In the long-awaited return of the podcast, I talk with JaQuan Lyle and Carlton Bragg, the 23-year-old team captains who have taken an unlikely path to being teammates in Albuquerque. They talk about their journey, their expectations, what it's like being roommates and some teammates Lobo fans should look out for this season.
As Paul Weir enters season two of his tenure as head coach of the Lobos basketball program, I ask him for some big picture assessments of what he accomplished in his first season, what he regrets and what should fans expect from him and his team in the coming 2018-19 season.
New UNM Lobo point guard Keith McGee talks about his growing up, what got him to UNM and he's remarkably open about some insecurities he's had as a player, saying he had to overcome confidence issues both at the junior college he played at last season and earlier this semester at UNM when he started playing with the Lobos.
In Episode 17, I had a long talk with the man I consider the New Mexico coach that never was. Dick Hunsaker is a Clovis High graduate who has played for or coached with the likes of Don Haskins, Neil McCarthy and Rick Majerus while also having connections with Steve Alford and Craig Neal (heck, he was even once a part of a summer camp with Bob King and Norm Ellenberger). Hunsaker talks about all those connections and spending a week observing this year's UNM Lobos and head coach Paul Weir.
In Episode 16, I have a conversation with Lobo sophomores Vladimir Pinchuk and Makuach Maluach. The two have a unique bond as they were not only the only two freshmen on last year's team but were both living in the United States for the first time. They talk about their transition to a new country, college basketball and even interview each other about guilty pleasures like Pinchuk's love of watching hundreds of episodes of Family Feud.
(Reposting from 3/24/18) In Episode 9, I veer off course from the usual Lobo hoops podcasts and talk to the author of "All the Dreams We've Dreamed" and the central figure of that book, former NMSU Aggie point guard Shawn Harrington, who in 2014 was shot while taking his daughter to school in the west side of Chicago. Bradburd, an NMSU professor and former Aggies basketball coach who recruited Shawn to Las Cruces in the 1990's, talks about why he wrote the book and his relationship with his form...
Episode 15 is a conversation with Indiana Pacers scout and former Cleveland State coach Kevin Mackey, the architect of the Run and Stun press that UNM Lobos head coach Paul Weir is trying to implement with his program. Mackey flew to Albuquerque a year ago to help the Lobos coaching staff with the system. He's back a year later. What did he see with the Lobos using the press in Year 1, what started his use of the Press in the 1980s and what is Paul Weir's level of commitment to it moving forward...
Episode 14 is a conversation with UNM Lobos basketball assistant Jerome Robinson about his path to coaching. From a Jamaican family and growing up in Toronto, not only how did he get into hoops, but how did he become one of Canada's best? He was roommates with Steve Nash on the Canadian National team, guarded a young Argentine player named Manu Ginobili, was a standout defender every where he's played and then dabbled with the sports agent world before getting into coaching. He's in year two now...
In Episode 13, I sit down with longtime Journal prep sports editor James Yodice. We talk about the high school football season ahead, what it means to be the prep editor at the state's largest paper (for my money, as tough a gig as there is in journalism), the time his computer caught fire, some of his favorite places to cover a game in the state and how much he enjoys having a colleague who sings the Alamogordo High School fight song during the hectic Friday nights.
In Episode 12, UNM classes start Monday, Aug. 20, which means it's the last first day of school for Dane Kuiper and Anthony Mathis. The two seniors on the Lobos basketball team sat down with me last week to talk about the journeys at UNM so far, the season ahead and the legacy they hope to cement in their final year at UNM. They also talk about when they first played each other in the 6th grade when Anthony was living in Oregon and Dane in Alaska, who talks more trash, is Dane really a good fish...
In Episode 11, I sit down with Lobos hoops coach Paul Weir for some stories from the recruiting trail, and more. What does the intense July recruiting period really even mean anymore for a program like UNM? Is it even the best use of time and resources for a program like UNM (or others in the Mountain West) that seem to be made up of as many or more DI and junior college transfers than high school kids anymore? I talk with Paul about that and much more in this episode.
In Episode 10, we have some Lobo hoops updates and hear from Paul Weir on his thoughts on scheduling, and why UNM's non-conference schedule still isn't completed, then have a lengthy catch-up conversation with former Lobo and Los Alamos High graduate Alex Kirk. We talk about his golf game, his pro career, some Lobo memories (he gets some trash talk in about some former pickup games he played), his Foundation and his life off the court, including his dating an Olympic volleyball player.
In Episode 8, I talk with Lobo basketball transfers JaQuan Lyle, the former two year starter at Ohio State, and Vance Jackson, who started as a freshman last season at UConn. The two sat out this season for UNM per NCAA transfer rules so we talked about how hard it was to watch their teammates, how hard UNM's conditioning program is, the future of Lobo basketball and who actually won more games when the two played one-on-one over the past six months?
Three UNM Lobos play their final home game off the season March 3 in the Pit -- Joe Furstinger, Antino Jackson and Sam Logwood. I talk with two of those three (Logwood couldn't make the interview) about their memories and the legacies they hope to leave. I also talk with Paul Weir about the foundation these seniors have helped leave for not only the longterm, but just over the next week or so this season and how grateful he is for them taking a chance on him in his first year coaching the team w...
In Episode 6 of the Talking Grammer podcast I have two interviews to share with you, one with former NBA All Star and former Lobo basketball great Danny Granger, who is now working with CBS Sports Network, the network broadcasting nest week's Mountain West Tournament games. Danny talks about his time with the Lobos, his dabbling in the television world and the current scandals in college hoops. In the second interview on this episode, I interview my 8-year-old daughter, who by flipping a coin to...
Talking Grammer, Episode 5 features a conversation I had with UNM men's basketball associate head coach Chris Harriman last week. Chris and I talked about his time at UNM (this is his third season and he's the lone holdover from the Craig Neal era), his time working for Rick Majerus at Saint Louis and Tim Miles at Nebraska, his addiction to coffee and his 10-year-old son, Avery, giving him great perspective on life with an always-happy outlook while battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia since th...
Talking Grammer, Episode 4 features an interview I did with Lobo basketball strength and conditioning coach Tyler Stuart, the man behind the madness of the crazy conditioning program UNM has implemented this season. How out of shape was this team when he started? How do he and Lobos coach Paul Weir work together? The podcast also features audio from an interview I had with Weir in August in which he explained his philosophy on hiring Tyler and his goal to have a program that could wear opposing ...
It took awhile, but I'm back and trying another go at this Talking Grammer podcast. Episode 3 features an interview I did (in a noisy airport) with UNM Lobos guard Anthony Mathis the day after the team's shocking win at UNLV. That's at about the 7 minute mark after I ramble a bit about my cold, my sloppy writing and what I hope to bring with the future of this podcast. Hope you enjoy.
For Episode 2 on 8/23/17, I sat down with UNM assistant coach Brandon Mason, a former NMSU Aggie player, and UNM Director of Player Development David Chiotti, a former Lobo player. The two talk about their pro careers, playing against each other in the UNM/NMSU rivalry and working with new Lobos coach Paul Weir.
I sat down with first year UNM Lobos men's basketball coach Paul Weir to discus his philosophy on building his team and the recent "Weir's Science" four-part series published in the Albuquerque Journal. (Cover art via Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)
