and watched, you know, the other guys. Yeah, you know, I saw Jayden Daniels I, you know, well obviously saw bow Knicks all season long. But you know, I watched Marvin Harrison Junior. I watched these guys. But I had the advantage of, you know, of the Washington guys playing in my

time zone. Yeah, and you had a bias because you'd like them to begin with, right, and so you had Washington from day one. You made good two picks, good things all year. That was one of them. Hey, you know what I got Arizona in the ALBUMA both too, So that was that was nice. I mean, I I again for all

you, for all you Arizona fans out there, I stayed off. They won ten games because I didn't take them all season long until the bulgein and then my daughter, who we you know, she was we were watching the game together in California. She yelling at me in the second and third to see what you did. I thought they were gonna cover through. They didn't have it. They did not have it. No, So it's been it's been a crazy last couple of weeks, no question, all right, I

know if you saw George Kakov, I saw him. Well, he was at he was at the Yeah, he was at the uh get aa. I took a picture of him. He was not too far from me. But he said talking about Washington, just saying, uh. I'd asked him about you know, he was asked about you know, what do you think about Washington? Get into the winning the CFP semi fi. I said,

it's surreal, it's surreal. So it's upsetting that some of our schools weren't more patient because if they saw what we were building, it would have paid off. What the hell were you building that we didn't see? He was still on the on the ground Apple TV. Dude, Yeah, okay, we gotta go. He's gotta just shut them all right, we gotta get out of here. We'll be back with come back, come back with Brian Jeffries. So stick around and we'll have Brian Jeffries here in a couple of

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on Tucson's sports stag Chat Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back to right the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty on Steve rivera he' jigbs Austin. I went the phone. We had the voice of the Wildcats, Brian Jeffries. Hi you doing Brian, gentlemen doing very well. Happy New Year. It's great to be in twenty twenty four and working strong. The last seven days for you must have been very fun, very tiring, very everything given your job. How was it because you went from I guess San

Antonio kind of plane and then went directly to the Bay. Yeah, it was one of those crazy things. And that's just the way the schedule worked out. And you know, you always have a little added I guess energy

or whatever you want to call it after a big win. And you know, that win at the Alamo Bowl was pretty special, and so it didn't get much sleep that night and flew straight to Oakland and called the game on Friday night, which you know, Arizona one handily had a data kind of catch up before the game at Stanford on Sunday, and then you know, took a couple of days off to do some fun stuff and you know, now back home ready to roll again. So let's go back to the to

the Animile Bowl. You know, you and I've been through a lot of these seasons, you know, or you know, ten win seasons, and you know, all kinds of excitement to go with these. I you know, I told Steve that I thought, you know, at the end of the Oklahoma game. At the end of the Ellima Bowl, I kind of had a similar feeling to what I had coming out of the Holiday Bowl in

ninety eight when Arizona had beaten Nebraska. You know, Arizona didn't get quite to the Promised Land, but you know, beating Nebraska, beating Oklahoma, you know, no matter what the circumstances are, you got to hang your hat on that. And it felt really good. At least that's how I felt. Now. No, I absolutely agree, Jay, and I think that you know what this does to boost the program. You know, we

really don't. You can't measure it yet, but I think it's something that we're going to see on the road in terms of recruiting and you know, ticket sales for next year. I mean, just the excitement around the program because you know, beating Oklahoma, beating Nebraska, you beat one of the

story programs in college football, and you do it in exciting fashion. The way that game kind of played out, it was if you weren't a rooting fan for either team, that had to be really fun to watch because of the way the teams went back and forth and both played really hard, battle hard, and I just, you know, I'm glad Arizona came out in the end, but I just think they were already on the upward swing and this kind of puts them now into a new atmosphere in terms of what Jetfish

can do with the program. Well, go ahead and asking that question, because all all these successful teams you've had in the past, the four can win seasons. What's come of it, which is that's been the tough thing. It hasn't really sustained itself well. And that's the that's the tough part. Now that's you know, they put some more pressure now on the coaches because come next year, you know, Arizona expected a little bit more.

I think coming into this year they what was the thought this year? You come off five wins, you're hoping maybe for six, and you get into a bowl game, and then you have nine, and then you get ten, and now the expectations go up with that, even though you're going into a new conference. A lot of people who feel Arizona's going to be one of the strongest teams in the Big twelve next year, and so you know

the pressure is on now to keep it up. I mean, now no one's going to sit here and say, hey, you got to win ten games next year. But at the same time, I think with the number of players coming back, there's going to be a lot of people that feel that Arizona's going to be certainly a top twenty five team going into the season

next year. And yeah, that's the that makes the work a little bit harder now for the coaches because you know that that old target's on your back now whenever you play another team, it's you're playing Arizona ranked team instead of just you know, an Arizona team. So that's that's the I guess you look at the flip side of it, is it it makes everybody's job a little cover. But you wouldn't be in this business if you didn't want that.

Well, actually, Brian, I think a lot of people around here are going to expect Arizona to win ten games next year because that's justo Zona fans are and if they don't, they're going to go, what the hell? I mean? I mean, you know, unfortunately, that's that's just

how it is. But again, if you know, if you've been here all this time, you know you've had these seasons in the past, and as he said, they haven't sustained and we talked to Lemon Huntley earlier about what do they have to do to sustain He just said, the players have to sustain it. They have to make up their own minds that they that they got to do this and not let quote unquote the outside noise affect you know, what they're doing. But that's the challenge. Now, It's like,

Okay, you got there, now how do you stay there? And I think this year's team that's a good point. I think this year's team blocked out that outside noise. And when things, you know, didn't go well those couple of weeks there against Washington and USC and you're thinking, okay, what, you know, which direction are we going to go? And you know that you're playing a really tough schedule, and you get that win at Washington State, it's like, Okay, you know these guys they're starting

to figure it out now. And then you just keep winning after that. And I just think that the players were able to block out the outside distractions because you know, Oregon State came in here one of the best teams I think in the country, and Arion's gonna wins that. You know, UCLA comes to town, and you know they're looking for a chapter last year Arison One's at and then you have that the game that you knew you were going to have a bit of a letdown. You go to Colorado, they're not

playing well, but and yet it's their last home game. You know, it's coach Prime, full house, the whole thing, and you figure out a way to win it even though you don't you know, play your best, certainly in the first half, and then you just drill Utah, you know, really kind of the flagship of the I call it the pac call South right now. And then of course you go up and do the same thing to your your rival. And so they were the players were able to

block that out. They were able to keep their focus week in and week out and win games. And so I really believe that these guys will go into an extra with that same type of feeling that hey, look if we play, if we work hard and we play hard, we know we can be successful. And that's how they got it done this year. So you're part of the team, but not part of the team. How enjoyable was

it for you given the circumstances of the last five years. You know, on the sum lend time which is you know, I'm sure very difficult previous two where we're not as difficult, but still tough as a professional in your end, because you know, there's some you're the voice of the Wildcats. Sure people identify you as that. Hey you're Brian, you know whatever, How was it for you? Oh well, I mean it's great, But

then you don't know from week to week. I mean, the great thing that I love about this business is that you know, you work all week to get prepared to broadcast a football game on Saturday, but you have no idea what's going to happen during that game. And I guess that's why I still get nervous before every game because I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, yeah, I want Arizona to win because you know, that keeps everybody in a good mood, It helps everybody around the program, it

helps our business. There's no doubt you want to see them win, but you don't know, and that's, you know, probably the mystery of this whole thing. But the exciting part is when they keep doing it. And I think every game, really the last few games, the Utah, Arizona State and Oklahoma game, I went into all three of those thinking, Wow, is there any way they can win? Can they win this game?

And I was probably more nervous than anybody thinking that the difference that it went over Utah would make to beat Arizona State to finish the regular season, the difference that would make, and then wow, to beat Oklahoma. And in some ways, you know, the Elimi Bles, it's kind of a it's kind of gravy. It's kind of a gift. It's a present, it's a reward for a great season. Uh. For a team like Oklahoma, it's just a it's another bowl game for them, and I know they wanted

to win it and put another Bowl trophy in their trophy case. For Arizona, it was a chance to have a major stepping stone. And so I just can't tell you how it was great to walk into the lobby of the hotel after the game on that what was that on Thursday night down in San Antonio and they were, you know, the ice was jammed with Arizona fans and the players, and just to see the joy on everybody's face, That's

that's something special. I love being around that. So you go from the football program and you go jumping and playing, and get to the Bay Area see a very good Arizona team beat Cal handily, and then you see Sundays and you're going through it. You watch this game and then you interview You know, I'm being serious now, So you interviewed Tommy and I had not heard him so distraught in the time he's been here. I was going to actually text you and say, did I hear what he was saying? He

felt like he almost like a death in the family or something. He was just very distraught. What was his reaction to that loss? Oh? Yeah, I think that he was. He was exceptionally disappointed because you look at their two losses prior to that, and they got beat by Purdue, a better team okay, played better, just was better, and you got beat by Florida Atlantic, a team that goes to double overtime, a Final fourteen from a year ago. Arizona didn't play. I didn't think played all that

well and they still got to double overtime. And so it's a respectable loss. And you know, Stanford they got healthy. I will say this that they had not had, you know, all their parts together until that day, and then all of a sudden they just go off. Their three point shooting, as you well know, was record setting. They had sixteen, you know, Spencer Jones goes off in the second half, and then a guy that you know nobody had heard of, Canon Carlisle, you know,

puts up twenty eight in just his fourth game in college. And yeah, I just you know, Arizona didn't play with a lot of energy. Their their defense just you know, it wasn't there the entire game. They could never find you know, really I think a combination of guys that could stop Stanford, and and so yeah, I could see the disappointment when Tommy came out after the game, and certainly you heard it in his voice because you know, Stanford, Stanford's maybe they'll turn out to be a pretty good team.

I don't know, but when you look at their record and who they'd lost to going into that game, you just figure, there's no way, Arizona you can't win this game. And they should have could have. That's the way it happens. And as you guys well know, we talked about a year after year, when Arizona goes on the road, it's the biggest game of the season, and Stanford showed that again. Yeah, they did. They sure did. And you know, again and as as fans are

wont to do, you know, Arizona fans want to do. There's panic in the air already, and it's like, guys, it's a it's a long season. There's a lot, a lot left to happen. And I thought we just thought it was funny the way Tommy Lloyd was just like, you know, at the at the press conference, guys, you know, quit picking the scab. I've moved on. Everybody else needs to move on as well. And that's how a coach like Tommy Lloyd coaches, and that's how they're successful. Okay, we had this, we you know, we

dealt with it. We're onto the next thing. And Colorado come, you know coming in is a really good team. Well yeah, really good team. I mean might be the second best team in the conference. You just take a look at their talent, and you know, they've had a couple of guys out here of late, including Tristan de Silva, didn't play this past weekend. They still won both games at home, and so they haven't won here since they joined the Pac twelve. So I think that's it's a

huge game for them. And you know, the Wildcats better have their heads, you know, screwed on tight and ready to go in this one, because I think this is a This is the best Colorado team that Ted Boyles had and I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, how Arizona comes out. But I'll tell you this, even though you want to move on from

games, there's always lessons to be learned. And I think for the guys in an Arizona uniform that found out on Sunday what it's like to play on the road against a good conference team that wants to beat you more than anything in the world. Then the next time Arizona goes on the road when they get to Pullman here, what is it next week in Washington State's pretty good? You better have your a game because you're going to have the exact same

approach. Washington State's going to play just like Stanford where it's the biggest home game of the season for them, and they're gonna do everything hand to knock off the top Dog or the top Cat in this player in this situation. And so it's a lesson I think, particular again for those those guys on the Arizona roster that have not been through this before, Yeah, no question, And you've done this often enough. And I was with you guys for

like twenty years on the road. We've seen this loot suffer these glosses. Some dudes shows up and scores thirty. You don't even know who the guy's name is. And it happens, I mean anywhere anytime. Yeah, no, it's not. You know, you can't look at that game and say, like you said, nobody can push the panic button right now. I mean they're sitting at ten and three in the ranked tenth in the nation, and they're still going to win most of their games the rest of the way.

Like I said, it's how you grow from like that, and this team has a lot of growth and they've got to learn. They've played, you know, their offense has been fine, but in the three losses this year, the defense has you know, not been effective. All three of those teams, Purdue, Florida, Atlantic, Stanford all shot fifty percent or

better. And that's where I think Tommy Lloyd is hoping this is going to be a better team and if they're going to avoid you know, losses like that down the road, that defense has to come to play well and I mean we've been saying up until maybe up until the Purdue game, we thought, okay, we hadn't seen any flaws, although we knew their wereflaws. There have to be flaws, right, They're not the perfect team. Nobody's the perfect team. And okay, it's been exposed. We know what it

is. Good for Tommy. Now he can go deal with it. Yeah, well and that's it. And you look at it Stanford game and just a couple I know Tommy doesn't want to look back at it, but we can. Season low ten assists, season low free throw attempts. I think they tied their season low. They got to the line only fifteen times. Those are two areas that Arizona's excelled at and so they just got to get back to that. And uh, you know, for one reason or another,

it wasn't working that day. I give Stanford more credit than anything, because, like I said, they all of a sudden had their full roster. They played like it, and uh, they got some you just wonder they got Spencer Jones, Brandon Angel. I mean, these Michael Jones, these guys have been around. And then the Skoyanovitch kid that they got what a tremendous freshman. They've got some talent. And I'm not going to sit here and explain why they lost some of their games. They they have lost,

but they're good enough to win a lot right now. I tell you what, if they play like anything like that the rest of the season, they're going to be right there in the end. I say, bringing back the loot Montgomery days, those great games. Let's see those games again. Thank you, Brian. All Right, thanks guys, those Stanford games were fantastic back in the day. Uh, not so much prayers out of this

weekend, but good stuff. Let's talk about that because when we come back, the flaws that we kind of joked about or not talked about, you know, what's wrong, what's what could be wrong with his team? Before they went into this, we we kind of didn't really we didn't really know until you see it. And I think I think we have an idea now. Yeah, and Tommy, he was very very upfront. But our guard defense is our perimeter defense is terrible, and we have to fix that.

They kicked that they kicked All right, we'll be right back and we'll kick this one around. Let's kick around. Check around. If you're an Arizona man's basketball fan. You know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look back at the Loudolsen era. In my new book, Lessons from Loot, it was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man

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at the Arizona Bowl dot com. Steve Rivera and Jacin Salez they have their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports Big Chef, Fox Sports fourteen to fifty streaming live. I'm the iHeartRadio. Wap Hey. Welcome back to you on the buck here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty, om Sie Rivera. He's Jaginsaw School. About fourteen minutes left because when it calls be able to open line. Please call us back or call us and see what we have to respond to. Five years there are four one, six seventy four. Yeah,

welcome to the new year. Happy everybody, good to be back. Could I missed the place? You did? I did? I missed you? Steve? Resolution was what does not lie? I'll tell you what I will say this. Though we did Disneyland for three days, it was a grind. Yeah, Ryan, did you stay on on site and still across the street. Here's here's the here's like not not that anybody needs to hear this.

When I graduated from high school, so I'm still seventeen years old, I talked my parents into letting me go on a trip to California with a friend of mine instead of and I said, I'll pay for it instead of you guys paying for me to go on the senior trip which went to Disneyland, and it's just an overnight thing, you know, with the whole senior class. He said, if you let me go, I'll pay for it

myself for my mom. Unadvice. Lea said, okay, And so a friend of mine and I were seventeen year old kids, just jumped in the car and went and spent the week in Disney. Well, we stayed at this Howard Johnson's right across the street from Disneyland, nineteen seventy seven. That's where we stayed last week. Same. Oh, really it was cool. Was cool. It was It's been it's been upgraded the number of times, so it wasn't. Really I was expected to go in there and see like

crack toilets and stuff. It was really nice. It was very nice. So give it up to the whole time. That's the lack. In fact, that would have been forty six Howard Johnson and it's still a Howard Johnson still. The last time I stayed at the Howard Johnson and we stayed at this one. It was great. So let's take this call. Hi, you're on the air and I on the ball. What's up? Nico n hey Man New year's man, have a new year, Nicko, what's your resolution? Make it clean? Please? Hey man, I got engaged.

Oh you know, come on, did you really? Hey man? There comes a point in a man's life. Man, Now she doesn't know about that. I know you're lying, and you gotta be lying. Hey man, you believe what you want to believe exactly. I don't believe you. What's up? Hey? I want to talk about the Alamo. Go ahead, go ahead. That was a great win. It was a roller coaster, man. But did you think they were going to pull it off beginning the fourth quarter? I don't know, not really. My dad went to

sleep. He bailed on him that he gave up. He thought he was jinxing him, so he went to bed. Well didn't, we didn't. So they pulled it out. It was a great win. And talking about let downs, I could see it let down coming in what way the next year? Yeah? Well see that's a fan. That's a fan. Yeah, seen it too many times. Well, not only that, you're going to a new conference. You gotta figure that out. See, I think

that that's a favorable thing. I think, yeah, I think it helps because I think, you know, we've gotten rid of usc Washington, Oregon. They're all gone, let's go, let's go play some other guys and that we can be No, I get that, but I mean, like you got to find new hotels and oh you'uring different time zones and stuff. Yeah. I don't know that I'm going on any of those road trips. The only one. I again, I could see myself going to Colorado.

I can see himself even going to b Yu, even though I hate those people. Just go there again. And that's about it. And I don't go to su I mean, it's not a sexy it's not a sexy thing, especially in the middle of winter in those places. I mean, no, Orlandos good. Well, outside of that, it's really far. That's far. Yeah, come on, Nico, did you really get engaged? No way, there's no way he did. You've never even introduce to her. What the hell? Man, You guys don't need to know my private

A bunch of product. When when did you meet this girl? I met her in high school? Oh he's been in high school. He's okay, Well, congratulations, congratulations Nico. That's the Steve Berbara approach. Bring her around next football season. Hey man, we you gotta take it easy, all, thank you, right, thank you. She's gonna be around for football season. We had that in it. I don't I don't think he's told us with it. Okay, so what about speaking of speaking of flaws

flaws? Well, you know, okay, when when we saw when we saw that show its face in the Purdue game, you thought, okay, those two guys just went off and right, yeah, and you gave him credit for that. Well then these guys go off in the Florida Atlantic, you go, okay, you know that was a little different. Couple guys scored a bunch of But now this, I'm like, okay, that's there.

That's their flaw. And it's a big flaw, right because you're if you're gonna give up points three games, shot three points at a time, that it's a problem. Sure. Sure reminded me in a different way. Arizona nineteen ninety eight. Okay, you have Bibbie, you have Dickerson, you know Jason Terry, you have Miles Simon. Offensively, one guy goes down, you got another guy to step up and do well. If two guys go down, you still have two of the dudes are gonna step up.

In Utah, everybody writing down and so far they have this is this is a good backcourt, right, strong backcourt with four or five dudes, right, but they're not playing the defense they need to play offensively, they're fine. Well, I don't Boswell's not doing he hasn't played well in several He's gonna play better. Yeah, and then the backups, you know, are capable. But then again, you you have a love who's kind of

taking over, right because he has to. He has to. We'll see if he not all the time he has to, We'll see how that moves forward. Right. You know. Here, here's the thing is that what I think Tommy is a as a coach who will wreck. I mean if we recognize it. He recognizes it and he said it. I mean he said, our perimeter defense has been terrible. We've got to do better with that. And you know, and so if it's got his attention, well, the good thing is I think defense is fixable because you've got to be

more aggressive. You got to be get up on them and be better. And you look and you look for it. You look for matchups and things like that. You know, defensively that can that can help you do that. Let's take this call. Hi, you're on the AAR and I on the ball. Hey, it's Richard. You guys, Richard, Hey, I want to say congratulations to Nico about getting engaged. We're all invited to the wedding and Nico whatever. You don't listen to Steve too much. We

can tell about marriage exactly. He's not. It takes one to know one though. Yes, I mean, I listen, Steve. I've been done more times in the local trash. Can you know we're not talking dumping here, Richard, We're not talking How about them sooner? So how about how about that game? That was a great game, man, That was a heavyweight battle and I loved it. I mean I was very happy for Tucson and you know that that we won here and I thought it was a win

win because you know Arizona one. Yeah, but the Sooners look hopeful. I think Jackson Arnold ended up being a really good quarterback. He will be good. He impressed me. I mean the interceptions and the fumble and the whole bit, those were you you chalk those up to a guy who started for the first time and you know, made some mistakes. But he looks like he's going to be good. Yeah, I think so too. So we're I'm hopeful for the future. Headed to the SEC which is a drag,

but you know, we gotta go. Let's roll with the punches there on that. You you followed the Big twelve a lot, right, right, Richard, follow lot? Steve's the Big twelve? Yes? What what is Arizona minus the Powers? Oklahoma and the other one? But what is what can they expect? Well? You know, I think you know, one of my buddies who lives back there, is pretty knowledgeable as kids played

college sports. You know, his first inclination right now is Utah Cameron Rising is healthy, and then he likes, uh, he likes maybe like the Holcoma State or and you know, and then Arizona right in there. You know he's he's in press with Arizona and that sort of thing. Yeah, I think that's accurated, right, Yeah, did you stay there? Now? Well, somebody posted a graphic of a projected twelve team bracket for next year and had Arizona as a foresee. Yeah, I think that was misread

in a couple of different ways. They had him as a four seat or that would have been the case going in this year. It was because because have you wrote that? And they got all over him said no, no, no, it was a projection. Did you listen to it? You had to listen to it. I didn't hear it. I just saw the graph. I saw the graph. I think he had he talked about it in the other way. Yeah, so I don't know what. I don't. I saw it, but I'm not sure. Have you guys me let

me ask you this. Have you looked at that schedule next year? Because it's very strange. What's going on if all these with the changes, but Arizona's going to play their last four games on the road, right right? I saw that today because of my other job and because it's very top heavy at home and very bottom heavy on the road. I don't know how accurate that is, because maybe it's just placeholders. But I saw the same thing Richard, and it was kind of strange. And the a issue game was

the fourth one or fifth one in the on the schedule. I know it. It's weird. It's weird. I be I think that's a disadvantage having those last four games on the road. With no question. I don't think about it. I don't go on so I don't think it's still Arizona's a great team. Man. I love that. One final comment since we're ending the football a year and I hate to see it happen, but Michael Pana Penny should have won the Houston Trophy. There's just no question about it.

Dude, don't get me started. Don't get j because of regionality, I guess that's question that led the country in passing. He's got the most yards, he's fourteen and oh yeah, so anyway, that's my final comment. Washington. Yeah, I'm seriously rooting for him. And yeah, in Washington because he didn't pile up one hundred yards rushing against Savannah State or whoever the hell Jane Daniels had to play against. I'm really upset about that. Come

on, anyway, good luck against Michigan. All right, thanks Richard, Thanks guys. I don't think they set the dates. Well, you just said they have for the first three. The first three, yes, those are the not so you're gonna tell me that the rest of them registers. They've not said. They've just said who they're playing. They've not set dates. So they just put them like that, right, They just you know,

they just didn't like you think that or you know that. I'm pretty sure of that because we were looking at that today for something that's going on in September. Yeah, so we used the first three, right, that are probably set right right. The first three games are set, and that's that's always the case. They get the non conference game set New Mexico Northern Arizona Kansas State, which they kept as a as a you know, even though they're in the Big twelve, they've kept it. But it'll be it'll

be a non conference game. Well after that, it's it's to be now. Yeah. No, and I thought that too when I was looking at for our other stuff el for uh, well have you have you are? One of the fact checkers said they don't have the schedule out the schedule they've they've just said they we know who Arizona is playing, just outside of the first three. Because we know who they're playing, they just haven't set the

dates. The case stated the third game. I think here's the third game, because that was that's been on the schedule for okay quite a while. Yeah, and because remember we asked Dave he Key when when when they went into the big pubs, what are you gonna do? With the Kansas State game, and at that time he said, I don't know. Yeah, so I was assuming the other schedules are out. This should be out pretty soon some I don't know. I don't know, not times or anything,

but just the dates that they're going to be playing. Because you think that Colorado's coming. No, definitely, not times. That doesn't happen at the week out. But I'm talking about the season when the season is actually you know, finalized in terms of days. Yeah, let me see. I'm looking up to the Big Ten real quick. We'ly got about a minute twelve. I mean, I'm looking up the Big Ten to see if they've announced the actual uh you know, the dates that they're playing. Oh yeah,

yeah. The Big Ten has its dates out. The Big twelve does not. I think this is great. It's great radio. Okay, just go ahead. We got a couple of seconds left. So it'll be out at some point soon, I hope, hope. Yeah. Here's there's a scheduling matrix, but I don't think it has dates on it yet. Yeah. I found it this. I saw the same one that Richard was talking about. Uh, and uh, I found it kind of strange because there's a lot of home games early but away games late. Yeah, so that makes

sense. Yeah, it just has home and away. That's it. That's all we got. That's that's from the Big Twelve Conference website. Okay, all right, man, let's get out of here, Steve, Okay, we'll see tomorrow. All right, we'll be back tomorrow. We'll have some more stuff for you and we'll get ready for that Colorado game. So be sure to come back tomorrow