Latest / Coaches Corner / Dan Hurley w Media - May 2 2024
Transcript
- 0:00What an injury you could I don't. I can't speculate who would be available
- 0:09if we had a game tomorrow. I don't want to speculate. But they
- 0:12all look like they're in fine form. Uh yeah, So we just did
- 0:18rings TODA ring design. So today was a fun day in between doing some
- 0:23different things and uh, we're able to do some of the ring design.
- 0:27So today was pretty cool. You can kind of follow the same as much
- 0:30as possible, the same script in terms of like the first pitches. I
- 0:34know, it's all like you know, the white House that's up to them.
- 0:36Yeah, yeah, yeah, all that kind of stuff, similar to
- 0:40what you did last year. Yeah, I think so. I think hopefully,
- 0:43you know, Alex was Alex was was was expected to throw out the
- 0:49pitch and with the Red Sox, he's a he's a he's a he's a
- 0:52Boston guy or a Massachusetts guy. So I think, you know, well,
- 0:57a lot of those same things will end up end up doing follow a
- 1:00similar script. You feel now the portals closed and you seem like you've got
- 1:04your roster outside of Alex. Yeah, feel almost you can now move forward.
- 1:11Yeah, it does. I mean I think the you know, the
- 1:12Alex you know, the Alex situations just you know, just a total win
- 1:18win, you know, in terms of what happens with with a k uh
- 1:23that way. So you know, you lay some ground uh groundwork potentially,
- 1:30uh you know, with with with that situation. Uh uh, you know,
- 1:38in case Alex does end up going. So you obviously you have some
- 1:40contingencies that you prepare for that way. But yeah, I think that the
- 1:46rest of what we've done is similar to what we've done the last two years,
- 1:49probably more similar to last year. We're banking heavily on player development,
- 1:55and then we've we've gone for you know, strategic maneuvers, you know,
- 1:59based on players that we believe can really come here and thrive and and play
- 2:05great. So how do you feel about that? And like where you're staying
- 2:07with these guys like and everything. Yeah, well, I just think we
- 2:10bank heavily on on player development, on being able to get our freshman players
- 2:16on the court and helping us win games and not just be out there.
- 2:22But our freshmen have proven to help us, you know, win championships.
- 2:25And then we've also been you know, proven it. We've been able to
- 2:30take like you know that those those freshmen that are becoming sophomores and they've made
- 2:34those those big jumps for us, you know, as well as guys like
- 2:39Hassan and Samson that we believe there's another level for them to get to with
- 2:45another full off season. And then obviously we're betting heavy on solo ball and
- 2:52Jalen Stewart and Jayden Ross as well as the incoming freshmen that they're going to
- 2:57really be able to, you know, to help help what we've added from
- 3:00the portal thus far. And then obviously again the Alex. You just prepare
- 3:07for contingencies that way as well. You obviously have a film on anyone you
- 3:13would recruit, but what is it like to rush and an X amount of
- 3:16time get to know if they're like personality makeup will figure. Yeah, I
- 3:22think just names when they go in. We watch a lot of games.
- 3:27And then obviously with in in aiden situation, like we prepared to play against
- 3:31him, uh intensely and we've shared a court with him, so we we
- 3:38feel like we knew the player pretty well on the talent level. And Saint
- 3:44Mary's has such a great program that you you end up watching them play.
- 3:46So I think we were really it was important to us. Uh, you
- 3:52know, taris like there's a ton of talent there. There's a ton of
- 3:55physical talent that when we look at players in the portal, we're looking for
- 4:01people that, you know, that hit those thresholds in terms of talent and
- 4:05traits athletically. But then they've got to be our type of people. They
- 4:10have to be people that we think are going to help us win, not
- 4:15necessarily who someone is ranking as the best transfer. You know that the best
- 4:20transfer in the country, with all due respect whoever these people are rated by
- 4:27outside entities don't measure up to who we think we can win championships with.
- 4:33So is some bit of role of a dice though, because you won't truly
- 4:36know what kind of worker kid is until you're working with him. Well,
- 4:40I think the way that we kind of handle an official visit and and the
- 4:46way that that goes, it's it's as much as a player and a family
- 4:51is evaluating the situation for them. We also spend a great deal of time.
- 4:57The things that we talk about on the visit I think lead us to
- 5:01the right place with players. The n I L is not something that we're
- 5:05leading with, it's something that is is if it's at the forefront of of
- 5:13of of the people that we're recruiting. If it's at the forefront, and
- 5:16if it's the driver, then that's gonna be a problem for us. Uh.
- 5:21Here with what we're trying to do, what we're we're we're we're about
- 5:26do you fit in our culture? What type of competitor are you? Are
- 5:30you about championships? Uh? Do you believe that you're gonna you know,
- 5:33develop here and become an NBA player and then we'll get to those types of
- 5:39things. So I think the way that we've the way that we're landing our
- 5:43players, gives us confidence that we have a chance to keep doing what we're
- 5:46doing, both the transfers, you know, and and guys like Liam and
- 5:50putting teams together this year in one season, remember a couple of years ago,
- 5:56you become kind of moment that you have to do with that. You
- 6:00know, it's it's completely the opposite of what you're we're about before. But
- 6:05to do yeah, have you you enoy? Well? I think what where
- 6:12we've been, where we've been an outlier, you know two years ago,
- 6:16we obviously you know, you bring in you know, Tristan and then obviously
- 6:20some uh, you know, some guys that came off the bench for for
- 6:24for that team. And then last year it was only one portal player.
- 6:28You know, this year it's it's it's it's two portal players and then a
- 6:33lot of homegrown players that we're banking on. And then you know, people
- 6:38that we've recruited for a long time, mod Noel and in Isaiah. So
- 6:44we're not trying to you know, we're not bringing in seven players from the
- 6:47portal and throwing it against the wall and seeing what sticks. You know,
- 6:53we're strategic that way. Our program is is going to return. It was
- 6:58very important to us that that we've kept all the players that we're returning here.
- 7:01We uh, we were very cognizant of that with not recruiting too much.
- 7:10Obviously there's gonna be a lot of competition for roles, but we really
- 7:14believe in the young players that that we have in the program and that we've
- 7:17recruited, that we want them to get in the court and play uh solo
- 7:21ball. Jalen Steward, Jayden Ross. You know, usef we're going to
- 7:26return four members of one of the best recruiting classes in the country, and
- 7:30this year's recruiting class with the three freshmen, it's it's a it's a top
- 7:34class. So you know, we believe that we're gonna these guys are very
- 7:40talented. You're gonna they're gonna keep together. The winning the championships and losing
- 7:47so many people that were part of that, we would have lost the advantage
- 7:51of of of having members of a championship organization. If we would have taken
- 7:57three or four portal kids and now everyone transfers out, we'd be starting over.
- 8:03Did you have to convince those guys and then championships? Yeah, but
- 8:09did you have to convince stick with it? This was your learning year next
- 8:13year? Yeah. I mean if they were on if those guys were on
- 8:16last year's team, they would have played, they would have had much bigger
- 8:20roles. If they were on the years prior they would have they would have
- 8:24been much more significant players. It's just the last year they were on a
- 8:28situation where it was the most efficient basketball team offense, defense, and the
- 8:35level that we played at, one of the most efficient best teams in the
- 8:39last twenty five years that have played college basketball, that they couldn't crack the
- 8:41rotation on so or at times solo ball and maybe our biggest non conference win
- 8:48of the year. He was a critical player in the Carolina game, one
- 8:52of our biggest victories in the big E season. Jalen Stewart, you know,
- 8:58played huge for us down to Stratch should have Marquette game at the Garden.
- 9:01So these guys displayed for us. And then you know, going into
- 9:05the season last year, Jade Ross was kind of the you know, one
- 9:07of the names we talked about and NBA teams are asking you about when practices
- 9:11are over. So I spoke through you guys throughout the season about not wanting
- 9:18people, not wanting them to leave. I spoke through you guys. You
- 9:22know, our staff reached out for their families and and let them know.
- 9:26And then we met with the players a bunch about not wanting them to leave,
- 9:30and we want them to be uh. You know, great players are
- 9:33one uniform guys. You know, the greatest players, they wear one uniform
- 9:37in college. So we want those guys to be one uniform guys. Do
- 9:41you have an idea in terms of a time frame with Alex I mean I
- 9:45always got to like mid June, I think, but you anticipate him make
- 9:50a decision maybe after the combine or something like that or yeah, I mean
- 9:52Alex has earned as much time as he needs. H I hope he doesn't
- 9:58go as long as I. And that was that one. I think I
- 10:03was going to a wedding in June and I got the I got the fatal
- 10:07call. I think for my brother's daughter's wedding in CALLI. So I think
- 10:11Alex's will be, you know, some time after the combine. I know,
- 10:16you know, he'll have a workout or two prior to. And I
- 10:20think, you know, with with Alex situation, I think that NBA at
- 10:26some point, that NBA is going to be you know, if the does
- 10:28the NBA really want you you know, because I don't you know Alec Alex,
- 10:35I think is a really smart guy and him and his family. I
- 10:39think it's a pretty cut and dry, uh you know situation for him.
- 10:43And if he does go, obviously you'd have two open scholarships. I mean,
- 10:46I assume he fell least one of them. Was that. Yeah,
- 10:48I don't think we're dying to get the thirteen just to get the thirteen.
- 10:54If something is too good to pass up in terms of a developmental player,
- 10:58will go there. But there'll be no more there's no more minutes on this
- 11:01team. This is going to be this is going to be an incredibly you
- 11:05know, deep in talented team. Maybe a little bit young, uh,
- 11:09but the talent is going to be impressive together out there, especially with the
- 11:15youth of it. But with Alex, you know, you prepare for some
- 11:18contingencies, So that would be maybe a guy who's willing to come in and
- 11:22as a backup world type of thing, or just I mean, maybe some
- 11:24fore men that you're just aware of. But you know, we just feel
- 11:28great about the some of these young guys are going to finally get a chance
- 11:33or we just you know, we we we we just recruited them and you
- 11:37know, we feel like they're ready to go right away. What's a schedule
- 11:41to look as far as working out? I mean they're in finals now and
- 11:43everything, but just kind of going forward the next month. Yeah, they're
- 11:46on their own. The NS double A doesn't let us do anything with them
- 11:48this time of year, and we just start preparing for you know, June.
- 11:54You know, the first week of June we get back together and now
- 11:56we we uh, you know, we start practice, seeing like the biggest
- 12:01tournaments around the corner. So you know, we get we get the four
- 12:05hours a week on the court. You know, we could I'd prefer to
- 12:09have six or eight. We should have six or eight hours on the court
- 12:13with these guys during the summer instead of the four. But then they get
- 12:18the four more in the weight room. So yeah, we're I know,
- 12:20we're dying to get started with these guys. Jalen employees to be a star
- 12:24of this coming season. Yeah. I think Jalen and and Uh. I
- 12:28think Jalen and Solo I have a chance to make a huge jump like you've
- 12:33seen the freshmen the sophomores make for us. You look at some players we've
- 12:39had that have made those huge jumps. I think we expect that. I
- 12:43think they expect that. And again, they had moments this year where they
- 12:48flashed, you know, big time ability for us. So you know we're
- 12:52projecting what they're gonna be, you know, next November, and we've seen
- 12:58it on a daily basis. And then I see a guy like Jay you
- 13:01know Jay Ross, you know who he was. I mean, it was
- 13:05gut wrenching decisions based on who was in the rotation this year. Their their
- 13:11their talent. Uh, across the board is impressive. That's why we we
- 13:16we we valued them the way we did with only adding what we felt we
- 13:20absolutely needed to add. And you mentioned there'll be an intense competition in some
- 13:24of those spots. You see a guy like Liam coming in and right a
- 13:28wrath about and even you know, Tarriffs and and and Centimpson battling it out
- 13:31at center, that kind of stuff. I think our competition is just gonna
- 13:35be the best it's been, and that that it's all. These guys are
- 13:41gonna get an opportunity to play, but the competition is gonna be Uh,
- 13:46it's gonna be the best I think it's been overall. And that's saying something
- 13:50here, but yeah, I think Liam is just the pedigree and in a
- 13:56lot of similarities to to Steph from a pedigree standpoint, the USA basketball,
- 14:01the McDonald's obviously the Monteverde or Monteverd Oregon, Oregon, you know, screw
- 14:11those up sometimes there, but yeah, he's uh, he's coming in here
- 14:16advanced, you know, advanced maturity. Uh, you know, the the
- 14:22pedigree not only there with with Monte Verd, but also the family, their
- 14:26generations of basketball players just it prepares you differently, and then you know the
- 14:33positional versatility of all these players too, just the situations and the excitement of
- 14:39being able to, you know, put on the wing guys like Liam and
- 14:43Jalen and and Jayden ross uh, you know, and and potentially Alex or
- 14:50Isaiah or solo ball just have an interchangeable players out there on the perimeter because
- 14:56of our style of play is pretty interchan ageible, is exciting a lot of
- 15:01new guys coming in. How do you go about building the team chemistry with
- 15:03the young guys and the new guys. Yeah, I think we're I think
- 15:07the reason why people pick us and the reason why people come here is why
- 15:13our chemistry and culture is so strong against Again, you know, we're not
- 15:16leading with the ni L you know, we're we're we're leading with our program
- 15:22and and and pursuing championships. And then the value that that's going to bring
- 15:26to your career in terms of where you can take it. So and then
- 15:30the things that we do to do together, the amount of time that we're
- 15:33going to spend together this summer is the special sauce for us, the the
- 15:39practices, the barbecues, the softball game which I am the dominant player in
- 15:48three years in a row. They are rating m VP. I've never been
- 15:52voted MVP, but I'm considered the greatest player that's played because I'm undefeated and
- 15:58obviously the home run last year. And the leadership, who's going to be
- 16:03that, who's going to place andres? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well
- 16:11I think that that's going to play itself out over time. There's an expectation
- 16:18that Hassan is going to be able to show great leadership there. There's an
- 16:22expectation that that that Samson is going to get more vocal and assume that role.
- 16:27Obviously, you know, Alex, the situation still plays out there,
- 16:32but you're also too it's so critically important to to to believe in the solo
- 16:38balls and to believe in the Jalen Steward and the Jayden Ross because they've you
- 16:44know, the mantle gets passed and and Useth and and then the players that
- 16:48you have a long long standing relationship, the Amad Noel and uh and Isaiah
- 16:55who you know, you recruited them and you they they're kind of a part
- 16:59of it with you already. So we're bringing back a lot of a lot
- 17:02of a lot of people that understand what we stand for, how we practice,
- 17:07how we communicate, what it takes to win a championship. That's the
- 17:11value in bringing back as many people as as we are. And I read
- 17:17a lot, and I see a lot of people. You know, we
- 17:19were so dominant last year. I know that there's don't compare what we are
- 17:26right now or who we're going to be to last year's team. We should
- 17:32just be comparing I guess kind of who we are and where we are to
- 17:36other college programs. We don't have to be as good as we were last
- 17:38year to win championships next year, because no one could get close to how
- 17:42good we were. Well, you know, along those lines, how confident
- 17:45are you that the group you have right now, let's say, without als,
- 17:49can execute the kind of stuff that you guys ran last year that was
- 17:53so impressive and this will grasp that and execute at that kind of level you're
- 17:59going to have. No, I mean, right now, we feel like
- 18:03what we've put together is is exactly what we imagined it would look like.
- 18:08So but last summer, until we started going and seeing how good Cam was
- 18:14and and and and Steph's maturity and Samson and has taking a big jump.
- 18:21I mean we didn't really know what we had until last summer. No,
- 18:26we had a chance, and then we got to November December and said,
- 18:30you know, wow, this is this really has a chance to be special.
- 18:33But you know, remember we we you know, we we got smacked
- 18:37in a half by Virginia in in in in late October last year. So
- 18:42you know, you start seeing the ingredients and realizing you have the talent,
- 18:45but you don't realize what you got until you know, pretty far down the
- 18:49line. But you you know you got a shot. And when you when
- 18:53you recruit with very specific needs in mind, particularly like the tornado of the
- 18:57portal, how do you develop and maintain contingency plans like just to use terrorists
- 19:04as an example, if he calls you after his business a coach, thanks,
- 19:07but I'm gonna go elsewhere. Yeah. What goes on along that process
- 19:12to make sure that you're gonna be able to I mean you did last year
- 19:15with came after you pursue someone else. Yeah, we just think that before
- 19:18we bring somebody on campus, they have to they have to be serious people,
- 19:25and they have to be serious about us, and there has to have
- 19:29been zooms enough phone calls and communications where uh, where it's just serious people.
- 19:37We need to bring just serious people in here. You know their list
- 19:41of schools, how they've structured visits, how they're handling our conversations. We
- 19:51take that into account before we waste our time or or not waste our time,
- 19:56which you know with certain types of players, So we never it's rare
- 20:03that we uh, you know, we just felt like when taris it's like
- 20:08people go into portal and then they go in and they say that feels like
- 20:14a fit for us. There's a lot of names positionally that went into portal
- 20:17at Center that they are not a fit for. How we're trying to compliment
- 20:22Samson and our type of family, our type of people, work ethic,
- 20:27you know, just it's people that are either going to fit us or not.
- 20:30There's plenty of of of of transfer portal players that you know that have
- 20:38a history of of not helping their programs max out winning, and that's what
- 20:45we're trying to stay away from for us because we've we're really desperate to win.
- 20:52I'm going ahead to join what was a conversation like with Has Obviously he's
- 20:56the guy that you just talked about being wanted to get back, but obviously
- 20:59there and you know a mode well and some of the guards, how you
- 21:04know, Hassan, there was a challenge. You know, it was a
- 21:08challenge obviously a leadership challenge now and then you know, can you go from
- 21:14sixth man or the year in the Big East to uh, you know,
- 21:18a true driving force? How much better can you get? How much better
- 21:21can you get with the basketball with decision making as a three point shooter,
- 21:25as a finisher in the paint, as a facilitator, you know, with
- 21:30with the level that Tristan and can played at. Obviously, you know we've
- 21:33got to get multiple players in the back court, you know, with what
- 21:37we were returning there with a mad and Hassan with Aiden and solo ball and
- 21:42and just those guards. Those are big shoes to fill. So you took
- 21:48a big jump between your first year here and your second year here. But
- 21:52how big of a you know, you need to make another big jump uh
- 21:56here. So that's the challenge for him. He didn't play point, yes,
- 22:00he just the way that that you know, for us, I think
- 22:03just the way that we play on offense, I think, uh it gives
- 22:07us a lot of flexibility in terms of we could play two point guards together.
- 22:12You know, we could play a combo on the ball. You know,
- 22:17we could play multiple big wings with any of our centers and and any
- 22:22type of primary handler. Or think our style of play just lends itself to
- 22:26to a lot of versatility at that end, Will you have a different look
- 22:30offense something about Donovan though, because obviously Sampson's a different type of player and
- 22:34Terris he's not seven two. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I
- 22:40think you change some things. But I think Samson proved to be just as
- 22:45devastating as a as a ball screen roller, just the you know, the
- 22:49lob game with him just creates so many opportunities that way. The challenge for
- 22:55him is to be able to uh to play and in the even more of
- 23:00an Igodara type of way at Marquette, uh, you know, to develop
- 23:07even more skill away from the basket, where we could do more things with
- 23:10him with the ball as a handler and a passer the way we could with
- 23:14Donovan. Uh. He demonstrated uh more of that later in the year.
- 23:18But then with with Tarists, I think you you try to develop his skills
- 23:22that way. Obviously he gives us another dimension, which we love the physical
- 23:30ducking guy like uh like we did a Dama and it's it's funny because you
- 23:34know, Coach Howard was was showing him clips during the year of Adama,
- 23:38uh as they were trying to implement some things that way. So I think
- 23:44we could go back into our bag that way with him, because when you
- 23:48meet him, you're just blown away by his physical size. I mean,
- 23:52he's a massive man with with great athletic ability, and I know Luke and
- 23:57our staff is excited to get to work with him. He just I think
- 24:02he's just scratching the surface of what he can be behind the clever social media
- 24:07posts you can. Yeah, I think we went too far yesterday. I'm
- 24:14disappointed, and I think we got cute and tried to go video. You
- 24:18know, I think a picture would have been appropriate there, just a picture
- 24:22of me with the chessboard and with the Yukon colors and running down and because
- 24:27I would oftentimes just go in there and stare at the clock and just praying
- 24:30for it to be over. Just like like the portal has been open forever,
- 24:37Just end the portal. I mean, everyone shouldn't need that much time
- 24:41to figure out whether you need to go in or out. I mean it's
- 24:44like, how long was that thing open for a month? I mean,
- 24:47is it six weeks? I mean, is it six weeks? Crazy?
- 24:51Do you really need that much time to figure out whether you should be somewhere
- 24:52or not? I mean, what do you like about Aiden's game? The
- 24:57versatility, the similarities. I remember being like having a very high level of
- 25:07respect for his game going into that Saint Mary's game, sharing the court with
- 25:12him, preparing for him. I don't think he had the sophomore year that
- 25:18was expected of him in terms of how well he played as a freshman.
- 25:22I mean, he was as good as any freshman guard in the country his
- 25:26freshman year. So you're getting a hungry player. You're getting somebody that shares
- 25:30some similarities with Cam, shares some similarities with Tristan. He's got a lot
- 25:37of creativity. It was important for us to get a guard that not only
- 25:41has demonstrated high level shooting but also creativity with the ball. And when he
- 25:47visited us and we when he experienced the Yukon intensity on the visit, how
- 25:53much we love what we do and how hard we get after it here and
- 25:59he was dying to be a part of it that told us that this is
- 26:03the type of guy that could come in here and thrive. Why do you
- 26:06still have Kamani and Luke and this staff. Why haven't other people poached them?
- 26:11It seems like they're perfect candidates. I think the n I L and
- 26:15portal has impacted like the low low to mid major level and how attractive those
- 26:22coaching positions are because it's tough to build something there. Because of that,
- 26:29obviously, you know, we obviously from a job security and a financial standpoint,
- 26:37we make it tough for them to leave. Uh and the excellence of
- 26:40where we're at right now. I just think that those guys are so good
- 26:45and so good at what they do that they shouldn't take a bad job.
- 26:48That they should really only be considering Upper Atlantic ten jobs are better. They
- 26:56if you're coaching at the you know, the best college program in the country,
- 27:00you shouldn't take a mid major job or that's not elite. So until
- 27:07those happened for them, why would you leave? I mean that they're they're
- 27:11essential, those guys and Tom just to be able to have that continuity.
- 27:17We all know each other so well, we know, you know, we're
- 27:22so in tune with working with each other and and there's such a cohesion and
- 27:29uh, I mean, these these guys are just they're they're excellent. But
- 27:33you know, it's it's those guys. It's it's you know, we're we're
- 27:37all just uh, we know what works for us and and we're just we're
- 27:42very very like minded people and it's just, uh, yeah, go for
- 27:51a three people. I don't know, I don't like anything. I don't
- 27:59know yet. I people have texted me all different stuff. I'm not there
- 28:03yet. We're still trying to figure out like the East regional thing doesn't flow
- 28:07the way Brooklyn the Boston and Phoenix was just like Providence to Newark to San
- 28:15Antonio. It's like it's which. So now we're likely looking at other regions.
- 28:18Do we do we look for a region that right and it sounds better?
- 28:22I mean, do we you know, we're trying to figure that part
- 28:25of it out. Maybe we just go in a different direction with that,
- 28:30But we haven't come up with anything yet. We want to get the roster
- 28:32set first before we start making any any bold proclamations that way. But yeah,
- 28:37we like what we've put together. We feel like, uh, you
- 28:41know, our goals aren't going to change. And you know, we think
- 28:45that this from top to bottom is going to be potentially our most talented talented
- 28:51roster. When when you go top to bottom, I think that's it may
- 28:53be a little bit more youthful. But on the positive side, now we
- 28:57get to retain a lot more or a lot more people than a lot of
- 29:02other programs are retaining. There's a lot more people that are that are that
- 29:06are turning over a lot more of their roster than we are. Even though
- 29:11we were obviously gonna lose four starters, but we feel like we do have
- 29:15a lot of continuity that's gonna come back for maybe five. Did you hear
- 29:18much from like Andrea, Jordan and Dona. Actually there was a group chat
- 29:25and then there were like individual texts that were going on. Plus we were
- 29:29calling them during the season and stuff. And then the parents, you know,
- 29:33Craig Hawkins, you know Jordan's dad, he was at he might have
- 29:38been in Phoenix, and then he's texting you and calling you throughout and Trish,
- 29:45you know, Trish Andre's mom is like going crazy and stuff. And
- 29:48then a Domina your face timing and you know, and Joey's parents were at
- 29:52MSG in the Big East Tournament. You know, after we win it,
- 29:56I look in the crowd, I see rich like rich Richie California is like,
- 30:02you know, court side for the game. It's you know, Nahem's
- 30:06family and hearing from Nahim during the tournament, you know, and and Darryl
- 30:11his dad just all class man, all the champs. Julian minnedy, he
- 30:17wasn't so sure you guys are gonna repeat. And at the beginning of the
- 30:21season, I know, I hear it right now too. Sorry all the
- 30:26experts. I mean, we listen, we were picked close to the fourth
- 30:29by the coaches last year, and you know, I saw us outside of
- 30:33the top ten with some prominent people, and then you know, a lot
- 30:37of folks question the talent, you know, even you know, once we
- 30:40got into non conference place. So let's I get it. Look at what
- 30:44we've lost these last two years, just the amount of incredible people and just
- 30:48great, great, all time great Yukon players and now potentially two lottery picks,
- 30:53maybe another first rounder, maybe two more guys that go second round.
- 30:57But you know, I I think that you know, it's just you believe
- 31:02in what we've got here. You believe in the staff, you believe in
- 31:04the talent, and and just believe that we're gonna be able to put it
- 31:07together. M