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USC lost Juju Watkins for the rest of the tournament due to a knee injury looks like a torn acl and this is when the sport loses. There are times when there's injuries, but then there's injuries that hurt the entire sport. When Tiger was out for a variety of reasons or had surgeries, or the car accident, like the sport is hurt Brady when he blew out his knee, or maybe Peyton Manning when he had neck surgery. The
entire sport loses. And that was the case last night for Juju Watkins, because if you look at the chain of command, Paige Beckers was the national player.
Of the year in high school.
Caitlin Clark was in that same class, but this was Paige Beckers as the national player of the year as a freshmen, and then all of a sudden she had a couple of these surgeries. Then that paved the way for Caitlin Clark to take the baton and the next three years she was the face of college basketball. And then you had Juju Watkins last year who was starting to become the face of college basketball. She is the
face of college basketball right now. You can't watch the tournaments without seeing her on a variety of commercials there. In fact, after she got injured, they go to a commercial break and it's a Nike commercial featuring her. She's gonna be in college basketball for the next couple of years. You have to wait until you're a senior to go to the WNBA. You have built in stars. They're here for a while, you get to know them. And for Juju Watkins, she was going to be the next And
I said this earlier this season. She could turn out to be better than Caitlin Clark as far as a basketball player, not the phenomenon, but as far as a basketball player, she could turn out to be better than her. Women have come back from these surgeries. Paige Becker's has come back. If you've talked to doctors or you have children, you know, women seem to be more susceptible to these
kind of knee injuries, believe it or not. And having had six surgeries on one knee, just the ability to try to come back, try to come back at a high level, try to come back and be normal whatever that is. You know, it's a challenge, but modern medicine has made incredible strides here. Juju Watkins, this will be a while for her to come back because the season's almost over here with the tournament, now you have surgery
probably right away. But it was a shame to see that because you were going to have Connecticut and USC probably meet each other in the Elite eight. And I know that people were critical of the tournament and how they scheduled it last year, were like, why would you have you know, Iowa playing LSU before, you know, maybe in the final. No, you want to make sure that they meet, and they did, and they wanted to have Yukon and USC meet. So it's Pagebackers against Juju Watkins.
And look that USC team is really really good team between UCLA and USC, really really talented, deep teams, and you know, just a shame because you want to see the great players. But this hurt the sport last night. And even after Yukon won in page Beckers in her final home appearance at thirty four, it's like, hey, we got to wrap this up. To Gino Oriema because USC and Juju are going to start. He goes, oh, well, let's wrap it up now. I want to go watch her.
This is what it sounded like last night when she ended her tournament.
Russell top of the key down the left side of the lane, goes up on you again.
I think the Latkins were USC's down the right side of the lane, and then she grabs her leftnee as she goes down. Watkins is building of the underside of her left knee and a lot of pain.
Yeah, probably a tourney. They'll do an MRI if they haven't already done it. Maybe let the swelling go down. Here's her head coach, Lisa Gottlieb on the injury.
I don't have an update on Juju because I know that's what you all want to know, other than what the statement that was put out at halftime that she's getting incredible medical care from our you know, Kech Medicine and the people at USC and our trainers and doctors. But I am, I mean, I'm feeling a lot of emotions. Obviously, I don't think I'll you know, forget, forget this night for a lot of reasons.
So that's you know that that's your tournament where you're get caught up in the emotion of it, but you still have to think of your players, and that's what that's what was happening last night. This was a loss for the sport itself. So she's out, but Yukon advances. I'm watching LSU against Florida State. I think it was a one point game at half. To next thing, I know, LSU's up like thirty. I'm like, what happened?
What happened?
So you know, there's a lot of momentum around the women's tournament. And did I have coach Gottlieb's name right, Marvin Lindsay? Yeah, Okay, what did I say, Lisa?
Oh? Okay, Lindsay Gottlieb, the USC head coach. My bad e on me?
All right, Well, I have a poll question here coming up, phone calls as well, a couple other things. It's mandatory, I think to a quarterback on his pro day that you roll left and throw back right and throw for sixty yards to a receiver that nobody's covering. And you know it's the Zach Wilson. You know Mahomes did this too. Where you go, oh my god, did you see that? I think it happens a lot more with a lot of these quarterbacks. Most of them can throw the ball.
Fifty to sixty yards. Is it tough going left and throwing back right. Yes, but I'm assuming that most of these guys have pretty good arms to play the position. And you saw that with cam Ward yesterday.
It's oh my god, look at that.
It's the role left throwback right, and that's all you need. Now, Now we can solidify cam Ward is the number one overall pick. Here is cam Ward talking about going to the Titans.
I said, I'm solidifying it today.
They heard you. I made sure they heard me.
So I guess off that tip.
The Titans obviously have the number one overall pick.
Uh.
They like you, they've had you in the building.
What did you want to show them today?
I said, not only showing number every other team, just throwing on rhythm when there's three steps on rhythm, five steps on rhythm for under in the gun heavy play action, uh, you know, gun five with movement outside of the poet. Just showing them all, you know under center stuff that I didn't get to show as much during the season.
Let me know that I'm capable of it.
The gun five. I'm ready, sign me up. He's got me, got my attention. He was very confident yesterday and if you're an NFL team like you want that. You want the confidence of hey there you go, take me and unless somebody else wants to trade Hub for me. And I started to think about this that cam Ward you know now is when you got people's jobs on the line. This is where you get real analysis behind the scenes. I'm not talking that was courtesy of the NFL network.
This is about people who are going to tell the team yes or no. Because let's go back to Shador and cam Ward man one two, I don't know is it shardor cam is it camp all along? It feels like those who do this for a living thought cam Ward was a different quarterback than Shadoor Sanders. That's why
you saw Jackson Dart start to move up. It's because when the professionals get in there, not us the armchair analyst or scouts, you get the people who are really making decisions for their teams and jobs are on the line. That's why you get sometimes this separation where you go, well wait a minute, now, should or Sanders might not go in the first.
Round, but wait they were one two.
Well it's because these are the people who do this, They get paid to do this. Their jobs are at stake when they do this. Now you get it. It's becoming real, and you're going to have other draft picks who might be rising or falling. But it's because now the real people are analyzing this. And I was wondering about this with Shadoor Sanders. Cleveland needs a quarterback, right,
Cleveland does need a quarterback. Now, I've been told that Kirk Cousins is probably still going to be in Cleveland at some point after the draft, depending on what Cleveland does. If Cleveland doesn't take shad or Sanders, to me, that says they're going to get Kirk Cousins because maybe they don't feel Shadoor as a franchise quarterback.
Maybe you get.
Travis Hunter, maybe you get Abdul Carter, Maybe get somebody who's going to play. Imagine Abdul Carter with that team with Miles Garrett. Okay, got my attention. I don't know if Shador Sanders can play right now and Cleveland needs a quarterback, Okay, then you would think they would take Shador Sanders. I still think that Kirk Cousins now he has no trade and I think eventually after the draft he would go to the Falcons and say I would
like to be traded. You know, he's getting paid to be a backup quarterback, getting paid handsomely to be a backup quarterback. But I was just I would just keep an eye on that. You know, the Giants need a quarterback too, Do they take Shador Sanders if Cleveland doesn't feels like he's going to go.
To the Giants?
But then you have analysts at the Mothership who's saying late first round, maybe a second day draft pick. So that's a wide disparity here, and that's why you got teams that hit on draft picks and teams that whiff because of these opinions right now. And that's what's interesting but also scary where you go we're looking you know when you go to an art museum and you're looking at the same painting and you're going, what is that?
Or you get somebody to go, oh, it's beautiful. We're looking at the same thing, but you see it differently than I do. And I still think that they're you know, shad Or may have a comeback here. You know, he had the smear campaign that I talked about. Now he might have a little revitalization here where it's like he'll come back. They'll talk about his personality, they'll talk about his talents. You know, this is when he might have a comeback of swords, which is still weird because he
hasn't played a game in months. But this is when it's really interesting in this world. And thankfully I have somebody that I've trusted for years now to just help me look at We're looking at the same thing. It's you know, I brought this up when he said Michael Parsons is the best player in the draft. He said, but there's baggage that goes along with him. When he said Quentin Nelson at Notre Dame is the meanest guy in the draft, he'll be a Hall of Famer. Okay,
well he ended up being. He's been pretty good, and Michael Parson's been pretty good. But I think that's the key is I just want somebody who does this for a little They know what they're looking at.
I don't. I'll go back to when we were.
Whose pro day was it that we were told later that he got pushed around, went to the Texans Javian clowning, and I remember everybody was like gushing, and so I ended up talking to my source and he goes, no lower body, and I go and he goes, he'll get pushed around. He had one incredible play in a Bowl game and everybody thought, oh my gosh, can you imagine maybe that single number two always looks intimidating seven? Yeah, like, man,
he's wearing seven, he must be really good. And Davian Clowney has had a decent professional career, but nowhere near living up to the hype of what his pro day was. And here's somebody telling you his lower body he doesn't have a you know, you can move him.
That was the expression.
Yes, Marvin, the measurables for him too, like oh he's six five two seventy and he could run a four to four whatever he ran in that big hit. It all kind of came together.
Yeah, that one play and it was like, man, I'm sold. Well came in unblocked, I think right. It was just he ran and hit the Michigan running back and you're like, yeah, well, I want to know can you make moves? Can you overpower somebody to make those plays if you just give him a free you know, head, start free run at him. Looking back on it, maybe not as impressive. Yes, se to be fair, it was an an awesome play. It was all of a hit.
It was, And there are a million dudes in the world who don't outlive the hype of one great play in college. He seems to wear that more than anybody. But there are a lot of people. Did Desmond Howard really become a better pro than he was in college? Probably not. There's a million dudes like that. But for some reason, Jadevan Clowney is like, yeah, but yeah.
But nobody gushed over Desmond Howard's pro day. The Mothership sent a team for his pro day. Yeah, but I look at it as the hype look at him. Hell yeah, of course. Yes, dude looks like a superhero. He's like straight out of a Marvel movie. Yes, but they weren't looking at him as a football player, you know, the way some scouts did that he he can be overpowered because he has no lower byty, Like I never would
have thought that. But I got guys from the Mothership who just said, oh my god, I remember that afternoon. They were you know, this is one of the great pro days of all time. It's in the eye of the beholder. That's the tricky part of this. I watched cam Ward play at three different colleges and I wanted him like he had the ball and he was going to make him play a winner. I would say he's he reminds me a little of Air McNair that he just he knows how to play football. He knows how
to play the position. I don't know if he's going to be as good as Air McNair, but that's the feeling I got when I watch him, like there are just certain guys where you go, he'll somehow find a way to win.
Yeah, Pulley.
The clowney hit was against Michigan in the Outback Bowl and the running back was Vincent Smith. Yeah, I'm watching the play. It looks like something in a sports movie about football where there's a guy that's too big and you'd make look what he did?
Yeah, does look real.
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You knew it when you saw it.
If you watched it live, you knew Juju Watkins had suffered a severe knee injury. Now we're finding out that she did tear her acl. USC did advance, but they will have to advance without Juju Watkins as she will be out for the rest of the tournament and for quite a few months of rehab. Show have surgery immediately and they'll try to move on without her. And you know, the selection committee did set it up that USC was
going to play Connecticut in the Elite eight. And you know, this was the same philosophy with Iowa and LSU last year, where why not wait and let them play in the National Champion You want to ensure that they get to play, And Iowa and LSU lived up to that billing, and we were hoping for another rematch with USC and Yukon. Yukon won big last night and Paige Becker's her last game, her home game, and you know, you start to see because the women are there for four years, sometimes five
years if they get injured. Page Becker's gone through a couple of surgeries, and you could see the emotion on Geno Orim's face and I you know, it kind of came out of nowhere, but he realized right there that she he was saying goodbye to her on her home turf at Yukon And you know when we see college athletes now, certainly in basketball, you're wont and done. So there's not that relationship with the fans of the coaches.
It's a six month process. There you're dealing with years and everything, the highs and lows that go into that, and that's where it is a business. But then there's still that personal attachment that you see with some coaches, some players, a community, and you saw that with Paige Beckers last night. But she gets to continue to play while Jugi Watkins is out for well quite some time. You know, it's probably seven months having torn an acl but I wasn't coming back to anything. You know, it's
a long, long process. And as great as she's been the face of the sport, all of these commercials you know, I'm watching this morning, she's there with the you know, they're they're promoting March Madness for the women. She's got a State Farm commercial, got a Nike commercial. I mean, she is a this is one of those not just a basketball player. She's more than that. And playing in Los Angeles, she had become the face of the sport and she brought out celebrities. You know, Jaden Daniels coming
out this year. You know, she's that kind of magnetic personality, talent. Yes, Marvin, If you're the.
Head of women's college basketball at the NCAA, what do you guys do as far as focusing your attention on another player like hadaal Go from Norre Dame, Like, what do you guys do just focus on South Carolina as a whole?
I don't know.
I mean, do you change your focus to go more Connecticut centric?
Uh?
South Carolina doesn't have that one. They have a lot of players that's really their coach LSU. It's about their coach for the most part, although they do have the Johnson. Yes, she's she's a she's a talent, she's personality, got a music career. You know, she's a good basketball player, you know, bets at U c l A. But I you know,
I don't. I don't know how ESPN is going to sell this spin this now and to be because it was gonna be about Juju Watkins that she was going to be leading her team to a national championship.
Yeah, Paulin, Yeah, flaj Johnson for LSU. She's on a lot of ads. She's in like a financial services and You're like, how to manage your money and it's not in theory. She's actually dealing with this at twenty years old.
All right, age seven seven to three.
DP show email address Dpadanpatrick dot com, Twitter handle at DP show we stumbled upon a Is your school a basketball school or a football school? You may want your school because I was thinking of Arkansas. Arkansas they want to be a football school, but they're a basketball school. You're in SEC country and you desperately want to be a football school. I get it, but you're not. You know, Kentucky is a basketball school. If they've had success in football,
they want to be a basketball school. They're fine with being a basketball school. Indiana would like to be a basketball school.
Again.
It's sort of like, wait a minute, come on, football team, don't get too good because we don't even make the tournament here. But yeah, so everybody getting territorial here. I don't want to hear about. Well, Arkansas back in the sixty you know, nineteen sixty nine playing for a national championship in football, Yeah, I got it. Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson played for I got it with that, I would say. Nolan Richardson you know Eric Musselman now coach
count I mean that was the point. You're looking at Arkansas in the sweet sixteen and they're a basketball school. I mean, there's no shame in it, Like you have to Oregon. Oregon to me is a football school, even though they're having more success. It feels like basketball wise, usc football school but not having great success as a football school. But historically I'm talking about now like it
is Utah. Utah is a football school, right, Arizona basketball school, Florida State football school even though they haven't been here's one North Carolina. North Carolina a basketball school or football school.
Marvin basketball.
Okay, they've won national titles in the last ten years.
Yeah, pull overwhelmingly basketball, but the coverage lately is about their football team positively.
South Carolina women's basketball. No, I know that's what they might be known for. But are they a football score or a basketball school?
Well, just you don't need to say women's is just a basketball school, okay, because that would include the women's.
Well, they're terrible in men's basketball, so that's why I only said the women they're average.
Although they were one of the two teams out of the SEC that didn't make the tournament.
Jamie. That's embarrassing, Jamie. And Ohiowa. I mean that's yes, of course everybody made it, but us. Hey Jamie take Morton.
That was my question. That's ironically you guys are talking about juju and then you bring up women's basketball, because that's what I was going to ask. I wanted to hear your opinion is like South Carolina when you think of don Stay, do you think of South Carolina as a football school or a women's basketball school? Or like last year when our women went on a couple runs, were we a football school in Iowa? Or were we a women's basketball school?
You were a women's basketball school the last couple of years plus you were seeing so much offense on the women's basketball team and no offense on the football team.
Way too soon.
Yeah, all right, Tod, thank you. Vin in Kansas, I Vin.
Hey, good on, guys.
How are you doing so?
I'm calling as a Kansas State graduate. You know, up until Bill Schneyer, Case State was just a basketball school, and now I consider it's probably a football school. Likewise, my own jere to meet Ku hasn't really been able to produce a football team even though they spent money on it.
Yeah, Kansas is still a basketball school as long as Bill self is there k State. I'd say a football school. Yeah, I m'd say a football school.
Shuffles in Phoenix High Shuffles, good.
Morning, Good morning, Pat. I've never called it into the Pat Patrick Show, but this is awesome and I want to I'm here to say Arizona, which I'm a fan of, and I know Dan, you and Marvin want to disparage them, but I think Arizona is a football school during football season and a basketball school during basketball season.
No, no, no, you can't do it that way. Shuffles, and I don't disparage Arizona. Arizona does a good job disparaging themselves when it comes to basketball.
We should have three national championships. I don't know what happened in nineteen ninety. In two thousand and one, Don Levyg you went off on the Steph Curry before Steph Curry. I don't even know where Mike ben Levy Junior. It is not but that should have never happened. We should have had three national championships.
But you but you don't. You don't.
Mike Dunleavy Junior, is the GM of the Golden State Warriors.
Yes, Todd, I think they stopped giving out They should have awards a long time ago.
We should have won quite a few sports that man, right, Yeah, yeah, ball.
The job you want is a football coach at a basketball school. So let's say you're the football coach at Kentucky.
You win eight games. Everyone's happy.
No one's gonna get upset, Mark, Stoops, how long has he He's been there?
Twelve years? Stoops? There it is at Kentucky.
And he'll go five and seven, seven and six. Then he'll throw out a ten and three. Yeah, everyone's happy. He gets an extension.
It's like being the head football coach at Duke.
Yes, you know, it's like, oh, look at you what you guys did, Like you know, you pat him.
On the head, look at what you did. Just be above five hundred.
Yes, those schools are like, hey, I think we got a guy this year that's actually pretty good.
Yeah, you know, like it's nice.
Bubbled up like I think we got a guy this year. We got a guy named Danny Dimes. Yeah, yes, yes, Mark.
Remember a few years back, Kansas went to the Orange Bowl and I was like, Kansas give that guy a lifetime extension.
Yeah, it's like you've got to go back to the Gaels Sayers days like Kansas. Yeah, heck yeah, uh let me see Aiden in Utah, Aiden in Utah?
Hey man, how's it going?
First and foremost?
University of Utah is a ski school? Okay?
Sixteen national championship? Yeah, I we went seventh straight.
Okay, my batid.
Aiden, My apologies, my apologies. I didn't realize how dominant, yeah, that they've been in skiing.
Thank you?
Okay, I think he accepted my apology. They're the UCLA basketball of skiing Utah.
My bad should have known that.
Although if you ask the athletic director, what do you want to be known as? You know, we're the skiing school, or do you want to be known as a football school.
We want we're going to change our name to ski.
You Jim in Michigan and people are getting territorial here, Hey Jim, what's on your mind today?
Not too much, Danny, good morning. Uh, you know, Michigan, I'm.
Gonna say Michigan football school, and not even just because you know, even though we're playing great basketball right now. When you're the word Michigan, you automatically think of the big House.
Yeah, I think of the helmets. Yeah. Absolutely, Let me see Caleb in Augusta. Hi, Caleb?
All right?
Dan, six two sixty And question for you and the boys. How many championships would Bill Belichick have to win at UNC for it to be considered a football school over a basketball school?
One?
Thank thank you?
K Yes, if Bill Belichick wins a national championship in North Carolina, they're a football.
School out of Carolina.
Yeah, but no, they may not want that, but they would be viewed as if they would be viewed as a football.
And made Michael Jordan that they're never going to be a football school.
Ever, they didn't make Michael. Football team is wearing a Jordan logo. They kept Jordan down. Yes, they didn't make him. They kept him down.
Never will Carolina be a football never.
They could win three straight and they're still If North Carolina won three straight national titles in football, yes, yeah. But the basketball team, you know, they just barely they limped in. They trickled into the first four, yes, mark, But.
They went to the final four in twenty twenty two, so it's not like they've been on a forty year downside.
Okay, So when's their last national title.
I'm gonna say twenty seventeen.
Okay, yes, Paul, Yeah, North Carolina in the past twenty five years had two seasons with ten or more wins. Yeah, if they won a title in football, they'd be like renting themselves as like a temp as a football school and like a holding patternutil basketball took over.
Be a pretty big deal.
If they won a national title at North Carolina, You got that right.
I'm just I'm just putting it.
Would be a pretty like a devastating blow to NIL. Actually, they'd be like, okay, now nil has gone too far.
If these dudes are winning, if this school is winning.
A national championship in football, we need to curbnil right now. Look, if Belichick's girlfriend is running the collective, they're going to win. She's gonna make some deals. She's gonna get some things done there behind the scenes, guaranteed. I mean, if you get Bill Belichick to lie on his back on the beach and hold you up like you're an airplane, she can do anything. It's like, hey, Bill, yeah, how about you lie on your back and we let something go viral?
What's viral?
No, it'll go all around the internet. Oh, so it's not something I have wrong with me a condition? No, no, no, you wanted to go viral. Okay, you lie on your back in the sand with your shorts on and those big muscular thighs and then you hold me up and then I'm gonna be like I'm flying.
Okay. If she can get him to do that, come on.
Yeah, Paul Bill's girlfriend would be like, who's Michael Jordan?
Is that? It seems you know his name is the same as the Jordan brand. Imagine that you played basketball.
Yeah.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio.
WAPP sixteen times to the sweet sixteen his yearly visit with The Dan Patrick Show. He is Hall of Famer Tom I is oh joining us on the program. What's your schedule today?
My schedule.
I got in here about seven seven thirty and had a little film work, answered some Texas and then talk to my staff about what we're going to do in practice and get a press conference in a little bit, some our staff meeting, and then practice.
That's my day.
How's the voice.
It's great. Great, get a little sleep. He got a little sleep last night for the first time night before. Not much.
But it's the same as every other coach, and just I'm a little older.
Than some of them.
The balance of coaching this week and the transfer portal, how do you focus on one when you need to and the other one when you need to?
Yeah, you know, I'm putting everything towards my team.
I owe them to that.
I think, you know, recruiting is very important. The transfer portal to me isn't as important yet, but recruiting is very important. And yet my old boss used to have a theory says, problem with young assistants. They spend so much time getting the next player they forget to take care of the one they got. And I think there's some validity to that. You know, there's a happy medium. My happy medium when you get to the sweet sixteen and on is you.
Know you don't always get here.
So everything's going to be from my team, the players on my team. We'll let everybody else worry about the transfer portal. Hopefully winning helps somebody, even though you and I know it doesn't.
It's all about the money now, But that's OK.
Two, But help me with the philosophy of recruiting, because you don't have many one of Don's, like Jason Richardson was a one and done. I don't do you go at you know, do you try to go after the one and donners or do you have that philosophy of I'll take the guy who might stay here three or four years.
No, I'd love to.
Have Jaron Jackson, Miles Bridges, you know, where guys Gary Harris that were one in two years and done. And you know, you got to have some those kind of talented players, you know, to do that. But no, I don't shy away from that at all. It's just they're not as easy to get.
You know, for the.
Most part, A lot of those programs, you know, Duke and Kentucky has had more of those kind of players.
Maybe Kansas some, But I don't think there's as.
Many programs as you think there are that are getting those kind of players.
How do you coach differently in March than November?
You know, I don't think I coached that much different.
I just think that there's kind of a culture and a feel here that when it comes to February, everybody knows the NCAA Tournament.
We've had some success in it, and I think I think.
The players that come here expect everything to be ratcheted up a little bit as you get to the end of the year, and it's exciting. It's not a you know, like my players after we won on Sunday, the first thing they said in the locker room, because usually we give them Monday off is let's practice Monday. That came from the players, you know, so they know what time of year it is and they know what they got to do.
Is Michigan State a football school or a basketball school?
It's a football school, which I think ninety percent of these schools are. You know, we all I have such a great relationship with all the football guys here. I've always had a great relationship with them because I realized that they're still making seventy percent of the money. What I think is unique about Michigan's eight and there's a couple of schools that have this, is we've been pretty successful in both. You know, nine years ago we both
went to a Final four. Those are what's really exciting about schools like this.
Ever coached against a coach that you don't like, like.
Sure, sure you do.
Even though I get along with most of the coaches, but there's coaches I wouldn't say, don't like. Maybe I didn't respect as much because of things that were going on. Now that's changed now because we don't have any rules anymore. So you know, it's easier now. I get like everybody.
Okay, but if you know such, so are we talking about if somebody was cheating, Like you're going to face somebody and you know they were cheating, that's when you have that I don't respect you.
That's what I have privately. I don't share that publicly very often, but I mean, but.
What's it like in the handshake line? You don't walk by and go cheater and then just good game, good game, good game, cheater, good game, good game.
Yeah. I don't do that at all.
I think I respect every coach I go against, because even the guys that I thought were doing stuff back in the day, I know how hard these jobs are. And Judge used to say the game makes fools of us all well, that there's some truth to that.
When's the last time you ask Magic Johnson to help you with the recruit.
I'll ask them all the time, but I really don't have to ask him. You know, he's always tweeting out something or he's saying something.
And you know, now they're actually allowed to help you legally if you come to campus and they get there. It used to be where, you know, if you had a football game and just happened that magic seats were behind the recruits seat. But now you can sit them right with them as long as they're on campus. But you know, Magic's been great. I mean a lot of the former players that I coached have been great with it, and it helps when you have Itason Richardson, Jace Richardson,
the son of a player that's getting good. I'm going for grandsons, don't now, Yeah, how much longer you got these coaches who are saying I can't, I don't want to do it anymore.
You know, it's transfer portal nil and it's just not the way it once was. So what's motivating you to continue to do this stubbornness?
To be honestly, it's total stubbornness. I still love what I do. I don't like what has gone on. I don't think anybody does. To be very honest with you, and you know some say it. Some don't say it, but right now I've taken a better, better stance with myself. For a couple of years, I was on all those committees, and I just kind of gotten off where I don't worry about my team and not worry about all the things that I can't control. And unfortunately, nobody can control what's going on right now.
There is no control. That saddens me for our profession, but it is what it is. So went in Rome. Do like the Romans?
You know, it sounded like a grumpy old man, get off my lawn where you were talking about playing games after ten o'clock on the West coast.
In the tournament.
It was rumpy. I just think it's very difficult to do that. You know, we do, Dan, I don't know what you did at Dayton, but we do go to school here too.
You know, we are a student athlete.
Yeah, we never did that at Dayton.
I know, I know, I understand that. But when you get back at three in the morning, now you got to prep.
It's just more difficult. I understand that TV pays the bills.
I love all the TV people, so I got no prop but it does get to wear on you sitting there all day and that it's one part I'd like to see changed a little bit, but it is what it is.
So I don't think I sounded grumpy about it.
I expressed my opinion, but you express your opinion all the time.
I'm grumpy. Yes, I'm gonna get off my lawn. Guy. Think this had to do with your bedtime, and that's what you were bothered by.
Now, I don't go to sleep now, listen with the Bratsford Portal. You don't go to sleep ever.
You've got to go over and sit with your players, make sure nobody's flying it.
Do you have your phone on vibrate? Yeah, by your bed? Yeah, okay after midnight?
Oh yeah, all the time. I mean, you never know what's going to happen. You know, there's a lot of things that happened.
But but if you had to bail somebody out of jail or anything like that, have I had to.
In the past, There's things like that that happen.
Yeah, you know, sometimes it's not always for bad things, you know, parking tickets and he gets picked up or something. But yeah, any coach that tells you they don't have their phone on at night or they sleep probably lying.
To you, single best player you ever coached against was who.
Ah boy?
You know, when I was an assistant, Shack we played against I played against grand Hill. I thought was one of the greatest players. But boy, that's a loaded question. And I'm not saying that against anybody. They're just man when you're at this level. He played against a lot of great players.
What was the scouting report on Shack?
Really big? I was just a GA back then. That was in my early days.
And uh, I remember telling jud boy, that guy's a big guy, you know, but he was good.
He was good.
I like Shack, but you knew who was so good? Was Chris Jackson.
He was.
He was good more more more my size too.
That's why I should like, I love more. But he was.
I imagine him in today's game. He would he would break you off the I mean off the dribble crossover and he was so quick with that jumper.
Yeah, and he could shoot it from long range.
So he probably would fit in since the three is more prevalent now.
I don't even think the three had just come in then. It was right around that time because I know we had Scott Skyles and we didn't have a three. Point shot. Then that was in eighty six.
Now, help me, is the story true about Scott Skiles and John Thompson?
The it was actually it was in Dayton.
Yet at the tournament, right, Yeah, there was nothing bad with John Thompson, but they really got after him the first half, and I think Scott was zero for nine and I just remember that halftime.
He was sitting in there and we're playing Georgetown, and I mean he was seething, you know, and.
He played really good the second half we won. So you know, Scott had a tendency to talk stuff. But tell you what, he was a help player.
Did he did he say to Thompson while dribbling the ball to John on the sidelines, why didn't you get somebody bleeping out here who can guard me?
Did he guard me?
Yes?
You know, I didn't hear it and I heard it, but I do believe it.
I do believe it. It was. It was one of the things that Scott was. He was good at. But he backed up what he said, So you got to give him credit there.
Great to talk to you again. I'll talk to you next year at this time, right.
You and I'm still going to be here.
I will be were you.
To be in a transfer portal? Are you going somewhere else?
I got three more years? Do you have three more years?
I got seven?
You're gonna be there seven more years?
No, I got seven on my contract.
Yeah, but you guys don't live up to those contracts.
Well, do you live up the years?
Yes, I'm my boss.
You know what, my money because I do enjoy you're You're crazy in your own way, but so am I.
Someday, when we're done, we'll play golf and get along.
I would like to play one on one with you in basketbare you go, I'm going to slap the floor just to let you know I'm gonna lock you down. Coach, you can bring in Steve Mariucci if you want to. I don't care.
I'm breaking.
He doesn't scare me. Mooch doesn't scare me either.
Well, I appreciate you having me on Dan, and you have a good rest of the tournament. I'll try to do the same.
All right, Coach. That's Tom is a Hall of Famer.