The Herd with Colin Cowherd - All Ball - March Madness Memories with Doug and Oregon State Asst. Coach Gregg Gottlieb
Episode Date: March 20, 2020In this episode, Doug is joined by his brother - and Oregon State Assistant Coach - Gregg Gottlieb to look back at their favorite March Madness memories growing up, and participating in the tournament... as players and coaches. Make sure you download, rate and subscribe here to get the latest All Ball Podcasts! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth.
And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.
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We're in the middle of a game.
This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me.
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What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue with 42.
Hey, Wreck,
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What?
Hey, Miss Parker.
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It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs.
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Hey, what up? Welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlieb and you have downloaded all ball. All basketball all the time. I know there's no NCAA tournament. So today is a Friday. We should be recapping all the games. I should be breaking out all the math.
You should be following me on Twitter and I should be winning you money, but I can't.
Sorry.
My bad.
My bad.
So here's what I want to do for as much time as I can do it, which is keep giving me pods of conversations with my basketball friends, their thoughts in the tournament, my memories in the tournament.
You know, we'll bounce around in years and things that we remember and all kinds of events.
It really is as cool as you think it is.
But the memories are unique and distinct.
I remember obviously tons of memories as a kid going to NCAA tournament games,
watching the Final Four in person, going to the practices.
Heck, me and my buddies, we used to wait until the end of the weekend.
And we'd won by the T-shirts from the losing team in the semifinals, right?
Like I remember Cincinnati lost in Minnesota.
It was coached by Bob Huggins.
You remember that team?
Yeah, Nick Van Exel.
sweet team. Well, if you waited until
Championship Monday and they lost them to Saturday,
you could get a Cincinnati Bearcat Final Four
T-shirt for a couple of bucks.
I used to sell tickets to the Final Four.
You get, my dad would give me one seat that he
get from the NABC, maybe a second seat.
Flip those into a, there's like a
100 seat, flip those to a 200 seat and get some money,
to a 300 seat, get some money, to a, you know,
400 seat, get some money, get the worst seat in the house,
and then, you know, split the money with my dad,
because it was his ticket originally, and then buy a ticket
wherever and walk down and sit down low.
Like that was my childhood.
And then on Monday, if we were staying until Tuesday, we'd steal some of the banners.
You know, the Final Four in Minneapolis, the Final Four in Indianapolis.
And yeah, I'm going to sell you out, Clay McKnight.
You, me, some of my other buddies.
Nick Marutzos, that was more high school.
I think I only did it a couple times.
They would shimmy up light poles and risk death.
I would simply like, you know, something was sitting outside of a bar and they were getting ready to cut it down.
like, hey, can I get that sign, take it home with me?
I don't even know where those signs are.
It wasn't like a rush, which is just kind of cool that somebody's going to throw out a sign that was signifying the final four we've been to.
And all we had was T-shirts from, or we'd also wait around the convention floor.
And when the champion guys would be wrapping up shop, like, hey, can I get that Illinois jersey?
Sure, you know.
We'd just hang out there all day.
So not having the tournament, not having the Final Four, and this is a place I've taken my son twice to.
I won't get a chance.
I'm bummed.
So we'll include you on conversations and things that we've experienced.
I've experienced.
I'll give you one such experience.
1998 was my first tournament as a player.
He was in Lexington, Kentucky.
We played George Washington, Shantay Rogers, was their star point guard.
They had a bunch of Russians.
Mike Jarvis was their head coach.
Played in Lexington.
Obviously, Coach Sutton was not beloved, was not beloved in Lexington.
but my, I do this thing with my, my brain.
I don't have a photographic memory.
Matter of fact, almost no one has a photographic memory.
There's a lot of people who think they have photographic memory,
one of which I think is probably listening to my podcast
because he works in the same business.
And I told him once like, okay, what color shirt were they wearing
and what color ties?
Like, I don't know, like, due to photographic memory,
you remember like it's a photograph.
Anyway, but I have this thing where I close my eyes
to see snapshots of my past.
So we land in Lexington.
We're an eight seed taken on George Washington, nine seed.
And we always had a police escort.
I think everybody had a police escort, but I know we did because Coach Sutton was not well liked in Lexington.
A couple things.
We went out to visit AP Indy.
AP Ind is the champion racehorse that just died, but I think it's the most financially successful in the history of horse racing in terms of stud fees.
so anyway, just just passed away.
I remember Coach Sutton, like taking us around the farm,
said, we used to have Kentucky ball players work out at the farm.
It was a good deal, but nothing's as good a deal as AP Indy, brother.
Let me tell you twice a day, every day.
There's a reason that they call them a stud, right?
And you're like, oh, wow.
Anyway, we stated a double tree.
Now, the way it works in the NCAA term is your hotel,
both in proximity and quality
is based upon your seating within a region.
Okay, so if you have the eighth seed,
the one seed has the best hotel all the way down.
And in Lexington, the hotel,
which is, I think, connected to the arena,
was the one seat, that's where Duke was staying.
We were saying at the Doubletree,
which to most of you would seem like
just a very average hotel.
But when you're in Stillwater, Oklahoma,
and your road games were in Lawrence, Kansas, and Ames,
Iowa, and outside of Austin, nowhere particularly nice.
Double Tree was sweet.
We got cookies when we checked in.
we had these big jet tubs, and there was a phone right next to the jet tub.
And I remember just calling all my buddies, because this is before cell phones,
calling all my friends in their rooms.
We're like, what are you doing?
I'm in my jet tub.
What are you doing?
I'm in my jet tub.
Like, that was honestly the coolest part about that trip.
Oh, that.
And here's one additional memory.
That first year we beat George Washington was the first game.
It was like a noon eastern time game in Indianapolis.
No, in Leicston, Kentucky.
noon Eastern time we played.
And the cool thing was
we had nothing to do the rest of the day, right?
Like you're a college student.
We were playing Duke,
so we knew how to prepare for Duke.
But I don't think Duke played right after us,
or we didn't stay and watch Duke.
They didn't play until the night.
I don't remember exactly how it worked.
But I just remember that we got done
and we didn't have anything to do the rest of the day.
And there was like an applebee's in our hotel.
We had a team meal that night.
So you get back to the hotel after media
and everything. It's like 3.30.
And you're just watching ball on TV.
And I saw Bryce Drew hit the game winner against Ole Miss.
A bunch of our guys on our team.
There's some Arkansas dudes that were on that Old Miss team.
I don't know if Antu Sisei was a Keith Carter,
Ansu Sese, that was a good team.
Good team.
Anyway, I remember hit and that shot, that game was actually in Oklahoma City.
So I remember watching that game.
Anyway, fast forward to losing to Duke, and we'll talk a little bit about Duke with my brother who's going to join us, Greg Gottlie.
That Duke game was phenomenal.
Me and Wojo kind of got into it.
They had Chris Carrowell.
They had Chris Burgess, Batier, Brand.
Those are all their freshmen.
Rosham McLeod was a beast, beast, really hard for us.
That was their first transfer, I believe they took.
Anyway, we lose to Duke and we're flying back on the charter.
two or three things I remember.
One, our teen doctor.
I'm not going to, Oklahoma State people know he is.
I'm not going to sell doc out.
Anyway, I had, I can't remember even what hurt.
My back, my hamstring or something.
Anyway, he was like, God, only take one.
And he like winks at me and gave me like five pills.
It wasn't like Naperson.
It was something that had a little kick to it.
So we go to Applebee's after the game.
We lose to Duke and I knocked down two of those things in a beer.
I don't remember how I got to my apartment.
Like I have no recollection of the flight home at all or how I got home at all.
Two days later was St. Patrick's Day.
And I'm sure.
Last night, a blown call changed a game.
This morning, the internet lost its mind.
Highlights are trending.
opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.
That's where Sports Slice comes in.
I'm Timbo.
Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.
Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.
We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves.
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Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.
And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations.
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Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,
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What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.
Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.
This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.
What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue of 42.
Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.
What?
Where's she at?
Hey, Ms. Parker.
Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast.
Podcast presents soccer moms.
So I'm Leanne.
This is my best friend Janet.
Hey.
And we have been joined
at the hips since high school.
Absolutely.
Now a redacted
amount of years later,
we're still joined at the hip.
Just a little bit bigger hips,
wider.
This is a podcast.
We're recording it as we tailgate
our youth soccer games
in the back of my Honda Odyssey
with all the snacks and drink.
Sidebar.
Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer?
Oh, they had a bogo.
Well, then you got it.
Do you want a white collar or something here?
Just take it.
What are y'all doing?
Microphones?
Are you making a rap album?
Oh, I would.
Come on.
Could you put it?
I would buy it.
Go.
Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake.
That sounds delicious.
Oh, you're lucky.
I'm not a drug addict.
You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic.
You are.
You're lucky I'm not a killer.
I love this team.
And I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on.
Oh.
Oh.
Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,
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Eating Duke would have been better,
but losing to Duke wasn't a terrible thing
because we almost beat Duke.
We were tied with two and a half minutes to go.
The place is going crazy.
I'm sure everybody back home,
and we had a bunch of sophomores starting.
So we were like local celebrities.
We skipped out on a school,
went to green eggs and ham
at Eskimo Joe's who drank all day,
and we were like conquering heroes
and we didn't win the fucking game.
It was crazy.
Honestly, nuts.
So this tournament's a lot of fun.
I never got to play in a Final Four
and one thing I've learned
this is the 20 year anniversary
of our Elite 8 run.
Did you know they don't have reunions
for Elite 8 teams?
No, Final 14, you win one more game
like, let's have a reunion.
Let's welcome them back to the basketball floor.
Nobody does that for an Elite 8 team
and all they did is win one more game.
But that is the way it works.
There's a cruel, harsh reality to it.
And honestly, it's okay.
It's okay.
People are going to win.
People are going to lose.
You're going to cry.
You can feel bad at the time.
But you get over it.
Just like I think we'll get over
not having a tournament.
Let's get to my brother, Greg, and talk some tournament memories.
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Trees? Sure.
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Our imagination, our sense of wonder,
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What's your first memory of the NCAA tournament, your oldest memory?
Not as a coach.
Your oldest, like if you close your eyes, what's your oldest memory?
That one's easy for me.
My oldest memory to me is that sticks out.
is North Carolina State beating University of Houston on that last second.
I guess you could call that an alleyup, but that was an incredible play.
And it always stands out my mind.
If I think of NCAA tournament, that one right away.
Okay.
Do you remember where you're like...
And then Jimmy V. running around the court,
he doesn't know who to hug, and he hugs everybody.
Yeah. Do you remember where you were?
Like, I mean, in terms of the memory, that's the, that's the, that's the memory you have.
Do you actually remember where you were?
Like, that's, was that 83?
So you were 13?
No, you were 11.
Any idea where you were?
I don't remember that.
But, you know, you remember how many times we went to, what was that sports bar we used to go to?
Sookie Sullivan's.
Sooky Sullivan's?
That place, right?
I don't know if it was Sullivan's, but there was some sort of sports bar, burger place, or whatever it was.
Sokey Sullivan's was in Fountain Valley.
It's still there.
And that was one of the places we used to go.
What was the place that Wendy worked at in Santa Monica?
There's another one.
Do we go to spoons?
You're talking about spoons?
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
Wendy's our sister, by the way, if you're listening in.
Now, what was the sports bar that she worked out after college in Santa Monica?
Yeah, I don't, I can't remember the name of it.
I'll have to text, sir.
I remember my first memory was I remember the Georgetown Princeton game.
Okay, so Georgetown Princeton.
It was on ESPN.
And we were working out at the
At the Anaheim Hilton, or at least I was working out at the Anaheim Hilton.
And it was on.
And we, everybody stopped their workout and we were watching to see what happened.
And obviously, Georgetown finally won the game.
That was like the first, like Princeton won even though they didn't win the game.
That's like my oldest man.
That was an incredible game because it had everybody,
no one thought they were going to compete with them.
And they had Georgetown on the ropes.
Now keep in mind, for people who have listened to the pot with me and you,
this is going back like a year ago.
So, you know, player walk on Drake, no NCAA tournament.
Then you go to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo as an assistant.
You guys just go into Division I, no tournament.
Sack State, no tournament.
You take over at San Diego State.
First year you guys won, I'm going to say like six.
games. How many years in did you make it to the NCAA tournament?
We won five games. Actually, I was at SAC State. We won one game.
My first year at Sacks State, and the next year we won three, and then I went to San Diego
State. We won five, so I definitely hadn't experienced a whole lot of winning.
In our third year, we probably, which was our third year at San Diego State, we probably had
the most talented team in the league, but we really, it took us a while to come together.
and but when we did
but we were really good
we won seven out of our last eight
we lost to
UNLV at UNLV
on a step back three
from Marcus Banks
who's a heck of a player
played the NBA for a while
and we went to the tournament
and this is the crazy story
about going to the tournament
was the tournament
was played the Mountain West tournament
was played in Vegas
at Thomas and Mack
and I think we were
the four seed or something like that
we won our first two games,
and we actually didn't have hotel rooms
for the last night of the tournament
because our school didn't think we were going to be there that long.
And so we actually, some of us, the coaching staff,
we had to move out of the hotel and stay next door
because we didn't have rooms,
and they had some other event coming in,
which is really comical, if you think about it.
But this is Steve Fisher's third year,
right
third year
third year
you guys had
Randy Holcomb
was a transfer
from
Fresno State
you had
Tony Bland
who's a stud
Milly
Al Fox
who
was he a walk on
was he originally
walk on
a walk on
the whole time
he was a
he was a
recruited walk on
yep
Al
this is by his
senior year
he ever
if anybody
sees a picture
of Al Fox
he always
he always carried
all his money
in his stock
even during the
games
so you look
at any of the
game photos
he still
you can see
there's a little lot of cash in his sock.
But, boy, he could get buckets.
Mike McHale, where was he a transfer from?
Mike McHale went for, he was from Washington, D.C.,
but he went to Porterville Junior College.
And then DeAndre Moore, who was...
And then Brandon Smith, too, who transferred from Michigan.
And DeAndre Moore is a transfer from Vanderbilt, right?
That's right, yeah.
And then you had Tuffy.
Chris Walton was a sophomore in that team.
Yeah.
You had eighth grade, who's Eric Sanders, whose nickname was eighth grade, because when he visited campus, didn't, didn't the guys give you shit?
And he was a freshman, and Randy Holcomb was a really talented kid, but he was a very strong personality, and he kind of intimidated everybody, you know?
But Eric was probably 6, 9, 185 pounds or something like that, but he was, he stick his nose in everywhere and anywhere.
and so Randy used to get frustrated with him, and he told him, man,
you look like you're in eighth grade, and it kind of just stuck, and to this day,
his nickname is eighth grade.
Tommy Johnson?
In the back of a game, if you go back, if they ever play that game again, we got it.
We jumped on Vegas.
That was the third time, like I said, we had lost on a step back three at their place,
only a week or two prior.
and we jumped out on them.
We were up 20, I think, they made a run to come back.
And in a critical moment during that game, Randy Holcomb,
who, as I said, he was our best player,
but Randy had a hard time passing.
He was one of those guys to talk about himself in third person, you know.
Randy going to do what Randy going to do.
Randy needs his FGAs.
But in the critical moment, when he, he, he,
penetrated and everybody collapsed on him and he kicked the ball to Al Fox who drained a jumper
that kind of sealed the win and it was kind of a, it wasn't just a game ceiling win.
It just kind of signaled like, again, how he figured it out that he needed to trust his teammates.
And so that was an incredible moment because like you just said earlier, we went five games two years prior.
We were 0 and 14 in the league in the Mount West in our first year.
Second year we were 14 and 14, and then the next year we go to the NCAA tournament.
So that was an incredible turnaround, really.
Yeah, we played you guys that first year in Oklahoma City.
We're up 40 to 14 at the half, and coach comes in, and he sits up on this, like, desk kind of table.
And he looks right at me, you tell your brother, they better get some players.
They're going to get fired.
And I was like, don't worry, coach.
Players, dudes are on the way.
They're terrible.
By the way, you'd lost an overtime to Vegas.
So the stepback three must have sent it to overtime because you lost 83-76 to overtime about two weeks before.
You also had beaten Wyoming by one point in the semis.
Was that a buzzer shot?
Do you remember how that came ended?
You know, I don't remember.
But if I recall, Wyoming was the one seed.
You know, and, you know, that's the crazy thing.
Wyoming struggled a little bit this year, but we played at Wyoming.
I look back, and I believe 2001 and 2002, both they won the league.
So that was a heck of a win for us, really.
Because we didn't beat the worst teams.
We had to beat the best teams to go to the team.
They had Josh Davis, Marcus Bailey, Dante Richardson, J. Strait was a freshman, right?
A little guard from Chicago.
Yeah.
They had a nice little squad.
Okay, so you go to your first ever NCAA tournament.
This is 2002, so you're 30 years old as a, were you a full-time assisting?
You weren't still DOBO, right?
I was the operations guy, director of operations.
Okay, so it was your fault in the hotel room, weren't you?
I had nothing to do with that part.
Nope, I wasn't in charge of travel.
At that time, the travel was done, I believe, by our trainer.
But it wasn't our trainer's fault.
It was, like I said, it was the administration.
I think when you go to the NCAA, even then when you got to the conference tournament,
it was kind of like your sports supervisor was in charge of it or something like that,
but it wasn't me.
But it was incredible.
And, you know, before you talk about the tournament,
I think that this is one thing why everybody talks about wanting to show the brackets and stuff.
But, you know, for every program they go to the NCAA tournament,
one of the highlights is getting your group of people together
and just be able to see your name come up on the screen, your team.
it's a euphoric moment.
And I remember that one.
It's clear as day.
I mean, that was an incredible moment for us in our program to be a part of.
It's interesting because I remember our first.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Let me share mine.
So in 98, okay, I played it at Notre Dame.
We were 14 and 17.
We were terrible.
Transferred, sat out, and then like had to watch all these games in
97, right? So 96, we all go to the Final Four in New York and we sold our tickets, right? And we watched it in whatever Jim Ornstein's, it was the dad. Sports Bar, right? We watched the Final Four, which was Syracuse who, like three weeks before when I was at Notre Dame, or four weeks before on senior night, we're up 15 at the half, up six with the ball with a minute to go in Syracuse and choked the
game away. And then we led most of the first half of the guard in the first round in the
big east tournament and choked the game away. Anyway, like Syracuse is like the fourth best
team in the big east. They play for national championship. That's 96. 97. I'm sitting out.
And among my visits, I visited Oregon. Jerry Green was the coach, Mark Turgeon, Darren Kalish,
and, um, what's the, what's the, and Tad Boyle. Those are the assistant coaches at Oregon. I
at Oregon. And it was awesome. Kyle
Milling, whose son now obviously plays
in Nevada. Kyle Milling, who played for dad
and played Santa Barbara,
transferred to Oregon. He was my host.
So I go up there.
I go to Oklahoma State.
I'm supposed to go on Tuesday
and stay all day, Tuesday,
Wednesday, and then Thursday morning, fly out,
go to Oregon. And Thursday night,
there's the Oregon-Arizona game.
So on a Tuesday,
I fly out of Orange County, like 7 a.m.
My flight's delayed.
It doesn't take off until like four in the afternoon instead of seven in the morning.
I don't get there until late at night.
It's like snowy, cold.
Oklahoma State's not very good.
They beat Texan M.
I drink beers with Adrian Peterson.
It was more about basketball than the visit.
I go to Oregon, and Oregon beats Arizona.
And Miles Simon, as you know, my oldest friend in basketball, my best friend in basketball,
he's on that team.
And like he was actually warming up.
I'm sitting and at the old, the old MacArthur court, if you're sitting, I was literally sitting
in the second row of the bleachers. The players were in the first row of the bleachers.
And he's like warming up and he dapsed me up. I was like, what are you doing here? I was like,
I'm on a visit. He's like, no way. Anyway, Jerry Green, Oregon beat Arizona. They party like rock stars
that night. I, we then, we go to the Final Four in indie and I watch my best friend win
the national championship, right? So it's like Salt to the Moon. Ninety-eight were the two seed in
the Big 12. We get upset in the first.
Big 12 tournament game against Texas.
It's Tom Pender's last win as a...
Last night, a blown call changed a game.
This morning, the internet lost its mind.
Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,
and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.
That's where Sports Slice comes in.
I'm Timbo.
Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.
Breaking down the plays, the controversies,
and the stories behind the headlines.
We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves.
Their locker room stories, their reactions,
the stuff nobody gets to hear.
The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments.
moments that never make the highlight real.
From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it
down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.
Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.
Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.
Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist.
games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own
experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking
Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so
wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're
still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch.
Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,
because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth
or are you a good person because you're afraid?
Because that's two different intentions, bro.
Absolutely.
And that's two different levels of trust.
I want you to just really be a good person.
Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing,
growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast,
learn the hard way.
Open your free iHeartRadio app.
Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.
What's up, guys?
This is Clever Taylor the Fourth.
And on my podcast, The Clifford Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.
Like being an internet famous referee.
We're in the middle of a game.
This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.
What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue 42.
Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.
What?
Where's she at?
Hey, Miss Parker.
Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcasts presents soccer moms.
So I'm Leanne.
This is my best friend Janet.
And we have been joined at the hips since high school.
Absolutely.
Now a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip.
Just a little bit bigger hips, wider.
This is a podcast.
We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey.
with all the snacks and drink.
Sidebar.
Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer?
They had a bogo.
Well, then you got it.
Do you want a white color or something here?
Just take it.
What are y'all doing?
Microphones?
Are you making a rap album?
Oh, I would.
Come on.
How did you believe?
I would buy it.
Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake.
That sounds delicious.
Oh, you're lucky.
I'm not a drug addict.
You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic.
You are.
You are.
I'm not a killer.
I love this team.
And I'm really.
trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on.
Oh.
Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Texas head coach.
And they had always played fast and frenetic and they played super slow and held the ball.
And I mean, five or six crazy things go wrong.
Brady Paramount hits a shot and beats us.
And so we go from like what should have been like a four seed, maybe five seed, to like
an eight seed overnight.
So I remember when the brackets came out the first time,
we're in our old locker room, which is the dungeon, a shithole.
And pops up Oklahoma State, we're playing George Washington,
Shantay Rogers, and then a bunch of Russian dudes.
Mike Jarvis was the coach.
And then the one seed was Duke.
And it was like the air was kind of let out of the room.
Like we're excited to be in, but like, damn, we're an eight seed.
And we finish second, the Big 12?
Like, no way.
And then Duke was sitting there looming.
It wasn't that much celebration, even though they had.
hadn't been to the tournament the two years before I got there.
Your first NCAA selection was, do you remember where it was with San Diego State, where
you guys were sitting?
We had a big room in the athletic department that they, there was a big area where they did all
their, you know, team functions or any time we had a big athletic department meeting.
And they had a giant big screen that came down and that they were able to kind of play it.
and what was really cool that we did there at San Diego State,
but was everybody also and all of our families were there.
And so, you know, the coaches, wives, their kids, everybody was there.
So we had, you know, probably 100 people.
It seemed like in the room.
And it was an incredible moment, really.
I mean, but it was just a – there's not – everybody wins that day, right?
For the most part, everybody wins that day.
And so, obviously, I remember the anticipation,
and you know, you're just trying to figure out, okay, well, who, where are we going to match up?
But in that moment right there for us, the St.
New State, remember, we wouldn't have went to the NCAA tournament had we not won the conference tournament.
So we probably weren't going to get a good seed regardless.
So we just were happy to be in it.
And then, of course, it came up that we played University of Illinois in Chicago,
Chicago, which is a really good neutral-site game for the NCAA tournament.
He's a 13-seat, too, which is, you know, like, that's just barely in the field.
No question.
Was it 13-4, right?
Is that what it was?
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And we're live here outside the Perez family home just waiting for the... And there they go. Almost on time this morning.
Mom is coming out the front door strong with a double-arm kid carry. Looks like dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the
Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't closed.
Dipers and toys are everywhere.
Ooh, but Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler.
And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about nine or ten,
has secured herself in the booster seat.
Dad zips the bag closed, and they're off.
Ah, but looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on the roof of the car,
and there it goes.
Oh, that's a shame.
That mug was a fan face.
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the forest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council.
They have Frank Williams, Brian Cook, Luther Head, and they hit 21 of 33-3s on you.
21 of 33. What the hell were you guys doing?
you know
that's a great question
one of the things that was a staple
of Steve Fisher's early in his
career and something that he adjusted
to later at
San Diego State was
he was committed to doubling in the post
and we thought their guys were really
you know like you talked about Brian Cook
they had a couple big kids that we thought we had to double
in the post
but they set a career for three
We just kept, they kept, we kept doubling, they'd organize, and kick out, and boom, and they shot the crap out of it, obviously.
So, boy, that game was over almost before it started in that scenario.
Excuse me, let me correct myself, it was 13, it was 13 of 25 from 3, my mistake, 52%, 21 of 33 from the field.
Still, 13-3s is a lot in any game.
I mean, Frank Williams hit five and Lutherhead hit three and Corey Bradford hit three.
So they're starting back court.
And then they brought in, you know, Lucas Johnson hit one.
Kind of left the wrong guys.
But anyway, the starting backboard.
I think he had a really low percentage going into that game.
Hadn't made a whole lot of threes either.
Obviously, he was a really good shooter, but he hadn't proven that at that point.
He was a freshman, I believe.
Yes, he had shot.
That year he shot 29% from three and it only made like 17 during the regular season.
Actually, 29% after counting that game.
So he probably was in the mid-20s.
Sure.
You know, if you go back and look to, there was a heck of a game that came before ours.
I remember we were part of that too.
You know, when you haven't been in the tournament too,
is all the other things that come with it, you can get sidetracked, you know,
and then the nerves as well playing in your first game.
I'm talking about the players just more than the coaches,
but sometimes both.
And I remember we had to wait a little bit longer, too.
You're waiting because I believe Creighton upset Florida in the game right before,
and I want to say it was an overtime game.
Double overtime.
Yeah.
Double overtime.
Actually, I remember watching that game in studio,
and I believe I'm trying to think,
Kyle Corver did not hit the big shot.
it was Tyrell Taylor had like a career game.
He had 28 points.
He had a three to win the game.
I just remember watching Florida coming off the court,
ejected, you know,
and your team's waiting in the hallways to come out,
and they're walking back, and you're like looking,
oh, my God, this is, you know, wow, Florida,
as good as Florida is, and they're done,
and, you know, you're just not used to it.
But I think the more you, when you start looking at the tournament,
people don't realize this maybe from the outside looking in,
but there's no bad teams in the NCAA tournament.
And the teams that are, even the teams that are in,
because they got in from winning the conference tournament,
they're playing well right now.
So despite deceiving, there isn't, like,
when you start preparing for your opponent,
there's nobody that you're going to say,
oh, well, we're going to beat these guys.
I remember the first NCAA term in game I called
was Wichita State against Pitt.
And this is going to 2013, right?
Obviously, we've covered a ton and I want to get back to all your games, but this is the perfect example.
So 2013, I'm getting ready to call the NCAA tournament.
And it's Pitt, who I had seen a bunch, and they have Stephen Adams, right?
and I'm like, and he was only a freshman.
And they're taking on a team in Wichita State who I had seen win their, I don't,
they hadn't won their conference tournament.
So I was trying to figure out how good they were.
And, you know, you start talking to coaches.
And it's Greg Marshall.
And Greg Marshall, I had gotten to know when I was at ESPN.
He kept winning league championships at Winthrop.
And he couldn't get, he at one point in time, he took the college of Charleston job,
changed his mind, went back home, right?
and he couldn't get out of there.
So he kind of befriended me,
befriended a couple other people in the media,
and so I got to know him.
Anyway, so you don't know who you're going to get
until the Sunday, right after the selection show.
Back then, I was living in Orange County,
working in New York City,
go get on a plane, and right before you get on the plane,
they'd send you a text, you're in the Salt Lake region.
Like, all right.
So you start researching like, oh, okay, I've seen Wichita play.
But I had no idea, like zero idea about Wichita outside of, I knew they had Malcolm
Armstead, who was a transfer.
I didn't know anything.
They had Carl Hall who had had a heart problem.
Probably shouldn't even play, right?
So I watch a bunch of film and they're getting ready to take on Pitt.
And I realized that, you know, Ron Baker had been hurt most of the year.
this Carl Hall had been out with a heart problem.
Like, they're a lot better than their record.
And then I watch Pitt and you watch Pitt practice.
You only get an hour to watch them practice.
But you just kind of tell in their mojo, like, they're just not like connected, you know, not connected at all.
And you talk to Jamie about any team he's ever had.
And, you know, he has this way of paint a picture of it really good, but something's amiss.
Anyway, they had Trayvon Woodall, who was a senior.
I'm like, well, they got a senior point guard.
Lamar Patterson is their best player.
So early in the game, Lamar Patterson picked up, I think, two fouls.
And then he actually, they're winning.
And he gets called for, do you remember when the Flagrant won Flagrant 2?
This is the first year it went in.
And initially, there was no, like, asterisk basketball move.
If you hit somebody with your elbow, you were getting a Flagran foul regardless.
He goes and gets an N-1, lays the basketball in with his right hand.
But as he went in, his left elbow went back and hit a kid in the face.
Again, just a basketball move.
He gets a flagrant foul, flagrant one.
That's his third personal foul.
So they wiped the basket off.
That's two points.
They make the two flagrant shots.
That's two points.
The four point turnaround.
And the best player for Pitt ends up sitting out.
Right.
The game became a laffer after that.
Like Wichita kicked the shit out of him.
Trayvon Woodall was like one for 12.
It's terrible game.
You know, again, Stephen Adams was a monster, but they almost never threw him the ball.
And that was like one of the things you could see like in practice when they talk about it.
Like they all kind of thought he was a goof and he's too young.
Meanwhile, like here I am falling in love with Cle Anthony Early.
Yeah.
Who's, you know, who dominated.
And Malcolm Armstead.
And I'm like, dude.
And Ron Baker didn't even play well.
And they win by 15 going away.
Was there a play?
Maybe not that game.
Was there?
Because I still think maybe I'm crazy.
Like the very next game when Wichita beat Gonzaga,
people forget that Gary Bell got hurt in that game, barely played.
And Gonzaga was the one seat and almost lost to Southern.
Southern was tied.
This is the second game I've called in the N-State tournament.
It's me and Spiro Didis, and we're in Salt Lake City.
And the Southern band is awesome.
Like they sound different.
They feel they take over the whole arena.
We're like, man, who gives this shit if they can play?
Southern Band is awesome.
And the coach is cool.
and anyway, they're like leading with four minutes and change to go,
and Spiro and I are like, oh my God, we're going to call the first 16-1 upset ever.
We can't.
We're freaking out, and Gonzaga survives.
Well, Gary Bell got hurt at the start of the next game,
and which time's up beating him.
They hit a bunch of threes, and they beat him.
Was there, can you think of a moment in it?
Because you only won one.
How many NCAA games you played in?
I'm going to say five, just off the top of my head,
but I might be around maybe six.
but the only one we want to say was beaten Louisville in 2008, no, 2009, we beat Louisville by 20,
which was a heck of a win.
But like the Indiana, when you're at San Diego State, what year did you play Indiana?
That would have been 2006, 2006, and we were up 10 in the second half with what we thought was full control of the game.
Was there a play where I got away from you?
Well, yeah, we were up one with under a minute to go,
and it may have been less, you know, under 30 seconds.
I can't remember off the top of my head.
But all we had to do was get one stop.
We had to get one stop, and their shot clock was kind of running down,
and they threw a skip pass from the kind of the wing to the top.
and arguably our best player, Marcus Slaughter,
he thought he deflected it towards our basket,
and the ball kind of just had a weird spin,
and we stood up in the air and kind of went behind him
and ended up going right back to really their best shooter.
He turned around and banged a three.
Robert Vaden?
Yeah, Vaden.
Last night, a blown call changed the game.
This morning, the internet lost its mind.
Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,
and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.
That's where Sports Slice comes in.
I'm Timbo.
Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.
Breaking down the plays, the controversies,
and the stories behind the headlines.
We go straight to the source,
the athlete themselves,
their locker room stories,
their reactions,
the stuff nobody gets to hear.
The laughs, the drama,
the triumphs,
the moments that never make the highlight real.
From viral moments to historic games,
from buzzer beaters to controversial calls,
we break it down,
give you context,
and ask the questions
everybody wants answered.
Sports Slice brings you closer to the action
with stories told by the people who live them.
Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12
in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.
Welcome to my new podcast,
Learn the Hardway with me, your host,
and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.
And in recognition of mental health awareness month,
I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience
in the mental health field
and conversations with so many incredible guests.
I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark.
Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase
that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.
And we're still chasing it.
And we don't know when we've done enough.
Because people scoreboard watch.
Life becomes about wins and losses.
Steve Burns, Dustin Ross.
Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth.
Are you a good person because you're afraid?
Because that's two different intentions, bro.
Absolutely.
And that's two different levels of trust.
I want you to just really be a good person.
Join me, Keer Gaines,
as we have real conversations about healing,
growth, fatherhood, pressure,
and purpose on my new podcast,
learn the hard way.
Open your free iHeartRadio app.
Search Learn the hard way and listen now.
What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the 4th.
And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,
I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff,
like being an internet famous referee.
We're in the middle of a game.
This line's,
You know these kids.
This linebacker walks up to me.
He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.
What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue of 42.
Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.
What?
Hey, Ms. Parker.
Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart podcast presents soccer moms.
So I'm Leanne.
Yeah.
This is my best friend Jan.
it. And we have been joined at the hips since high school.
Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later. We're still joined at the hip.
Just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey.
With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer?
They had a bogo. Well, then you got it.
Do you want a white claw or something here? Just take it.
What are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album?
Oh, I would.
Come on.
Could you believe?
I would buy it.
Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake.
That sounds delicious.
Oh, you're lucky I'm not a drug addict.
You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic.
You are.
I'm lucky I'm not a killer.
I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on.
Oh.
Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
If Marcus just lets the ball go through and doesn't go for the steal and it arrives on the catch, Robert Vaden doesn't get the shot off, and we win the game.
And we win the game.
But, you know, that was a critical moment, and those are the kind of moments you never forget, too, right?
No, not at all.
You don't forget.
I remember, and I know we're bouncing back in time for people.
In 98, our second game, we played Duke.
And it's a hard, hard-fought game.
Me and Wojo got into it, right?
They have Burgess, Brandon Badiere, their freshman.
They were a good Duke team.
We were much better than our seating.
And we had older, for a team that was picked last in the Big 12, I mean, it was a joke that people didn't understand.
We had Deson Mason, who obviously was a.
10-year pro. And we had Brett Robish, who was a fifth-year senior, transfer from Illinois.
His dad was a pro, and he played a long time overseas. He's a stud. You know, we had Adrian Peterson,
who was probably the second, to Paul Pierce, the second best wing in the Big 12 that year.
Me, Joe Atkins, we had a really good team. We're tied with two and a half minutes to go in Lexington.
And I'm coming up to court, and everybody's on their feet. And Coach Sutton didn't really,
he didn't really call plays,
like Sean would call the plays.
And he's doing something with his arms,
like taking him in and making him out,
almost like flapping wings.
And he's yelling, I can't hear him.
I can't hear what he's saying.
And my second NCAA tournament game,
I'm a little scared of the dude,
maybe a little tight.
So I just call a 20-second timeout.
Hey, coach, I don't know what you're calling.
I can't hear.
Can't hear you.
And honestly, I had been on them all year.
Like, can't we have?
because one of the things that John McLeod had,
and her name was he would have a hand signal for every play,
for everything you did.
And he would do this weird shit where he'd, like,
covered up with his jacket,
like somebody from the stands was watching.
He'd, like, open up his jacket pocket and put a two out there.
It was almost like a baseball catcher.
Start whistling.
And he'd give you the sign to the...
He wanted to make sure that when you're watching on film,
you can't pick up the sign.
No, I understand.
I understand.
He'd X down, one of my favorite plays,
he would, like, do a no-looker
and cross his index and...
and middle index and middle finger and look the other way and whistle whistle anyway so I was on coach
and Sean like hey can we have like just tell me what you like otherwise I'm going to run what I want to
run and like no no no no no we want you to do what we want you to do like okay give me a hand
signal because it's loud it's loud and we never got a hand signal anyway so I call timeout
and coach like I was just telling you to spread out and you call our last time out I was like sorry
shit man I couldn't hear you my bad anyway we come out of the time out and
and we run Cowboy Fade.
Now, Michigan State runs the same play.
Cowboy is, it's Cowboy Series is, it's the old kind of two-one-two, hit the guy in the middle,
the two guards cut, the wings, we put the Biggs out wide and they go dual pin downs.
Michigan State runs that they always cross those guys.
But the fade, which is like a double flare, right, where the guards cut like they're cutting hard towards the basket,
and the big guys said dueling flare screens.
A lot of times you get the slip, or if they chase over the top, you'll get a lot.
So they chased over the top on Adrian Peterson,
and I throw it, and he catches it,
and he's going towards the basket.
And I don't know if Risham McLeod was closing or Badiye was, I can't remember.
But shit, he did not, he should have just gone up and dunked it, you know,
or tried to draw contact, and he kind of tried to shoot a floater, and he missed it.
I'm like, oh, shit.
Like, that was our moment.
Tie game, we'd fought back, playing against Duke, and he kind of shot a floater.
They come down, they throw it into Risham McLeod, and he just,
And we were post-dublin, he just went too quick.
He was too good a post-player for Desimation deGard.
We come down, we run another play for Pete, and it was kind of the same thing.
It was called a Russian, which is just, it's like an old inside triangle.
And, you know, like I catched on a wing.
We put Atkins in the strong side corner, so there's no weak side help.
Peterson's the strong side block.
He screens away, and then comes off a pin down.
And, you know, he's 17 feet in curling off a pin down.
He's fucking money.
and it goes in and out, right?
So, like, you remember those individual plays more so than anything else on how you lost a game.
What grows in the forest?
Trees?
Sure.
Know what else grows in the forest?
Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow, too.
Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
The forest is closer than you think.
Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org.
Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council.
If I could be you.
And you could be me for just one hour.
If you could find a way to get inside.
Each other's mind.
Walk a mile in my shoes.
Walk a mile in my shoes.
Walk a mile in my shoes.
We've all felt left out.
And for some, that feeling lasts more than a moment.
We can change that.
Learn how at belonging begins with us.org, brought to you by the ad council.
Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest.
It's a storybook world for them.
You look and see a tree.
They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky.
They see treasure and pebbles.
They see a windy path that could lead to adventure.
And they see you.
Their fearless guide is this fascinating world.
Find a forest near you and start.
exploring at discover the forest.org brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the
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All right.
So let's go to how was Monty, who had had a ton of tournament experience, and Fisher,
who had a ton of tournament experience, what were they like in getting ready for these games?
I think they both had, like you said, tremendous amount of experience.
I mean, no one had a better NCAA tournament, right?
You go from being the assistant who gets named the interim head coach,
and then you win six and win the national title.
That's an incredible story.
I don't know.
You can't write that.
If you did, you wouldn't believe it,
and then it will never probably happen again.
So that was pretty amazing stories.
But I think for him, the thing that he was so good,
was trying to keep everybody level-headed and be prepared.
I think the thing with Mike, Mike was just an incredible preparation guy
in terms of really, really doing a thorough job.
And he was probably more creative defensively,
where Steve Fisher was more creative offensively.
And, you know, our first, actually our first NCAA tournament
that we went to with Mike Montgomery, we lost to Maryland.
But the second year we played Louisville,
and they had a really good low-post guy.
I can't remember his name off the top of my head,
but they were really, really good low post guy,
and we decided not only to double him,
but we had our four-man guard him,
and then we doubled with our center,
and we had a 7-foot-3 kid from China, Max Zhang,
and that really won the game for us.
We just eliminated them,
and they weren't prepared for the double
because we had doubled all year,
and we ended up beating Louisville by 20,
and really that was,
that was all Mike right there.
That was incredible.
But just like you said,
I think one of the things people don't realize,
a big part of winning in the tournament is your seat,
you know,
and so we had the same problem you guys had was we were,
we won the conference that year,
first time in 50 years at Cal.
But the conference reputation wasn't very strong,
and so we got an eight seed.
I think we were either eight or nine.
We played Louisville.
And then we had to play.
Duke who was the one seat.
They might have been the number one overall
seat, but they end up winning a national title, so
everybody lost to him.
And as you know, when you play
against Duke in the NCAA tournament, too,
as much of the reputation
as Mike Montgomery had,
it's hard to trump
Mike Shishowski.
And, you know, I think we were like
three minutes into the game, and one of our best players,
Patrick Christopher got,
he got fouled so hard,
which they didn't call it, but he got knocked out
so hard that he had to go to a locker and with stitches, and there was no foul.
So, you know, that was an interesting game in itself.
I remember what you told me about that Duke team, and it's funny.
People to this day, you know, Duke East to this day, early in the season that year,
I don't if you remember, Duke played in the, I think it was the preseason in IT.
And I was on at halftime with Jay Williams.
and Arizona State was cutting them up.
Cut them up.
Now, they end up coming back to win the game,
but Arizona State was cutting them up.
And they were running Princeton, right?
And I said, man, Duke looks alarmingly on athletic.
Now, it was more of a discussion about Mason Plumley,
who was a freshman,
and the athleticism he brought to the table.
And it's interesting to me because what's lost in that discussion is
about mid-season for that Duke team,
I think they lost to Georgetown like in January.
And they completely changed their style of defense.
They went to more pack line.
And they also started playing Brian Zubek,
who became the best rebounder in college basketball.
And so there are two things.
One, something you told me about Kyle Singler,
you're like, man, I don't know how good Duke is,
but Tyler Singler is one tough SOB.
And your line, which is a good one,
which was your best player is your toughest player,
you're going to have yourself a hell of a team.
and that was Duke.
You know what?
I think that was one of those things for me that year.
I remember that Kyle Slingler was one of those guys that was kind of a darling with the media in general.
Everybody talked about Kyle Slingler.
So, you know, when you're not paying attention, you're like, well, you know, he just gets all that attention because he's a Duke, et cetera, et cetera.
But then when you start preparing for him, you really, in watching close, he really, he earned a tremendous amount of respect and admiration.
by the way he played.
I mean, he was tough.
They'd post him up.
He'd come off screens.
Everybody's trying to face guard him
and keep him from getting the ball,
and he just would not allow that.
I love the way he played.
He had tremendous moxie.
But like you said,
Zubek really was a huge factor,
especially in the NCAA tournament.
He developed into a low post score.
Duke doesn't really,
traditionally throw the ball of their post that much.
They were going to him hard in the NCAA
tournament and what he was doing a great job of was getting the ball deep.
And the other thing, they did a phenomenal job on what that team was, on any of their
offensive rebounds, they couldn't get the ball.
If they weren't facing the basket, they did a great job.
Throw it out for three.
Yeah.
And they got that.
And that idea was, I mean, they had kind of done that some, but that was the Davidson
thing.
Like Davidson, remember when they went to the lead eight, they would, they called them
daggers and they practiced it every day in practice, which was you get an
offensive rebound, you kick out because it's just, nobody tracked shooters.
And that was one of those, they were, if you look statistically, that Duke team was the best
offensive rebounding team in the country.
Zubek was a great offensive rebounder.
Even when they beat Butler in the national championship, they only hit five threes, but Zubek had
six offensive boards in that game.
But that was their thing.
They changed the way they played because Duke had always climbed into you defensively,
super hard hedge, up in the passing lanes.
and that team you had John Shire, he wasn't doing that.
Kyle Singler, he wasn't doing that.
Lance Thomas was like an energizer bunny, but he was a big.
You know, Zubek, so they actually were not a crazy athletic team
in terms of the ranginess of other Duke teams,
but they found a way to figure it out and played to their strengths.
You know, I too, I think, and you're right,
I think the other thing that people don't recognize as well,
from outside looking in.
Again, we were in 18, we went to the tournament,
the year before we lost in first round.
But we didn't have the experience of being in the tournament like Duke cad.
And so, again, we beat Louisville by 20.
That was a phenomenal moment for our program at that time,
whereas if you're Duke and you win your first round game,
all right, now let's go get ready for the second game.
And I'm talking about just everybody, your coaches, your players, all those guys.
You know, you now have to get refocused.
And it's an incredible thing.
The further you go,
to still be playing and other people are going home or done,
and then the magnitude of all the media coverage around each game only grows.
And so, you know, that day in between making sure again,
you've got to now get your guys,
you've got 48 hours to prepare for an opponent that you've never seen before.
Really, now a sudden it's, you know,
it's different.
Like when you're playing in your league,
know so much about your other team,
you know how to prepare some of the main things that you do,
you're not able to do.
Now it's like all of a sudden,
you're almost playing people straight up in that.
You got a chance maybe with a short prep to take away one or two things,
but you're not going to know what everybody, you know,
what they really are trying to do.
And so that makes it really hard to prepare for.
But again,
the experience factor for a team who's been there and expects to win
really is important.
So that's what makes it even more amazing for a team like Wichita State, like you said,
to win those first couple games the first time they did it.
Yeah, yeah, and then they got, it wasn't Drag with LaSalle, I think, in the Sweet 16,
and then they played Ohio State and went to the final four.
That was a great bass team turned out.
And then what's interesting, you know, like you just said that, like,
I mean, how many people that we beat LaSalle to go to the elite eight?
I mean, like, you know, so everyone kind of needs.
Oh, that happened.
For those upsets to happen, you have to, there has to be a couple of those, right?
Were you?
No, listen, we had.
Yeah, my senior year, so we played Hofstra, Speedy Claxton.
I got a foul trial.
I barely played.
It was, you know, they were, he got superstar whistle, whatever.
We smacked them, Jay Wright's team by like 40.
And then we played Pepperdine because Pepperdine, that was Bob Knight's last game in Indiana.
Pepperdine smacked Indiana.
smacked them.
And I remember you talk about a team walking,
dejected off the floor.
I remember we beat Hofstra and we did the press thing, whatever.
And then we were in the hallway and I knew some of those Pepperdine guys.
They're getting ready to go out.
And they just had this looking and I like,
we're going to kick the shit out of them.
And they did.
I mean, it was like it was a no doubter, a no doubter.
But so we played Pepperdine and, you know,
they played fast and ran like a one-three-one zone.
We just carved them up.
And so we didn't really, the first two games,
games weren't really that great.
And then when we played Seton Hall,
Shaheen Holloway got hurt in the second round against,
I think it was,
they beat Temple,
who Temple was the two seed.
We were the three seed,
right?
So they upset Temple.
So we got Seton Hall,
and we got Seaton Hall without their best player.
And Ty Shine had played great against Temple,
because they had no Sky Report on him,
but we had like a week to prepare for him.
So, and we led the tip to finish.
We won by one,
but there was a three that went in the buzzer or whatever.
This is what's interesting about having, you talk about a veteran team.
I tweeted this out today.
We're playing the Sweet 16 and we're playing Seton Hall.
And they were switching between man to man and playing two in the paint, literally playing
like instead of a diamond one or triangle in two, they were not guarding me and one other guy.
And we were at the free throw line.
And I was like, hey, let's run Cyclone.
And Cyclone was just ball screen on one side, double back screen, the big guy.
rolling. And then you kind of flip those screens and the last screener is the shooter and he comes out
kind of the weak side and I can throw a skip pass to him. We had last night a blown call changed
a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,
and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo.
Every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies,
and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves.
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The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.
From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls,
we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.
SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.
Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
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network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite
therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a
decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible
guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,
we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.
And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.
Because people scoreboard watch.
Life becomes about wins and losses.
Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,
because you find it important to be a good person
while you hear on earth,
or are you a good person because you're afraid?
Because that's two different intentions, bro.
Absolutely.
And that's two different levels of trust.
I want you to just really be a good person.
Join me, Kear Gaines,
as we have real conversations about healing,
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on my new podcast,
learn the hard way.
Open your free iHeartRadio app.
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What's up, guys?
This is Clever Taylor the 4th.
And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,
I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff,
like being an internet famous referee.
We're in the middle of a game.
This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,
Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.
What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue with 42.
A rep, my mama want you to wave at her.
What?
Where's he at?
Hey, Miss Parker.
Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.
And he knows.
without Luca and Austin Reeves,
I got to manipulate the game.
We get a player's perspective
on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series
because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.
He has to guard Julius Randall.
And then he has to give us everything
he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by,
like Quentin Richardson,
we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nass would get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
man, he running up the court, licking his fingers,
why he got the ball, like,
after you go through a training camp with that,
Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.
Get your ass up and down the court,
and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We had not run the play the entire season.
So even if they had scouted it leading up to the Sweet 16,
it was not in our bag.
It was from the year before.
And we'd run it to death.
We stole it from Iowa State.
We ran it in my sophomore year, my junior year.
But this is what a veteran team can do.
We're like, hey, we're going to run Cyclone.
Coach was like, okay.
We got like three layups off it.
We ran the same in-balance play against them that we, again, we hadn't run all year,
but we had run a couple years before.
And that was where we got almost all of our points.
We nearly choked the thing away.
Our good free throw shooters missing free throws.
But still, that's kind of the ability with the veteran team.
And my senior year, we had three fifth years, three fifth years, maybe even four.
I guess four fifth years.
Holy shit.
We had an old-ass team.
Me, Glenn and Alexander, Brian Montanati.
Am I forgetting somebody else?
Us three.
That's three fifth years.
And then we had Joe Atkins, a fourth-year senior,
Desimason of fourth-year senior,
Alex Weber, a fourth-year senior.
And then one sophomore Fred Yon-Sin.
We had an old-ass team.
And we got the benefit.
And then we were supposed to play Duke
with Jay Williams as a freshman, I think,
and they got upset by Florida.
And we're like, but here's the crazy part.
one of Florida's assistants had come to our practices mid-year
because he had played for Coach Sutton
and what's the guy's name?
He was the head coach at Arkansas.
Why am I spacing on his name?
He played a Kentucky shit.
Yeah, you're talking about Sean's best friend.
Yes.
He'd come to practice.
Came to practice.
And look, I think Coach Sutton is a great coach,
but he kind of overthought it, where we spent the day before working on, like, press breaks,
and we took off our secondary break, which is what we scored on, all of our stuff on.
And I was like, coach, give me the ball.
I'll break your press.
You don't, like, you're wasting your time.
And we got so kind of discombobulated early.
They were really talented.
We got down, I think 13, came back, tied the game, and then they boat raced us.
And that was my last college game.
So it does, it goes.
It goes.
All right.
last thing because we got a wrap.
No NCAA tournament this year for you.
Obviously, coached him one at Oregon State,
coaching a couple at Cal,
coaching a couple at San Diego State.
Give me your favorite NCAA tournament as a coach memory.
Is it the win over Louisville?
Or something off the court?
Go.
Well, first I'm going to give you my worst
and then I'm going to give you my favorite.
Sorry, I'm jumping in here
because I think this is important for me.
But one year, we lost our last two games at Cal where we would have won the league.
We finished second.
And if you recall, the first place team, Washington, didn't go to the NCAA tournament,
which I've heard of, right?
The Pac-12 champion doesn't go to the tournament.
And Colorado won the league, so they got a bid.
And we go and meet, like we were talking about, the normal euphoria where everybody
in the room.
They call your name.
And I just always remember this,
this clear as day,
but we're all sitting there in our room
with our whole team and everybody's getting ready,
you know, hoping our name should be called.
We should have been at-large.
And they announced our team name in the playing game.
And we were playing South Florida in the playing game,
and you could have heard a pin drop.
I'll tell you what, that was the,
the precursor to knowing we just were not,
our guys were not excited about being in that game.
And, you know, people always talk about the playing game.
You know, those games in Dayton, which, by the way,
are incredible once we got there.
I mean, it was incredible.
A Dayton does a phenomenal job,
but that the first four thing, a lot of it,
is determined by your guys' mentality.
Similar to when people go to the NIT.
And, I mean, we just got boat raced by South Florida,
which was a good team, and I believe they went,
I'm not sure they go to the Sweet 16 or they lose in the round of 32,
but they won more than one game.
But they just, they were ready to play.
They took it to us.
And, boy, that was a miserable experience and disappointing, I guess,
probably more than anything.
But I just remember you could have heard a pin drop in that one.
If I were to flip that around, definitely I'd have to say,
I'd have to say, beaten Louisville by 20.
I mean, you know, you're talking about not just winning a tournament game, but beat a program with history like Louisville beating a team that was coached by Rick Petino, you know, and then beating him soundly in the way we did.
That was definitely an incredible moment for us.
So that and then probably really at Oregon State, I think that would, you'd have to, I'd have to put that right up there.
The thing that was different with Oregon State was, you know, we had,
I think Northwestern was the only program that hadn't gone to the tournament at that point,
and we had the longest drought after Northwestern,
after 25 years of not going the NCAA tournament.
And so for us in year two to go to the NCAA tournament,
it was incredible around here in Corvallis and what we did.
And the thing that was really cool, I felt like it was, that we represented all the coaches,
and players that came before.
We got ourselves into the NCAA tournament.
That's the amount of pride that we had as a group
and what we felt like we were playing for.
And we lost the VCU in a close game.
We just couldn't get over the hump.
But the amount of pride we had for just even getting there was...
Awesome stuff.
Thanks so much for joining me.
You got it.
Be sure to catch the live edition of the Doug Gottlieb show
weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific.
All right. That's it for this edition of All Ball.
We'll have more.
We'll have more.
Don't forget to listen to Doug Gottlieb show.
Three to Six Eastern, 123 Pacific.
On your IHeartRadio app, Fox Sports Radio.
Or if you're streaming or working at home now,
Fox Sports Radio.com, you can check me every day.
There's also a podcast version of it.
And within that podcast version of it, I got a great interview with Bill Self.
You're going to love.
We don't repurpose that on the All Ball podcast.
I think there's some legalities with it or whatever.
Anyway, download that.
It's really, really good.
But in the meantime, sorry you're missing hoops.
Thank you so much for downloading.
I'm Doug Gottlieb.
This is all ball.
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Last night, a blown call changed a game.
This morning, the internet lost its mind,
and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.
That's where sports slice comes in.
I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,
breaking down the biggest moments in sports
and giving you the real story behind the headline.
And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves.
Their locker room stories, their reaction,
actions in the moment and the stuff nobody gets to hear.
Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.
Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.
Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.
Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.
This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band
with their between songs banter.
Where does your group perform?
We do some retirement homes.
Those people are starving for banter.
Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends
on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
What's up, guys?
This is Clivert Taylor the 4th.
And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,
I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.
Like being an internet famous referee.
We're in the middle of a game.
This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me.
He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.
What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue with 42.
Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better.
What?
Hey, Miss Parker.
Listen to the Cliverts show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
What's up, fam?
It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano.
It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs.
We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season.
And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoffs.
moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was finding. You just understood. That's how personal it got.
Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love.
This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.
