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Auburn HC Steven Pearl - NIT South Alabama Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  All
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  right, busy day tomorrow in Auburn. Uh
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  first day of spring football and um you
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  know, Auburn baseball top five showdown
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  um at 400 pm. So would encourage fans to
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  uh to go check out baseball first um
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  help get them a win and and then show up
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  for another late one for the Tigers um
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  tomorrow night at 9 in Neville. So
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  without taking any questions
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  >> Stephen it's become more common for high
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  majors to when they don't make the turn
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  NCA to just turn down the team with one.
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  Why did you guys decide to keep on
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  playing when you know so many teams
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  position turning it down these days?
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  >> Yeah. I mean I'm here to coach
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  basketball. Um, the guys on my roster
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  are here to play basketball. And, you
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  know, we're all here to compete. And,
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  you know, I'm not going to duck away
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  from an opportunity to go out there and
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  prepare and compete and play basketball
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  cuz that's what we're here to do. Um,
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  you know, I'm not going to take my ball
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  and go home because we didn't make the
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  tournament. So, I just see it as an
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  unbelievable opportunity for our guys to
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  uh to go out there and just compete on a
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  on a stage. You know, um, most of our
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  games will probably be on ESPN. um you
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  know and um there'd be there's a lot of
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  people in college basketball that would
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  love to be able to do that. And
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  obviously our our goal is to not not to
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  play in the NIT. You know, our goal is
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  playing in the NCAA tournament, advance
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  the NCAA tournament. Um but that didn't
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  happen this year. And um you know, we
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  have an opportunity to to you know, go
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  play um in a tournament that's
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  nationally televised and uh you know,
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  continue to play basketball for these
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  next few weeks. So uh if we're able to
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  advance. So, I'm I'm, you know, I'm of
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  the I'm of the mindset of like, let's
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  let's just go play. Let's go hoop. And,
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  um, you know, have some fun with it. So,
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  that's ultimately why I made the
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  decision for us to uh to play in the
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  NIT.
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  >> Stephen, similar to first question, when
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  when high majors do play, sometimes
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  there are some opt outs. Are you guys
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  going to be at full strength in the NIT?
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  And I guess what was the what was the
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  reaction from the team of of deciding to
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  do this? Because in in Nashville, they
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  talked about, hey, you know, don't want
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  to go home, don't want to play their
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  their final game. Were they pretty fired
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  up to still have an opportunity to play
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  more basketball?
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  >> Um, you know, I don't know about opt
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  outs yet because we, you know, we v
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  visited last night after the selection
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  show and obviously everyone was uh, you
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  know, upset um, for not having made the
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  tournament and um, you know, told him to
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  sleep on it and uh, you know, I'll be
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  with them here in the next 30 minutes.
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  So, as of right now, no one's called me
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  or anyone on my staff saying that
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  they're not playing. Um, but if that
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  changes, obviously, we'll let you guys
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  know.
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  >> JG.
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  >> Yeah. How does this affect like just
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  getting ready for the portal? How do you
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  kind of nurge and do these two things?
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  You be coaching a lot, portaling,
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  getting ready for the portal. How do you
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  do that?
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  >> Well, the portal doesn't open until
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  after the final four. If if the portal
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  is open now, that might have affected my
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  decision. But like right now, like, you
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  know, besides us getting organized and
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  getting a roster of, you know, guys that
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  we'd like to go after if they do intend
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  to go in and watching film, um there's
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  not a whole lot we can do. we can do
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  both of those things if we're playing
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  home home games in Auburn in the NIT.
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  So, um I just felt like, you know, you
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  can do both and that's that's what we're
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  going to do. So, we're we've we've been
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  actively preparing for this portal cycle
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  for a few weeks now. And, you know, we
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  our staff's been really hard at work
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  just getting things organized and, you
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  know, identifying some of the positions
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  that we'll need to fill for next year
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  and looking at potential targets. Um,
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  you know, that, you know, if they do go
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  in, we'll be prepared cuz we've watched
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  film and we've evaluated the things that
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  they do. And, uh, you know, we've been
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  obviously looking at the international
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  market, uh, as far as players that are
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  available from from over there that we
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  can currently be, you know, recruiting.
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  Um, so yeah, we just feel like right
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  now, you know, we're able to do both, so
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  that's what we're going to do.
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  >> South plays a looks like a pretty funky
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  kind of zone. You know, they nobody
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  shoots more or gave it saw more threes
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  than they did this season. Just talk
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  about that matchup and just it's a very
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  different kind of defense than what
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  y'all have been seeing really the last
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  few months.
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  >> Yeah, it's got some Marramck tendencies
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  to it and uh just with the activity and
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  how much they fly around, they lead
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  their conference in in turnovers. um
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  turnovers force and they do a great job
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  um of taking away some of the things
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  that you know you want in as far as when
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  you go against zone like when the ball
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  goes to the high post they're all
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  collapsing they want you to take threes
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  um and you know that's uh you know we we
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  got to find certain spots on the floor
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  that we can attack and be aggressive but
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  you know they're going to play the
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  entire game in zone whether it's 2-3 or
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  131 they're going to try and junk it up
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  and keep you off balance as best they
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  can and they do a really good job with
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  it
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  >> go ahead and to Andy.
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  >> And then on the offensive end, their
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  best, you know, they have the Sunb Belt
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  player of the year, 66 point guard who
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  doesn't shoot a lot, but I guess he
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  scores a ton. Um, you know, just the
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  challenges kind of matching him up and
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  the guys they put around him. Seems like
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  they got some catch you guys like.
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  >> Yeah, he's big and physical and, you
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  know, he plays bully ball. You know, he
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  gets to the rim, does a great job of
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  finishing through contact, he draws a
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  ton of fouls, so he does a great job of
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  getting to the free throw line. Um and
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  um you know he's surrounded by by some
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  really good shooters. You know, one of
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  the best shooters in the country. He's
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  made like 102 threes this year. So um
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  you know they uh and they have two two
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  other guys that can really shoot it out
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  there. So I mean they they you know they
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  they were playing for a share of the
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  conference title in their last game at
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  home and they ultimately weren't able to
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  win that game. But Coach Riley's he's
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  done a great job this year with this
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  group and I know they're going to be
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  really excited about this game. So, our
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  guys are going to have to get up for it
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  because, you know, we're going to have
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  our hands full because they play an
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  interesting style. Uh they have two, you
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  know, high major players on their roster
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  and um you know, our guys got to be, you
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  know, ready because they're going to be
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  coming in here with their hair on fire,
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  you know, trying to knock us off.
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  >> Coach, is this the same style defense
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  that you saw from South seven years ago
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  when you guys played down there? Were
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  they playing that much zone at that
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  point?
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  >> Uh eight years ago in the COVID game,
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  you know, they they were running that
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  zone a good bit. Um I would I haven't
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  had time to look back. I've I've watched
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  three of their games from this year. I
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  haven't been able to watch our two games
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  from those years. Uh but I know my staff
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  has. So um I'm there's definitely some
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  similarities to to to from the clips I
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  saw today uh of the zone that they were
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  running, you know, when we played them
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  um co year and then Isaac's first year.
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  >> You mentioned how, you know, excited
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  South Alabama would be for a game like
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  this. How do you get this group to go,
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  you know, quickly turn the page from the
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  disappointment of not making the
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  tournament Sunday to now, you know, two
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  days later, you've got a, you know,
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  chance to keep playing against a team
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  that is going to come in fired up.
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  >> Yeah, I mean, it's I'm going to I'm
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  going to be prepared and I'm going to
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  do, you know, the things I always do to
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  try and get our guys motivated to play.
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  And, you know, if it's it's it's it's
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  it's on us as as coaches, but also as
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  players, you know, to continue to have
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  joy in playing basketball, you know. um
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  it's another opportunity to go out there
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  and compete and you know um that's
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  that's got to be all you need to to get
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  excited and you're playing at home you
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  know so I mean not sure what else I need
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  to say to him in order to get them going
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  um you know it's a nationally televised
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  game against a team that's in our state
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  uh at home um in a national tournament
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  you know um so you know just that should
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  be all the motivation they need to go
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  out there and play and compete
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  >> how much does help that the you guys
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  most of your guys on the roster could
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  come back next season, but you only have
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  two two seniors and how much this could
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  be pretty beneficial when you talk about
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  trying to look ahead to next year.
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  >> Yeah, I mean, you know, part of the
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  decision is trying to be around the guys
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  that, you know, we'd love to keep in
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  this program and have another couple
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  weeks of practice with them and, you
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  know, just try and finish this thing on
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  a high note and um, you know, continue
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  to try and make their own history
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  because, you know, even though we're 17
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  and 16, this team's done a lot of really
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  good things this year and you know,
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  let's try and add to it. So, um, yeah,
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  that's that's part of it, too, is, you
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  know, being around the guys that we want
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  to come back next year for, you know,
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  hopefully another week or two.
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  >> Part of question here, are you going to
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  continue wearing the jacket? Is that
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  something you think will be a permanent
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  addition?
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  >> Uh, I don't know. It's a good question,
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  J. Um, do you like it?
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  >> My wife's a huge fan of it.
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  >> Wife's a huge fan of it. Okay.
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  >> She grew up with Denny Cron and he suit,
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  you know, distinguished coach. I like
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  it.
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  >> Okay. Yeah. So I I was doing that, you
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  know, back in like 2018 19 when we were,
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  you know, still dressing up and one of
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  the best compliments I got was from Roy
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  Williams after we beat him in the Sweet
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  16. Said, "Nice jacket, man." And he was
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  he was like the the original like slacks
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  with like the the pattern blazer guy.
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  That was his thing. He was one of them
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  um as far as you know recently. So yeah,
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  I was doing it a while ago, but uh you
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  know, it's uh we'll see. We'll see.
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  Stephen, you've you've mentioned this
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  defense won and it continues to evolve
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  and get better over the course of the
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  season. You had one of your best
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  defensive games of the year, really good
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  half against Tennessee. Anything you
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  learned I don't know if you had too much
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  time to go back on that film yet.
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  Anything you've learned on defense that
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  maybe you can take and use in this
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  trying to make a run in the
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  >> Yeah, I like the Mississippi State game
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  like you know we we were really good and
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  we we did some things that like we
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  hadn't done all year which I you know
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  kind of was surprised a little bit with
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  how how well we we took to it. The first
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  half of the Tennessee game was, you
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  know, that was impressive. Like, you
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  know, we we trapped every ball screen
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  and just like made those bigs make plays
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  and like we did a great job with it. In
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  the second half, they made the
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  adjustment and didn't run any ball
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  screens. Um, but, you know, I thought
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  our guys, you know, did a lot of really
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  good things. So, yeah. Um, that may be
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  something that this team is better at
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  than, you know, what we're typically
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  used to doing. But, you know, um, we'll
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  we'll mix up our coverages and we'll
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  we'll do a little bit of both. But, you
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  know, I thought those were two of our
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  better defensive efforts, you know, of
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  the year in the SEC tournament.