บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Final Four Weekend Preview! Steve Alford, Jason Gardner, Ben Humrichous, and Tony East Join!

in a precarious position if they were to lose at Iowa, he perfectly strikes Elijah Surat for the touchdown that salts the game. At Penn State when his team is with their back against the wall and literally on the ropes, knowing they've got to go essentially the length of the field at the end of the game. On the final drive, he gets blitzed. When I say blitzed, I don't mean like a defense blitz I mean he gets hammered on the first play, gets sacked, gets up, rushes off the dust, leads them down the field. Indiana wins the game, phenomenal play from Omar Cooper Junior, the Big Ten Title game, first play of the game, All eyes, all attention, Ohio State, the Mighty buck Eyes, the nearly unbeatable buck Eyes with NFL players all over the place. The only time that Fernando Mendoza has been more surrounded by buck Eyes than in that game is going to be in the first round of the NFL Draft when he's the first pick selected and then there's Ohio State players going all around him. 00:08:26 Speaker 2: Are we sure he's still going first overall with this contract that they've given Kirk Cousins O Jake. 00:08:30 Speaker 1: Yes, so let me continue, and That's where I'm going with us. So with that, he gets hammered, he gets knocked out of the game against Ohio State. He does off, he comes out. He not only wins that game, he then leads Indiana to a national championship where he has the games ceiling fourth down run where he pinballs off people dives into the end zone. He's a Heisman Trophy winner, He's an undefeated sixteen to oh quarterback, and he has done nothing in the offseason but further cement himself and even Eddie with all of those intangibles. Even with all of those can't miss, no doubt, lock stock and barrel number one selection criteria, even with all of the resume, the accolades, and the proof in the pudding that he is going to be the first player picked in the draft, the Las Vegas Raiders go out and spend twenty million dollars to bring in Kirk Cousins because they say, while they greatly believe in Mendoza, they don't think that it's responsible to throw him to the Wolves as a rookie in the National Football League, and so therefore they want a veteran quarterback to come in to lead the team and allow Fernando Mendoza, a University of California graduate, a Heisman Trophy winner, a guy who answered every bell in every challenge. They want him for a year to learn from a veteran so that he doesn't have the pressure of getting dropped into the middle of the cold water without floaties on his arms. The Raiders one of the most dysfunctional franchises of the last decade and a half to two decades, Yet they had or have what appears to be the wherewithal and the smarts to understand that a rookie quarterback, even with every accolade that he has, needs time and you can't screw it up. The Indianapolis Colts took a quarterback that had fewer starts in his career in college than Mendoza just won in one year in Indiana. He had far more question marks, he had

far greater inconsistency, and yes, he might have had more physical upside, but from a playing standpoint and a production standpoint, there is nowhere near the certainty that you had with Mendoza. And yet the Colts decided that Anthony Richardson needed to start right away and be handed the keys, And you could make the argument now years later they are still paying the price for that decision. This goes to show the calculation that should go into having a young quarterback. Now you raise an interesting question, Eddie, Does that make you wonder whether or not Mendoza's the guy? Except for that they have said. 00:11:44 Speaker 2: Especially it's the day after his pro day. 00:11:47 Speaker 1: Correct, But they also have said that they don't think that any rookie quarterback that they believe that he needs, they don't feel, you know, that it's right to throw him to the wolves. You are correct in the fact that maybe there is the possibility that they trade that pick out. I don't know, but by all account right now, and this may be proven to be wrong here in three weeks when the draft rolls around. But by all account, what it appears is that they know that they have a true gym and Fernanda Mendoza, and the one thing that they want to make sure to do is not throw him in and immediately get him disrupted to the point where you've done irreversible damage, which we have seen from quarterbacks in the past. I have always said, when it comes to quarterbacks in the National Football League, such a big part of it is the circumstance in the situation that they're walking into. Do they have the right amount of pieces around them, Do they have the ability to learn from their mistakes? Do they have continuity of system and offensive coordinator and lying in front of them and receivers and etc. And there are certain quarterbacks that are so gifted it doesn't matter with ay Or like it didn't matter with Peyton Manning. It probably didn't matter even though both those guys for the most part had those things. You know, Joe Burrow totally gifted. But the line standpoint the inconsistency there, the inability to keep him healthy, you know, is that going to hurt him. He's got good receivers, don't get me wrong. But there were some interesting comments made which we'll get to coming up in about thirty minutes, just from the other day that I think shed a little light on where there may be a breakdown in the colts and working with quarterbacks and just building continuity. In building continuity, and I heard some interesting comments that I'll play for you coming up in about thirty minutes. You take them with a little bit of grain of salt, or excuse me, in about twenty minutes, I'll play him. Take them with a little bit of grain of salt, because it's guys that played for the organization at one time. But the you know, sometimes that can shed light on the way things are on the inside, and when you have guys like and I realize that Shack Leonard, who apparently has a very good relationship at least it would seem from Chris Ballard's standpoint with Chris Ballard Eric Ebron, that was a little bit I thought of a kind of a pain when he was here. But those two guys doing a conversation with one another and talking about the departure of Andrew Luck, which is old news by now and people don't want I get all that, but it gives you again, it's precedent, right, gives you precedent as to where things may stand and why things are they are, why things are as they are right now, A big show lined up for you, by the way, Tony East goin to join us. Actually we'll do that in about fifteen minutes and talk about what happened last night between the Pacers and the Bulls. Steve Alford, who is one of I believe five coaches that have taken five I have schools to the NCAA tournament. Fran McCaffrey's done it, Rick Patino's done it. Lon Krueger I think has done it, and I think Tubby Smith did it, and as well Steve Alford. Steve Alford is back in his home state of Indiana. He is being honored with an award during Final four weekend. It's pretty prestigious and it links to John Wooden, who, of course there is deep connection between Steve Alford and John Wooden. Not only did Steve Alford coach at UCLA, but keep in mind Steve Alford was born in Martinsville when his father was the head coach at Martinsville High School, and of course Martinsville fairly known for a guy that then went on to play at Purdue and coach at ECLA by the name of John Wooden. Steve Alford got to join us on the program coming up at one o'clock, and I'm interested to talk to him about a couple of different things, including not just Steve Alford. Is I actually have a photo, Eddie? I should send this to you. I have a picture of me if you want to know how big Steve Alford was in nineteen eighty seven. And I'm curious of this. If nil had always existed, if nil was always a thing, if since the beginning of time, if nil was around, what Indiana or Purdue player would have netted the most NIL money over four years. Glenn Robinson would be up there, but he wasn't there four years. I think it's between and Isaiah would have been way up there, but he was only there two years. Calbert Cheney would have been really high on the list, really high on the list. Colbert Cheney, Damon Bailey would have been probably number one. But Alford is really high on the list because in nineteen eighty seven gold chain Jake. Listen this photo I just sent you, Eddie. It's gold chain offered. Also, you notice right. 00:17:10 Speaker 2: I noticed the watch more than I do the necklace. There. 00:17:14 Speaker 1: So allow me to explain here what Eddie and I are discussing. 00:17:18 Speaker 2: Is this where your affinity for watches comes from? 00:17:22 Speaker 1: My have no, that actually started in nineteen ninety six when I worked at Hardbooks, Pipe and Tobacco, and I picked up a copy of Watches magazine. But Steve Wolford in nineteen eighty seven, everybody knows the credentials. In nineteen

eighty seven at Eastwood Middle School, we did you know the jerseys? You went to? What middle school? 00:17:41 Speaker 3: Eddie? 00:17:42 Speaker 2: To canter Central Middle School? 00:17:43 Speaker 1: Okay? Did you play any sport besides baseball? 00:17:46 Speaker 2: I did not? 00:17:46 Speaker 1: Okay, but even in baseball, the numbers, the jersey numbers were just kind of randomly assigned, right. 00:17:51 Speaker 2: They were assigned by like so like one through I think whatever ten or eleven is like small and then correct right through eighteen medium. 00:17:59 Speaker 1: Yea, They're just narick numbers on the on the jersey, right, and so at Eastwood we had these like you know, baby blue polyester uniforms that just had gold numbers on them, and I think it was one through exact same thing. Like I was number forty four because I was a bigger guy. But for the guards that played at Eastwood in nineteen eighty seven, the number twelve was not allowed. They would not allow anybody to wear number twelve because there would have been there were so many fights over who could be number twelve because Steve Alford was number twelve. He was so big and so popular. And when I was in the his aunt was my middle school counselor. I didn't know Steve Alford, but he was so big and so popular. Somehow my dad arranged for this, which was one of the great things in the history of like my time. When I was in the sixth grade, my dad arranged, via my middle school counselor, for Steve Alford to call me elect on my birthday and wish me a happy birthday. And that was that was worth if I had been given a Bentley for my sixteenth birthday, it was everything. So in nineteen eighty seven, shortly after Indiana won the national championship, I somehow got word that Steve Alford was signing autographs at Castleton Square, mall right in front of Lazarus as a matter of fact. So I had on my best white Genera sweater and I was wearing a gold chain because Steve Alford wore gold chains. And I have the exact same haircut as Steve Alford, and I ran down there and got a photo while Steve Alford was signing autographs. I leaned in for a photo. And you will notice in this picture, Eddie, that he and I have the exact same hair, the exact same everything. Right, Like literally the world rose and set around Steve w Alford Indiana Basketball for me at that age. 00:19:50 Speaker 2: Trying to figure out where he signed. 00:19:51 Speaker 1: For you there, I can tell you there was a story about him in Sports Illustrated and that I opened it up to the article about him in Sports Illustrated, and that's what he signed. 00:20:06 Speaker 2: Do you still have it? 00:20:07 Speaker 1: Yes? Yeah? 00:20:09 Speaker 2: I mean, so is it in the uh Isn't is it in the boopad? 00:20:15 Speaker 1: Is it made the cut through the Great perge? 00:20:17 Speaker 2: Okay? 00:20:18 Speaker 1: But Steve Alford in general, in coming back to Indiana for the Final four, there are a lot of things that I want to ask him about, including just I mention all of that, and I tell that backstory just to illuminate how he would have been the face as a player of what NIL could have meant for basketball players back quote in the day. But now he also as a coach, and I understand it. At Nevada, I think that he has been very public and outspoken about the challenges that NIL can create in the the the nest. Now to somehow put some sort of a limit or some sort of just And I'm not saying that you're trying to deny players what they are owed. I'm simply saying there has to be some sort of a uniform policy with it so that we have some clear understanding of where we're going with this before it just becomes basketball free agency every year, where whichever team that year has the most money they buy the biggest roster and bada boom, baabang rinselm repeat the next year, and all of a sudden, programs become like the Yankees, where they're buying up the best players from everywhere else, and the Nevadas and the Butlers and the ball states of the world. It's difficult for them to compete. And I only say Butler because they're in a big time league, but they're one of the lesser funded within their league. But I think there are a lot of interesting conversations that we can have with Steve Alford, which will do at one o'clock today. I mentioned that Bob Kravitz was at the pro day yesterday for Fernanda Mendoza. He's going to join about two to ten and then a return guest today on the show because he only had so much time to be able to do it or so many you know, this is really his only day of availability during his return home. But Jason Gardner with Arizona, who I know chatted briefly with the guys this morning, will also join us today and we'll get a better understanding just of where Arizona stands in terms of their practice, the you know, the logistics, and a little more about I'd like to talk to him about his son as well, and whether or not, now that there's been a coaching change at Fisher's, just Jason Gardner's son stay at Fishers, does he go away to one of the academies. Those are the things that we can ask him about. Pacers last night against the Bulls Eddie, you were running the board for it. Were you shocked by the proficiency with which they played offensively. 00:22:44 Speaker 2: A little bit? That game last night, Jake was a glorified pickup game. There weren't sets being ran. It was just we're gonna rebound the shot after a miss or take it out of the basket, and we're going to go up the court. We're gonna drive in. If we're gonna we're gonna drive. And if they're giving us layup, we'll make the layup, we'll kick it out, we'll hit the three. That's exactly what it was, where it was like pass past inside leath good. It was just that wasn't a real game that I watched last night. Chicago. I don't know what they're doing with the Bulls, Like, I don't see the direction they're going. They were playing guys that they played their entire I think they played everyone who

was active last night. Same for the Pacers, and they just looked like they were out there just to be out there. They didn't look like they're out there really trying to win a game or anything. 00:23:33 Speaker 1: Well, we'll find out more about it and what it could mean for Indiana in terms of that coveted draft pick when Tony East locked on Pacers joins us. 00:23:41 Speaker 2: Next. 00:23:43 Speaker 1: Eddie Garrison, by the way, just lining up for us. Another guest for today, which is very cool. When we're talking about those coming home for the final four. You know you got Steve Alfred at one Ben Humrick House from Illinois. And when I say from Illinois, I mean he plays for Illinois, but native of Tipton, has played collegiately at a couple of places in the Indiana back home for the final four. Were going to join us coming up just about an hour from now, Bob Kravitz in the two o'clock hour, so to Jason Gardner. So locked and loaded on a Thursday here, Pacers last night were certainly offensively locked and loaded in Chicago. But they got to be careful here. I understand that teams are occasionally going to serve it up for them or you know, have it right there for them, but man, you got to be careful here. We keep talking about the magic number. You need so many losses to stay or at least give yourself the best chance of staying within one of those top four picks. And I do actually believe that Indiana, what's that Eddie bottom three understood, But to stay within one of the top four picks. 00:24:58 Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I'm saying if you stay within the bottom three gives you the best chance. 00:25:01 Speaker 1: So they have to make sure that they don't screw this up, is what I'm getting at. And I do firmly believe that at the very top for the Pacers, they are keenly aware of the what a coup that would be to get one of those picks. But let's bring in Tony East from Locked on Pacers Forbes WTHR. He of course the guy that we talk to the most about these things, and he's a numbers cruncher, So let's begin with the numbers. Tony, Are they gonna screw this up? What needs to happen here down the stretch for Indiana to give themselves the best chance at one of those four picks? 00:25:35 Speaker 4: Yeah? 00:25:35 Speaker 5: They had with going to him after the sixteen game losing streak, right, they had the worst record. They were three or four win I think it was four was the highest that got wins behind the Kings and the Kings of the Key team. 00:25:45 Speaker 3: Because the Kings of the team in fourth. 00:25:47 Speaker 5: To last right now, and that is where that he was saying that the odds drop changes, so the bottom three teams all have the same odds of ending in the top four, which is the best poss blood and then if you get to fourth or tied for fourth, your odds go down. And so they had a four game gap, which with I think it was ten games to go, felt pretty significant. And then they beat Orlando, which was like, okay, they want a game, ended a losing streak, and then they kept trying that whole week, right, they almost beat the Clippers, they did beat Miami, and so that stretch was interesting because it cut their gap in half. And now it leads to what just happened last night, I promised him getting to the answer to your question, which is they had a game against Chicago, they still have a game against Brooklyn, and those are their only two, including last night. The games they had left against teams that were also very much influenced to lose, and it's hard to do. 00:26:37 Speaker 3: It's hard to lose those games. As you saw with the Bulls. 00:26:39 Speaker 5: Last night, their defense was just pathetic and like Tiakam played twenty one minutes and they still scored one hundred and forty five points and had forty nine assists that all had like the Brooklyn game might look like that in terms of ugliness. 00:26:50 Speaker 3: All this to. 00:26:51 Speaker 5: Say they cut down the gap and wiggle room they had between them and fourth when they had that week where they won two games in almost three and so now they're two wins away from fourth, and their margin for error to stay in the bottom three is basically, they can win once to guarantee it. If they win twice, they're rooting for the Kings, so it's you know, it's winning three or five at this time of the season. Honestly, a little head scratching to me the way that this week has gone results wise, even though it would have been hard to loose the balls last night. Don't get me wrong, but I do think they, like you said no, that it's top of mind that they should be aiming for a bottom three record when the season ends. And now they only have one more game against the team for sure not playing their best foot forward. 00:27:32 Speaker 3: We'll see what Detroit looks like in. 00:27:33 Speaker 5: That last game, because they'll probably have the one seed already locked up. So the big thing for the Pacers is the Kings won last night. They went into Toronto and beat the Raptros a huge upset in terms of the inverse standing. So now they still have two games of wiggle room the rest of the way, and if so, that's huge for that. 00:27:49 Speaker 1: So they can't. So the bottom line is this, if between now and the end of the season and the Pacers, by the way, tomorrow night in Charlotte, between now and the end of the season, if the Pacers get another win, then we go okay. But if they get two more wins, then you're scoreboard watching. Is that the best way of saying it. 00:28:12 Speaker 3: Yes, that's true. 00:28:13 Speaker 5: And the only other influence I would put up at is that the Nets and Wizards, who are the other two teams joining them in the bottom three, still play each other one time, and so it's possible because the Nets play the Wizards and the Pacers, that the Nets get up to twenty wins and then things change. But yes, you're the I mean, the Pacers are probably duficult for watching now, honestly. 00:28:33 Speaker 1: So, yes, that is the

thing. 00:28:34 Speaker 5: If they win two games, they're rooting for the Kings very hard to somehow find one more win along the way. 00:28:39 Speaker 1: But you know, Tony, the trick in all of this and the challenge in it is to your point. See I come place twenty one minutes, right, Yeah, you have guys that if you're and I mean this is no disrespect. I mean these guys are all I mean, you're in the NBA, you're an elite player. I get it. But if the Pacers are saying, let's put a roster out there that maybe gives us less chance to win that, you know whatever, you're still putting guys out there that are competitors, and they are deserved of and they merit, and it is certainly understandable that they want to put their best foot forward, not just to try to prove that they belong within this franchise, but in some cases perhaps even auditioning if you will, for yes, a multi year deal elsewhere. 00:29:26 Speaker 3: Right, one hundred percent. 00:29:27 Speaker 5: It's almost like a lot of them honestly with you know. 00:29:30 Speaker 3: Most of them, like should know if they'll be backer not at this stage. 00:29:33 Speaker 5: But it's hard to lose on purpose period when you're playing another team trying to lose. And yeah, like like you look last night in the second half and the Pacers are up twenty five, so it didn't really matter. 00:29:42 Speaker 3: But like the lineup at the. 00:29:43 Speaker 5: Time was like Cam Jones, Taylor Peter Jalen Slows and Ben Shepherd, who's who you know, he's established, and Michah Potter, like every single one of those guys is fighting for either they're spot on the Pacers next year or just to be in the league like somewhere. And if they play well, like oh, look, they were huge part of one hundred and forty five point game and had seven assists, Like that's big for their chance to get another contracts stay with the Pacers, you know, continue to be invested in whatever it may be. So they don't you know, they don't care about the universe standings. They care about playing well and extending their career right, And so sure the Bulls have players doing that too, but like I would argue, the Pacers have at least some of the better or more productive like deep reserves as we've seen, like Kobe Brown's come up in a lot of discussions recently. Potter has continued to you know, put numbers in the statuets, so it's hard to you can't tell them the misshots and like you were saying, stall turn it over whatever. So if they're putting their best, so forward with those guys like they're gonna win some of these games like this, which makes this end of the season very dramatic. 00:30:38 Speaker 1: By the way, did you watch the Oh, I mean, I guess Rocket the space launch yesterday? 00:30:46 Speaker 3: I actually did not. 00:30:47 Speaker 5: I was driving up to Chicago, so I couldn't. My parents were in Florida and they could see it from there. 00:30:52 Speaker 3: How crazy is that? 00:30:53 Speaker 1: I mean, that's cool. How far away

were they? 00:30:56 Speaker 5: I don't actually know in terms of miles, but they send me a picture where they could literally was like, how can you see it from that far away? That blew my mind. 00:31:03 Speaker 1: I'm curious of this. Okay, the Eddie. Did you watch it yesterday? Nope? 00:31:08 Speaker 2: I was driving into Pacers Okay last night. 00:31:12 Speaker 1: Yeah, because it was at six thirty five or something like that. I'm curious of this, and you guys can can tell me. 00:31:20 Speaker 3: Here. 00:31:22 Speaker 1: I was in the seventh grade when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, imploded, whichever way you want to look at it. And as I was watching that yesterday, and it was cool to watch it. It was definitely cool to watch it, But I am curious. For me, there was this nervous energy in watching it, which I did not anticipate. I didn't think that would be the case, But as I was watching it, there was a nervous energy. And then even as and it's not like it's the first thing that's launched into space since the challenge, you don't get me wrong, but as it was going off into orbit, I was still very like almost like a PTSD because I just it instantly took me back to January of eighty six. Now, you guys obviously would not have remembered that, you know, that moment. So if you had watched it, would you have had that same nervous energy when you're watching it? Or is it only because I watched live when that happened. Do people that were you know, you guys have a younger the next generation below me. I hate to say it that way, but that's the reality. Would you have had that same hesitation when you were watching it? 00:32:30 Speaker 3: I think I would have. 00:32:31 Speaker 5: I mean, the only comparison I could give you is I got rear ended really bad in the interstate one time, and for like a month, every time I drove on the highway, I was like, undoubted that and then do the whole time white neckling? 00:32:40 Speaker 2: Right, So I would imagine, yes, Eddie, Yeah, I would. 00:32:46 Speaker 1: Okay, I didn't know if that was just because of like those of us that witnessed it in seven, you know, in school, because the one thing about the Chrystal mccalliffe situation was literally every kid in America had a teacher that they actually thought was the other finalists that did not get selected because Christopherculiffe did. And so like it was because that was what was used to, you know, to incorporate the minds of all of you know, young people, to get us interested in space exploration. And so everyone was watching it live and it was obviously traumatic. Okay, Pacers Charlotte tomorrow, good news, I guess, Tony. And this is this is a team in Charlotte that even though the Pacers have even last year when the Pacers were really good, Charlotte is just a tough matchup for them in general. Correct, Yeah, yeah, they And. 00:33:34 Speaker 5: Then even for years when the Hornets were bad and the Pacers were good, somehow they would lose against the

Hornets, right, So yeah, that'll be that'll be a tough one. 00:33:40 Speaker 3: And the horns are really good recently. 00:33:42 Speaker 2: And I was gonna ask you this real quick, who's the second best player available in the draft. 00:33:49 Speaker 5: Oh man, the second best. 00:33:51 Speaker 2: Because I'm in the in the theory, in the in the scenario in which the Pacers don't land that first overall pick, and let's say they land the second pick in the NBA draft lottery. When you're up that high, you have to take the best player available. So who is the second best player in this draft? 00:34:07 Speaker 3: That's a good question. 00:34:08 Speaker 5: I haven't watched enough to know. My only on paper analysis would be that Boozer is the best, and probably Demanta is the second best. 00:34:17 Speaker 3: Talking to people. 00:34:18 Speaker 5: Who know anything about the draft, or people of the league who actually watch these guys all the time, they all think Debansa might be the highest upside guy and Peterson might be the second best. So combining those answers, I would say aj or Cam would be number two. 00:34:30 Speaker 3: But they all seem very the top. 00:34:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, look, I think Boozer is seen as the guy that has the clearest understanding of what you're getting, but de Bansa is seen as the one that has the most potential long term reward, Peterson has the most intrigue, and then Wilson is seen as one that could potentially have the most force about him. And a Sean Kempway, but also the highest possibility of being you know, joe Ilokaefer. You know what I mean? 00:35:01 Speaker 3: You know what somebody brought up to me extra to all. 00:35:03 Speaker 5: So Cooper Flag was supposed to be in this draft and reclassified. 00:35:07 Speaker 3: I was like, this would have been shame draft. 00:35:10 Speaker 1: Well, I've always thought this about Cooper Flag. Cooper Flag not only you know is young for I mean obviously because he reclassified, right, so he was. But in addition to that, and I know that he ended up going to the Academy, but can you imagine Cooper Flagg playing four years of high school basketball in Maine? Like, like, who's guarding Cooper Flag? 00:35:32 Speaker 6: Right? 00:35:32 Speaker 1: Cooper Flag had one hundred and six points and fifty nine rebounds last night? You know he was. He only had three assists though, because they couldn't find anybody else on the floor that could score. 00:35:43 Speaker 5: I almost feel bad for Wilson this year because, I mean the description of him is very good, Like he's a really good player that a lot of years would be in consideration for top you know, one, two, three, whatever. That it's just that's the year it is, Tony. 00:35:56 Speaker 1: I'm telling you that the to go on the way back here. The nineteen eight nine recruiting class for Indiana had six players in it, and Calbert Cheney was the one that was considered the least because he missed his senior year at Harrison with

a broken foot, so out of sight, out of mind, and then it turns out he's the best of all of them, right, so you just never never know. All Right, Pacers, hornets tomorrow night, Tony, I'll have it all covered. Appreciate it as always, Tony yep. Thanks for having Tony East joining us on the program. When we come back. Steve Walford, by the way, coming up seventeen minutes from now. But when we come back, interesting comments made about the Colts brass by a couple of guys that were on the inside. We'll let you hear it next, former cult Eric Ebron, who did not have a fabulous tenure here in Indianapolis. I think, and I don't know Eric Ebron. I know people that covered the team that liked him, but I think there are those that would say that he was, you know, a bit of an iconic class within the locker room. But that's not my I'm not in the locker room, so it's not my place to say, but he does do a podcast now that he recently had on Shack Leonard, Darius Leonard, whichever name you would like to go by on My Soul is the name of the podcast. And let's begin with Shack Leonard talking about if you recall Shack Leonard, of course, at the end of his tenure as a cult had the injury. First he had the if I'm not mistaken, it was an ankle injury that then led to a back issue, if I'm not mistaken, and it led to surgery. And he just great player. I mean obviously a great player and a leader and a fan favorite, but the injuries absolutely slowed down his career to the to the point where he just once he came back, he was never really the same. And obviously they parted ways and then he went on. He was not done as a player, because he would go on to Philadelphia and but it you know, he only played I think five games in Philly and then then it was over. So clearly the injuries played role. But he was very open about the fact that at that time Gus Bradley, the defensive coordinator, and Chris Ballard as well, and first let's hear from him and talking to Eric Ebron, just remembering how it went down in some of what appears to be from Leonard's standpoint, the recollection he had that is not favorable of Gus Bradley. 00:38:22 Speaker 7: I don't think that I could take that mental hurt again. When you give everything to somebody or organization and they say that I was a bad teammate, Bro, They say that I wasn't doing treatment will make myself better, and I'm spending all this money bringing all these people in, trying to get ready to go play for these guys. That what broke my heart, bro. And when I say it broke my heart, it broke my heart to a point where I said, I don't want to play the NFL anymore. And this is how ruthless it is. We was playing bad defensively, not just because of me, but somebody had to take the blank. So if the DC ain't taking the blame, man's person got to go. So I understood that business part of it where he's got to be you mean, but just be real about it. Don't talk it my name and my reputation. What I've done for this organization to say that I'm a bad person. I'm a bad teammate, bad leader. I don't know this I walked away from because of that bro. I just I didn't feel like I could give my all to somebody and get stabbing him back as I deal with Goods Brawley Man. 00:39:20 Speaker 1: Okay, interesting comments. Now, I will say he didn't necessarily walk away from it. He walked away from Indianapolis perhaps, but you know he was if I'm not mistaken, he was released here and then he goes to Philadelphia. But but I understand what he's saying there. Look, I put my heart into it, and this is what I'm getting. And as I was listening to that, I thought, you know, Chris Ballard speaks very favorably about Shaq Leonard, he always does, and how much he loves him. But Eric Ebron, when talking about injury then didn't speak as favorably about Chris Ballard. 00:39:59 Speaker 8: Andrew Luck and I both got bone spurs in our ankle going into twenty nineteen. 00:40:03 Speaker 1: His is in the back, mine is in the front. 00:40:06 Speaker 9: We're in kahoots. 00:40:06 Speaker 8: About what are we gonna do. Are we gonna play or are we gonna, you know, get the surgery. If we get the surgery, we're gonna miss the first three games. We're trying to win the Super Bowl this year, d Lay, we have the best team in football twenty nineteen. 00:40:20 Speaker 1: They're begging me. 00:40:21 Speaker 8: They're like, e Brin, you can't get surgery on your ankle because we have a mission. 00:40:25 Speaker 1: We have something we need to do. 00:40:26 Speaker 8: The staff got so mad at Andrew because he was bringing them in and not listening to their protocol. Andrew then decides that he's so tired of injury and he just doesn't want to do surgery. You know who the man is around there that gets on everybody's nerves, big drums. 00:40:43 Speaker 1: Over there behind that desk. 00:40:45 Speaker 8: He tells Andrew, you're either playing this year or we're moving on. 00:40:50 Speaker 1: Who the fuck would tell Andrew Luck. 00:40:52 Speaker 3: That that's great, that that's crazy. 00:40:54 Speaker 8: Andrew Luck now says, I'm not gonna be ready. I'm tired of playing with pain. I retire. We all find that out what week three and we play in the Chicago Bears mid game, bro mid game, we find out we're not going to have our starting quarterback for that year. 00:41:12 Speaker 1: Now I assume I assume he's talking about Ballard there, because I don't think they'd be talking about Jim Mersey in that light. I think he's talking about ballad there either way. And I know the andw Luck retirement story is a played out one in this town, no question about it. But I think the thing that's interesting about that number one, usually the truth kind of all comes out. Number two. Yes, there is an element of the fact that things can get embellished or things can get told. You know, you remember something one way, and then when you tell the story so many times you kind of add to it in your mind, actually psychologically changes a little bit the

realities of what took place. It wasn't that long ago. Eric Ebron certainly was in the midst and in the trenches for it. So is it possible that Andrew Luck had said to him like, look, I went in there and they said to me like, no, you're yeah. I think that's possible, But at the same time, it would probably be malpracticed for me to sit here and say, here is irrefutable proof that the Colts forced Ander Luck into a retirement. I don't think that's the case. But I think what it does shed light on is that when it comes down to it, athletes are competitors, and we can sit here and say, hey, this guy didn't play because he didn't have the heart to do it, or this guy didn't play because he was a malcontent that didn't like his coach, or see eye to eye or whatever it may be. But what you hear there are two different guys kind of from two different angles or perspectives on it, simply talking about one thing, and that is that injury in sport is very mental. It's very very mental and for all of and I've always thought it's a completely lazy, borish, knuckle dragging commentary to say like that, you know, Ander Luck was a quitter and he quit on his team, and good riddance because he doesn't have mental strength. Okay, whatever, But you know, one thing that you can never totally account for or grasp is just and it's different for every individual, but how mentally taxing injury can be, and how emotionally draining injury can be, and how that inability to even psychologically grasp or wrap your head around the fact that you may not be one hundred percent again or you don't know. Everybody and their brother wants to know when you're coming back, and they're asking you about it, and the headlines are about it, and the conversations are about it, and you yourself don't even know the frustration of thattand why it would force a guy to just say enough enough, I can't do it. I can't do it. And that's what we always had heard with Andrew Luck, that he just got to the point where he's like, I can't do it. And I think it probably is as simple as that. But I do find it interesting that there is the recollection from a teammate of his that was going through the same thing that perhaps Andrew Luck was given some sort of an ultimatum or challenge. 00:44:25 Speaker 2: Can I play in on this? Why would the Colts still give him all of his guarantee money and the twenty million dollar parting gift if Chris Biler was given him the ultimated life. 00:44:38 Speaker 1: I understand this sat or the other. Although that was the owner that did that, I understand that. I think that's a fair point. But at the same time, I'm not saying that that's definitively what happened. It's possible that Luck, in a moment of frustration, said something along those lines and Ebron took that in the phone drill and ran with it. But I think it speaks to the psychological challenges that come for any athlete when injured. Steve Alford is back for the Final Four. He is going to be honored, and he's going to be honored with an honor that is related to a man that ties a lot with the background of Steve Alford. He joins us coming up in five. Steve Alford has won seven hundred and twenty four games as ahead basketball coach. Of course, the nineteen eighty seven national champion in the nineteen eighty three Indiana Mister Basketball and now back in Indiana for the Final Four to accept the Keys to Life Award, which is the Coach Wooden Keys to Life Award. It is presented annually to a member of the college or professional basketball community who quote lives out qualities exemplified by coach John Wooden outstanding character, integrity, and leadership on the court, in the workplace, in the home, and in the community. He joins us now on the guest line. Coach. First off, congratulations because not only does that resonate in terms of what that award means, but I would imagine for you special as well be because of your deep connections to John wood. 00:46:04 Speaker 6: Yeah, there's no question I appreciate that very much. It's a very humbling honor. It's something that's if I've been going through, going to at the Final Four for over three decades, and I appreciate the relationship I've had with athletes and action and what they've meant along the lines to my faith and players that I've coached, and staff that I've had on my coaching staff, what they've done. There's a lot of effort that goes into that. So I'm very appreciative athletes and action. And then obviously with Coach Wooden's name on it. My first four years of Great Schools in Martinsville, so I learned very early who John Wooden was and what was he about. And then as crazy circles go to then be coaching at UCLA down the road and obviously feeling the full impact of Coach Woulden. To be honored anyway, shape or form with his name on an award is very very special. 00:47:03 Speaker 1: You know when you look at all of the things there that are mentioned within that right, and you know, obviously playing for your dad and seeing you know your dad as a high school coach and all the way through. But I'm curious, if you go back and look Steve Alford at your career, which aspect of it or perhaps which coach other than Sam Alford per se would you say most instilled, and like, at what age range would you say that the characteristics about you were most defined? 00:47:35 Speaker 6: Oh, A lot of question and a great question, a deep question, just because I've always felt and I think as you get older, you since those things probably a little bit more. I've always had a huge appreciation of the coaches that I got to play for and the guys that meant so much to me. Obviously, it started in elementary school, it started in junior high, all the way up to my dad in high school. And I always felt Dad's been my coach forever. So the foundation of the game, the disciplines, I think those things my dad is always instilled in me and to this day continues to and then obviously coach Knight, you know, just the

preparations, the film, the intense film that you go through. I think that not only helped me as a player. I can remember Gary Grant at Michigan was probably the hardest guy I had to play against. I just thought it was long athletic. I really cared about defending, and I can remember just hours upon hours of film of me breaking down film trying to figure out out how to score on Gary. And those are things that really don't happen a whole lot in high school back in the eighties. It was really something that you did and once you got to college kind of like with strength coaches and those types of things. So Coach Knight just took it, I think, to another level with preparation and then professionally John McLeod Richie Alabado, Don Nelson. I just I was around some not just good coaches, but just really high character, good people that kind of paved the way for when I got into coaching. It gave me a pretty good blueprint of how I wanted to do things and how I wanted to prepare people. I'm in year thirty just completed year thirty five, and we had notebooks when I was at Indiana, and every player that I've coached has one of those notebooks if they completed a year with me. So it's you take a lot from the guys that mean the most from you, and Coach Knight and my dad meant a great, great deal to me. 00:49:46 Speaker 1: You know, I remember speaking to Gary Grant in eighty seven. Of course, when you drove the link to the floor to beat Michigan, and you guys thought the game was over and ran off the floor and endo the tunnel and I think there was a second left and they had to bring everybody back out. That's one of the few times Bob Knight ran from anything, right because he was like halfway down the tunnel before they and then they had to call you guys back out, didn't they. 00:50:08 Speaker 6: Yeah, it was one of the few times. We talk about it on group chats all the time now as former players, but we never really saw coach have any kind of emotion after a win. There was never never any emotion good or bad out of coach. He was just to go walk down, shake hands the head coach, and then walk to the dressing room. But that particular evening and that was a huge game, a big, big ten game with Michigan for doing ourselves fighting for a championship. And I can remember I wasn't on the bench very often, but that was in an era where you didn't bring chairs out onto the court. You just sat on your bench at timeouts, and they the people behind that bench were absolutely brutal to coach the entire night, and so I don't know if that Sturdy or what happened, but just his reaction after the shot went in was pretty funny. And then that we had to come back out for one more second. It was probably an iconic situation they had come back out to the court. 00:51:12 Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like yesterday to me at times, and then other times it seems like a long time ago. What about the Steve Alford when you look back, like, for example, Final four weekend when you're coming back. I know it's kind of a coach's convention when you come to the Final four and you're getting this award. But when you come back to a Final four, do you recollect more about the experiences you've had from a coaching standpoint of being involved in Final four activities or do you recall more so the trip to New Orleans. 00:51:41 Speaker 6: Yeah, I think we've been back several times since to the Superdome, and I think it takes on a whole new meaning. Win the Final fours in New Orleans obviously, but there every time it comes to Indy, there's the player memories come up. Because our first two rounds are at the who's your home? That then who's your dome? And it's Indianapolis, And so I think anytime it's in Indy for New Orleans, it brings up player memories. The other final fours probably more of the coaching stuff. Now that I'm in my early sixties that you think about that a little bit more. You know, if it's out west or something, you've never really experienced that in college when I was in Indiana. So I'd say when it's in New Orleans or Indy, it probably brings back a lot more memories as a player. 00:52:31 Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna I mentioned this earlier. Steve Alford is my guest, the head basketball coach of course at Nevada. I've got a photo here that I showed Eddie earlier. You were doing an autograph signing at Castleton Square Mall a couple months after the national title game in eighty seven, and I've got a photo of me leaning in while you're signing my sports illustrated. Okay, now, not by coincidence. Here we have the exact same haircut. For the most part, we have similar to the exact same shirt. We both are wearing a gold show. All of this is by design because I was one of ten thousand kids in Marion County that thought I was Steve Alford, right, And the reason I bring that up if NIL had existed fifty years, you know, for the last fifty years, but obviously in this case, forty years ago, would you have been the all time leader at Indiana in NIL earnings? 00:53:24 Speaker 6: Well, I was very blessed in that I went from mister basketball in eighty three to an Olympian gold medals to eighty four, to a national title in eighty seven, So you would think those things might mirror that. But I played for coach Knight, and there was nobody on our team that was going to get any money from ANIL. If Coach Knight is the coach, it would be donated to the library fund. It would be donated somewhere on campus that was outside of our realm. So I'm not sure Coach, and there's probably several coaches I think about that knot or would not tolerate kind of the guidelines we have today. 00:54:05 Speaker 1: Because I'm gonna be honest with you, Steve, if Sam Alford had come up with the Big Baller brand shoes for one hundred and twenty five bucks, a pop in nineteen eighty seven. I would have waited in line to buy him. My entire East to A team would have been waiting in line to buy the Alford Big Baller brand shoes. I'm not gonna lie to you,

right, the feathered hair, the whole deal, right. 00:54:22 Speaker 6: I mean, LeVar Ball has probably got that lane. So, like Levart says, we got to stay in our own lane, So I got to stay in my own lane. There. 00:54:32 Speaker 1: The reason I asked that is because you know now you are in a situation on the other side of it from a coaching standpoint in Nil and I know that you have been you know you've spoken about this a lot, and I'm curious from a coaching standpoint, and I don't know what the answer is. Do we need to come up with or does there need to be some sort of a uniform governing body if you will, on exactly how this can all work out between the portal and everything else, and how much jeopardy does it put some programs in in terms of this arms race. 00:55:06 Speaker 6: Yeah, that's a great question. And I've spent a lot of time when Coach was alive and living in Lubbock and I was in New Mexico, and I guess spent a lot of times when at least two three times a year I would fly into Lubbock, and I can remember him talking about it then and not so much about NIL, but he talked about how there was it looked like things were going to where college basketball is going to have to think about what football does to where you have one A one double A basically FCSFBS however you want to say it, but you have a split because it's impossible to have three hundred and sixty schools. Look at class Look at what's happened in the state of Indiana with class basketball. It used to be three hundred and sixty five competing under the same umbrella for the same championship, the same tournament. Now not only do you have class basketball, but it saw an article day. Those things change because enrollment's change. So you jump from two eight to three A, three A back to two A maybe four. Hey. But so it's really hard to get everybody three hundred and sixty five collegiately to vote the same way, to come up with the same things that's going to help each other. I'm on a committee now that you know we would work very hard to get this pass to where the portal wouldn't open until after the championship. But there are a lot of coaches that feel like it should be opening in mid March because that favors them and their school much better than what it would a Nevada or a Power five school. So I think that's where we're trending, you know, with no anti you know, we need anti trust laws, and that's going to have to be government deal. We're in war in the Middle East. There's a lot more important things, I probably think, government wise than it is trying to figure out an anti trust law that helped in CLA and the governing of what's going on. There are no guardrails. There basically are no rules, and that's always going to favor the ones that have and they have nots are going to suffer, and most of the have nots are going to be mid majors and low majors. And I think that's probably why the Cinderella stories and those things are could be could be something that we're not going to see anymore. You got a Miami Ohile team that wins thirty one games and they're in a play on, They're in a playing game. I think fifteen years ago, that probably probably doesn't happen. They're probably in a nine to ten seed. So you just see that happening. And it's always going to be the TV revenue. And I love hearing the TV personalities. They're always going to speak on behalf of what whoever they work for, that's who they're because the TV money is what's driving it. But the coaches don't. I think the coach sometimes hurt the whole situation because coaches are moving and chasing the money and the NIL packages just like players are. So I don't blame the players, and I'm not saying I blame the coaches. I just think if there's no rules and there's no guidelines, players are going to chase the money. The coaches are going to play, not just chase the money in the contracts, They're going to chase what school offers the most nil that I can go pay players. And so you have all that chase going on. And now what you miss in college basketball. There was always when I played, in my first twenty five thirty years in coaching, you could watch college basketball, you could watch the NBA basketball. You could be a lover of both or you say I like amateur basketball better than I like professional basketball, or vice versa. Now you've really got college basketball that is a much better version than the G League because you're going to make more money in college basketball than you are in the G League. So we're a professional sport now with open free agency. We're the only sport that I know of or institution collegiately that has any kind of open free agency. And so when you have an open free agency, you're gonna have people moving. So now fans, you're going to have one team of ten new players, and then the next year you're going to have ten more new players, and the next year ten more new players. And so those fans that like to grow with their players coming in as freshmen and you get to know them and see them develop from freshmen to sophomore to junior graduate, come back to an alumni base you're going to have. I think you're going to have four or five years from now, you're going to have a vast majority of college basketball players just talking about my sport. I think football is the same way. In college basketball. Kids are going to go, hey, where's my reunion at where's my teammates that which where am I going? And you're like, I went to four different schools, so where is the team I'm supporting now? Where is my group of teammates? Because it's a lot of fun for me whatever happens in the sport. There's probably about twelve to fifteen of us IU players in my era that are on group chats when something happens, and that's fun. That's exciting football. IU football this year was so exciting for us because when we went to school in the eighties, I don't know if we won more in two games a year alone. Going in to feed and winning a national title,

those things are fun as you get older, and I think the people we're producing now are going to be one of two things, or it could be both. You're not going to get a degree because every time you transfer, you lose credits, so getting your degree is going to be very very hard. And then four or five years from now, when you want to show loyalty to your school, you don't really know who that is. And I think that's very unfortunate because I think that was a big piece of college athletics. 01:00:48 Speaker 1: I mean, my concern and you tell me this may be Steve Alford the dumbest thing that anybody's ever asked you, right, and I have a habit of that. But my concern would be that the NCAA until we get this under control, and that's the wrong way, but until we have an idea of some sort of uniformity of it. I guess it is a better way of saying it that the NCAA would look at it and say, we need to favor on selection Sunday. Now, we need to favor those from the Power forward because that's our bread and butter. Number one and number two. They could secede and become the G League. They could break away from the NCAAA with all of this money that's coming through. So therefore that hurts the Nevadas of the world. That hurts the Mountain West, or the Non Power Force on selection Sunday, or the Miamis because they would rather favor having a thirteen lost ninth team out of the SEC than a deserving team out of one of the non power fors am I way off base with my paranoia there. 01:01:47 Speaker 6: Yeah, Well, I think there's concerns. I think there's concerns of how the tournament. You look at this tournament this year, I've already mentioned mayam Ohio. The year they had was second to none to anybody. Forget you know, the strinth to schedule and you go through five months and you lose one game, and so yeah, you get in the tournament, but you're in a play you're basically play in. That's a hard seed. Eleventh seed play in is really difficult. I've had that seed. That's a really difficult seed. What Texas did this year in eleventh seed was impressive because you're playing three games in one week. Our team, Utah State in our league. They were dominant throughout the season, non conference and conference, an old, mature team, really smart basketball. IQ coach callingn did a phenomenal job with this team. And they win our league, they win our conference tournament, and we're the sixth rated league in the country, so we're the first non Power five conference in the country. Rang and they get a nine seed. There's nothing worse than a ninth seed. You're in the eight to nine game, and oh, if you win that game, you're playing the number one seed in the country. So not just getting in, but I think you'll see these teams get in. But through the seating process, it's like you're not going to be here long. And I think that's what's going to happen. And again, not blaming players, and I'm I'm not advocating players shouldn't get paid now that we're in twenty twenty six, but open free agency and the lack of education that's taking place, like I can, I can tell you this, and coaches are, in my opinion, they're lying if they don't tell the truth. If kids got four classes taken, three of them are online. Oh so you see a lot of you see a lot of teams now throughout the country. We were one of them last year that turned down postseason. You literally turned down postseason because the kids know they're online, they're going to go in the portal. So we didn't make the Ncable Tournament. We're going to turn these things down. 01:03:49 Speaker 3: And that's that's sad. 01:03:50 Speaker 6: I told our team this year. No, we're playing in an I I played in my sophomore year. We got beat by Reggie Miller and the UCLA championship game in Madison Square Garden. We still talk about it to this day. We talk about that in it run and it paid the way for a national championship two years later. Those are exciting times that these kids are just foregoing because they're in too big a hurry to get into the portal and get onto the next spot. I think that's a wrong, wrong makeup. 01:04:18 Speaker 1: At any point that it or has it steve led to. You know, you're on contract through twenty nine through twenty twenty nine, I believe at Nevada if I'm not mistaken in that. But were there ever times where you thought to yourself, you know what, I can go into broadcasting. I can go back, you know and watch my kids playing professionally, whatever it might be, watch my kids. Coach. Was there ever a time where it tempted you to walk away from coaching? 01:04:44 Speaker 6: Yeah? Yeah, I think there's always a temptation, And it's not so much walking away as it is you know, you got grandchildren, You've got family, You've got a lot of you know, because coaches they sacrifice a lot, just like players do. Or what if we get Thanksgiving, we're lucky if we get Christmas, and those things don't happen very often. So you look at everything, but I look at it as my staff. I've tried to invest in our staff and that players need us more than ever right now because they don't understand what's going on. They It used to be players used to put their name in the NBA Draft because they thought it was cool. All my name's in the draft. And then they figure out you're not going to get drafted. See you're coming back to school. And now the cool thing is I got to put my name in the portal. I got to be one of the five to six thousand to put my name in the portal. That's cool. It's what it gets me like, it gets me DMS. It's a cool thing to do, but they don't really understand it, and they don't understand the magnitude of what's going on, and so it's just much much different. It's like being a there's a lot of general managing going on more than just coaching, because you're trying to your school or rev share whatever it is. You got this tool of money. Now, how you getting twelve thirteen players to fit in this pool of money. That's a lot different than it used to be. The

education was the main deal that has really taken a hit, and I think that's what ultimately down the road, I'm most concerned with. Yeah, you're making money now, but you're not making enough money to where if you don't sustain that through education and taking a job when you're done playing, I couldn't have probably accomplished. I was very very fortunate, very blessed of the things I accomplished from the ages of seventeen to twenty two. And yet I I played four years professionally and at twenty six my playing career was over. And so a lot of players aren't even going to get to twenty six. So if you have no degree, if you don't have no educational foundation, it's really difficult on these young men. Even though they're making more money in that era that I played in, you're going to make money, obviously, you're still without an education. You're without that foundation to where that next career starts, and you're going to spend most of your life in that career versus playing. 01:07:08 Speaker 1: Okay, lastly, Steve, I mentioned this to you, but in conclusion, I had to point this out. Okay, when I was a matter of fact, when I was in the eighth grade, we took a school field trip to DC. We're in the Smithsonian and they said, oh, you get to see the Hope diamond. It's the largest diamond in the world, and for whatever reason, I thought it was going to be like the size of a billboard, right, and then we get there and it's I don't know what's the size, and I was disappointed by it, right, I was disappointed. So you can imagine I'm driving through Newcastle on my way back from the IndyCar Race at mid Ohio. I think it was last year, and I thought, you know what, I've never actually gone in. Seemed like the town of Newcastle. So I drive in and I thought, well, I want to see the backboard that Steve Alford had. I remember it. You'd always see it on television. They'd show it like every other IU game, your childhood driveway backboard that had I don't know who painted it, but it had the EU logo, the Newcastle Trojan and the Olympic rings on it. It was beautiful, right, And I pull up and I realized that your folks don't live there anymore. But I pull up and the hoop is gone. And then I thought, well, that should be in the Hall of Fame, the Indian Hall of Fame in Newcastle or something. And it was the disappointment of me. The same level about the Hope Diamond, who in the world took the basketball hoop out and did you get first right of his shosal to purchase it. 01:08:16 Speaker 6: I'm not sure. I'm not sure it manager's up to the Hope Diamond, but I do appreciate that, and it is there is a sacrilegious thing obviously going on because one not just because it was my backboard, but my brother in law painted it, and then my grandfather laid the foundation because he was a prick mason and any concrete. So I had the most leveled driveway. It was exactly ten foot high and I've spent a lot of time on that. So when it went down, I was very, very disappointed in

that. But the secondly, not to have a goal on your driveway. That makes no sense. If you live in Indiana, there should be a hoop up on your driveway. So but it's it's carried me through to all my places. I've been very blessed wherever I've been, but we've had a hoop just about everywhere. And part of when we look for a new home, there's got to be a level driveway. And a lot of these realtors outside of Indiana don't understand the meaning of that. But if you're in Indiana, like it says in forty nine states. It's one thing Indiana is a little different. 01:09:21 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm telling you whoever like it should have been actually a requirement when purchasing the home. You're purchasing the home and the backboard. There is no discussion allowed. 01:09:29 Speaker 3: It's gotta state. 01:09:30 Speaker 1: Yeah, no discussion allow. Well, listen, coach. I appreciate the time and welcome back to Indiana obviously anytime you're back, but also congratulations on a well deserved award when it comes to the athletes and action in John Wooden, and I know what both of those mean to you, so certainly soak it all up and enjoy the weekend. 01:09:48 Speaker 6: I appreciate so much. Thanks for having me on. God blessing us. 01:09:51 Speaker 1: You and the family appreciate it. Steve wall for joining me on the guest line. Speaking of those coming back, by the way for the final four, there is a player there, two of them for the Illinois fighting a line. They're going to be back in Indiana to try to win a national championship, just like Steve Alford did as a matter of fact back in nineteen eighty seven. And we will talk to one of the next thank you to Steve Alford for the time. In perspective, Jeremiah with a really good point when he said, man, I did not expect to hear Steve Alford comparing class basketball to the way the NCAA could be headed. Totally agree, but great perspective. And again, five coaches that have taken five schools to the NCAA Tournament fran McCaffrey, Tubby Smith, Rick Patino, Lon Krueger, and Steve Alford. And you know, when you're a coach that has been doing it for as long as he has won seven hundred plus games in one you know what sixty five percent of your games, nearly seventy percent of your games, You're going to be, in many ways seen as kind of the elder statesman spokes person for a lot of different discussions or panels or whatever it may be with college basketball. And I think that he can offer also unique perspectives in the fact that he's coached in the Big Ten. He's coached in the Pac ten or Pac twelve, which now obviously UCLA in the Big Ten, the Mountain West, you know, the mobile. I mean, he's been in different leagues, so he has the understanding I think of the way that college basketball goes at various levels of program, if you will, Illinois is one of those in the final four. Obviously, Ben Humrickhouse is from Tipton, started at Evansville, now a member of the Aliini, and we anticipate hearing from him in Illinois

basketball coming up in the next couple of minutes. But we'll see with that. We haven't gotten into Eddie a lot just in terms of the Final four your expectation, and we probably will do this a lot tomorrow, I would imagine. But there always is in the Final four a very clear like undercard game, and in this case, because it does not feature a number one seed, when you look at Illinois and Connecticut, you know you say, well, that's clear to the undercard. But I'm telling you either one of those two obviously could win it. And Illinois at the way that they can shoot the basketball in all areas, you can't count them out, right, No, I don't think you can at all. 01:12:39 Speaker 2: I don't think you can count out Dan Hurley either, for what he's been able to do with Yukon and how dominant the Huskies have been post Sweet sixteen in Hurley's era and you know Hurley. 01:12:53 Speaker 1: It took me a second to realize. I mean, I should have thought about this, and if I had watched the game as opposed to listening to it while driving back, I probably heard more about it. But it is funny to think that you know Danny Hurley and that dagger in the latest in the history with Duke, and yet Bobby Hurley, his brother, was so often and so much on the other side of it for the Blue Devils. But joining us now in the program, he is back in Indiana, native of Tipton, played at Evansville now with the aligne I. Where as a six' nine, forward he's putting in six a game For illinois and you never know what he might hit one of those threes we talked about For Brad underwood's. Group And Ben hummerkhouse joins us on the. Program, ben how are, you congratulations on coming back for The final. 01:13:36 Speaker 3: Four i'm, great thank. You how are? 01:13:38 Speaker 1: You i'm, well thank, You AND i think everybody here is excited about this final. Four there are connections really for all four schools To indiana in some, way but for you, personally you, know this has to be just an absolute, dream right because you start At, evansville you end up transferring To, Illinois and it seems to me like it's been really in the last say two months of the, season that it's all kind of come together for you, guys especially offensively. Speaking what about from your, perspective when did you feel was the time of the. Year Did illinois has been playing their best? 01:14:11 Speaker 2: Basketball? 01:14:13 Speaker 10: YEAH i think for us it really has started through. Adversity AND i think it started for us when we came home having lost at home Against. NEBRASKA i, MEAN i, remember we had a really really tough, week a lot of, physicality a lot of trying to figure out what's our identity as a, team AND i think things from there started to. 01:14:32 Speaker 3: CLICK i mean EVEN i mean we won twelve games in a. 01:14:36 Speaker 10: Row even from there we faced another another stretch of, adversity AND i think coming back from The Big Ten tournament heading into The national, tournament there

was a there was a level of urgency that was unique coming from our team in the way that we responded to our loss in The Big Ten tournament and heading into The national tournament knowing what the abruptness of the year. IS i, mean once you, lose you go, home and So i've loved our preparation heading into each game of this, tournament the way we've taken it one game at a, time AND i mean really just leaned in and trusted the brothers around us and the staff and our supporting staff as we just continue to hope to make a great. 01:15:19 Speaker 1: Run you, know when you look at your, JOURNEY i mean you start out in AI, a, RIGHT i mean here you Are tipton's obviously a place that has had great players come through, it And indiana high school basketball Is indiana high school, basketball. Right but coming out of high school you end up at THE naia level At huntington and then you transfer To evansville and now To. Illinois has that journey helped, YOU i guess in basically being patient in for this particular. Group like you talk about when adversity comes your, way does it kind of seem relative to? 01:15:50 Speaker 3: You? Yeah. 01:15:52 Speaker 10: ABSOLUTELY i MEAN i mean BEFORE i really get into, THAT i have to Give god all the glory for. This for, this WHAT i could say is a lot of this Is god's grace just continuing to help me to, persevere to push to, grow to challenge. Myself but then Even god's sovereignty of putting me in positions with great. PEOPLE i, Mean huntington was an incredible experience for me WHERE i got to learn so much about about just how to, grow how to how to trust the staff around, you how to how to BECOME i mean even a better basketball, player but a better. Man and then like the way THAT i had to adapt and grow At evansville and then now being here at The university Of, illinois where roles may have shifted over my two, years and especially coming From evansville and the way that that, WAS i think a lot of. It so much of my journey is about trusting the staff that's around, you and then being so blessed to play with great people and so now here with this, team you're able to kind of present to. Them why just being, patient being process, oriented being a team, player and just i mean always committing to the day that's in front of. You why that's so Important AND i think that's shown over the. Season, now why late into the season we're having incredible success, offensively but even especially defensively as we're playing with an extra connectivity as a. 01:17:07 Speaker 1: Team you, know it's, Interesting, ben when you look at THE aligni. Roster, yeah there are a lot of players that have come the securitiest route to end up playing For Brad, underwood and a lot of different journeys in different, stories and YET i think it takes a special kind of coach to be able to blend all of those personalities and backgrounds together for a common. Goal what is it, like you, know just in terms of the camaraderie you have with your teammates and perhaps at the same, time the understanding that all of you have taken different paths to get. 01:17:41 Speaker 10: There, yeah it definitely starts at the top With Coach. Underwood one of the Things i've always appreciated About Coach underwood is the way that he is able to bring guys in and make it feel like they're welcome and at home very. 01:17:55 Speaker 3: EARLY a lot of that is setting the. 01:17:57 Speaker 10: CULTURE i, mean the culture around here is, winning but also the culture that this is a, Family this is a brotherhood of every day. 01:18:03 Speaker 3: GUYS i EVEN i even felt last year. 01:18:05 Speaker 10: For me that it was very easy to get Into illinois and know what was expected of, you and then it built a trust among the coaching staff and. Yourself and so now WITH i, mean we talk so much about The european. Guys when we talk about guys from all over the, country AND i mean even even Like brandon From Puerto rico and and all these different places and backgrounds and cultures, that, uh there's so much of a sense of. FAMILY i, know AND i know everybody says, that but there's a sense of family that That illinois may be unique in the way that we approach like recruitment and and stuff like, that but everybody that come that comes here to the, university like has a home, here AND i think that has. 01:18:42 Speaker 3: Built a connectivity for us. Early, uh that that is unique. 01:18:46 Speaker 10: In the world of college basketball now at the portal, age but ESPECIALLY i mean the ability to trust one another once we get on the floor because we've spent hours off the floor, growing, CONNECTING i mean even just becoming do that love to be around one another. 01:19:02 Speaker 3: And love to play basketball with one. 01:19:03 Speaker 1: Another ben Humbric house is my guest native Of. Tipton of, course with The illinois fighting and LINE i in The final four taken On. Connecticut, ben you guys got a really special player and a young. Player you obviously are a veteran. Team you guys have a lot of you, know upperclassmen on your. Team But Keaton woggler has been special from day. One and he is not a guy that, was you, know your proverbial hat dance ON espn five, star big time. Recruit but he's been special from day, one. Seemingly what was the first time that you, NOTICED, whoa this guy's got something in. 01:19:36 Speaker 3: Him, YEAH i, mean Keen keen is extremely. 01:19:41 Speaker 10: SPECIAL i, mean everybody's going to talk about like the scoring performances TO i, mean the big plays and. Moments but one of the things That i've always noticed About Keenan woggler is the kids a. WINNER i remember through the, SUMMER i was sitting down with Coach jones and AND i mean my big emphasis on coming back IS i just want to. WIN i don't care how that. Happen and SO i was messing with, him like with the open gyms stuff that like you can take as serious as you. Want AND i told, him, Like i've won every open gym and he's, like,

well he's, like you've actually, lost Because keaton's won every open. Gym and that's the thing About keaton that's been from day one Is keaton wins every. Drill he presents his best foot every day in, Practice he's truly an every day, guy and SO i knew very early on that he was going. 01:20:24 Speaker 3: To be special because of his dedication to winning for this. 01:20:27 Speaker 1: Program i'm curious of. This you know you're, married, Correct you were married a couple of what six months? Ago is that? 01:20:34 Speaker 3: Right? Yeah back back at the end Of. 01:20:36 Speaker 1: December, Okay, so and your wife is An illinois basketball, player played Basketball university Of. Illinois for you, personally what does that mean to have a partner that understands not just the, game but more importantly understands the mental aspect and the emotional toll that can come with playing college basketball at a high. 01:20:59 Speaker 6: Level. Yeah. 01:21:01 Speaker 10: Absolutely adahlia is one of the greatest blessings That god has given. 01:21:04 Speaker 11: ME. 01:21:05 Speaker 3: U i, mean the greatest. 01:21:06 Speaker 10: DECISION i ever made was to trust That jesus as My lord And. Savior of the second was to marry my Wife, Adalia and she's been such a blessing for. Me as you, say, uh and that she understands the, Game she understands the mental toil that you, face the way adversity can, come and then how long a season is for. Sure but one of the great things ABOUT i Mean dalla is that she like often when things get, hard she's great at pointing me back To, jesus back to the. Center and even she understands, That, LIKE i do basketball all, day AND i can be hard on myself AND i can do, that but When i'm able to go home to my, wife it's it's a it's like it's a safe haven for. 01:21:42 Speaker 3: Me where we can do. 01:21:43 Speaker 10: Basketball she has plenty of, pointers especially defensively because if you know, her she can guard the. Basketball And i've learned a lot from. Her but WHEN i go, home it's my safe haven where WHERE i get to just Be ben AND i get to step outside of the basketball and uh and and and be. Myself we AND i, mean we do a ton of stuff that we love, together whether it's like reading or hanging out getting, coffee food and. Stuff and so she's been an incredible blessing to me THAT i thank The lord for every. 01:22:10 Speaker 1: Day, now there are five, thousand two hundred and seventy five people that's an estimate that live In, Tipton. Indiana of the fifty two hundred and seventy five people In, Tipton i'd like to know how many of them have asked you for? 01:22:21 Speaker 3: Tickets i've Been i've been pretty. 01:22:24 Speaker 10: Good but, well the great thing Is i've had like some buddies text, Me BUT i don't have any social. Media so anybody that's ever DMed me asking for, TICKETS i haven't. Seen and SO i can only imagine THAT i CAN i can only imagine some of our guys from some more popular areas how many how many times they've been, asked and it might be more than, five seven hundred and twenty. 01:22:47 Speaker 1: Five, well so in, conclusion you, KNOW i would imagine it's a, whirlwind AND i certainly hope that you guys are given the time to just kind of absorb the special nature of all of. This, Right but what is the schedule like for you? GUYS i, mean how compact is it and how much time do you get to even visit with people that may be coming down from. 01:23:07 Speaker 3: Home, well it's it's it's a good it's a good. 01:23:10 Speaker 10: BALANCE i, mean like this morning we had practice and we did some media and a bunch of you, know doing stuff in front of, cameras and tonight we'll have some like some fan festivities with with some. Fans but so there's there's some balance where you get some time with, family where you're able to go with friends with so much of our mission on this is a is a business, trip AND i know people say, that AND i don't want to sound, cliche but it's a business. Trip and so for, us a lot of that has been trying to eliminate distractions before we get. Here and then just even like my family is gonna come down and they understand the reality of how this world is to where, Uh tuesday, NIGHT i will no longer be An illinois college basketball, player and we'll have plenty of time together after, that and So i'll get some. TIME i want to embrace these moments with the people THAT i, love you, know but so much of this is about taking care of busines and just continuing to stay at our. 01:24:03 Speaker 1: Process, well you've already got If i'm not, mistaken and correct me If i'm. Wrong you've got a degree already in. Math you're getting another one and graduate work in business analytics From illinois IF i assume both of those are. Factual, CORRECT i have. 01:24:16 Speaker 3: My undergraduates from mathematics From Huntington. 01:24:18 Speaker 10: UNIVERSITY i have a master's In, Recreation sports And science From, illinois and Then i'm getting a master's in business. 01:24:23 Speaker 1: Analytics, yeah so, LISTEN i hope you're, able and you know you want to continue playing. BASKETBALL i realized for probably as long as you. Can but it sounds like everything's going to be just fine for you once the playing career comes to an, end and Notably bennett's because it is very apparent we have not met this first time that we've, talked but it's pretty apparent that you've got life in the right perspective and as, well the priorities and the right, order and we certainly hope that along with those those are accentuated with the opportunity to share a national championship with your teammates and your brothers coming up here In. Indianapolis but either, way obviously a tremendous success AND i certainly appreciate it time. 01:25:00 Speaker 10: Today, yeah absolutely Praise god for the blessings that this journey has, been for the Way he's directed, me AND i mean even just blessed me with the eligibility to continue my education and be able to do

it with so, many so many special. People SO i give him all the praise and, glory AND i hope that from this THAT i get to be a light to the conversation of college. 01:25:20 Speaker 3: Basketball appreciate. 01:25:21 Speaker 1: It, Ben good health and good luck to you all, right, awesome thank you for having me appreciate. It from The Illinois fighting a line that Is Ben Humrick house From, Tipton. Indiana really really good perspective, there and you, know just a maturity alone at that, age obviously in his graduate, work but to get two different graduate degrees and be married and still do all of that while playing college, basketball really impressive. Stuff Bob cravis was At Indiana Pro day yesterday and going to join us in about twenty five and recap. That AND i know he was on with The Morning show earlier this. Morning but a couple of other THINGS i wanted to talk With Jason gardner about from The university Of, arizona and we'll do that in forty. Five by the, WAY i don't know if you happen to have the breaking news, Sounder, eddie and if this is something that was out there like three days ago AND i missed. 01:26:17 Speaker 6: It my. 01:26:17 Speaker 1: Apology you know that happens now when you see something now you have to first you look at it and you, go, okay is this? Real like is this a legit? Site you? Know is this and yesterday Being April, fools and then you're, like, well maybe this is something that got buried in a news cycle three days ago AND i missed. It BUT i think this is relatively new since we've been on the air. Today Jalen, harrelson the promising player For Notre dame who averaged sixteen points four boards per game this, season is in the transfer. Portal he is one THAT i think if you had, to and we'd have to go back and look when he was being recruited out of high, school what were his final. CHOICES I indiana was in the, mix, right but that was obviously Under Mike, woodson AND i Think purdue as. WELL i had heard his name recently in association With, purdue AND i don't but it wasn't that somebody was saying, like, Hey purdue's going to get, him or he's interested In. PURDUE i think it was more so a speculative like what If purdue was able to get him kind of. 01:27:33 Speaker 2: Thing it Was No Tre, Dame Michigan, State, Indiana. Auburn those are the teams that at least he took visits. 01:27:44 Speaker 1: With here's what's, Interesting So Notre dame if he's leaving, there give me the other Two auburn. 01:27:49 Speaker 2: Offer he went on an official visit With, Auburn, okay an official visit With, indiana in an official visit With Michigan. 01:27:57 Speaker 1: State so Only Michigan state has the same staff would have been during that, time, RIGHT i Mean, Auburn kaina. 01:28:03 Speaker 2: Does but, YEAH i mean you have other offers From, Kansas DUKE, Tvu Arizona, State, Gonzaga. Wisconsin i'd like. 01:28:12 Speaker 1: To know this In iiO, State Florida, state we do this from time to, time But michigan probably. Rotates i'm curious if You Eddie garrison with a number one point guard right now In, america you're the you're a five star point. 01:28:25 Speaker 2: Guard, yeah. 01:28:28 Speaker 1: Excluding and your answer can't be let's say that everybody is going to give you the same amount in nil. Money, okay give me your top five schools right. 01:28:36 Speaker 2: Now If i'm a guard And i'm trying to get to the, league. 01:28:41 Speaker 1: You're just the schools that you're looking, at and you're like That's you can have your own, reasons but your top five would be what. 01:28:47 Speaker 2: If i'm a, Guard number one is going to be at least for the time being until proven, Otherwise john Calla, Parry, okay that dude turns out guards to get to THE nba like nobody's. 01:28:57 Speaker 9: Business. 01:28:57 Speaker 2: OKAY i would also have to put in, There. Duke. OKAY i don't know What North carolina is, doing so they're not on the. 01:29:08 Speaker 3: List. 01:29:09 Speaker 2: Kansas, okay that's, Three so two. Others let's Go Yukon, okay Love Danny, hurley AND i would toss In Brad underwood At michigan you Mean? Illinois thank? 01:29:27 Speaker 1: You, yes, okay fair, enough so you've Got now let me ask you this other. Question, yeah if you're a diehard fan of a, team would you rather in the final four the national semi? Final you're all excited for the final? Four mm. Hmm if you were going to lose in the national semi, final would you rather lose by thirty five and just have it be one of those games that right off the tip you're chasing it and you're, like oh my, gosh the team's hitting, everything you can't hit. Anything you're down twenty one at the, half you end up losing by thirty? Five year h? Million would you rather that or hang? Around hang? Around hang? Around last ninety seconds of the. Game other team hits a miracle. Shot beat you at the. Horn oh. 01:30:14 Speaker 2: Man by the, Way i'd like to make an amendment to my list of. 01:30:21 Speaker 1: Five all, right hold, on stew on your. Amendment do it on the other side In kravitz in fifteen, busy busy day here on A. Thursday thank you to all of you who have tuned. In my name Is Jake Query Eddie. Garrison the other voice you hear on this, program Padres. Is we call It querry And, company and we are bilingual here on ninety three five and one oh seven five the. Fan if you are just joining us on the. Program we talked earlier about the fact That Shaq leonard is in The he's in The ring Of honor right for The. COLTS i don't. KNOW i don't have to look for some. REASON i was thinking they Just i've forgotten that THAT i. DID i hallucinate on. 01:31:05 Speaker 3: That but either. 01:31:05 Speaker 1: Way he had some interesting comments in a podcast done With Eric ebron About Gus. 01:31:12 Speaker 2: Bradley now you're league will In, swahili, right that is. 01:31:16 Speaker 1: Correct, YES i want a foozie leaky wan um. KUBLA i don't know what you, said but uh, No shack is not in the what AM i thinking

of last year where they brought him back and honored him for? Something did he do the did he bang the? 01:31:37 Speaker 2: Anvil might have done? That, Yeah. 01:31:41 Speaker 1: But he he had some comments About Gus bradley basically where he said that it kind of took the spirit out of him that HERE i was giving my everything to this franchise and you're saying That i'm a bad. TEAMMATE i don't actually recall that being said About Shaq, leonard but and he said it JUST I i didn't want to do, it keep doing. It it had taken its toll on me emotionally from an injury, standpoint AND i did not Appreciate Gus bradley questioning me on That i'm. Paraphrasing and then on the heels of, That Eric ebron during the conversation, said, WELL i remember When Andrew luck AND i both had bone spurs and our ankles and we were talking about whether we were both going to play through it or both going to have. Surgery and he said When Andrew luck came to the conclusion that he did not want to have, surgery that The, colts as a matter of, fact let's play The Eric ebron Audio. Eddie this is BECAUSE i don't want to misquote, it, because Again Eric, EBRON i realized he had a complicated tenure here In. INDIANAPOLIS a lot of time has. PASSED i realized The Andrew luck conversation is one that people are for the most part. Over but there was a nugget of this THAT i found very. Interesting not SAYING i believe, it BUT i found it very. Interesting Eric ebron when talking about his injuries here along With Andrew. 01:33:00 Speaker 8: Locket Andrew luck AND i both got bone spurs in our ankle going into twenty. 01:33:05 Speaker 2: Nineteen his is in the. 01:33:06 Speaker 4: Back mine is in the. 01:33:07 Speaker 8: Front we're in kahoods about what are we gonna? Do are we gonna play or are we, gonna you, know get the. Surgery if we get the, surgery we're gonna miss the first three. Games we're trying to win The Super bowl this, year D. La we have the best team in football twenty. Nineteen they're begging. Me they're, like E, brin you can't get surgery on your ankle because we have a. 01:33:27 Speaker 1: Mission we have something we need to. 01:33:28 Speaker 8: Do the staff got so mad At andrew because he was bringing them in and not listening to their. Protocol andrew then decides that he's so tired of injury and he just doesn't want to do. Surgery you know who the man is around there that gets on everybody's, nerves big drums over there behind that. Disk he Tells, andrew you're either playing this year or we're moving. On who the fuck would Tell Andrew luck that that's. 01:33:54 Speaker 3: GREAT i that that's. 01:33:56 Speaker 8: Crazy Andrew luck now, Says i'm not gonna be. Ready i'm tired of with PAYN i. Retire we all find that out what week, three and we play in The Chicago bears mid, game bro mid, game we find out we're not going to have our starting quarterback for that. 01:34:12 Speaker 1: Year so the fact that AND i would assume when he says the guy the big drawers behind

the, DESK i assume he's talking About Chris, ballard not because the character of it, all but through process of, elimination BECAUSE i don't think he'd be talking About Jim, mersey who gave andreluckt twenty five million dollars upon his. RETIREMENT i found the conversation in those points. Interesting we had that happen earlier. Today we just mentioned the fact That Jalen harrelson is in the transfer portal For Notre, dame which Led eddie to, then upon my asking, list what five Schools eddie would pick If eddie was a point. Guard you, Said, Arkansas, Duke, Kansas, Connecticut. Illinois then you, said you have an amendment to make you have an amendment to your? 01:35:06 Speaker 2: List, yes go, AHEAD i would like to Remove illinois from the. Equation. 01:35:11 Speaker 1: Okay AND i would like for what reason would you like to Remove? Illinois MAY i? 01:35:14 Speaker 2: Ask and BECAUSE i feel, like as of, lately this guy has been able to develop and coach, players AND i have a chance to win at this said, program IF. 01:35:25 Speaker 1: I, May IF i, may let me do this in a trivia form Where i'm going to pick what it is the school that you're? Thinking. OKAY i would first like to know if this school has won a national championship with this? Coach? No has this school been to A final four with this? Coach? Yes has this coach taken a different school to A final? 01:35:43 Speaker 6: Four? 01:35:44 Speaker 3: No? 01:35:45 Speaker 1: Okay and they did not win a national? Championship you, said, CORRECT i will go With i'll go With Tommy lloyd To. Arizona, no and he did not win a. 01:36:02 Speaker 2: Title you, said, correct he has not won the. Title, yes, Correct but. 01:36:05 Speaker 1: IF i came to watch your team play In, january would it be smart of me to bring my winter? Code, NO i will go With. 01:36:15 Speaker 12: Florida, no they've won a. Championship oh they, have that's, right elect. You, okay so hit me The cougars Of. Houston really you think he's going to be there for your four. Years i'm not worried about the four, Years. Jake i'm just worried about a year or. Two that's, It, okay trying to get me to the league If i'm the top right of point. 01:36:35 Speaker 1: Guard did you text him to see whether or not he'd let you come down? 01:36:39 Speaker 3: There? 01:36:40 Speaker 1: NO i did. NOT i WOULD ucla would be very high on my. List except for, THAT i wouldn't want to go. PLAY i just wouldn't For Mick. Cronan and it's interesting Because Mick cronan is one THAT i really did think was going to be you, know he was kind of loosely in the discussion with The indiana, opening AND i really thought AND i really Like Mick cronin in terms of his ability to coach the game of. BASKETBALL i, mean there's no doubt that he gets the most out of his. TEAMS i think they they do play well, Defensively but just in the last year he has become AND i, MEAN i get. It you, know oftentimes coaches present a persona or an approach that is totally different publicly than what players. See but, MAN i DON'T i just something about. 01:37:35 Speaker 2: Him you remember that two to three week, Stretch jake where he was having those moments where he would just like sound off on the media, Totally and during one of, THEM i, said are we, sure, like like he understands and knows what his buyout, is but are we sure That Mick cronin is just not like frustrated WITH? 01:37:55 Speaker 1: Ucla it seemed that way right. Then and then they lose their. 01:37:58 Speaker 2: Game they lose their game To Michigan, state Not Michigan, state To yukon in the round of thirty. TWO i, think, yeah the round of thirty. Two and after the game he makes mentioning, goes, YEAH i just like five more million dollars SO i can put a roster together to, compete which kind of makes sense if like you're this frustrated during the course of a season with your roster and not having the players that you feel like you can put together a roster to. Succeed why, not and you know you have a huge, buyout why not try to force their, hand like either give me the money and find a new, coach or give me the money SO i can give you a winning. 01:38:36 Speaker 1: PRODUCT i, mean that's What and when we talked To Steve alford earlier and that conversation will be up at one oh seven five to the fan dot, COM i Thought alford it was really interesting when he was talking about how player free. Agency you now have players that are going to be chasing the big nil, money but then coaches that are chasing the places where they can actually. Spend and so now you're gonna have even more movement among, coaches and you know the Will wades of the world that go one place and then, boom turn around and go back to the. 01:39:04 Speaker 3: Other. 01:39:05 Speaker 1: Course if you you, know you laid down with a, dog you're gonna get up with. FLEAS i, mean we know. That but you're going to get coaches movement as, well probably because you're also going to get donor. Fatigue you are a coach at, state you and you're going to the big time donors to get the money necessary to be able to turn around and build a roster for. Yourself and you go to those donors so many, time and that donor is, like, look, MAN i you KNOW i can't give you WHAT i don't. Have you, know you've asked three times now And i've tried to help, out But i'm tapped. Out and a coach knows. That and the, donor unless you have like a big time donor on stat you, know in your, rolodex then it's, like, well you know what We've i've gotten EVERYTHING i can out of this turn up and then onto the. 01:39:51 Speaker 6: Next. 01:39:51 Speaker 1: Right yesterday was pro day For Fernanda mendoza and The Indiana football. Program Bob kravitz was. There Bob kravitz where you can read his work and also what we mentioned off the. Top, Today Kirk cousins signs a five, year one hundred and seventy million dollar deal with The. Raiders only one year of that is. Guaranteed Bob kravitz is laughing about. 01:40:13 Speaker 3: It. 01:40:14

Speaker 1: Bob to, me the interesting thing is this that seems as though The raiders have the wherewithal to, say even if we're drafting a guy number one, overall we want to give it time and not throw him right in the deep. End And mendoza looks as ready as anybody to step. In but did you see anything yesterday that would lead you to believe That mendoza is not going to be their? 01:40:37 Speaker 4: Selection, oh absolutely. Nothing it's a it's a done. 01:40:40 Speaker 6: Deal AND. 01:40:42 Speaker 4: I had a chance to talk With Lewis ridick for a couple of minutes yesterday down, there and you, know there's no question that he's the. GUY i found it interesting that they made the move for Kirk cousins one day After mendoza's pro so that we would spend the afternoon asking him what do you think of the addition of Kirk. Cousins so that's that's very uh fortuitous, TIMING i would, say. 01:41:12 Speaker 1: Yeah and this is WHAT i talked about, Earlier. Bob here's a guy In mendoza that from the. Time and maybe we are just now understanding and grasping this because you, know it's only been in the last year that we have really Studied mendoza and gotten to know him right because of The indian aspect of. It but he seemingly checks every single, box both physically and in terms of his experience and his, maturity his football maturity and his intellectual. Maturity and yet even with all of, that The, raiders who are not necessarily the blueprint of stable, Franchise but The, raiders even with, that are, saying as ready as he may, be we're not going to tear off the bubble wrap just. Yet yet The Indianapolis colts did exactly that with a guy who has fewer starts in college or did In Anthony richardson Than Bernanda mendoza had in one year In. Indiana does this even further illuminate the mistake and the mishandling The colts. 01:42:16 Speaker 3: Did? Oh. 01:42:17 Speaker 4: Absolutely first of, ALL i think The raiders are a little. Crazy you, know if this kid is not, ready then nobody. IS i, mean he just he just has it. Upstairs, physically he's put on ten pounds of muscle since the end of the. Season, no IT'S i think we already knew just how badly The colts screwed that. Up you, know maybe The raiders are being overly careful, here but it seems to me that we're looking at A Peyton manning type situation where you just throw him in there the first, year let him take his, knocks you, know and learn from from the tough times the Way peyton did back in ninety. 01:43:03 Speaker 1: Eight Bob kravitz is my Guest Bob kravitz dot, com where you can read musings of an old sports, writer his column and his, observations including Yesterday Indiana's Pro. Day, BOB i Think indiana is one of you, know this is the thing now for programs to do the Pro, day and it really at LEAST i think the most famous of these would Be alabama Under Nick saban because you had players all over the. Place this was a chance For, indiana not just For, mendoza but for the rest of the players

to really show in front of those scouts what it is that they can. Do who else who took advantage of this the most that you looked at and, said that guy just put himself on the. 01:43:43 Speaker 4: Map D'Angelo. Pons D'Angelo. Pons D'Angelo pons ran an unofficial four point thirty, one. 01:43:52 Speaker 3: Which is. 01:43:53 Speaker 4: BLAZING i think that makes him the fifth fastest, corner so he he really helped. HIMSELF i, Thought Kaylon, black he RAN i think a four or, Five no way four four. Five he helped. Himself AND i thought just the eye, TEST i thought That Omar cooper really looked. ELECTRIC i, mean, yeah, granted their passes against the, air you, know and it's just you, know it's pitch and, catch but he looked. Dynamic and that was another guy That lewis mentioned was how Good cooper, looked you. Know AND i think he helped himself. IMMENSELY i MEAN i THINK i think he's a late first round pick for. 01:44:38 Speaker 3: Sure. 01:44:38 Speaker 1: YEAH i was gonna, say they what about sarat because you know he has been he was so reliable For mendoza as a receiver over the course of the year. Itself and he doesn't strike me as a breakoff the line speed, guy but, no a precise route runner in really good. Hands but where do you hear that he may? Slot and how was HE i hear he's. 01:45:03 Speaker 4: UH i MEAN i hear unlike everybody, ELSE i read all the draft, nonsense it's out. THERE i think he's A day two, guy, uh for. Sure to, ME i look at, HIM i SEE i See Michael. PITTMAN i see a guy doesn't have a blazing. Speed he's not going to take the top off of, defense but he's gonna make contested. Catches he's going to make tough, catches and SO i thought he looked. Good he had one of the three passes that was incomplete yesterday during the fifty six throw deal that he did was a bomb To serrat that he couldn't quite run. Under BUT i thought he looked just, fine AND i think he's A day two. 01:45:50 Speaker 1: Pick Did mendoza show you, Anything, bob beyond what it was that you knew going in about? 01:45:57 Speaker 4: Him he did a goal for first of, all he's put on those ten pounds and it all looks like it's in his. 01:46:03 Speaker 3: LEGS i, mean. 01:46:04 Speaker 4: He's he's really muscled. Up you, know a lot of guys after the you win a national title in A, heisman you go on the rubber chicken, circuit and you, know you kind of lose your. Edge this kid has kept. Grinding the other thing that he, did And riddick pointed this, out was that before every pass during that twenty minute, session he held out the name of the wild of the receiver and the route he was. Running and from What i'm, Told John spytech of The raiders was really impressed by that because he's never seen anybody do anything like that. Before and the reason that he did it he wanted there to be more attention on his, teammates and that's ninety percent of the reason why he had the kind of pro day that he. Did he wanted to highlight his his, teammates and they're going to have what nine draft eligible, guys so, uh it's going to be a HEAVY eyeu emphasis this. 01:47:10 Speaker 1: Draft The Bob, kravitz my, guest was AT iu pro. Day, BOB i was listening To mendoza after his, workout and in doing, so you, know he's, talking And i'm thinking to, myself he literally is saying every answer, exactly like when you see these social media, things it's, like here's what you should say in a job. Interview i'm literally going he is saying everything exactly what The raider. Like The raiders couldn't script the answer any. Better and some of it sounds Like signetti. Speak and THEN i realize that this may simply also just be The signetti influence of all of these. GUYS i don't know what it, is all of these guys completely buying In and did you notice that did that jump out of? 01:47:58 Speaker 4: You, well he's he was like AN ai. Quarterback you, know you put in some information and he spits out the perfect. Answer AND i know it seems it doesn't seem real, sometimes but that's just the way this kid is. Built and he was he was built this way even before. 01:48:16 Speaker 6: He got the. 01:48:16 Speaker 4: SIGNETTI i, MEAN i think that kind of reconfirmed some things and strengthened his belief in himself and his. Game BUT i think this kid just had it from the very. Beginning AND i was talking with. Somebody you know who the Last raiders number one overall pick a. 01:48:35 Speaker 1: Quarterback, was, Boy, well you know what two thousand and, Seven, Oh JaMarcus. 01:48:43 Speaker 4: Russell, Right JaMarcus. Russell this guy is the Anti JaMarcus. Russell the Famous russell's story is that an assistant coach gave him a tape and, SAID i want you to look at the plays on this and kick out a couple of plays that you feel comfortable. With, well the coach went back to The russell a couple of days later and, said what do you see that you? 01:49:05 Speaker 3: Liked? 01:49:06 Speaker 4: COACH i liked. Everything it all looks good to. Me, well turned out that tape was completely, blank completely, Blank there was nothing on. It he never even looked at. It that's all you need to know About JaMarcus, Russell, RIGHT. 01:49:22 Speaker 1: I mean all the physical tools in the. World right but and and like a monster season And. MENDOZA i think you could look at it and, say, Well mendoza is coming up a monster, season that's what. Done BUT i mean he was really successful At, california and so this is not a one year class right Line jiro. 01:49:39 Speaker 3: Absolutely. 01:49:40 Speaker 4: Yeah, NO i mean he was good at cal but he had no offensive, line he had no, uh nobody on the outside to help. Him you. Know, well once he got To. Ieu and here's the other, thing is he improved so much from the time they got together In paul camp and or a spring camp, actually and the improvement that you saw over the course of the, season it just makes me feel like he hasn't he hasn't topped. OUT i think he still has another level to. Go AND i THINK i think The raiders would be

smart to throw him out there right away if he if he has, issues And i'm sure he. WILL i think he's the kind of kid who can handle the negative. STUFF i think he can fight. Through he'll grind AND i think he'll be a terrific quarterback to. Me to, me He's Jared goff with, wheels AND i don't say that as a nasty. THING i say that in a complimentary. WAY i think he's a guy you can win A Super bowl. 01:50:44 Speaker 3: With. 01:50:45 Speaker 1: Bob, lastly do you are you curious as to How signetti's? Program And i'm not saying that it's going to drop, off BUT i think THE jmu transfers were so crazy because you had fifteen seventeen guys that could say to the locker room, fellas, listen trust me here. Right this guy knows he's a little. Goofy he looks a Little barney, fifish but he knows what he's. 01:51:11 Speaker 6: Doing. 01:51:12 Speaker 1: Now obviously the ring and the sixteen to zero can speak that as, well but the culture itself and and the total buy in across the locker. Room are you curious how that? Sustains? 01:51:26 Speaker 3: NO i not. 01:51:27 Speaker 4: REALLY i think it's going to. BE i think it's going to be just the way it was last. YEAR i, mean you, know you've got a lot of guys Like Carter smith and people like that who've been been WITH sig for one or two years and they know what's. Expected you, KNOW i thought the whole the whole thing With marsh the wide receiver From Michigan state wore those gold shoes out, there And signetti jumps his backside for, wearing you, know gold. Shoes so NOW i think these guys understand the, culture and you, know so much of it is going to be what This Josh hoover can. DO i Saw signetti news today or yesterday was Giving Sonny dike's a hard time the coach A tcu Because dykes took some shots At, hoover who's a little turnover. Prone and what he said was he just met his two best friends here AT. Iu a great defense and a great running. Game SO i think this kid's going to have a terrific, year AND i THINK iu is going to be back in the running next. 01:52:36 Speaker 1: Season bob appreciate the time as. Always again the column From Bob kravitz is At Bob kravitz dot Com the musings of an old sports. Writer Bob appreciate the time as. Always thank you, Man take care all. Right Bob kravitz joining us on the program when we come. Back he was on this morning with the morning show, guys AND i know that they talked a little bit about his, Son Jay Gardner, junior who has now been offered from not just you, Know cincinnati And auburn And florida And, indiana But arizona as well Because Jason, gardner the Former Indiana Mister basketball on staff With Arizona cats are back In indianapolis in The Final four where they won it in nineteen ninety, seven where they practiced at the high school That Jason gardner got to watch the practice for Loud olsen's group At North Central High school back. Then that probably is part of why he ended up himself A wildcat now on staff there and going to join us. Next Jason gardner was great this morning with The Morning show, guys AND i was listening to it AND i, thought you know, WHAT i still have some questions. Here that sounds like it's some sort of an. Indictment it's not in any, way shape or, form but as somebody who peeked out as a sophomore playing basketball At North Central High, school always a pleasure to have on the guy that was the First Indiana Mister, basket all from our alma. Mater he, is of course now on staff at The university Of, arizona where he had An All american. Career Jason gardner joining me on the. Show, JASON i would imagine, busy busy time for you back here and welcome back home to The final. 01:54:14 Speaker 9: Four it honestly has been awesome thing to get back see some familiar, faces, family be back in your own city where you you, know you know all the, restaurants you know all the. Streets so it's a this is. Brilliant, uh this has been awesome to be. 01:54:30 Speaker 1: That how is it? Different you? Know AND i know that this is you know For, arizona this is a, program as you, know that is used to success and has had deep runs in the. Tournament but how is it? Different and how can you lean on your experience as a player in the final four versus now kind of seeing the way your players are soaking it all. 01:54:50 Speaker 9: In, WELL i just think, one you, know when it comes to the, GAME i think everybody is stressing over you, know or you, know sometimes thinking about you, know the, know what's going to happen, next what's going to happen in the championship, game what's going to be happen you know next week with my draft, stock what's going to be happening, this that and the other in the. Future so really just trying to really just talk to them about really just being in the moment and not focused on anything like. That it's all about that Next. Saturday this next is Coming, saturday and that's. It that's all you can worry, about and that's all you need to be thinking. 01:55:19 Speaker 3: About for. 01:55:20 Speaker 1: You were you more nervous as a young person when it comes to The final four or now in an administrative. 01:55:27 Speaker 3: ROLE. 01:55:29 Speaker 9: I will probably say as a, PLAYER i think you're just anxious to get there something that you, know even as a kid in your own, driveway you, know you're you always were talking, about you, know thinking about hitting that big, shot and so now then you get there as a, player SO i think it's just more probably your nerves of want to see what's going to. Happen you're, anxious you know how you're going to, play what's going, on and you wanted to see the. Crowd SO i think probably as a. 01:55:49 Speaker 1: Player so your role now With, arizona you, know and going back to your alma mater and being In, tucson you are the director of player. Relations that job you've been in now for what probably about five years or. So your day to day operations For arizona basketball is WHAT. 01:56:08 Speaker 9: I will. SAY i, Mean i'm in contact

with the, players just as far as owning off the court, obviously just seeing, academically talking with the guards about WHAT i, see you, know from the game before the, game coming, up, practices you, know dealing with the, parents any issues they. Have so it's really you, know, recruiting understanding what's going on in the, portal what's going on in high. School so it's kind of a little bit of. Everything so iberally wouldn't say this's a one day to day. Deal every every day sometimes a little. 01:56:40 Speaker 1: Different you, know you had the pleasure, OBVIOUSLY i would assume the pleasure of playing for Loude, olsen who JUST i don't know Loud. OLSON i didn't know Lout Olson, jason but he seemed to me to be just kind of like a laid back. Dude it might be totally different when you were playing for, him but you also played for a really intense guy in high school In Doug. Mitchell when you have now as you're dealing with young, people what coach do you find yourself kind of hearing in your head the most from your own experience as a player that you now take away some of the lessons that they placed on. 01:57:15 Speaker 9: YOU i, mean, WELL i think FOR i think for Coach, mitchell it was more of you, know always wanting to be, ready always playing your, hardest, uh never giving. UP i, think you, know with Coach, oh it was always just kind of having that calming, demeanor always, prepared always you, know trying to think of heyd of you, know something does, happen how can you be ready to adapt and change something? Up so both of, THEM i, mean, HONESTLY i mean obviously coach Coach mitchell legendary high school. Coach Coach oh legendary college. Coach SO i think both of. Them you, KNOW i took some some very good values from both of. 01:57:52 Speaker 1: Them what did you learn from your experience when you were the head coach at i Epuy. 01:57:58 Speaker 6: Just you, know every day. 01:58:00 Speaker 9: DIFFERENT i, MEAN i, think you, know you're dealing with eighteen to twenty to twenty three year old, kids and so you, know you, know you've got to be able to be ready to, adjust, Adapt you're dealing with a lot of different, Backgrounds you're dealing with a lot of different you, know just just you, KNOW i just think the kids of you, know if something's always going, on so you've always got to be ready to change and. Adapt and help them through any situation that they got going, on because, ultimately like that's what it comes down, to you, know as far as it's off the courts and wins and, losses not even about. That it's about just really just teaching them about life and getting through, things getting through, adversity understand that everything's gonna be. Okay and then after that's, okay then a basketball comes. Second SO i think that was the biggest, deal just really just helping the kids through. 01:58:45 Speaker 1: Life you, KNOW i think with, That Jason gardner is my, GUEST i think it would be really, hard AND i don't want to speak for you, here so stop me If i'm. Wrong, OKAY i guess is What i'm getting at to, be you, know a player where everything just came, naturally at least from the outside it seemed as though it did to, You like success just was synonymous with your career when you were a basketball, player and for the most part it has been in the different things that you've been involved with from a coaching, standpoint but the tenure AT, IUPU, y you, know there are a lot of challenges within especially at that, time right within that, job And i'm assuming that to some, extent it did not go the way from a wins and losses standpoint that you had. Anticipated but yet you have to learn from. 01:59:31 Speaker 6: That we all. 01:59:31 Speaker 1: Do was it challenging for you from a coaching standpoint to go through adversity that you had not felt as a? 01:59:38 Speaker 9: PLAYER i, MEAN i think it definitely. WAS i MEAN i got the job at a young, age AND i even just understanding is scheduling and that was that was one of big deal as far as how do you how do you schedule what makes more? Sense you, know when you got to go play these you got to go play these by, games and when you got to play multiple buy, games do you play them in the back end of the front? End he play them in the? Middle how do you do? THAT i mean that was a big, deal you, know just some you, know probably not having our own gym and kind of practicing the different gyms around the. 02:00:05 Speaker 2: City that was. 02:00:06 Speaker 9: Different so but AGAIN i think all that you, live you, learn and SO i think if that opportunity ever happens, AGAIN i don't think there's probably not too many things THAT i probably didn't see. IT i c y That i'll be ready. For and and then obviously just having a staff you, know, uh you, know just kind of being here At, arizona our staff is you, know it's, massive and SO i think that just kind of really helps where everybody kind of has a job and and you, know you take a lot off coaches. Play so but, AGAIN i, MEAN i think going through those experiences only made me. BETTER i think that you, know to have that opportunity, again. 02:00:42 Speaker 1: What sort of Things Jason gardner is my guest With. Arizona what sort of things Did purdue present to, You jason that you most respected out Of Matt painter and his group and his. Players what jumps out at you about That purdue. 02:00:56 Speaker 9: PROGRAM i say they. PHYSICALITY i say the way they move the. BALL i say that you couldn't really not get you couldn't really take them away out of kind of what they wanted to. DO i think they stayed with what they wanted to, do their game plan offensively and. Defensively SO i just think this that you can kind of just tell they had a, plan they stuck to, it, Uh and so that was that was very impressive in the physicality that they brought to the, game you, know, defensively, offensive how they screened, defensively how they kind of you, know use their, body so you know THEY i think THAT i

think that was the probably the. 02:01:35 Speaker 1: Biggest part what AND i would imagine does that kind of mirror some of the things that you anticipate being the challenge With michigan. 02:01:44 Speaker 9: DEFINITELY i, mean, OBVIOUSLY i think The Big. Ten you, know, overall you, know it's a very physical, league and so we know that they're going to be. Physical we know that they're going to have a game. Plan you, know they've been one of the top teams all year, long so you, know they don't probably they don't get rattle really over anything on either side of the. Ball SO i, think you know that that's what makes them one of the better teams in the, league in the in the in the. 02:02:07 Speaker 1: Country you Guys arizona as a, GROUP i, mean you are obviously physical as. Well you guys love to. Run and yet one of the things in an era where so many people shoot the, three AND i think everybody in the final four shoots at about thirty six percent clip from three point, range but you guys don't take as many as say In, illinois for, example but you're able to get your guards in the operating areas right into the paint and get higher percentage shots in that. Way is that a difficult thing to instill in young players today that so often want to just do like the step back three to have that offensive efficiency that is closer to the. 02:02:44 Speaker 9: Basket, WELL i think the way that we move the, BALL i think that's just something That tommy's you, know he's spent, on you, know for you, know five years being, here and SO i think that you, know it's you, know when you come and watch our, practice you would think opposite of, us he would, think take a lot of. Threes and then all of a sudden we get into games AND i don't know why guys really don't take, them BUT i know, that you, know we do like to get in the, paint and we do like to, distribute you. Know we like our guards to get to the. Realm we like our bigs to touch the. BALL. 02:03:12 Speaker 2: U you, know that's no. 02:03:13 Speaker 9: Secret but it's JUST i DON'T i don't really, HONESTLY i couldn't tell you why these guys dont shoot the, three because we're actually a pretty good shooting a pretty good shooting. Team it's just we don't, really like you, said we don't really take a lot. 02:03:22 Speaker 1: Of, them so that's not necessarily by instruction or, design. 02:03:26 Speaker 9: Not at, all not at. All uh. UH i mean we letters came out of. Practice we're playing five on five and you, know we're just. Laughing i'm, thinking you, know, okay On, saturday what's gonna. Happen we're gonna we're gonna launch twenty threes or we're gonna launch. EIGHT i, mean you really just don't. Know but, literally we just walked out of practice and we was playing five on five and we probably in five minutes we took fourteen. 02:03:47 Speaker 1: Threes did you ever find it hard as a? PLAYER i MEAN i did, personally but then, AGAIN i wasn't of the skill set of you when you played in the big venues like A Lucas oil or from a high school, Standpoint, Jason i'll be honest with, You Lauren, central how they had that like the depth was totally different and it threw you off for like the first couple of possessions of the game before you kind of got your depth feel as a. Shooter did you ever feel That, NO i MEAN. 02:04:15 Speaker 9: I think a little, bit BUT i think in now with the games that these guys played coming out of high, school and you know the amount of places where they play and all things like. THAT i, don't, HONESTLY i don't think it probably bothers them too much even when we, know for even when we just came off the, court none the god's even mentioned. It and so you, KNOW i don't know if they're talking about it now in the locker, room but nobody really mentioned. It and, obviously you, know you don't want to mention it because you don't want them to start overthinking. It or the first time they missed a, shot that's the first time they are thinking. It so but, NO i, DON'T i. DON'T i don't think at. All no one's mentioning. It SO i don't even know if that's they've even thought about. 02:04:48 Speaker 1: It which for you IS i guess the more surreal process that of being recruited yourself as a national level, recruit or are seeing your son going through IT a from a father, standpoint and THEN b from being on a staff that is recruiting your. Son which of those is the most? BIZARRE i will probably say my son being. 02:05:14 Speaker 9: RECRUITED i, Mean i'm Still i'm you, know there's there's SOMETIMES i still look at, him and, man this kid he didn't make his. Bed he. Didn't he didn't he didn't throw his trash out of his, room you. Know so then you get the phone call and someone's talking about his. Son it's, like, yeah, hey, man but he didn't pick the damn trash us. 02:05:29 Speaker 1: So no so so but but also. 02:05:32 Speaker 9: Too but then on the other, hand you, know you're a proud dad of all the hard work he puts, in how much he loves the. Game and it's see the phone, call the text message that he's, getting different things like. That SO i think it's a little bit of. Both BUT i will probably say him being, recruited. 02:05:43 Speaker 1: How involved do you get with that versus allowing him to make his own decisions in his own progress in terms of the recruiting. 02:05:50 Speaker 9: Process, uh, WELL i think SINCE i know a lot of the, COACHES i know style of, PLAY i know, leagues you, know it's JUST i try to have him kind, of, uh you, know if he's watching a, game get a better feel of the pace of the, game how does the coach, play what does the point guards want to? Do SO i kind of asked him just questions like that so he can kind of get me in, form but, ultimately you, know it's his. Decision you, Know i'm gonna support it no matter where he wants to, go what he wants to. Do but, uh but just more so just trying to have him look at different different things in in a in a different odd Since i'm Since i'm literally in the. 02:06:22

Speaker 1: Business and if he doesn't go To, arizona he gets, grounded, Right is that how it? Works? 02:06:27 Speaker 9: Uh he he gets grounded for a little. Bit, no, no, no, no, NO i MEAN i, KNOW i mean that that that would be super cool, too but also TOO i think you, know he has his own, vision his own, mind and uh where he, uh you, know he kind of wants to put his own stamp To but, again if it ends up Being arizona, perfect and if it's somewhere, else you, know the Ball, manah he he's still fulfilling his. 02:06:46 Speaker 1: Dream, Yeah edie points, out you could just simply say to, him, look you can go somewhere else if you, want but you're in charge of your own, tuition young. 02:06:51 Speaker 3: Man. 02:06:52 Speaker 1: Right, uh the old school. Way, hey well he you Know Fisher's High school where your son has been a prolific, player and you, know we now see more often more, CASES i should say of players that in their last year of high school will go to an. Academy they just had a coaching change At. Fisher's will your son finish his his high school career At? Fishers you, know, honestly we talked about. It he likes fisher a, Lot he got a lot of friends. There he's had an unbelievable career there on. 02:07:23 Speaker 9: A state but also, too like A tona hey, man you, know it's just you, know we kind of got to go through the process and what makes. Sense and you, know if you end up back At, fisher's great if It if it's something that makes more sense where you go prep, school, great you, know but it just has to make. Sense but so we talked about it a little. Bit SO i think we got to see how the summer. Goes but he really he really Enjoys fishers, AGAIN i, mean and when he if decides to go, BACK i think that team can be a team that, can you, know next, year can be picked to win. State so uh so we's got to see how. 02:07:52 Speaker 1: This, all how this all plays, out and how much say would you have in that versus just kind of allowing him to make that. Decision, uh you, know it's all his. 02:08:02 Speaker 9: DECISIONS i MEAN i think that uh you, know we all gonna sit down as a family and everybody no no difference THAN i. Did we all sit down in the, family everybody gives their pros and cons and ultimately kind of Like, jay, hey what do you want to? 02:08:14 Speaker 8: Do. 02:08:15 Speaker 9: Uh so that's just kind of where we. Are BUT i THINK i think he's. EXCITED i, mean, obviously you know he's had phone calls from prep. SCHOOLS a lot of his friends are at prep. School. Uh BUT i think all you know this this, year coming back for his junior, year his big deal was he wanted to win. State so that may that may kind of you, know put back in his mind like you, know we didn't we didn't get out of sex, shows and SO i want to win a. 02:08:36 Speaker 1: State fuel that fire a little. Bit all. Right, Lastly, JASON i got to know, this what is The i'm always fascinated about. This what is the schedule for a final four? TRIP i, MEAN i know you try to

keep at business as, usual but in terms of just bringing your guys in and the practices and the commitments and everything, else what is? It and how crazy is. 02:08:56 Speaker 9: It, WELL i, think you, know got in last, night they watched, watch had, dinner watch, film got up this, morning watch some more, film how to walk. Through they had. Practicing now they're gonna be at the arena for two more hours doing some media. Stuff then after that they got they got they got, dinner and we got film and next thing you, know it's gonna be nine thirty at. Nights so it, actually it actually goes pretty. QUICK i mean they're kind of on. 02:09:22 Speaker 6: The go all, day you. 02:09:24 Speaker 9: Know but what's actually. Cool they got the they got the game room for, him so you, know last night they were all down there playing TWO k, together you, know you, know some friends and family and they're actually playing TWO k in the locker room as we. Speak SO i think it even though it seems like it's on the, go it's actually a lot of bonding time as. 02:09:40 Speaker 1: Well, hey can you use your influence to Get arizona to permanently go back to the late eighties early nineties logo with the cactus on, it which is the greatest logo in college? Basketball can you just permanently put that? 02:09:50 Speaker 9: In you, KNOW i wish you, know anything that we put that logo, On whether it's A t, shirt, jacket, sweatpants. Whatever maybe everybody won't, it SO i know that's the, best you, Know, Yeah bet it is. 02:10:04 Speaker 1: Great, jason welcome back home and certainly enjoy all of. It we wish you the best of luck and trying to do What arizona did back in ninety, seven and that's win a national title in the city Of. Indianapolis certainly appreciate the time, Today thank, you thanks for having Me Jason gardner joining me on the. Program we'll come back kind of put a tie on all of it and find out What john's got, cooking because he's got a big show lined, UP i, know From Total wine And more on eighty Sixth. Street we will talk To john as part of The crossover brought to you by the good guys that love heating And air LOVEDASH hvac dot com three one, seven three five three twenty one forty. ONE i was, Worried. Eddie every once in a, while our chipmunk takes a smoke. BREAK i was worried there for a, second, Right, yeah little Rebel YEALE jmv is going to be At Total wine And more on eighty Sixth. Street big show lined. UP i know, today AND i think he's got others there with. Him the crossover is brought to you by the good guys that love heating and. 02:11:03 Speaker 3: Air. 02:11:04 Speaker 1: John it's starting to feel for certain Like final four. Weekend, MAN i love. 02:11:08 Speaker 11: It yeah it. 02:11:09 Speaker 1: Is i've not been downtown. 02:11:11 Speaker 11: Yet you have because you're there. Today what's to feel like two blocks north of where the epicenter of all that stuff is gonna go? 02:11:18 Speaker 1: On what's the feel got? THERE i MEAN i, think, well first, off you've got to navigate your way through like every road that's blocked, off so hopefully they get that figured. Out but, WELL i, said we are. 02:11:27 Speaker 11: We Are Orange Barrel city around, Here, BUDDY i tell. You timing is, great great, Timing but you start. 02:11:35 Speaker 1: Hearing about all the different events and the concert and everything. ELSE i mean you can you can just for. Me the weather, also like it just feels Like final four. WEEKEND i don't, know, MAN i love everything about. 02:11:44 Speaker 11: It it can't decide what it wants to. Do do you want to, rain do you want a sun to come? Out do you want to be, Humid, wendy you want to be? Cold or right in the middle of, that you just it's the decision has not been made. Yet, weatherwise we'll. SEE i guess what's lined up on the big. Program all, Right SO i Know Alan henderson And Brian cardinal as you, know the former who's your former Boiler, maker will be here At Total wine near your old stomping grounds up off of eighty Sixth. Street we're At nora at that. LOCATION i prepped myself over At Taylor's pub per. USUAL i went over to The, goodwill the greatest good will of all time over here to make sure that everything was copacetic working in there, too, Buddy and we'll have guys. HERE i think Bradla mullin's gonna join us a little bit later on in the show as, Well Mike chapel with owners meeting stuff And Kirk cousins going to The, raiders and, oh how about The harrelson kid From fisher how that notre dame as in the transfer. Portal if you're gonna flip a, coin let's just, say for, EXAMPLE i you are perdue if you only got which one do you think could end up reeling him in? Here because both were on him hot and, heavy as they said In, SEINFELD. 02:12:53 Speaker 1: I Think i'll Say indiana will go after. It from a more lucrative, standpoint would Say indiana a big gift For Ryan. 02:13:02 Speaker 11: Carr, right that would be a big get For Ryan. Carr there's no. Question i'm just kind of wondering about that. 02:13:08 Speaker 1: Too but you know you should Ask, ryan Ask Brian cardinal And Alan henderson which one they think? Of you know WHAT i, mean you can get both. Sides were, there? Right who do you? 02:13:18 Speaker 6: Think? 02:13:18 Speaker 1: So who are you talking to in the transfer? 02:13:20 Speaker 11: Portal right? Now that may end up at your alma. Mater, no those are good questions to ask. Too but now this is a fun time of. Year it really. Is talked To dusty maybe yesterday it was really, awesome you, know and then getting set for that game Against arizona and we're lucky we have some really good storylines to go along with some very high caliber teams this weekend To. 02:13:41 Speaker 1: Jake, yeah and you know a local connection with each, school which is also. Cool, Lastly, JOHN i got to ask you The, yeah were you surprised by The Kirk, Cousins not the signing by The, raiders but rather the money they gave him twenty million guaranteed in year? One, yeah, YEAH i. 02:13:55 Speaker 11: DON'T i hope that Again mendoza is able sooner rather than later to separate, himself and there'd be no question there because the one thing we know about, cousins wherever that dude, goes for whatever, reason there are moments where he creates questions as to who you should be. Starting and For mendoza's sake and for The raider's, sake hopefully you Get mendoza that comes in. There and it doesn't have to be right, AWAY i would, guess but you would love. It but you hope that he separates himself and this is absolutely your, future and you, know not something like what we've had around here basically, forever you know WHAT i, Mean like the complete opposite of. Here that's the complete opposite of where we are right. 02:14:40 Speaker 1: Here they're handle it completely. Differently, yes, yeah so hopefully that is the case for, them. Buddy all, Right john will throw it out to you in just a little. Bit you've carried home till. Six have fun out, there all, Right Thanks, bob. Certainly Tell Alan henderson And Brian cardinal hello as. Well all, right really busy. Day appreciate Uh eddie putting everything together. Today Bob kravitz joining. Us thank. You That's Steve. ALFORD i thought was really. Good that will be up at one oh seven. Five thefan dot com is where you can find that interview and go back and listen to. 02:15:08 Speaker 5: It he. 02:15:09 Speaker 1: WAS i really enjoyed having him on, today which was very. Cool. Uh and again talking about some two guys that are back for the final. Four Ben humrickhouse was great From, Illinois Jason gardner From arizona as, well And Tony east talking. Pacers john's up. Next we'll be back with you at noon, tomorrow AND i thank you for listening to The Quey. 02:15:27 Speaker 3: Company