Gonzaga announcer Tom Hudson sets his expectations for the 2023-24 Gonzaga Bulldogs

Name: Gonzaga announcer Tom Hudson sets his expectations for the 2023-24 Gonzaga Bulldogs
Uploaded: 2023-11-01T22:25:15+00:00
Duration: 1 h 4 min 52 s
Channel: Gonzaga Nation
Description: Gonzaga play-by-play announcer Tom Hudson on what he expects from the Bulldogs this season, his thoughts on the Big 12 and more with former All-American Adam Morrison

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00:01:50 Welcome to The Perimeter, episode three, season three, presented by McGillivray Environmental.

00:02:07 I got my partner on the radio, my good friend, Tom Hudson, giving us a preseason kind of preview on

00:02:15 how we feel about it. It's always good to see you, Huddy.

00:02:18 You too, Mo. Great to see you. Great to be here. It's crazy. It's starting again.

00:02:22 I know.

00:02:23 It's kind of funny how we missed our summer opportunity this year, right?

00:02:26 I know.

00:02:26 It's like how fast it goes. Usually, you get a little lake time and hang out and

00:02:29 enjoy the boat, enjoy your hospitality. But man, it's crazy. It's already here.

00:02:34 We got a lot of beer drinking to make up for.

00:02:36 Yeah, we do. That's the truth.

00:02:38 That's what Huddy's trying to say to the audience listening. He's like, "Hey,

00:02:41 I missed out getting drunk with you on the dock." Yes, I agree, Huddy. Let's do it.

00:02:46 Let's do it on the road. But yeah, we missed out on it. Everybody's got the kid situation. You know

00:02:52 what I'm saying? We all love it. But also you start looking at the schedule and you're like,

00:02:55 "Holy crap. It's going to be September before anybody has time off." And then it's like,

00:03:00 "Well, school started, so I can't come out to the lake." And then it gets, you know, but that's.

00:03:04 It gets pulled in.

00:03:05 Yes, exactly. Everything starts to shut down. But good season last year. We talked about it a lot on

00:03:13 air when they were 15 and 5 and they lost to LMU at home, everybody lost their minds. And you and

00:03:20 I always laugh about it. And we get it because we appreciate it that there's a fan base that cares

00:03:26 because in college basketball, that is slowly dwindling around, especially the smaller

00:03:32 universities that don't have power, like power football. It's just not a dying sport, but the

00:03:37 interest level is not as what it used to be with social media, but whatever. What do you think

00:03:45 going into this season people's expectations should be? Yes, we got picked second, 11, 12 in

00:03:52 the AP and in the coaches poll. But based off last year, we go to the lead eight and we end up losing

00:03:59 to Buzzsaw that who ends up winning the national championship against UConn. What do you think

00:04:05 people's expectations would be with like literally like 10 new guys that could potentially play like

00:04:10 rotational minutes?

00:04:12 Real quick. Well, it's funny, isn't it? Because like, you know, you laugh about how hard this is.

00:04:15 You talk about, you know, we're 15 and 5 and you and I, I mean, you see it and you're living it and,

00:04:19 you know, really close to it. And just understand how hard it is, right? We ran into that Buzzsaw

00:04:23 in the elite eight. If Alex Dukas doesn't go down with that back injury for St. Mary's, I mean,

00:04:29 St. Mary's is beating Connecticut in the second round. So, you know, it's hard, right? Because,

00:04:35 I mean, if St. Mary's and we know how they play and what they do, if they're able to close the

00:04:38 deal and they win that game, nobody's talking about how great UConn is, right? But they escaped

00:04:43 that thing. And then like you said, and then became a Buzzsaw. So it is hard, right? I mean,

00:04:46 you get to 15, but you're going to lose some games every once in a while. Right? And I think that's

00:04:51 the thing that you're going to have to look at it this year a little bit, right? Just from a

00:04:54 continuity standpoint. I mean, I think the coaches did a great job of building a roster. I mean,

00:04:59 how crazy is in this day and age, right? I mean, you look at a program that wins 31 games,

00:05:06 goes to the elite eight, like you said, for what, the fifth time in eight years?

00:05:09 And you're turning over eight players, right? And, you know, and a couple of them graduate

00:05:13 and then the rest of it is transfer portal and all that movement. So, I mean, I think it is,

00:05:18 it's going to be like you said, that it's going to be kind of the normal thing, which is going to

00:05:22 mean now, Hey, Ryan Nembhard, great sign, right? Graham E.K., great sign. I mean, you love that

00:05:27 you got those guys, but they haven't played together. Right? And they haven't played Lanton

00:05:31 or Nolan. He's played one season in four years, but continues. No, exactly. Right. No, no,

00:05:35 you're right. So to expect that this team's going to come together and be really good. And especially,

00:05:41 I mean, let's not forget, you know, it's only happened a few times for as many great players

00:05:45 as we've had come through the program. It's only happened a couple of times where you're replacing

00:05:50 somebody like Drew or somebody like you, right? Where it was like, okay, hey, look, this guy,

00:05:54 yep. We can go throw it to this guy and he's going to go get us, you know, 20 a night at least. Yeah.

00:05:58 Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And get the ball to him. Cause we don't know who that's going to

00:06:01 be this year. Right. Who are we going to? Not necessarily. I don't know that anybody's going

00:06:04 to score 20 a game. My point being games on the line, who we throwing it to. You don't know that

00:06:08 yet. And that may pop up against Purdue or Tennessee or somebody in Maui. And so, you know,

00:06:14 you may lose a few of those games early on while you're trying to figure out what your identity is,

00:06:18 you know? And I go back, was it the first team that went to the championship game, you know,

00:06:23 in 2017, when we beat Arizona down in LA, you know, you just didn't really know. And that was,

00:06:29 I thought, a big moment for the team. Cause, you know, it was Nigel who hit that little

00:06:34 jumper on the baseline that helped us win the game kind of late. And you're like, okay,

00:06:37 that's the guy that's going to be our leader and it's going to happen. Right.

00:06:41 Yeah. It makes sense. I think there's going to be some of that just trying to figure out,

00:06:44 you know, the new players and then the new roles, right. With Nolan moving over to the two or the

00:06:50 one and a half, like whatever we're going to call it. Right. I mean, him moving over to the two,

00:06:53 I know he played well the other day. You know, Anton, what's his role? I mean, I think Anton

00:06:58 will continue to do the things that he has always done, but for people that are expecting that all

00:07:03 of a sudden Anton's going to be the guy that you're throwing into and you're going to post

00:07:05 him up and he's going to score 18 or 20. I don't know it's realistic. Right. So, I mean, I think

00:07:10 it's going to be interesting just trying to get together, like you said, every year, just like

00:07:15 how do we understand what these teams are going to be, you know, early on in the season? Yeah,

00:07:19 no, it's really fascinating because in the last four years, obviously Drew played four years,

00:07:24 but three mainly we don't have like a for sure score. Drew Timmy ends up breaking the all time

00:07:29 record. So, you know, throw it to him, play up double team packages. He was a good passer,

00:07:34 split action, all that stuff. We can't do that anymore. Everybody keeps telling me Graham E.K.

00:07:38 can be that guy, but he hasn't played. He's played one season in four years and he played at Wyoming.

00:07:43 They went to the tournament that year, but then he sat out last year and then he's been hurt.

00:07:46 So availability is going to be a question for him. Ryan Amhard was fantastic at Creighton,

00:07:53 but if you look at his numbers last year, it was like 13 a game. Great. But now you're going to get

00:07:58 to 20, you know what I'm saying? And then steel vendors, uh, you know, big sky player of the year

00:08:03 average 15. But this isn't the Easterns, nothing against that program or this is just big sky.

00:08:08 You know, that's what I'm saying. Um, you know, and so it's really a fascinating season walking

00:08:15 into it with legitimate questions. Sometimes, you know, you and I, when we do our broadcast

00:08:20 and there's new seasons, our questions are, who's going to be the fourth option, right?

00:08:24 You know what I'm saying? Who's going to be the eighth guy and then it'll turn into seven. And

00:08:28 we always say seven and a half rotation. Who's going to be an, now it's like, who's starting.

00:08:34 There's two spots, I think we'll get into that later. And then like, are we going to have a

00:08:39 bunch of guys that average like nine to eight 15 and it's like 15 can be the top half. You know

00:08:44 what I'm saying? Like, and then where it is like the returners, like Anton, I think had his best

00:08:49 season by far last year. But I think a lot of that has to do, you got to play off drew and that's,

00:08:55 that's not a knock on him, but he's a perfect glue score in weird spots. You know what I'm saying?

00:09:02 But now to, like you said, ask him to back down and do all that stuff. It's not really his game.

00:09:06 His game is slashing, cutting swing, swing, wide open shots, push guy in the back at an

00:09:11 offensive rebound, get a steal run. How you look down and you go, wow, he had 12 and eight and six.

00:09:16 Like, and if you're on a team, like, wow, we're going to win a lot of games with a kid like that,

00:09:20 but like, Hey, go get 18 and 19. He's never been like that. Even though you've been like

00:09:25 prep, he'd never had that. He scored, but he never had that. Like just throw it to,

00:09:29 you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So it is fascinating just going into the season.

00:09:34 Cause there's a lot of legitimate, a lot of questions. Yeah, yeah, no, I think so too. And

00:09:37 it's funny you talk about steel and I, I didn't mention him and I should have, I mean, obviously

00:09:41 you're excited about him coming in, but I think we looked at even, you know, what craziness in

00:09:44 the kennel now it's a scrimmage and it's whatever, but you'll be there's 6,000 people there and

00:09:49 screaming and yelling and you feel the nerves and the stuff and, and steel didn't knock down a ton

00:09:54 of shots. It doesn't mean he can't, but it's just trying to figure out here's what, here's my thing

00:09:59 with him. And here's, I think I said this on the first episode is, is his productivity going to be

00:10:08 strictly measured on making shots. And that's a hard position to be in as a player because,

00:10:16 you know, dusty Stromer is going to have an opportunity as a high level recruit to play

00:10:20 those minutes. So if you're steel and if you're not making, you're not going three for four,

00:10:25 three for five, and then you only get two rebounds, right. You know what I'm saying?

00:10:31 So that's my, my issue with that position. Not that he can't play, but is it strictly based?

00:10:37 All right, you're a swing, swing guy. You better knock down wide open shots. That can be difficult

00:10:42 to do because if you're the counter to that, as if you're at Eastern and let's say you're a space,

00:10:48 a floor spacer, like he was, but you ain't coming out if you miss, right. That's the difference.

00:10:54 That's what I'm trying to get at is like, those shots get a little bit more tighter when there's

00:10:59 a guy that high level recruit and blah, blah, blah. And, or it's not even dusty Stromer. It's

00:11:04 like, well, we'll just move over somebody else, you know, throw Anton in there and throw Anton

00:11:09 off the bench, Ben, Greg, and then Brayden Huff. And you know, those guys can play,

00:11:13 we'll play big and then whatever. So, uh, the perimeter will be right back after a word from

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00:11:46 Moving on to the next topic, uh, closed door scrimmage. I saw the box score. Somebody,

00:11:55 I don't know, somebody got it and put it on online. I was like, cool, man. Um, Nolan had a good game.

00:12:01 Yep. Um, who else had a good game? Anton played good. Yes. Um, I think what five or six guys got

00:12:08 to double figures, I think. Um, yeah, it was interesting right now. I mean, obviously you

00:12:13 always want to win those things, right? And we always joke about the reaction over reaction,

00:12:17 you know, depending on if you win or not. Uh, I think what we have to remember is like, I think

00:12:22 Anton had eight fouls, right? So, so you can know that they're not fouling guys out. Yeah, exactly.

00:12:27 Right. Whatever. We only have six guys. We can't foul out. Uh, so, you know, I, I think, you know,

00:12:33 in some regards you have to look at that and say, okay, you know, I mean, it's, it's a little

00:12:39 different than a, than a game. Yeah. Drinking water out of a fucking monster can. All right.

00:12:45 Sorry. Continue. No, no, you're fine. I'm waiting for the bite. Like what the hell? Anyway, keep

00:12:51 going. No, but you know, I, I do think obviously you're, I mean, you're excited that you went in

00:12:55 and competed and some of those guys played well. I mean, I think if you're looking at,

00:12:58 at bright spots, I mean, obviously Anton filling the stat sheet, cause we just talked about it. I

00:13:02 mean, that's what you're going to want to see. Yup. Uh, Nolan knocking down some shots and

00:13:05 scoring it. I mean, I think you have to be really excited about that. I think Nolan has a chance

00:13:09 and I'm excited for him. I'm sure you are too, right? I mean, so am I, you know,

00:13:13 like it's just going to be like with Perkin and Nigel. Yep. And I think it's going to alleviate

00:13:18 a lot of pressure for him as to be the primary ball hand or not that he was bad at it, but just

00:13:23 the pressure of being the point guard at Gonzaga. And I think he can just, I think he's more of a

00:13:28 scoring kid anyway. That's kind of his deal. So I think playing off the ball and he has a really

00:13:33 good looking stroke and now I think he'll get more rhythm shots. Yeah. Um, so I'm excited for him.

00:13:38 Yeah, no, I think so too. And you know what I think Ryan looks like played pretty well, uh,

00:13:42 you know, had some Turner. So, you know, I mean, I think it's one of those deals exactly. Right.

00:13:46 That I think obviously, uh, you're excited that you went in there and competed. I mean,

00:13:49 if we were talking about, oh my gosh, we lost by 40, you know, you know, exactly. You know,

00:13:53 that's true. Or what the heck. But, um, you know, the fact that you played a good program and,

00:13:57 and, you know, and some guys got minutes and were productive, uh, you know, I mean, I think,

00:14:02 like I said, you know, you look at that box score is that can be indicative of kind of where the

00:14:05 rotation is. Cause I think you do get to a point we talk about, we have all these new guys and you

00:14:10 have, you know, is this guy, like you said, we're going to talk about who's going to play and who's

00:14:13 going to start. Well, at some point you have to start to whittle that thing down. Right. And it

00:14:17 looks like maybe, yeah, you know, it's maybe started looking at those, those minutes a little

00:14:22 bit. Uh, the coaches are really trying to get a look at how you do that because we talk about this

00:14:27 all the time. Depth is great, but realistically you're not playing 12th, you know, and, uh, you

00:14:32 know, knock on wood, you know, the injury thing is, is where depth hurts or helps you more than

00:14:37 maybe thinking. Cause you know, people was like, oh, this guy could play. This guy could play. He

00:14:40 could be in the NBA. He could just like, well, but at the end of the day, the coaches, like you said,

00:14:44 he's going to play seven and a half. So it looked like numbers wise, maybe some of that stuff kind

00:14:47 of, uh, is maybe starting to shake itself out. Yeah, no, I, I mean, I obviously, like I said,

00:14:52 I didn't watch it. I couldn't watch it. And, um, you went to the deal last year, the paper,

00:14:57 pay-per-view deal. That was kind of an odd spectacle. Yes. Good for them. It was just

00:15:02 watching it on TV. I was like, this is kind of odd. Yeah. Good job, honey. Yeah. Bravo. Okay.

00:15:09 Yup. And then all the, yeah, exactly. And then all of the crazy, and then all the crazy panic

00:15:14 of, oh my gosh, like we got boat raced, you know, this team is going to be terrible. And then.

00:15:19 Yeah. Well, yeah. So takeaways, just looking at the box score and obviously the wind, uh,

00:15:27 we're going to be fine with the new faces, but it is funny. Like you said, there was only like

00:15:32 seven guys that played a majority of the minutes. And then some of them you're like,

00:15:36 Ooh, you know what I'm saying? So that's not obviously indicative, but usually coaches kind

00:15:41 of have a pretty firm idea on who's going to play. And it's not just, you know, without cause is what

00:15:48 I'm trying to say. Like there's reasons for it. Um, so it'd be interesting as we continue, but,

00:15:53 um, you know, I think, uh, playing a high level program like that and getting quote unquote,

00:16:00 a win is just gotta make you feel good in this kind of, you know, get everybody ready for,

00:16:04 uh, you know, the season starting Friday, we play Lewis and Clark state exhibition game,

00:16:08 but then we play, was it three days later, play Yale. We play Yale a week later. So I think

00:16:12 all right, next topic. And this is like probably the big one. And, um, I think a lot of people

00:16:22 want to get your, your take and my take on, and you already know what I'm talking about is the

00:16:26 big 12 move and let's just preface this real quick. Me and how do you have talked about this

00:16:32 probably for two years, sober and not sober many times, because it is fascinating because it, it,

00:16:40 the variation in your viewpoint for me changes not week to week, but like half a year to half a year.

00:16:46 Cause you're like something new will come up or, you know, this is in the midst of all the conference

00:16:52 reliable. And then you start going, well, shoot, I don't know. We don't want to be left down the

00:16:55 cold. Um, so just to give the audience, if they're not familiar, Gonzaga would be a basketball only

00:17:03 invite to the big 12 Colorado, Arizona just joined recently. Didn't the Arizona state, Utah,

00:17:12 Utah was graded out the best basketball conference last year. And that's, that wasn't even like

00:17:17 debated. And that wasn't even like a Ken Palm thing. It was like, yeah, that's the best basketball

00:17:20 conference. I mean, like TCU finished nine and nine last year and was like an eight,

00:17:24 like a really good eight seed. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, really good team.

00:17:28 I've switched my position and I want to hear yours first. Um, but I think it's really fascinating

00:17:35 that it would be a basketball only move. And just to give my personal deal, obviously I've talked

00:17:42 about a little bit, my daughter plays hoops, the girl's side would stay in the WCC. So like,

00:17:47 it's just men's basketball only. I think it's fascinating. I want to hear your thoughts on it.

00:17:52 It is fascinating, Mo. And it's funny, you talk about, you know, it changing back and forth and

00:17:56 I, you know, in all of our types of conversations, I've been very adamant about, I think the WCC is

00:18:04 the best place for us to be from a standpoint. If you look at the universities, you look at,

00:18:10 you know, kind of the like-minded places. The travel schedule is a lot easier than,

00:18:15 than going to the big 12. I think that the notion that we can't play for a national

00:18:20 championship has been debunked since we've done it twice, you know, so you can do it from,

00:18:24 from where we are. And then all of a sudden the Pac-12 thing happens, right. And you're just like,

00:18:29 okay, everything's fine. And then boom, it just blows up. And you see how quickly things can

00:18:34 change and that talk, cause I've always understood it, right? Like when you and I have these

00:18:38 conversations and we talk to people in our administration stuff, like we, like, I, I,

00:18:42 we're not ignorant to the point that, you know, there's a money consideration going into the

00:18:46 bigger conference. There's some things that come with it. And I, I have always understood that.

00:18:51 And I know that's a very valid conversation. I mean, if you can get 12 or $15 million compared

00:18:57 to $5 million, sure. I mean, there's an enticing part of that deal. I get that. I still kind of

00:19:03 felt like, Hey, you know, the WCC, cause the league is getting better. You know, when we look

00:19:06 at, you know, facilities, Pepperdine's building the place, San Francisco is just wrapping up

00:19:10 their practice facility. You know, there's a lot of stuff going on. We had a three bid late two

00:19:14 years ago, right. Two years ago. And it's been a multi-bid league probably for 10 years. Anyway.

00:19:19 No, absolutely. But now when you look at how quickly that thing with the PAC 12 happened

00:19:23 and obviously it's turned into this thing where, I mean, Hey, like we're all together, like let's

00:19:31 go. And then as soon as somebody gets a call, it's like, all right, I'll see you guys later.

00:19:34 I'm out. Hey, we have an Apple deal. And then like the literally like six hours later, like

00:19:39 see ya via text. Yeah, no, exactly. We're not together anymore. Turn off your notifications.

00:19:44 Block. Exactly. I'm clear, man. I did it. Right. And so that's right. That's the scary thing. And

00:19:51 that's, we've talked about time and time again, about being worried about being left out of the

00:19:55 conversation. And then all of a sudden I've always felt like our brand is strong enough now that if

00:20:00 there was a real huge turn that somebody would still eventually say, Hey, it's a good, you know,

00:20:05 it's a good look. But you know, when, when you look at it now and you take the PAC 12 out of

00:20:09 the equation, I thought the PAC 12 screwed up from a standpoint of not even looking at us and trying

00:20:15 to solidify it. Right. Like I kind of felt like if we were going to move the PAC 12 and make more

00:20:19 sense in the big 12, uh, you know, when it was alive, when it was alive, exactly. Not now, not

00:20:24 now. I mean, it's right. It's, it's a complete mess, but I, I think that the PAC 12 obviously

00:20:29 overestimated their value. I mean, you're the power five, they were number five and to go in

00:20:36 and, uh, you know, the reports you heard is somebody said, you know, the offer was $28 million

00:20:40 a year per school. And somebody came back and said, give us 50 and then double. Yeah, exactly.

00:20:45 And they didn't even, and that's the thing, right. Is now business people who are like,

00:20:50 yeah, no, no. Yeah. Okay. We'll see you later. And then it's like, well, wait, can we know?

00:20:54 You should have said 35. Exactly. And all right. We got the 31 and then exactly what we call it.

00:21:00 Both felt good. Right. Yeah. But that's kind of my deal is to see how quickly that thing blew up

00:21:04 and obviously how quickly people were looking this up. Exactly. So if all of a sudden, you know,

00:21:10 all those, the, the power fives get together and like, all right, we're just leaving everybody

00:21:13 else behind now. What do you do? And I do understand that. I just, you know, I was just

00:21:18 talking to some people and the thing you and I've talked about this a lot, what we're going to have

00:21:21 to understand is that, you know, the reality is going to be, they're going to be yours. We're

00:21:27 going to be like TCU and you'd have a good team and you're going to be nine and nine. Yep. Uh,

00:21:30 you know, there are going to be years where you have a fantastic team that still loses five or six

00:21:35 games because you're going to Kansas and you're going to Fort Worth and you're going to Lubbock.

00:21:39 Hey, you're going to Ames, Iowa on a Thursday night, right? And playing against an Iowa state

00:21:43 team. That's going to have some, some players, right? Uh, once every other year, presumably,

00:21:47 if you're doing it, you're going to go to West Virginia and have to play out there. Right. I

00:21:51 mean, UCF or whoever the hell is in it. And that's the thing in South Florida, whoever's in it. Yeah.

00:21:57 UCF. And you know, what's funny, you kind of wonder too, Mo getting off topic a little bit,

00:22:01 but you know, no disrespect to those four schools they brought in, but you know, it was what

00:22:04 Cincinnati, uh, UCF Houston and BYU. If you're the big 12, you're probably looking at it now

00:22:11 and thinking we would have taken Arizona, Arizona state, Colorado, and Utah, if it would have been

00:22:16 available and not taking those other schools. I know there's talk about, Hey, we want to be in

00:22:20 every time zone or whatever, but that's a real thing. And just for the listeners, sorry to cut

00:22:26 you off, like what's great about our conversations and then like being traveling on the road, we get

00:22:33 to have conversations with people inside the building that make the real decisions. And you

00:22:38 know, they're, they're, they were friends. They trust us that we would never say stuff. That's

00:22:44 not allowed to say. So we have real conversations, but like, I had never really thought that.

00:22:51 It's such an advantage on college football Saturday that you have a game in the Eastern

00:22:56 Pacific central mountain time zone. And then you're on all day and you're like, Oh, that's when the

00:23:01 light bulb kind of went off for me. Right. You know, when, when the big 10 added UCLA and USC,

00:23:08 and that was brought up, I was like, Oh, now it makes sense. You know, cause like the sec

00:23:12 dominates, but they're like, if you're on the West coast, the games are done at two or whatever.

00:23:16 And that's not a good thing if it's because then everybody switches the channel and goes, Oh,

00:23:20 the big 10s on, I don't rather wait and watch that or whatever. Right. So that's part of the,

00:23:25 the value add for the big 12, bringing those schools in obviously basketball wise, bringing

00:23:32 Arizona as a, as a huge get, I think Colorado is always solid. Aren't they like NIT range?

00:23:37 Shout out to bill Greer, you know, and then, but like, it's such a weird decision for Gonzaga to

00:23:47 get away from the Jesuit stuff, you know, the like-minded universities, we don't have football.

00:23:53 So what, when you're holding your hat out and go pay us, pay us, what are you really worth? Right.

00:23:58 And if you're the other schools, what are you, what are you willing to give up?

00:24:01 But also there is value in having a dominant basketball, the, the pre predominant basketball

00:24:08 conference. Cause you're going to get all the attention, even though it's smaller than it used

00:24:12 to be, you're going to get all the attention for basketball during that year. And that's still

00:24:15 a chunk of that pie. Yeah. Live content is, as you know, is, is paramount. Yeah. It's huge. It's

00:24:22 like the last thing that's besides streaming. Yes. That's about it. Exactly. Nobody watches

00:24:28 sitcoms anymore and blah, blah, blah. You know, it's like all streaming. Yeah. Yeah. So like live

00:24:34 content is still has a huge value and you got to put stuff on television. So I'm for it now because

00:24:41 I understand, or I've been, I've been educated on the dollars and cents of it. Right. I don't like

00:24:48 the fact that there might be a season that we go 10 and eight and we still are a good team. And I,

00:24:55 I don't like it that not that we're losing games, that people are going to complain and, and right.

00:25:01 This is ridiculous. I told you, and it's like, dude, we've gone to five elite eights in the last

00:25:05 eight years, eight straight sweet, six teens, two national championship games in what? Six years.

00:25:10 Yeah. We can win in March. So that's not the problem. Like, well, you, when you play in the

00:25:15 WCC, it's like, that's such a fall. I don't get where that comes from. Yeah. But also like there

00:25:22 is, it's fun going 30 and six every year, whatever, you know what I'm saying? I know.

00:25:27 So it's such a double-edged sword, but on the backside, like if you're getting 28 million a

00:25:33 year, just say 20 million a year for basketball, you can fund golf, women's tennis. I mean,

00:25:40 just everything. Yeah. Well, and it makes so much more sense. And the funny thing for me is, you

00:25:46 know, there, there are two things about it. I think that's been, uh, you know, something that

00:25:51 when you look at like the big 12 and the schools that all have football, they're like, well, Hey,

00:25:56 wait a second. Like, what are we like? What's the, I think that's been a little bit of the holdup

00:25:59 and you've got Brett your mark, who is a business person, right? Not a college athletics person,

00:26:03 but a business person. Who's the, uh, you know, who's the commissioner of the big 12.

00:26:06 And he wants to build this thing out where it's like, Hey, basketball has value on its own.

00:26:11 He's like, all of these TV contracts have been built around football. And his thing is let's

00:26:15 separate basketball and let's make it something. And that's how he, I think, is trying to get

00:26:19 everyone to come to an agreement of, we can pay Gonzaga X because it's part of this package versus,

00:26:24 you know, if you have a football program, like why would we bring them in and give them

00:26:29 $20 million a year if all it is is, is basketball, you know? And so 20 conference. Yeah, exactly. So

00:26:36 I think that's probably one of the things that's going on. And it sounds like the stuff that at

00:26:39 least I've read a little bit is people are starting to shift a little bit to that thought of, okay,

00:26:43 we can kind of separate the basketball thing. There's going to be a value that that'll make

00:26:47 sense. But no, the other thing that's interesting to me, Mo and this is where, like you talk about

00:26:50 kind of changing your mindset, it might be one of the few entities where everybody gets paid equally.

00:26:57 So you talk about being able to fund all your other programs, get your stuff. Look at Vanderbilt

00:27:01 and the SEC. I know, right? Look, look at, you know, take your pick. I mean, we could, we could

00:27:06 hit every bottom feeder in, you know, in all these conferences, they get the same amount of money as

00:27:10 Alabama does, right? For at least from the TV contract. Now I know some of the NCAA stuff and

00:27:14 the NFL stuff, but yes, but you know what I'm saying? So, so it's a, it's a very interesting

00:27:19 spot to be in because we're programmed to believe if you're winning and you're successful, you are

00:27:24 going to make more, right? Uh, but when you look at these TV deals, everybody's getting a, you know,

00:27:29 an equal chunk of pie, at least to start. Yeah. And so, you know, if you're the one making the

00:27:35 decision, you say, well, I can fund everything. Yeah. We may struggle a little bit, but I'm still

00:27:40 getting paid. Yep. That's, uh, it's a real, it's a real thing. It is. It's, it, that's the biggest

00:27:47 conundrum and, and people listening, like I, I will wholeheartedly say it's not because of greed.

00:27:54 So when you hear that, like all these greedy commissioners is like, no dude. Like for example,

00:28:00 UCLA was the story I read when they went to the big 10 UCLA and USC together was a two years ago,

00:28:07 they announced it. They were $90 million in debt in the athletic department. This is like one of

00:28:12 the best schools on the West coast, biggest market, really good at basketball, really good at

00:28:17 football. I think they probably win men's golf and shit, you know, the champ pack to all the

00:28:24 conference of champions, but it probably went swimming and like all that crap.

00:28:27 And they're like $90 million in debt. And they were looking at the pack 12, like, dude, we're in

00:28:32 the second biggest market on the, on the planet. We sat behind New York and we can barely pay our

00:28:37 bills. So like, it's not greed. It's we got to fund these other sports and they should be funded

00:28:44 obviously title nine, but just giving kids another opportunity to get a scholarship.

00:28:48 And these sports are Olympic sports and blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Wholeheartedly believe in that

00:28:52 they work just as hard, but a hundred percent. Yeah. Well, and it's dollars and cents, man.

00:28:57 Right. Right. And the one thing to that I think is interesting is do you, at some point here,

00:29:04 come up with a different model for some of the Olympic sports? Because, you know, with $90

00:29:10 million to fund our, you know, be $90 million in debt. Like, do we have to take a step back and

00:29:15 look at, you know, what we're doing and say, well, wait a second, maybe instead of, and we

00:29:20 talk about all these, you know, that's been the big debate, right. Is so the UCLA golf team in

00:29:24 March is going to get on a plane and fly out to New Jersey to, you know, to play a Rutgers

00:29:28 tournament, you know, and you know, and so are you able to maybe kind of counter and go, well,

00:29:38 the basketball team gets to play there. Right. No, exactly. It's a fair argument. Yeah. It is.

00:29:44 You're right. You're right. Economically it's, it's wrong, but it is to be like,

00:29:49 those kids get that opportunity. You don't, you know, and like, and then today's age,

00:29:53 you got to like go, no, you do. And the thing is, I know, right. And I say this way too much,

00:29:58 but like, it's almost like, for me, it feels like we need to get the adults back in the room a

00:30:02 little bit and have them take control versus, you know, in those kinds of conversations. Cause at

00:30:06 the end of the day, what are we still there? There are 2% of people who play college athletics who

00:30:11 want to play professionally. Yeah. Right. So 98% still need to go to class in theory and get their

00:30:16 degrees and get their stuff done. Right. And then of that 2%, what's the percentage that makes

00:30:20 enough money as professionals that education's irrelevant. Right. Exactly. That it doesn't,

00:30:26 you don't need it to, you know, to go get a job because you need a degree in your field. So that's

00:30:31 the thing for me. That's also kind of interesting is okay, great. Well, we're going to, the golf

00:30:35 team should go to Rutgers because the football team is going to Rutgers. Well, okay. Now these

00:30:39 kids are missing, you know, four or five days of school. And, uh, you know, so it is, there's so

00:30:44 many, so many different layers to this thing, Mo it's, uh, it's crazy. I mean, imagine five years

00:30:48 ago, I was sitting here talking about this. I know we'd have been like, why the big 12,

00:30:52 like pack 12 makes sense. But you know, and then we would have had some, you know,

00:30:57 different argument for why to stay in the WCC, but it is fascinating. And I'm curious to see

00:31:03 how it unfolds. Um, because like I said, two years ago, I was like, why, man, this is dumb.

00:31:09 Like the WCC is fine. They've changed some of the member room. We've threatened to go to the

00:31:13 mountain West and they changed the things that needed to be changed the unit size for the NCAA

00:31:18 tournament. And then playing that first, that third game, essentially in the West coast conference

00:31:22 didn't make any sense for anybody. And look at perfect example. Look at Eastern last year,

00:31:28 who finished has the longest wind streak in the country. And then they have to play that

00:31:31 first round game and go get beat by somebody that's a tough matchup by an AU. And now they're

00:31:37 gone. And that story goes away and they're not, you're not getting pressed for your league and

00:31:41 blah, blah, blah. So like, FUE was right on that. It wasn't like, well, we're scared of it. He's

00:31:44 like, no, this game does nothing for us. And you need your best teams in Eastern writing a 22 game

00:31:51 wind streak, getting to the NCAA tournament, probably getting like a 13 seed then look how

00:31:55 good they are. And then, Oh, the big sky and rightfully so, but they lose in the first round.

00:32:00 Oh my God. Then your best player transfers to Con Sega. And then, you know, so like it is

00:32:06 fascinating, but I appreciate your thoughts on that. Cause it's gonna, it's gonna change a little

00:32:10 bit. Like I said, it's just one of those opinions where you hear different information or you look

00:32:16 at it, you know, as you travel and you're like, well, okay, this kind of makes more sense. And

00:32:21 then like, to be honest, like some of the teams in the West coast conference, they are trying to get

00:32:25 better. Some of them are not right. I don't really care. Right. Like they're just, they just have a

00:32:31 team. And if you really said, you know, you put, put everybody's hands on the table and threaten

00:32:37 to smash their hand with a hammer and go, do you care if you go to division one or you just be a D3

00:32:44 and you drive a bus and send your teams, you know, to all the small schools in California and Nevada,

00:32:50 they'd be like, Oh, let's do that, man. They would, they'd be like, we get 80 grand a year,

00:32:56 a student we're filled and we have beautiful campuses and our academics are unbelievable.

00:33:00 Yeah. So who cares? Let's be Whitworth. Nothing, nothing is where we're it's beautiful campus,

00:33:05 great academics, division three, just go drive a bus to wherever, you know what I'm saying? So

00:33:12 I knew your pay your coach a hundred grand instead of 900. Right. You know what I'm saying? So like

00:33:17 it is fascinating. Um, all right. Shifting gears. I appreciate getting your thoughts. Cause it,

00:33:22 I think the people want to kind of hear our thoughts, but we have a, you know, obviously

00:33:27 we don't know everything, but we have like more inside information, but we're also not going to

00:33:31 like throw the university under the bus and tell you certain things. So, but it's also like the,

00:33:37 our lenses are a little bit clearer. It's not just greedy people. It's like, no, dude, this is,

00:33:42 there's actually like reasons behind it. It's not just excuses or guys trying to line their pockets.

00:33:46 You're true. You got to fund whole athletic departments. So that, that's, that's basically

00:33:51 what I was trying to get out is money. Okay. All right. We cover this a little bit in the,

00:33:58 in the start and season expectations. Okay. Like, like I said, we were elite eight last year,

00:34:04 I think sweet, sweet 16 and further now that's not like saying they can't, but I think like

00:34:11 we can win two games in a weekend. Like we've done the last eight seasons. I'm just really

00:34:17 curious with all the turnover on the roster and then like the backcourt situation, I think it's

00:34:23 going to be great for Nolan, but it's going to be, there's going to be some wiggle room in that.

00:34:29 Obviously I haven't been, I've been to one practice and I watched the craziness in the kennel.

00:34:32 But I'll be curious to see like how our backcourt plays and then the health on the backside with

00:34:40 Graham EK, Brayden Huff looks great, but he hasn't played yet. Okay. So who knows? And then rim

00:34:45 protection for me is, is something that I'm concerned about. Just we'll figure out our

00:34:52 defensive strategy obviously. And few, he's really good at it. And we've evolved in the last 10

00:34:57 years on that, but we have zero rim protection and I've asked like people from Wyoming, my cousin

00:35:03 plays football there. So I've been down there a few times and I've talked to their coach and

00:35:08 assistants and I, so I've asked about Graham and all positive, great things. Love the kid. They

00:35:14 were mad that he left, but in a good way, like, Oh, he's great. I'm glad he landed at Gonzaga.

00:35:18 Can he remember tech? Not really. So I got my answer, but I was like, I know her, he could

00:35:23 score numbers, you know, everything was great. They're like, yeah. But then I was like, rim

00:35:27 protection, like, nah, he's kind of a charge guy. And I'm like, that's not good. That's not good.

00:35:32 So that's, that's my biggest concerns, uh, like kind of roster wise going in and, you know,

00:35:38 expectations, like I said, sweet 16 or, or, or better. And I, I know that's kind of like a

00:35:43 wishy-washy, but I think this team can win two games, at least in a weekend. And then in the

00:35:47 NCAA tournament, it's kind of a, not a crapshoot, but it's draw. And you talked about it at the

00:35:52 start of St. Mary's, St. Mary's beats Yukon and who knows what's your thoughts on that?

00:35:57 You know, I'm with you. Like the back court is going to be fascinating, right? But the question

00:36:01 is going to be like, I think we've got a chance to be really good there, but so who, who comes in

00:36:06 when someone needs a breather? I mean, you can't have Ryan and Nolan play 40 minutes a game.

00:36:10 I think that is that dusty Schremmers and it may be dusty, you know, maybe a slide steel

00:36:15 over to the two for a little bit. Um, you know, that I think obviously question, I mean, you would

00:36:20 assume that dusty gets, you know, some of those minutes he's going to have to get some of those

00:36:25 minutes, I think. Right. And I think, um, you know, I'm the Eastern European kids that they

00:36:29 brought in. I know they like, but I don't know that there's a situation where they're coming in

00:36:33 a plan. Um, you know, I thought he was good. So I did too. I liked him. Um, that'll be interesting

00:36:41 to see, you know, I mean, maybe that becomes a necessity. I, you know, I, I don't know, but

00:36:45 I think that's going to be the big one is you love the starting back court, but where do you go when,

00:36:49 you know, when you're looking for a breather, you know, maybe foul trouble, whatever. Um, you know,

00:36:54 I think the three is even kind of an interesting position. That's the biggest one for me. That's

00:36:58 the biggest question mark. Yeah. Uh, cause if steel comes in and plays, uh, you know,

00:37:03 and it plays well, uh, right. You feel really good. Uh, but like you said earlier, I mean, dusty,

00:37:09 you know, you don't recruit these top, you know, 50, 25 kids on the bench and have them sit on the

00:37:14 bench. Right. And it, and it goes deeper. And this is the hard part with recruiting and all that

00:37:17 other stuff. You know, if you get to a point where, you know, teams can recruiting and say,

00:37:21 well, yeah, no, they do. They brought that top 20 kid in and top 20 kid. Right. And well,

00:37:24 they didn't play them. So we're going to play you and you know, and how quickly you get into a young

00:37:29 kid's mind. He's like, okay. You know? So, I mean, I think dusty, you're going to have to get them

00:37:33 on the floor. He's got to play 20 minutes a night. If you're, if you're a freshman high level recruit

00:37:39 and just the piggyback off what you just said, like in the recruiting aspect, a lot of these

00:37:44 kids are intertwined in EYBL teams and the Nike teams, those circuits. So like, if you off, like

00:37:52 one of those families, you're going to, they're going to talk to the other six EYBL teams that

00:37:58 try to get them to play with them. And it'll be like, yeah, don't go to Gonzaga. Your kid won't

00:38:02 play. Like, that's a real thing. And you have to kind of like, you don't bow down to them, but you

00:38:07 have to have that on your back pocket. Like we can't totally screw over a high level kid like

00:38:13 that because you know, if they really have a bone to pick, he's, you know, those other AU coaches

00:38:18 are like, yeah, call Dusty's dad and see what he really thinks about or whatever. Well, and the

00:38:22 hard part of that too, is that, you know, this is my frustration with just where we've gone with,

00:38:27 with athletics and just society in general, if we want to get real deep, which is Dusty obviously

00:38:33 is an amazing talent to be ranked where he was and to be able to do the things that he does.

00:38:37 But there's a difference between being a fantastic high school player and then stepping in at this

00:38:41 level and just being ready to contribute right away. So maybe, and I'm not, I'm not saying

00:38:47 Dusty in particular, I'm just talking about just in general, we see it every year, right? Well,

00:38:50 this kid's a top, you know, 20, he's a five-star recruit, he's this, he's that. But then you get

00:38:54 to the college level and especially now where you've got, you know, with the COVID stuff,

00:38:57 23, 24 year olds that are playing and you're going against an 18 year old who maybe isn't

00:39:01 all that strong, who's still trying to kind of figure it out. So now all of a sudden you're

00:39:05 not playing a kid because you're trying to develop them. Like you're bringing them along.

00:39:08 It's not, okay, we're going to play them 30 minutes a game because we need them to play

00:39:11 30 minutes. You're like, hey, he's good and he's going to be good. But if he's playing 30 minutes

00:39:16 a game, we're not going to win a lot of games, if that makes sense. You know what I'm saying? So,

00:39:19 so that's one of the interesting things to me when you talk about that stuff is, you know,

00:39:23 just because you don't play 30 minutes and score 15 points a game as a freshman is in your, uh,

00:39:27 you know, top 25, doesn't mean you're bad. And you got screwed over. Yeah, exactly.

00:39:30 As a sophomore, you come and you play and you blow up and all of a sudden you're like,

00:39:34 what, played in college for a year and I'm stronger now. And so, but the problem is to

00:39:40 your point is that nobody wants to sit around and wait for that sophomore year. Right. And they've

00:39:44 all been conditioned to believe that they're going to be the 2% who are going to be the ones

00:39:49 who become NBA guys. Right. And nobody in their mind thinks, I mean, you hear stories. I mean,

00:39:55 you talk, we're on the road and like talking to guys in the WCC and they're like, oh yeah,

00:39:59 no, he thinks he's going to be a pro. And you're like, the kid's averaging six points a game for

00:40:04 a team that's won six games and lost 20. Right. So, so it's, you know, try, try to get those

00:40:09 kids to understand that it's okay to develop and get better and let's see what happens versus,

00:40:14 you know, your first year right out of the shoot, you're going to, you're going to be a superstar,

00:40:16 but no getting back to Dusty. I think he will play. I think you're right. I mean,

00:40:19 and I know they love him. He's competitive as all get out, he can shoot it. So I think,

00:40:24 I think he'll find some minutes. And then I also think like you talk about that front line,

00:40:27 which is interesting because over the years, you and I've talked about this a lot. That's where

00:40:31 it's kind of a three, three and a half man rotation, mostly three, mostly three. And I

00:40:37 love how they, they run their bigs. And I think that was Tommy who kind of brought the European

00:40:42 substitution pattern in. I've done it as sounds funny as it sounds, but I've done it in a basketball.

00:40:48 You have three bags, you start two, and then you just kind of rotate them and they all play like

00:40:53 18 to 22 minutes and everybody's happy. You have one, maybe one kid that's more athletic, one's

00:40:59 more score, but like you can throw different lineups, you can mismatch the starting. They're

00:41:03 going to do the same thing this year, but who's the guy that gets left out? That's where you're

00:41:09 going to go into. Right. Because Anton's playing a hundred percent. He's earned it. Yeah. 100%.

00:41:14 Graham, if he's healthy, didn't transfer in to, to be the fourth guy. And I think obviously,

00:41:21 I mean, if he, if he gets back to the levels that he was, I mean, I don't care what conference you're

00:41:24 playing in, if you go 20 and 10, right. And they made the tournament that year. I mean, he's,

00:41:29 he's productive, right. You know, Ben, I mean, shoot, he earned a starting spot last or he

00:41:36 earned a spot in the beat out Efton. And then he like, there were stretches where

00:41:41 last year's team needed a guy that kind of like dove on the floor and pumped his fist and all

00:41:47 that. And he was that guy. And then he, it slowly built and then he started making shots and all

00:41:51 that stuff. So he's earned that. Yeah. And he's put his time in absolutely. And he has earned it.

00:41:55 And then all of a sudden, everybody we talked to says, Brayden's had the best camp of anybody. And

00:41:59 I mean, he's, you know, Mr. Basketball in the state of Illinois. And red shirt. So he's like,

00:42:04 I'm going to take a year off the mindset and get better. And now I get to play. Yeah. And so

00:42:09 it'll be interesting to see how that rotation works out. And like you said, I'm excited to

00:42:14 see how Brayden plays to see what his, you know, skills bring to that group in that rotation.

00:42:21 Right. So like, okay, well, he's scored. Like, I would guess just kind of looking at the way he

00:42:25 moves a little bit, if you were going to talk rim protection out of those four guys, and I'm not

00:42:29 saying that he's going to be a great rim protector, but I'm just saying like, from a size standpoint,

00:42:33 he's the longest legit 610 611, right. And he's probably the longest. Yeah. And obviously he can

00:42:40 shoot it. You know, I mean, that's, you know, he's picking pop. So yeah, it's amazing to see that

00:42:45 that rotation and how they do it. Like I said, it's been, I mean, three for years, right?

00:42:51 Eight years, at least right since shimmy and before probably right before then with J3 shimmy and

00:42:58 RC or BC and Rui, you know, and it's always been like three bigs Zeebo. I just go down the line.

00:43:06 Like they've always had three bigs and it's perfect because then you don't have to worry

00:43:10 about foul trouble as much. You usually have your main guy, the other two, but you just,

00:43:15 it's an easy substitution pattern. I think it's the right way to sub in high-level basketball,

00:43:21 but you're right. There's four and there's four that, you know, completely deserve a shot

00:43:27 to play a ton of minutes. And then, you know, with the transfer portal, like if you're,

00:43:31 if you're Brayden Huff and let's say you have a great camp and then somehow you just don't

00:43:35 work yourself in the rotation. Like I'm out of here. I red shirted, you know what I'm saying?

00:43:38 Like I can't wait another year. Right. Peace. You know, the counter to that would be like,

00:43:43 well, Anton's leaving for sure. And maybe Graham does, you know, but

00:43:46 you always have that worry as a staff. For sure. And that's the thing. And I will give,

00:43:52 you know, Ben a lot of credit because we talk about those things kind of going on. Right.

00:43:57 So if, if you're Ben and we sign Graham and then Anton decides to come back and said,

00:44:03 all of a sudden you're looking at like, okay, well wait, I, by this point I put on my time,

00:44:06 like I should be up for a starting job. Yeah. He's a junior. Right. You know? And, and for him to say,

00:44:10 Hey, you know what, I'm going to stay here and I'm going to play. Uh, I think that's great. I

00:44:14 think more kids should do that. And so, like you said, because, uh, you know, you don't play and

00:44:19 everybody holds it against you, you know, or holds it against the team. Uh, and all of a sudden you're

00:44:24 transferring and you're moving along and you know, again, you've played at four different schools in

00:44:30 four years and remember the kid who is the kid O'Bannon's kid for grand Canyon was on six on his

00:44:35 six. Yep. We played in the NCAA tournament last year and it was like, I'm sure there's a reason

00:44:40 for some of the transfers and then, you know, I'm never going to, you know, just assume,

00:44:45 but some of it has to be like, F it, I'm not playing. I'm out of here. Yeah. Coach screwed

00:44:50 me. Well, yeah. You know what I mean? Like six of them. Yeah. Like how do your credits

00:44:55 trends are like, I was fascinated by that. And you know, it's, it's funny you say that because,

00:44:59 um, uh, the guard from Portland, uh, Mike Meadows, right. So he was at Eastern,

00:45:04 went to Portland when the coaching change happened with Shante, uh, transferred down to LMU, like

00:45:10 in April, uh, went from LMU to Cal and then from Cal to St. Louis. So he's on the St. Louis roster

00:45:18 right now. So that's five schools. Three of them have happened in the last like four months. Yeah.

00:45:23 And I don't know all that. He's like, I will say this, you know, everybody puts out their little

00:45:27 things with a, you know, committed, blah, blah, blah. So I don't know, you know, if they got into

00:45:30 school, then get into school, whatever. But you know, the fact of the matter is, I mean, you're

00:45:34 crazy and, and Hey, the kid didn't do anything wrong because we've allowed it. Like I talked

00:45:38 about getting the adults back in charge. Yes. You're right. We're not blaming the kid. No,

00:45:43 because it's like, if you have the opportunity to do it, the grass is greener than you can do it.

00:45:47 But at some point it has to be like, dude, just, we got to pick a school and we got to pick a

00:45:52 culture and get your degree and then move on because it's gotta be like mentally exhausting

00:45:58 to constantly learn a new system, get new teammates, see if your credits transfer over,

00:46:03 get a new girlfriend. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like, Holy God, it's just like a lot of

00:46:09 work that has to happen. Um, you know, so, um, I appreciate that, uh, you know, the, the thought

00:46:16 process on the players. I agree with you. I think that three spots can be the most fascinating with

00:46:21 steel. And then obviously the four bags is going to be a fascinating. There's kids that we haven't

00:46:26 even mentioned the Korean kid, June. How do you say his name again? June suck. Yo. Yeah. June suck.

00:46:32 Yo. Like we, and when we talk about it on our broadcast too, and like, I'm not trying to make

00:46:37 fun of this name. I'm just trying to get through it. So if I ask again, I'm trying to say correct.

00:46:43 So I just want to make that clear that people are listening. I'm not laughing because it's

00:46:48 a different name. I can't say it. I want to make sure I'm saying it right. Respect to the kid.

00:46:53 Yeah. And on him real quick, I think everybody needs to take a step back.

00:46:57 I think so too. Because we're in this thing like, Oh, you know, the Korean freak and you see his

00:47:02 highlights, he had 18 points in the USA against USA. It's like, okay, cool. But yeah. And he's

00:47:07 still learning how to speak English. And really it was the same way. Exactly. Right. And so I think,

00:47:12 physically, he looks the part, which is, I think what makes you excited. You're like, man, look at

00:47:16 his kid's body. You know, it's just big, strong trunk and just in big up here too. And you think

00:47:21 like, okay, Hey, you know, if it clicks, I think they'll be able to get some good stuff at him.

00:47:26 But I think right now, you know, I mean, he's been on campus for what? I mean, he was second

00:47:29 semester last year and then he's been here for six or seven weeks for this, you know, for this

00:47:33 semester. So I don't know that, uh, he'll, I mean, I think he might get an opportunity or two because

00:47:38 obviously he's not red shirting and I think we'll see him play a little bit, but I don't think

00:47:42 at this point we have expectations that he's going to think so. And that doesn't make him

00:47:46 a failure either. That just means he's again, like we've been trying to talk about, yeah,

00:47:50 and we're just, we're equating the same, not just because they're from an Asian country,

00:47:55 just because the, the, the hard language barrier, you know, if going from Japanese

00:48:00 and Korean to English is different than like Spanish to English. Yeah. Not an expert,

00:48:05 but I'm pretty sure I'm right. You know what I'm saying? It's a different deal. Um, so that is a

00:48:12 fair thing to kind of be like, Hey man, this isn't going to take some time. Terminology is different

00:48:16 over there. You got to learn our terminology. We're not changing, you know, it's one of those

00:48:21 deals. We're not training for you. Right. But you know, so hopefully, you know, the, the

00:48:27 expectations for him or, uh, or tempered because he did look fantastic in that FIBA, I just mentioned

00:48:34 world championships or whatever he played in. Obviously if he's coming to Gonzaga, he's good

00:48:38 enough. And then his body is like, man, this kid is big. And then obviously talking to some of the

00:48:42 Stocktons, you know, they run the warehouse deal and they're like, yeah, he's good. He can play

00:48:45 stronger and heck they're like, I think he's just so always trying to be so technical. It's for you.

00:48:51 Everything's got to be like perfect. And I'm built in the lab. It's like, no, I'm gonna just go make

00:48:55 a play and it's fine. If you mess up or, you know, just, yeah, I was going to say that looks a little

00:49:00 stiff, almost like he's almost thinking too much. Right. It's like, okay. You know, if I was playing

00:49:04 for my FIBA team, I'm the only guy who can score. So I'm just going to go and score. Right. And now

00:49:10 it's, oh, wait, okay. Normally that worked. It didn't work that time. Cause that guy's fast

00:49:15 enough to get in front of me. Right. And now it's like, okay, wait. And, oh, I've got three coaches

00:49:18 yelling at me and I don't really know what they're saying. I know half of what they're saying. Yeah.

00:49:22 You know, so I'm excited to see if he's, if he's able to progress, but I don't think it's going to

00:49:28 happen. Yeah, I agree. The perimeter will be right back after a word from our sponsor.

00:49:33 We love our house, but lately we've been feeling a little cramped. So we talked to ICCU about a

00:49:44 new home loan. The process was super quick and we got a really great rate. We start house hunting

00:49:50 tomorrow. Preferably something with a bigger garage. Non-conference schedule. Like it, love it,

00:50:05 hate it. I like a lot of it. I already know what the, some of the parts you don't. Yeah. Okay. So

00:50:15 the Kentucky game, I think is interesting in January, December, February, February. Wow.

00:50:21 It was way, still way off. I think the Bowie tournament is fantastic. It's goes

00:50:26 Purdue, Syracuse or Tennessee in a second round. And then most likely Kansas and was it Marquette?

00:50:33 Yep. I think Marquette on the other side. Hopefully we don't have to play Chaminade.

00:50:38 That's no disrespect because then it's almost like a throwaway game. You want three really good ones.

00:50:41 The Purdue game is going to be fascinating. We got murdered by them last year. Absolutely

00:50:47 destroyed. Zach Eaddy's back their point, their guard and their, their two freshmen backcourt

00:50:52 killed us last year. So that's going to be obviously we're going to be more on our radar,

00:50:56 but they obviously assume they got better. So I'm curious to see the strategy against them.

00:51:03 You know, but then on the backside, win or lose, you're going to play Syracuse or Tennessee,

00:51:06 which is great. Right. In Syracuse, this hasn't been as good as they have years past,

00:51:10 but it's still a name. And usually they make the right, they'll figure out a way to make

00:51:14 the tournament. So it's like, we're going to tournament win if you beat them. So you always,

00:51:18 you're always happy about that. So I I'm excited about that. San Diego state at home is good.

00:51:24 Yep. That's awesome. What, what else do we have as far as my mind's going a little bit.

00:51:32 So we've got, so we'll go to Seattle, play Yukon after we play, and then we'll come home and then

00:51:38 go back six days later, five days later. So we'll play Yukon obviously. Battle in Seattle. Not the

00:51:45 same name anymore, but I'm glad we're doing that, doing that game again. I think it's the climate

00:51:50 pledge one, right? So who did we get Molly walked? Was it last year, Alabama? Was it last year? Two

00:51:57 years ago, I remember sitting there calling that game. All right. We'll take it away, honey. Hey,

00:52:03 Mo, did they do anything good today? Nope. Take it away. You know, it was like, what are those

00:52:08 beautiful? Yeah, exactly. We kept talking about, Oh man, it's a really nice that they're, you know,

00:52:12 have the climate pledge and all that stuff and God bless them. And then they built a brand new

00:52:16 facility. We're not even talking about the game. You go downstairs and see the, you could touch the

00:52:21 screen and the temperature changes. This is like making up stuff. It was such a blowout. But I like

00:52:29 that. We have a game back in the arena. I thought Kentucky last year was a fantastic. I'm not

00:52:34 excited about playing Pepperdine there, but I think that we need to do that every single year.

00:52:40 It needs to be tradition. I think we need to try to get, even if it's a, a mid quote unquote,

00:52:46 mid-level team or a mid-level team from a bigger conference would be, would suffice. Sure. I think

00:52:54 Fuey would be open to play, maybe play wazoo there, but who's the home team. So who gets the

00:53:01 tickets? Cause that's always, you get scared. Cause remember we played them there years ago,

00:53:04 we beat them, but it was like kind of scary. Cause you're like, there's a lot of

00:53:09 wazoo fans that kind of want to beat us and God bless them. I get it. You know,

00:53:14 cause we control the deal, you know, obviously their football team has been okay for the last

00:53:19 five, six years, but yeah, no, you get into that game. You're like, Oh, this crowd can turn on you

00:53:25 real quick. Yeah, no, exactly. So I'm with you. I, and I do hope that that I know it's Pepperdine

00:53:30 and I know it's during Christmas break. So the students won't be there, but you know, kind of

00:53:34 my thing for that is, is I hope that everybody in the community, you know, that wants to see

00:53:40 Gonzaga play, goes, gets tickets and goes, because I think that's why you want to move me too. But I

00:53:45 think you want to move past it. And look, that Kentucky game was electric. That's one of the,

00:53:48 like, that was a fantastic environment. It was great. And it was Kentucky. So you knew, right.

00:53:52 I mean, remember those tickets sold out and you know, like this. And I remember there was some,

00:53:56 you know, some complaining because people felt like they should be able to get tickets, but

00:53:59 you know, the, the benefactors and the donors and all those people, you know, were able to buy

00:54:03 tickets and there weren't a lot of opportunities. What I hope is that we can play a game against a

00:54:08 team that isn't Kentucky and still sell that thing out and get people in there and be excited about

00:54:13 it. Because I think the worst thing that happened is, you know, you draw 4,000 in there because

00:54:17 then we just won't do it again. I would think that to your point, you want to have that. I'd love to

00:54:22 have that game once a year or two and give people in the community the opportunity because those

00:54:26 opportunities have dwindled a little bit here over the last seven or eight years. And for good reason,

00:54:30 I mean, it's just, it's, it's a fact of life and a fact of growth. And if you're going to

00:54:34 win 30 a year and you're going to make it to the elite eight and play for national championships,

00:54:38 we've talked about reshading the building, but we can't go into that topic. So that's all I'm

00:54:42 going to say about that. But Michael, over some people's heads that are listening, but

00:54:46 I do think it'd be great if we get it, you know, get a good crowd for that one and give,

00:54:50 you know, cause cause the opportunity is going to be there for people to go on and see that game.

00:54:54 Yeah, no. So I, I, I, I'm happy with the, the schedule, I guess. I mean,

00:54:59 and it's hard and, and, and, and let's, let's say this mo too. When you look at some of the,

00:55:04 the games that aren't the, the marquee, you know, top 25 matchups or whatever, when you look at it,

00:55:09 when you're playing in these tournaments, right. When we go to Maui, the Maui hangover is real,

00:55:13 it is right. You go over there and it's a six or seven hour flight and you play those three games

00:55:17 and then you fly home and you're there for four days without the game. So you're kind of, I mean,

00:55:23 obviously you're getting your guys moving around, but you're, you're at the beach. Yeah. Fun. Yeah.

00:55:27 No, it is. Right. And then, you know, if, if you come back and then all of a sudden it's like,

00:55:31 okay, we're gonna play Kentucky, you know, two days after we get back, you see it. I mean,

00:55:34 it's, you know, so I think a few of those games just kind of the way they set up,

00:55:38 it's almost just a, I don't want to say necessary evil, but it's, it's kind of part of the scheduling

00:55:43 process. I mean, when you sit down and try to put together a schedule, you're looking at all

00:55:46 those things. It's not let's load up seven top 25 games over a three week span. It's okay. Hey,

00:55:53 if we're going to play these games in Maui and hopefully be successful and playing three really

00:55:58 quality opponents, it might be too much to ask to come back and play another, you know, high level

00:56:04 top 10 type of team. So we need to play a game to come back and get our legs, you know, gone and

00:56:09 figuring that there's a formula to it, to seating. Like people don't understand is like, you know,

00:56:14 Ken Palm and all those things and how many wins you have, like matters. So like, you can't,

00:56:18 like you said, you can't just have all top 25 teams playing each other. And then on the backside,

00:56:23 I know a few, he probably doesn't think about this, but like, if you're an upper up and coming

00:56:27 coach and you're trying to, you know, do well for your family financially, you probably put in there.

00:56:32 If I get 20 wins, I get a hundred thousand dollars. If I get to 23, I get 150. So

00:56:37 uh, sisters of the poor. Yeah. We'll play them. You want to play them twice?

00:56:41 You know what I'm saying? So like, that's part of it. You got to have games where your guys feel

00:56:46 good. And then also like on, on, on the backside of that thought is like, not a lot of teams will

00:56:54 come to our building and play us. So I always have great respect for the, like a San Diego

00:56:57 state that will do that. I guarantee we call and go, Hey, well, let's do a home and home.

00:57:02 Some teams are like, uh, we'll play in Seattle. That counts as your home game. But then you play

00:57:06 in our place. Like that's not fair, but it's just the reality of it. So sometimes when people kind

00:57:11 of complain and I get the complaints, I'm not completely on the, you know, university side on

00:57:17 every decision is teams won't come in and play us. So they're like, well, the home games, you know,

00:57:22 there's not great non-conference home games. It's like, nobody wants to play us. What do we,

00:57:26 so we have to have a game. Yeah. And then, you know, and it's funny, I laugh with, yeah. And

00:57:30 I laugh with coach. Cause he'll say that when, you know, when they're trying to put the scheduling

00:57:33 together and it's kind of like, yeah, you know, it's funny when they've just lost three starters,

00:57:37 nobody returns our calls, but when they've got their top scores back, everybody calls and says,

00:57:42 Hey, they're willing to come and give it a go. Right. And that's, that's kind of part of it too

00:57:46 is, is figuring, you know, that stuff out. To go quickly on, if we move to the big 12,

00:57:51 we will never have non-conference good home games. Why, why schedule, right? It'll be

00:57:57 maybe at one, like a big 12, it will be something, right. But yeah, it'll be straight.

00:58:02 Cupcake city. We'll pull them. Let's do like where Lorenzo used to do. You dubbed

00:58:06 12 home games until January, January, because you're going to go through the gauntlet. Like I

00:58:12 got, I get, I get his, his process, what he was thinking, but like, ah, we're just going to stay

00:58:18 in Seattle, heck Ed, and we'll be fine. And so we're going to play him at the pack club, but

00:58:22 that's what's going to happen. So like, I think people need to understand that too, is obviously

00:58:25 you'll have your big Christmas tournament or your Thanksgiving tournament, but you ain't playing

00:58:29 nobody at all. Cause it's you got Kansas, you got Oklahoma state, just down the Arizona. So,

00:58:35 yeah, the schedule's good. It's going to be fun. It's always a fun travel with WCC. I wish I'd go

00:58:43 back to travel partners, but that's just a complaint that nobody cares about. Here's a

00:58:47 complaint department supporting the trash can. You know what I mean? Like no one gives a shit.

00:58:50 Shut up, Adam. You know what I mean? Like, okay, I got it. You know, like cool. But I wish I could

00:58:55 stay in LA for four days instead of there and then back, you know, like it doesn't make sense. It

00:58:59 doesn't make sense financially for the smaller universities. It just doesn't. And that's a true,

00:59:04 like, what are we doing? But anyway, I digress. I feel your pain. Nobody. Yeah, exactly. You get

00:59:10 it. It's just like, okay. Um, do you got any other thoughts? How do you share them openly?

00:59:15 This is an open forum. Yeah, I'm trying to think. That's a good question. We touched on a bunch of

00:59:20 stuff. I'm excited to get going, you know, and we talk about this quite a bit. Like sometimes it's

00:59:25 all like you go into a season and you know what you have and you're like, okay, we're loaded for

00:59:29 bear and this is the team we've got and man, we're going to, we think we're going to compete for a

00:59:33 national title and we've got a chance to do it. I, sometimes for me, it's kind of fun to have the

00:59:37 crew like we have coming in now, which is. I thought last year was one of the funner years

00:59:42 because the games were closer. We didn't win by 40 every game. It was like, this is fun.

00:59:47 Yeah. Right. And you saw guys make plays and you know, and it's, I feel like this is, and I'm not

00:59:53 making a grand statement, throw myself out there, but you know, this is a team that's going to be a

00:59:58 lot better in March than it is in November. Right. And so sometimes I think that's fun for as much

01:00:03 as you know, and if you're, you know, coach for you and the coaching staff, it'd be nice to have

01:00:07 drew back for another year to just chuck it in there and you know, but I also think, you know,

01:00:12 an opportunity to see guys grow and to see, you know, the team grow and an opportunity to see

01:00:16 these, these guys come in. Can Graham EK come back after a couple of years? That's a great

01:00:20 storyline. He's a heck of a kid. Like you said, you know, I mean, the couple of interactions

01:00:23 I've had with him, it seems like a great kid. He came out to my lake place randomly with my

01:00:27 cousin who plays at Wyoming football, like I mentioned earlier. And hey, can Graham come?

01:00:31 I was like, yeah, you have a buddy named Graham. And then he shows up and he's like, he's coming

01:00:35 to Gonzaga. I was like, oh, Hey, I felt a little bit embarrassed. I didn't know. Right. But I was

01:00:39 like, then I kind of just like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. But I just. Oh that Graham. Yeah. I was

01:00:43 like, okay, cool. But yeah, I was just kind of, all right. It's like the story I've told before.

01:00:49 And you've heard this, like it was years ago I was in the, where was I? I was in a, like a,

01:00:54 a gas station and the guy goes, what about that Woolridge kid coming next year? I go, who the

01:01:01 hell is that? And the look on this guy's face that I had no clue that they just signed like a high

01:01:07 level, the best transfer in the country or whatever, but I had zero idea and zero care

01:01:13 because it was August. Right. And I was like, who the hell is that? The new point guard at Gonzaga.

01:01:20 Oh. And just the look of like disgust and like you fraud, you know, like you fraud. That's,

01:01:27 that's what the look he was giving me. Um, so yeah, that's how a little bit I felt for a second

01:01:32 with the cramps. Oh yeah. Cool, man. Nice to meet you. My cousin says you're really nice guy.

01:01:36 Heard you can play. That kept him moving. Right. No, that's great. But yeah. Right. I mean,

01:01:41 that's going to be fun, you know, to see Ryan Nemhardt play is going to be a lot of fun to see

01:01:45 if steel is able to make the jump and play and to see how the group comes together. I like we talked

01:01:50 about earlier, like Nolan, I think it's going to be great to see Nolan get this, you know,

01:01:53 this opportunity playing alongside a guy who's played a lot of minutes and, you know, figuring

01:01:57 out, you know, like you said, maybe not have as much pressure. So I don't, man, I think it's going

01:02:01 to be fun just to, to see this group kind of come together and figure it out. Like you said, I mean,

01:02:05 there, there seems like there are enough question marks at positions and how they're just all going

01:02:09 to shake out. I think it's going to be fun. Yeah. I think it's fascinating. I think you hit it all

01:02:13 right on the head. Like it's cool watching teams grow. And then this is a team that's, you know,

01:02:20 the expectations are still high, but it's not like we have a bunch of all Americans and stuff. So

01:02:24 like they could be a lot better in March and have the opportunity for the coaching staff to be like,

01:02:29 Hey, nobody believes in you. You find that right second in the league, you know? And when I've

01:02:33 been asked a couple of times, like, is that a slight? I'm like, no, like St. Mary's has been

01:02:37 good. And like, nobody knows like who we are. So like, that's not a slight, but you can use it as

01:02:41 one. And if you're a player, you should use it as, but it's when, you know, I was like, that makes

01:02:46 perfect sense. I'm the coaches too. Like, well, I don't even know who they are. You don't know,

01:02:50 but second, let's be honest. I mean, you talk about, Hey, you know, the Wazoo fans want to,

01:02:54 want to beat Gonzaga, get sick of hearing about us. I mean, you think the WCC coaches

01:02:58 and administrators aren't sick and tired of hearing about us? And now we're going to the

01:03:02 big 12. Like, yeah, St. Mary's got some guys back. Yes. First place. I think that's so,

01:03:10 but, but also let's be honest. I mean, you know, when they got Alex Dukas back, right.

01:03:13 And he decided to come back for a year. Right. And then the Mahaney kid obviously played great.

01:03:17 The big Mitchell Saxon's back. I mean, it's not like, you know, they just picked St. Mary's just

01:03:22 because I mean, they, they have some, some good players back in, in, to your point, you know,

01:03:26 we've got, I mean, at three positions, essentially, I mean, you're going to have new faces. Now

01:03:30 they've, they've played at the division one level, but you could easily see where the coaches were

01:03:34 just like, okay, whatever. But you know, I don't think that that was as much a, you know, like,

01:03:39 okay, serious slight to Gonzaga. It was just the, Hey, we can not pick Gonzaga. Okay. Yeah,

01:03:45 exactly. I agree. Well, how do you, I appreciate you coming on. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to

01:03:52 what do we play Friday, Friday at six o'clock, L.C. State. They got a Stockton on the team.

01:03:57 So that'd be fun. But yeah, I'm excited to get going. It's always fun to start getting back to

01:04:03 reality a little bit and a beers on the road. Yeah. And that too, that's what I really mean.

01:04:09 Everybody get back with my buddy and start pounding beers and complaining about the world.

01:04:14 So anyway, thank you to the sponsors, McGilvary environmental, Idaho, Idaho central credit union.

01:04:23 Sorry. I always have a hard time and an H D G architecture. Thank you for sponsoring us. Thank

01:04:28 you for listening. See you next time. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

01:04:41 Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Gonzaga announcer Tom Hudson sets his expectations for the 2023-24 Gonzaga Bulldogs

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