Episode Transcript
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got TW all the way on the left coast in Northern California. Hello everybody. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to another year of UVA basketball on the locker room access. What an exciting time. What a cautious time. There's so many words you can use. What's going on now? What a confusing time. What a special time. What a unique time. Guys jump in and go ahead.
You know, there's so many words to talk about. I know for me there's optimism because I think Ron Sanchez is such a great guy. I got to know him when UVA was recruiting Ty and just one of the nicest, most poised guys. Matter of fact, I remember going, were a couple of things that happened that remind me of how poised he is. They lost a game like his freshman or sophomore year, Ty's freshman or sophomore year, sophomore year I think, and that was all boggling. It a regular season game. He's like, it's okay.
It's really okay. We're going to be fine. then now, now you got me thinking we're screwed. It's not okay. It's not okay to lose more. And then during the tournament when, when, he, and Charlotte, because Ron Sanchez was the head coach in Charlotte during the time when T W's was there, Dougie was there right at the conference tournament. And we lost the Florida state.
And I was talking to coaches and talking to Ron like we gotta do this, we gotta do that, we gotta fix everything. And we had a control and he was like, we're good, be easy. And what happened? Right? Yeah, that's the only time in the last gazillion years I wanted us to actually lose the game. I didn't wanna win that tournament, I wanted to win the other tournament, so.
That's okay. Well, whether you want to or not, what you know, okay, that's fine. As long as we won the big one. That's right. We won the year before. Yeah, the other Congress told me. I'm about the incident. So anyway, but welcome everybody. Let's jump into, I should say before we jump into the coaches and we just want to highlight a few guests and talk about them for a quick second.
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We want to mention Ryan Garca, who's going through a second round of chemo, who's just a great friend of the program and a great dude. I know Dougie, you're on with him a lot on the forum. And he is just one of the nicest guys I've met. And T-Dubbs, I you have a... totally cool things from this. We've gotten to be friends. And so we text, you know, and he's a huge UVA memorabilia guy, which you and I discussed. And he's always finding like a card of me from 1993 or...
He sent me one of my practice jersey one time. He just sent it to me. guess I'd given it to him when he was in camp. That's the connections, right? That's why we do this. And I T-Dex has a long relationship with him too. Yeah, same. He was on our podcast showing off all of his game jerseys and stuff like that. his love for the program really shined through. And we kept in touch ever since. So I definitely would.
sending our best, know everyone's going through it, him especially, he thoughts and prayers with him, always fighting the fight, but we wish you the best, And Dougie's working on something special for him as well. That's right, shout out to the Jerome family and Grant Kersky with the assist. If we can get it, then we'll let him, mean, we'll just set it to him. It's tough dealing with these NBA stars, Marky, you know what I mean?
I'm throwing it you now to talk about another friend of the program who's really special. So, you know, one of the special guys that I went to UVA with and Doug went to UVA with, we were in the same recruiting class. Sean Wilson. You guys have heard us talk about him at some point. Big Red. Big Red was a special guy. Just
An awesome personality and a sneaky good player Doug played with them on the a you team out of I guess Nashville Sean passed away. It was a tragic thing But what I want to report is that everybody has you know kind of gotten to a place where it's good and his two daughters Chloe played at UVA she was a
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her last year was last year on the volleyball team and Claire just played her final game or actually it was her senior night. She's medically retired because she had an injury. But Big Red's family is doing great. We miss them. We love them. We always want to remember them because he was such a big part of our family and program and all the guys from my era. So happy, happy for the family. I got to spend time at
South Carolina, they actually played my daughter at Auburn in her final game. So I was up there, saw the family. It was a good moment for a family that has been through some tough times and everybody's come out as best as they can feeling good. And I'm just happy to be.
report back that everyone's good. also saw Dawn and I reported that in LRA about my half hour with Dawn Staley, which was kind of incredible.
Can you just share a couple of quick words about that Hab? I didn't see that on the form. Yeah, so I went, I texted her. I was in her hometown. She's been there 17 years. I said, hey, I'm in town. And I text Dawn like, you know, through her, like whenever they win the gold medal or she gets coach of the year, all these big accolades. And she always gets back because we were like, we were tight with me, Fresh, Dawn, like
the girls team and the guys team were pretty close back then. I don't know if they are now, but you know, we were the only two teams on campus during like Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break. So we hung out with them. So we had a good relationship. I walked into Dawn's practice kind of right before it started and the music hit and it was, it was impressive. It was a, you know,
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military type drill. They all got right into their stuff really fast. Nobody walked. She talked, you know, she ran practice for a while, came and talked to me and said, I asked her about a Tony Bennett and she said, well, that, you know, that took me by surprise. I guess she had a somewhat of a relationship with Tony being a legend. Talked a little bit about Debbie Ryan. And then we talked about NIL.
And she said, and this I thought was really interesting. I said, how do you handle that? Because keep in mind, they've won two of the three last national championships. And she's like, it's no joke out there. You got to do it. But it's really easy. It's really easy for us. And I said, well, what do you mean by that? And she said, every, you know, we're, and by the way, the day I was there was, it was a Sunday, a five star had just left.
And there was a five star at practice. Like these are like top, I don't know, 20 girls in the country. she's like, it's really easy for us. I say to them, I can't pay you more than the girls on the court right now, cause they want a national championship. So for her, it's pretty simple. I don't know what the number is. I can't tell you, but the, message is if you come here, you're going to win one.
and I can't pay you more than the girls who just won one. So I thought that was kind of cool. It was refreshing. Maybe it doesn't work in the men's game because it seems to rotate more, but Dawn's got a great thing going there. Facilities, staff, support, everything you'd want. And she said it was home for her. I said, what do you think about UVA? She's like, this is home for me. I've been here 17 years.
I know there's been a lot of speculation on UVA about, we going to get Dawn to coach the men? I didn't get the sense that that was something she wanted to endeavor to do. But I will say that from facilities, it looked like a UVA practice. They have the stuff that you need to get recruits to go there.
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It was a nice visit with an old friend and I'm happy to report back about that. Thank you for sharing that. And if we have time, but we'll jump into some NIO later and mention talk about Iowa state seem to do it a little differently than most people. And we can talk about the influence or the potential influence of private equity firms jumping into, know, so later on down the road, but right now let's talk about.
coaching change. Let's talk about TB. Let's talk about Ron Sanchez. Let's talk about, let's throw it out there. We got to talk about Jay Willie. Let's talk about Kyle Guy. So I mean, how many, I got the text from Ty at, don't know what time it was. We buried it. This was coming out. Tony Bennett in caps, Tony Bennett retired. I was like, what? And I was like, I thought it might've been a joke. But then I was thinking, it makes sense. And we've been talking about this for a while.
It's not something that wasn't looming. It's not something that hasn't been talked about or thought about. Was anybody else surprised? Was anybody else like completely shocked or were we like, okay, what's next? Yeah, I'm, can talk. wasn't surprised in the least. I was only taken aback. And I just to be completely honest with, I hate saying that, but the timing, would never have seen it happening that way unless there was some sort of an event.
It's always something right? And the forum likes to make likes to make light of he he went on. He was on vacation with his wife during fall break with Laurel and then went to the Tides in or someplace. And the best is what Tony's doing the interview. You know the press conference at the end. He's like, you know, we went on the Repahonic Repahonic River, whatever is called. You know, I think the place is called the Tides in. So of course, UVA fans are on what's the Yelp for hotels are like just bashing the place. Nobody should ever go here.
It's horrible. Such a coach man. He probably didn't even know what hotel he was in. But I guess he reflected not I'm not surprised. just I again was a little surprised that he would quit before in the midst of the season about to begin if that's a thing. The missing season about to you say that? Yeah, which actually which starts tonight just to throw that out there. Duke is winning today, right? Who's it against Maine?
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of the then their team. T-dubs, what was we talked about it? Pretty. We got some reactions, right? Yeah, we talked about the reactions we talked. I think. No, yeah, I agree. was like, I mean, surprised overall. No timing. Yes, I think that was the hardest thing to sort of wrap my head around. And the finality of it. was like, you know, you hear like, he's just going to retire. You don't know if that's going to happen.
And when he did it, it was definitely personally sad, but also as long as he was healthy, I was cool with it. We talked about it on the post game. We know who he is as a person and what he represents. So if he was OK leaving as it is, then how can we not be as well? So that's kind how I left it. Habs, what was your take on the timing?
Yeah. So I had a different reaction. I was like shocked, floored, angry, confused. Like I went through the emotions and I think for me the biggest, I think everybody, so this isn't unique to me, but I think everybody went to health right away. Does he have something? And what people don't know is that Fresh and I were committed
under Terry Holland and like we didn't have the internet, we didn't have tweets, we didn't have like all that. Terry Holland called up and said like, you know, I'm stepping down, I'm gonna be like a lame duck guy next year. So like, there was a little bit of a flashback there for me, like, my God, like this is different. I'm very, you know,
I think Tony has earned the benefit of the doubt for sure, because he's just been such a pillar of like consistency and goodness and godliness and the pillars and all that. I didn't love the timing. I thought the timing would have been better in March. there's there's arguments on both sides. If you should step down early versus late. I personally
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didn't love the timing. think it was a handpicked thing. And more importantly for me, and maybe fresh if he's willing to admit it, you know, our teammate was right there, Jay Willie. And like, I love Jay Willie's fire and Jay Willie. Like, I feel like Tony kind of brought Jay Willie a lot of the five pillars in terms of like how he approached the game. But I love Jay Willie's fire, like, and
I haven't necessarily seen that in Ron. I know you know him better, Mark, and have had more contact with him, but I've been doing this with you guys for, think this is our sixth year, five or six years. I really don't know, like, I know more about like, you know, obscure assistant coaches, media guys, trainers. I just don't know Ron very well, and that makes me a little nervous. No, I think it's fair.
very fair. And then when you look at how he did at Charlotte, know, question marks, but he's been successful on the TV. And I think it's different recruiting, certainly different recruiting at Charlotte than certainly than recruiting at UVA. And I think the level of kids you're going to recruit, right? And how much, you know, it's, it's also a much different environment now, right? With NIL, NIL is almost the first thing kids are going to look at.
and they're going to consider when they're going to a school. And you talked about Jay Willie and Dougie, that's your guy, you and have. And how big Jay Willie do too, because I really should with him that developed over the course of time while my child is there. Jay, this is family, I'm loyal. I'm immediately, first thing to me is Jason. Is he okay with it? Tony's okay, right?
And thank you, Tony. do. He's treated me absurdly well. He remembers my family and go to practice. Doors are open, which I'm eternally grateful for. He hired Jason Wilford. I'm grateful for that. But then the day, bam. And then it's Jason and Jason doesn't get that after X number of years and also, you know, we have a big chat with guys from our time and work. That's your family. And it's real. It's 30 years long, right?
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Yeah, for real. What stage of the grief and denial and all that, where are you at at this point with TB retiring? No, like, look, I'm hopeful. any anytime you start a new season, everybody's hopeful. And I don't have anything bad to say about Ron. My loyalty to Jay Willey is based on 30 years, like Fresh said. So I was hoping he got the job. Now it's Ron and
And Jay seems like to be right now happy where it is. So I'm all in. I'm not going to ever root against UVA, no matter who's coaching. But I want, I want, I'm hopeful. I think they've got challenges at your mark, and we'll get into that. There's a lot of, it's a very different team.
And we've heard about the offensive changes, which I don't think will happen. We've heard about, but what I wanted, what I did like, and this is my favorite part of this whole transition, because we've all kind of been like lost at sea out here for a little while since Tony retired. What I really liked was Isaac and Tain got everybody together. They had a couple of players meetings. and I have been in those. Mark, you were probably in those, you know, at your place.
players only is where you get stuff off your chest. And my hope is that they worked out any kind of support issues, right? So like they're in on this thing. It was too late to jump ship for everybody except for Warley. So now you guys are in the boat. You're out at sea, you're in the boat. Let's figure it out. And like, I kind of like that in a way. And I think it's going to be an exciting year. So quickly about
Worley, there's two casualties, right? There's Worley leaving. And then there's also the point guard, the commitment that he committed. Yeah, chance. chance. Right. didn't count him because he hadn't gotten here yet. But I know what you're saying. Good point. No, I was going to raise that as you were talking about it. But I think it's it's it's that shows leadership what you're talking about. And UVA, feel like
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has been, and we've talked about it so often, missing, having that leadership since maybe 2020. Right. And we're about it. And that are just post it. I think that part of that is the transfer portal. How can you have leadership? How can you have constant, some kind of chemistry or build and develop with guys amongst you if you're coming and going every year? Right. And now I don't know if it gets better and it probably gets worse with NIL because it's almost until
until there's some strict rules about NIL, right? Where negotiations and structures of contracts are being negotiated every year, it's going to be insane. It's just going to be wild. What's bothering me about that from the leadership side, Virginia basketball, since me and Havre there is always hierarchy. know, John Pratey's older, he's always going to be older and you fall in line, right? The problem is when you have a transfer portal, a guy like
Jacob Groves comes in last year. I'm forgetting who all came in. They try to fit in in the beginning instead of roadies showing up and saying, I'm the dog. This is gonna be my, know, guys tend to fit in in our program, right? And come up that way, but it's not the natural order of things because you haven't been there. So you can't be Isaac McNeely now we'll talk about later as a third year junior. I mean, let's go Isaac.
You've been nice before it was Reese. It was Kihei, etc. Of course you fit in. You talk about Tony, but maybe Ron coming in and Tony the legend, you know, possibly Hall of Fame and center of being gone. Those guys are stopped talking about coach Bennett once this coach Bennett and how about we go play basketball? I'm hopeful there. T Dubs. You're also super close to the program and close with watching coaches and some of the players or some of the foreign players.
What's the deal with how impactful and how important is Kyle Guy become since TV's left? Yeah, I mean, I went, I saw, you know, I went to Charlottesville, I want to say two weeks ago and met with him. It's kind of missed them and went and saw them and hung out and it was cool. It was like, you know, we talked about TV stepping down, but this is like the extension of TV with
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in terms of Ron and Jay Willie and you got Kyle and you got Zay and Chase and they're all there. They're all bought in. And I'm with have I'm very hopeful. Like I'm curious to see what all pans out, but you can only do this thing sort of one step at a time. And everyone, you know, for the time I was there, everyone seemed really bought in and trying to figure out, all right, what's this mean for us next? Cause we got a lot of work to do. And I think that's the mentality that they all have. And it was like coach speak for them, but
I mean, at least from what I saw, it looked real. they were, what else, what choice do they have at this point? They got to move forward. There was no like sulking and this and that. I mean, it is what it is. I know that's a red belt, but. No, but I think you raised a good point there, right? Cause you said what are the choices they have they could have left like Worley left. Yeah. Right. And one guy out of 12 left. Right. Right. And I'm not mad at like, so what do you do at that point have you, you get a new coach coming in.
There's NIL out there. When you were entering college and being recruited, you had 25 schools coming after you prior to NIL or just at the start of NIL. So prior to NIL, right? Because he was a senior. He's a senior now. Right? So he would have been there. Yeah. He probably didn't have NIL when he was young. Right. So what do you do now if someone comes after you? If he's getting 100, 150 at UVA and someone comes, hey,
give you 200, 250 or we'll give you 150. Sit out this year and come be with us where you're to have a program that's been established and you can come in there and here's what we have in store for you. So what I would say is there's two things. There's NIL what you talk about, Mark, which is real and it's money. But I also think, and this is why I don't really blame him, that guy Worley, he was a
ACC player he came here and I think he can and and what was his Specialty it was defense right so he basically came to obi-wan Kenobi Tony Bennett To like become the next like really good lockdown wing That's why you came here huh Star Wars references of Bell
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I think I think he came here to learn defense from Tony and you know, people say, he had a girlfriend here. I don't know about all that stuff, but you know, he left Florida State, drove North, call it six hours or I don't know, eight hours, whatever, to come play. then Tony retired. like, I, when you talk about players that you feel bad for, I don't feel bad for.
Guys that have played for Tony for two or three years because they've gotten that wisdom like an Isaac, right? Like Isaac's been around. He got it. I know Tony said he was going to stick around, but he got it. The guys that came here, they came for Tony like as much as we love to say it's about the academic village and it's Virginia and you walk the lawn like they basketball players now come for the head coach. So it's different for them.
with Warley, he's got one year of eligibility. I didn't blame him for leaving, especially if they had that meeting where he was going to not play and Day-Day beat him out. By the way, I would not want to, and Fresh wouldn't either, want to play against Day-Day, like every day in practice. That guy's just like, you know, he is a... He's everywhere. He's everywhere. He's very fast. He's like the kind of guy that's hard to play against.
And maybe it became a PT issue. So, you know, if Warley thinks I'm going to go away and maybe like if he's trying to make the NBA good call to go away, if he wants to go to Europe, maybe he should have stayed. Who knows? Either way, that guy's going to make some money playing basketball somewhere for a little while. So but I can I can.
understand how he feels a little bit betrayed by it because know, fresh and I went through that. We signed up to play for coach Holland. We played for Jeff Jones. Very, very different. And you know, maybe, maybe the transfer portal becomes addictive. Maybe it's fun to be in the portal, have with the smoke and all that stuff. And he boom, all of sudden he comes to Virginia as a preseason. He's been injured, sounds like, or a lingering.
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issue. Everybody changes. Coaching change happens. Maybe in his mind, Tony Bennett loves him. Maybe Ron doesn't. You know, they're not dumb. I'm not saying they're smart. mean, meaning they're not kind of adult smart, but you know, you know how, how coaches treat you. Maybe he thought, you know, I'm not in favor at this point and you're kind can become addicted. have 30 days to go find a new contract. Right. I don't know. I don't know Worley at all.
but it's the animal. signed up for I'll give him that right. Yep. pass. Coach, I was leaving. All right. Suck it up. Go to slaughter and play and work hard. So this was like a marriage. He married. He married Virginia and they got an annulment, not a divorce. That's how I like it. marriage was annulled like no harm, no foul.
He was here. got some cool gear that he'll wear. Have any of us ever seen Bliss and Worley in the same room? I'm convinced of the same person, just different heights, because I can't tell the difference. Let's get to Bliss later on, Markey, but back to you. So I'm going to go to Cheekyubs in one second, but what we're talking about Worley, and I don't know if anybody knows the answer to this, you mentioned he got some cool gear and now he's bouncing. Does he have to return NIO money? Did he get all his NIO money upfront?
What's going on with this NIL and the structure? there a contract? there a negotiation? Like, is there something that says you get paid an NIL for the first two months? I don't know when the payments are distributed. He has free BOTOs until December 31st. That's what I think. But T-Dub probably knows better than me. That's his girlfriend then. Yeah, right.
I mean, it is not pay for play. So it has nothing to do with you transferring and you don't get paid. If he signed up to be spokesman for McDonald's at UVA he did the work, he's getting paid. So I think that's across the board. If he did the work, then he's going to get paid. doesn't sound like a NCAA spokesperson. It's not like these guys get paid. Like, how does it work? I have no idea.
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like
if anybody knows the answer that I don't know like if there's going to be a lawsuit filed I don't know like which team guys lead like the quarterback recently who just left like school because he went LV right left because he didn't get his hundred grand and what about the quarterback from Florida from Florida I think and when he came back to Georgia or South Carolina wherever it was he was supposed to get he was supposed to get like three million dollars something like that six million outrageous
Mark, that guy's living in my guest room right now. I mean, legally, mean, it's all these contracts. He's still getting in. hope he's paying a good the whole house bill. It's 20 grand a month to live in my apartment. I was going say these are of predatory. Truthfully, they're predatory in terms of they're favoring the brand, right? Cause they have the legal team.
So they have every reason at will to back out whenever they want. for whatever reason, they're going to back out. So they can say it's not pay for play, but they can come up with some other reason, which I'm sure is stated in some kind of terms of service. But others may not care either. your McDonald's or Pepsi and it goes from Virginia to wherever New Orleans up, maybe it's OK. Maybe they continue that contract. Again, it's going to be case by case. And I don't think people really discuss that much.
that it is really, sadly, the athlete usually loses, right? Because they don't have a legal team behind them. They're not going to go to court and fight this thing out. then these deals are usually done by these brands that sort of cover one side and not the other. So this is-
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I forgot to my shirt dude before I like. T-dub, T-dub sends so many, he's so generous with his gifts and he's so creative. So T-dub, it's only official shirt ever printed for the 2007 Virginia Tech National Club Team Bass Fishing Championship. And I'm proud to wear it. And T-dub, I have not worn it until tonight.
I hung it. I hung it in my closet. I put some Febreze on it like every like couple months just to make it fresh. I'm happy to have it. just wanted to show it. You had to have that in your wardrobe. that was me. Yes. I mean, and my ex, my ex went to Virginia Tech. So, like, I can't wait to wear it this week for pickups and drop-offs with my kids. I wasn't going to raise that until you did.
she'll hate it. She'll hate it. And that's why I love you guys and LRA. That's good stuff. So, Teeth does. Give me back to the Teeth. You were at practice. Yeah. And you got a chance to watch the guys. How long did you watch? A couple hours. And what did you, what was your take? Who did you think looked good? Who may have, who do you think is going to start? Who do you think is going to get minutes? Is there someone that, that you think is under the radar who might, who might surprise some people with their play this year?
I mean, I saw a really strange practice because, you know, it was after the loss to the scrimmage, their first secret scrimmage. So, you know, they were really focused, I think. think Jeff White wrote an article that summed it up really, really nicely. But, you know, it was interesting. They did a history lesson on the pack line, was SOTY. SOTY did the history of the pack line. talked about.
how Dick Bennett created it to battle the Giants in the Big Ten. It was really cool for it, get that refresher of like, this is why we do it, this is what it's for. And then they went into practice and they were prepping for Georgetown and they were a lot of defense, getting back to the defense and the fundamentals, but then also some offense and playing faster. was there, they were working on it.
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But terms of who I saw, a bunch of people were, I talked to E before he was like, a bunch of people were banged up. So don't go crazy with what's happening. So it was hard to tell exactly who was being held back a little from being injured and all that. Tane, he was on our pod not long ago, but he looked great. And I will be happy to hear that.
He had a couple of thunderous dunks that I was very surprised by. He looks really good. He's probably the one that I would say really stuck out in terms of, you know, looks leaner and meaner too. So I'm excited to see what Tate does. Did you notice anybody being vocal on the players side in terms of like...
No, you know, over the years, I never see anyone really truly be that vocal. I think, you know, if maybe they need texting on the court, I don't know. It's tough. That's awesome. I don't think it's a different kind of vocal. Like they might say one thing or another, but there's nobody out there just constantly talking. No, the one thing I noticed, and we can give this a different
when Mark is ready. when I was at practice last year, I heard the name Rodie from players more than anybody else's. And it made me think, I'm sorry, I might be jumping around. It made me In a good way or a bad way, Fresh? Like Rodie made me think that he was like the all-time quarterback, meaning everybody knew they could pass him the ball and get the ball back from him type thing. Does that make sense? You know what saying? Like my son Luke, who plays soccer.
I hear his name, I go to a game, maybe this is my son, but everybody's just saying, Luke, Luke, and it's soccer. Nobody gives a shit, it's soccer, Luke. Good try. With the balls going back and forth, Luke, Luke, Luke, it, Luke, fast, Luke, Luke. And that's what I know is with Rodie, which might be a look into the reason he plays so much, that was my takeaway that day. And I'm just trying to get gaffed by what he reached at me up, I'm back, and Elijah, so I'll.
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I think we jump it. think we jump into it, Mark. Like the biggest, I have like four big questions for the team this year, but like the biggest one for me is roadie. And I think we should talk about him. He's dominating the LRA board right now. Like when we talk about it. So like, let's talk about roadie a little bit because I do feel like, you know, this is the guy that played at a low, I'll call it a low major.
He came in with big expectations, not great, really bad season. I'll give you some stats. I'll give you some stats right now. is pouring a beer. That's why he went off camera. He started, started 33 games, 25 minutes a game. He averaged four minutes per game. He shot 20, 29 % from two, 25 % from three.
44 % free throws, one offensive rebound. like, think Rodie, nobody is rooting harder for Rodie than me because he has the ability to maybe become really good. But I'll tell you this, last year was atrocious. It was bad. was the worst starter in power five statistically in the country.
That's number one. And you had Elijah Gertrude sitting on the bench, activated, burn the red shirt. So I think that's kind of a felony by the staff. They don't have Elijah this year. Like, Rodie this year, this is like a big question mark that people are talking about. Is he going to play point guard? Is he going to play shooting guard? Is he going to, like, Rodie's going to get minutes.
And I think the big loser in all this is Tain. Because Tain, at least when he gets in, is aggressive. He goes to the hole, he shoots threes. He either shoots a three or takes it to the hole. I don't know, it's a big question, Mark. And I think that's what our season comes down to. If Roddy steps up, it'll be impressive. If he doesn't step up, you know, I said today on
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on the forum, if he's playing 20 minutes a game, like we're not in the top half of the ACC, like not even close. He's a, you know where he'd be great? He'd be great on the 88 UNLV team. He'd be like a guy that just shows up and does stuff. Mark, can see you laughing underneath your microphone. But like, that's the big question. If we play roadie a lot, we're not going to be good.
If we play roadie a little, unless he's become like a really good player, but you know, I don't see the aggressiveness with him. I don't see he had one offensive rebound. I know I mentioned that that goes to aggression. He's six, six like TJ. What's the Tristan Howe had like.
three offensive rebounds in 16 minutes for the whole year. Like let's let's go. I need more from roadie and I want to see it. I will say the last year around this time, you know all of us do our little things to all the people we know of what's going on. heard roadies name a lot in terms of guys to watch out for in terms of like hey, this guy's got some wiggle. He can do this thing. He's going to be good. I heard a lot of that is a good pocket passer.
you're to your pocket passes. I mean, I don't know what that is, but it's it sounds like just a dish when you drive for the record. When I turn my camera off, I had to take two steps to the left of my bathroom and then I had to text my daughter and I of course did refill my beer for this podcast. Okay, good. That's appropriate.
thought you were just trying not to go over on the over under how many curses you were going to show. I'm not worried about that. Okay. Look, I just said, I'll just say this. Like, wow. Any relationship winner. He's the big winner this year. You got Jayden at left, right? Minutes tick out for roadie at point guard and people are like, maybe he can like bring it up. I worry about him bringing it up. He'll be fine bringing it up.
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We're not like facing Arkansas 1989. Like people are not, people are not like pressing full court, but like roadie, give me like 10, give me like eight points a game. Hey, if he gets eight and shoots like 30 % from three, I'll be happy. I like that eight. Yeah. Let's, let's not forget people do get better.
And I think people get a lot better between their sophomore and junior year. He had a full year playing ACC basketball. agree. He really didn't have such a good shooting season last year. I'm sure he's worked hard. seems like a hardworking dude. The expectations weren't going to be so high on him. So maybe there's not so much pressure. Maybe there is more pressure on him because he didn't have a good year last year.
It's gotta be more successful this year, no matter what. can't be worse. we're all rooting for him, right? Is there anybody else, T-Dubbs or Dougie, that you guys are excited about or that you're hearing that we should be excited about that's playing well in practice so far and have to? Nope. No, you know who I really want to see? I really want him to be really good as Anthony Robinson. We'll talk about him later. A-Rob.
because I watched him in practice and he just catches and he does the like grunt, boom, dunk, and he's working out and he's trying hard. I don't think he's ready yet. I don't think he's going to get minutes and all that type of thing at this stage, but he redshirted his, Mark, you're a history guy. Like his grandfather was an Olympics, Olympian sprinter or something, or a high jumper from his mom's side.
He has all this crazy lineage. probably should have like, you know, played. What's a really athletic sport have like curling or something? But anyhow, he lived in Saudi Arabia. Maybe he's an incredible story. It's been, it's really not talked about enough, but he's a total specimen. You know, he'll end up DJing with Francisco Gaffaro and Ronnie cycling one day, but I want to see him. I really want to see him do well. I think he's a UBA guy too. I think he's a Virginia guy.
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Decommitted from Charlotte, right? I think South Florida. No, he's from North Carolina. Hey, Rob? Yeah, I think he was committed to play for another horror story. Abdul Rahim who passed away at the US. Anyhow, I want to see him and I don't care about Biggs, know. So sorry, going to talk too I would say the other name I'm hearing a lot is Ishan Sharma-ish. Not because he's...
is in love with him, because I hear he can really shoot. I saw it in the scrimmage. I saw it the one practice. He has a really quick release and it's high. It's a higher release. like, it seems like, I know he shoot well in scrimmages, but we'll see how it plays out. He's a name I hear a lot, like, this guy, he's got a strap. He's going to be good.
I don't know what that means, take it this year or four years from now. don't really have a good feel for that, but like in terms of what everyone says, they talk him up big. So I'm excited to see what he brings to the table. So we're playing a little faster, Hab. That means that we're going to have to take advantage of our athleticism, right? Running up and down the court, pushing the ball ahead, hitting to the bucket. What are the benefits from that within this squad?
That's such a good question, Mark. So I would say that I don't think we're going to do that. Number one, I think I think we will like say that before we play Campbell, but I don't think we're going to like become different. Ron has said that the players Isaac has said that they may they you know, they may push a little bit more.
But what happens when we get punched in the mouth and we have to like set up? I don't know. I want to see it. I want to see us get easy baskets. You know, we all talk about everyone's talking about on LRA. Everyone's talking back court. All right, let's talk front court. Like is Blake going to be, can we throw it to Blake and have him make like a jump hook from five to seven feet? Like let's go.
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Let's get that done. just, I just worry about, I mean, Ron's got a tough job. He's got to say, am I Tony Bennett 2.0 with the pillars and, or do I scrap it and push? I think we'll revert back to like really conservative stuff. That's what I think. T-dubs while you were at practice, and I know you said some guys were faked up two questions. One was, was TB there.
TV was not there.
I mean, it seems like you can pencil in a couple, right? I I'm back. Blake seems like a likely candidate to start. day? Day day at point. don't know. Maybe Christian Bliss. I don't know. He was another one that looked like he was coming off some kind of injury when I was there. But yeah, what are our options, really? I don't think he issued.
Sean Sharma's gonna start. Yeah, I mean, TJ Power. Someone on the forum said they heard from a very reliable source. It's not me. I have no idea. Dede, IMAQ, TJ Power, Saunders and Blake. Yeah. That's I believe. And I think that's probably right. It was Billy Boyle. It was Billy. Three places as contained.
really. It doesn't seem like a lot of options. mean, I guess, Rody and Tane are fighting in there for the first time, but I think Saunders, Blake, Imaq, those guys are pretty much penciled in as far as know. Saunders is really good. And then day to day at point, you got one spot, right? Like you got one spot that's maybe up for rotation. Can you talk about Saunders a little bit and just talk about the influence you expect and impact you expect him to have? Yeah, I mean, that guy's good.
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We've we've seen him. We have filmed a look at from San Diego State and he's he's really good. Is he Brian Smith? No, but is he good but fresh? He gives me Sith vibes. if you're right and but it's it's similar. similar physiques similar, you know,
I think he will become our, you know, I think right now, IMAAC is our best player. Saunders is our second best player.
I know there are guys on the forum that say like, we can't go big. I play shooters. Like, you know, when you, when you talk about like the new day and age, we're not going to win games in the fifties. Like if we beat Campbell, I texted fresh, maybe you guys, if we win 51, 47 against Campbell, like, is that a win? I don't think so. I mean, it's a win in the wind column, but like,
We're not going to win games. have to be able to shoot and score and perform. think Saunders gives us like an insight. Brian Stitt was not a three point shooter. He just got buckets. Sanders can maybe do that on a smaller level. I think TJ will be good. By the way, everyone's talking, TJ, bring them off the bench. Put that guy in. That guy is six, nine.
right? 6'8", 6'9". And I watched his limited time at Duke today to see like what he did. Offensive rebounding, like, let's get offensive rebounds. He's 6'9". Don't let the other guys retreat. You go in, get a board. You're 6'9". That's Larry Bird size. Like get, get a board, put it back in and...
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I think there's some things we need to work with, but it's not in the Tony Bennett style of like send guys back, set up, defense. I'm sure they're still doing 70 % of defensive work because there is concern around how we approach that. But if I'm TJ Power, I'm going to crash. I'm 6'9". Right? I also have an incredible high school pitcher, TJ Power.
the
I don't just going to chime in. think Saunders will be our best player like leaning score leaning rebounder. I think he's gonna be a best player from what a little I saw. He looked great. But anyway, go ahead. I'm curious. I mean, we don't have a lot of guys that have shot the ball well from the outside. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I mean, we talk about there's gonna be a lot of shooting. Can TJ Powers be a shooter? Can he, Sean?
step up and hit and has Rody improved? I I'm back is I'm back. He's going to be solid. But if everyone focuses on him and takes him out of the game, what happens? Someone else going to have step up. And who's that going to be? Like that's a question will get answered here probably pretty quickly. Well, the good the good news is in the scrimmage stats that have been leaked, we're shooting about 2.7 % from three. So
That sounds good. Let's talk scrimmage for a minute. like, don't, I get what you're saying, Fresh, that guys are not shooting well. That will change. I think the scrimmages are very controlled and they say, okay, set up, you're down, you're down four. Like, I don't think those are, that's why I said I'm not really gonna comment.
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I don't know yet. I've never been to one. don't know. But have when you shoot it, it goes in or it does not go in. Right. That's it. Fair. Very fair. That's what don't think. TJ, I would say TJ Power and Sharma are good shooters and they were horrible in the scrimmage. so like what is that? Are they said VCU send five guys at TJ Power while you shoot these nine threes and he misses them all.
I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm sorry. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm I'm I'm I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. sorry. sorry. sorry.
Yes, I know. We've got a of minutes left. I know. want to make sure T-Dubbs has time to talk about player engagement, I'm sorry, fan engagement, community impact, and closing remarks, and also we should do some quick predictions, expectations maybe, and we talked a little bit about expectations. Quick predictions really quickly, and then T-Dubbs can take it away with fan engagement. Dougie, predictions real quick.
We're gonna be just north of 500. This is the only time you guys have ever known me to not be. Yep. It's every, every way you predicted an ACC championship. But I will tell you something else. I will love every second of it. Guaranteed. Yeah.
So I would say this like I thought it was a really long offseason more so I stayed engaged with LRA. Normally I kind of check out I it made it longer. I think it's exciting this year we have a little bit of a we have a wrinkle. With the coach obviously we have new players and.
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It's kind of exciting. don't think we're going to, I think we have 17 wins this year. That's my prediction. Hey, Doug. I'm thinking about it in terms of like how we start. I think we're going to start a little slow schedules relatively. I mean, it's not crazy. we don't have any, really, really easy games. We've got some tough games. I think we're going to start out a little rough. And then I think kind of like,
COVID year, I think we have a strong finish and then we make a run. we'll see. I'm thinking five or six in ACC. That's kind of where I'm thinking. Maybe we can fight our way into the bubble. That's kind of where I'd like to be. What does that mean for Sanche? I hope that means an extension, but we'll see. But I'll leave it your prediction mark. You know, think lots of question marks, right? Because there was some talk that I've heard that
TB was really excited about this roster, saying it was one of the most potent and one of most talented since, I guess, 2020, 2021. I don't know what that means because you got two guys who are doing incredibly well in the NBA since 2021, And Trey Murphy and our guy who plays with that team that's, have loves, that's the Celtics.
Big smooth. Big smooth. Ryan. Incredibly great, right? And Ryan now, who's having, I mean, what a season he's having. And Ty, by the way, Mark, don't be humble. I'll you about that with Marky. I'll you that later, some other time, because I can't. You know, possession, Ty, Jerome, per possession on the court is averaging almost two points a game as a team. 1.68. How many can you get for a possession? Three points a game?
He's Tom Brady. He's Tom Brady right now. I'm telling you. Hey T.W. did you guys get that note from WFS who who said he feels much better? Can you guys send WFS who a poop emoji to his I feel much better about this after the discussion? Well, listen, we've got that in addition to talking analytics, right? And whatever else we talk about. So we're happy to make you feel better. I got a got a shout out, Mark. Sorry. Real quick. I snapped on WFS who the other night.
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He's a great guy. I misread his text while I was driving. So we love the engagement with LRA and that's my bad. So let's move on. No, we just send him poop emojis. I just want to know if Renee Pettiford is related to Todd Pettiford because you never see that name of Hudson Catholic in Jersey City at Auburn point guard. Sorry. By the way, I love all the comments we got. We'll do better guys. Yeah, Jen, we're talking Jayhuff, four year deal. I love it.
I like it. I love it. got an A. It's the beginning of the season. We drive. Hope everybody's excited. It's a new era. Let's like embrace it and have fun on LRA. It's coming. Jeff Walker asked if we're to fall back into a two three. Don't get it. Don't get us started. Maybe bring me the zone. my god. Bring me the zone right now. I want it right now. I've been calling for it for five years. Give me a
I was just going to mention one quick thing. If somebody wants lower level, really nice tickets to the game opener Campbell, we'll give you a set of two. Make sure you leave a comment below or hit us up inside the Locker Maxis forum and we'll get you those two tickets. It's rare you're to get lower level tickets in this instance for free. So if you're free and you're available,
Want to go the game? Hit us up. How do you decide? We'll decide if anyone actually responds. know, somebody leaves a comment and says they'll take them. They're yours. That's why wouldn't you pay 10 grand to go see the Campbell Camels play like I mean, it's a no brainer. you know, one account. Shout out. Shout out. Jen, she has never missed one show. It's amazing. Yeah, thank you, Jen.
The best. All right, so Wednesday night, 630, we're back on for the pregame. Have we'll do a dive into Campbell with W's favorite player, five foot five Lawton. six. Five six on the roster. Yeah, five six on the roster. He's a freshman. We call him a first year. You got one taker right now. Yep. So hit me up in your messenger and I'll send you those tickets.
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I think by the way that I saw a TikTok. I saw a TikTok of that point guard. He bungee jumped off a picnic table. It's incredible. Watch watch the Campbell game. It's really good stuff. Susan, can we call Susan Lewis Sulu from here on out? Sulu S-U-L-U Sulu. All right, folks, we gotta get off. Hey, by the way, Susan, after the game, go go to the locker room and tell him you're Jason Williford's cousin. You might get in. That's true. That works.
All right, we look forward to seeing everybody on Wednesday night, 630. Our home opener with Ron Sanchez and a whole new squad. After this show and maybe it'll go on the forum, we'll get some definitions of how people feel about the upcoming season. All right. Thanks again. Go Hoos. See you guys.
