Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 580: IU basketball exhibitions continue, 2026-27 season storylines with Brian Tonsoni

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POTB 580: IU basketball exhibitions continue, 2026-27 season storylines with Brian Tonsoni · Podcast on the Brink

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of podcast on the
0:03
Speaker 1: brink Friday, October 16th. It's been a busy week, been
0:06
Speaker 1: a busy time in IU sports, obviously.
0:28
Speaker 2: Kind of getting into crossover season now with basketball heating up,
0:32
Speaker 2: obviously in the thick of things with football. We're going
0:35
Speaker 2: to talk a little bit IU football this week with
0:37
Speaker 2: our guest, Brian, the coach, Tonsoni. You know him from
0:40
Speaker 2: Assembly Call and Delphi Bracketology. One of our favorite recurring
0:44
Speaker 2: guests here on the show. Does an outstanding job over
0:47
Speaker 2: at the Assembly Call as well. Before we get to coach,
0:49
Speaker 2: I want to take a quick reminder. and ask for
0:52
Speaker 2: your support. If you listen to the show over on
0:56
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please leave us a rating and review.
0:58
Speaker 2: Five stars, preferably. If you're watching on YouTube, like the video,
1:02
Speaker 2: subscribe to the channel. We appreciate your support there as well. Coach,
1:07
Speaker 2: you were in Nebraska last weekend for the big clash
1:10
Speaker 2: out there at their Memorial Stadium. Sounds like it's going
1:13
Speaker 2: to be an early morning arrival for you this Saturday
1:16
Speaker 2: in Bloomington. You're one of the first people I thought
1:20
Speaker 2: of just kind of this week because, you know, I've
1:24
Speaker 2: followed you on social media for a long time. We've
1:26
Speaker 2: kind of known each other kind of through the podcasting
1:29
Speaker 2: world and met a couple times in person. But I
1:32
Speaker 2: know you're one of the diehard IU football fans who
1:35
Speaker 2: has been through a lot of downs, more ups recently.
1:40
Speaker 2: But this atmosphere, this game day in Bloomington made me
1:43
Speaker 2: think of you instantly from all the tailgating pictures. just
1:46
Speaker 2: how excited are you to get down for this? This is,
1:50
Speaker 2: you know, many people are calling this the biggest game, obviously,
1:53
Speaker 2: at home that IU football has played. My dad said
1:57
Speaker 2: since 1967, when they had a chance to obviously clinch
2:00
Speaker 2: the Rose Bowl berth. So, but for people much younger,
2:05
Speaker 2: this is kind of as big as it gets so
2:07
Speaker 2: they can remember. So I'm curious, just kind of what
2:10
Speaker 2: your thoughts are going into this weekend, how early you
2:13
Speaker 2: plan to get down there, and what you're thinking just
2:16
Speaker 2: kind of going into this matchup.
2:18
Speaker 3: Well, we have our favorite spot near Bart Coffman in
2:21
Speaker 3: Lot 11, so we like to get down there about
2:23
Speaker 3: a half an hour before the gates open and get
2:25
Speaker 3: in line. A couple times they might let us in
2:27
Speaker 3: a little early so we can get set up. Very excited, Alex.
2:30
Speaker 3: The last two and a half seasons for Indiana football,
2:34
Speaker 3: just unbelievable turnaround, as so many people have talked about.
2:39
Speaker 3: And you know, going through with Mallory and having winning
2:43
Speaker 3: excitement and then the down years to have this is,
2:47
Speaker 3: it's just special. And it is something that, you know,
2:51
Speaker 3: new fans, old fans, whatever, just jump on board and, and,
2:54
Speaker 3: and enjoy, get down there early and go see the walk, go,
2:58
Speaker 3: go see the big noon kickoff because for all, for
3:01
Speaker 3: the longest time, Alex, I just wanted the college football atmosphere, um, uh,
3:07
Speaker 3: of a, of a packed house. And when people wave the,
3:10
Speaker 3: the flags when the team comes out. I get emotional.
3:13
Speaker 3: It's something that you see at Tennessee. You see at
3:16
Speaker 3: Notre Dame if you've ever been to those places. Well,
3:18
Speaker 3: we hadn't seen it at Indiana, and now it's unbelievable.
3:22
Speaker 3: And fans, we've had to adjust because lines are longer
3:26
Speaker 3: and traffic patterns are different, but what a beautiful thing.
3:29
Speaker 3: But this Saturday is going to be huge. I think
3:31
Speaker 3: Indiana has a good shot. I think they're going to
3:32
Speaker 3: have to play a really good game. Ohio State is fantastic,
3:36
Speaker 3: and that Jeremiah Smith is unbelievable. wide receiver. So I
3:40
Speaker 3: don't think, you know, it's going to be a battle,
3:43
Speaker 3: but it's going to be a fun one to witness.
3:45
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Obviously, if you want more IU football talk, I
3:50
Speaker 2: think Galen's been setting records for a number of podcasts
3:54
Speaker 2: released now for for weeks, for months, maybe, IU football.
3:57
Speaker 2: So if you want to dive into that matchup specifically,
3:59
Speaker 2: I'm sure you can go over to the Crimson Cast feed,
4:02
Speaker 2: find something over at the Back Home Network, probably have
4:05
Speaker 2: the game broken down from any angle you can imagine.
4:08
Speaker 2: So go check that out. We're going to talk more
4:10
Speaker 2: IU basketball, get back to our roots here on Podcast
4:12
Speaker 2: on the Brink this week. And Coach, I was in
4:16
Speaker 2: Indianapolis on Sunday. You were watching what I understand was
4:20
Speaker 2: a questionable live stream in the first half, may have
4:23
Speaker 2: smoothed out, gotten better. In the second half, the folks
4:26
Speaker 2: from Wish TV took a lot of heat on social media.
4:28
Speaker 2: I think some people maybe don't understand the power of
4:32
Speaker 2: the IU fan base overwhelming that stream. It was something
4:34
Speaker 2: I could kind of see happening when I heard this
4:38
Speaker 2: game was going to be streamed. So I'm glad it
4:40
Speaker 2: got worked out for the second half. Hopefully as many
4:42
Speaker 2: people got to at least see some of the game.
4:46
Speaker 2: But I was there. I thought it was a tremendous atmosphere.
4:49
Speaker 2: I don't like to take too much out of an
4:52
Speaker 2: exhibition game especially one where you have two totally new
4:56
Speaker 2: teams I'm not sure Indiana is as good as beating
4:59
Speaker 2: Butler on the road by 28 I'm not sure Butler
5:01
Speaker 2: is as bad as they look like at times in
5:04
Speaker 2: the second half but overall thought it was a great
5:06
Speaker 2: atmosphere actually my first time ever crazy for me being
5:10
Speaker 2: in Hinkle Fieldhouse so a special place I hope to
5:13
Speaker 2: get there maybe one day for a regular season game
5:15
Speaker 2: would be great if Indiana and Butler will play a
5:17
Speaker 2: regular season game I think that'd be tremendous but Just
5:20
Speaker 2: curious for your thoughts, maybe on what you learned from
5:23
Speaker 2: that exhibition game and anything you take away from it
5:26
Speaker 2: as we dive in to the second exhibition game this
5:29
Speaker 2: weekend up in Indianapolis against North Carolina.
5:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hinkle's my favorite place to watch a game. I've
5:35
Speaker 3: seen high school games there, several Butler games, just a
5:38
Speaker 3: fantastic venue. So if you have a chance to go,
5:43
Speaker 3: get up there. But What I learned is that this
5:45
Speaker 3: team has some talent in its nine-man rotation to do
5:49
Speaker 3: a lot of things, especially offensively. I thought that was
5:53
Speaker 3: smooth from the start of the game, from tip-off all
5:56
Speaker 3: the way to the end. I'll tell you what, even
5:59
Speaker 3: the last five minutes when you had the walk-ons come on,
6:01
Speaker 3: the way they played fundamentally strong with their triple threat,
6:07
Speaker 3: those are some hidden things. You might tune out a
6:09
Speaker 3: little bit at the back end, but I thought they
6:11
Speaker 3: cut hard and that shows me that a program is
6:14
Speaker 3: really locked in, uh, trying to do the right things.
6:17
Speaker 3: Now you're going to lose some games and, and we don't,
6:21
Speaker 3: I'm not saying it, that's going to be national championship worthy,
6:25
Speaker 3: but the progress made from year one with 18 and 14, uh,
6:29
Speaker 3: to now having multiple players who can do multiple things.
6:33
Speaker 3: I think that stood out out the most to me.
6:35
Speaker 3: You have scorers, you have shooters, you have post presence,
6:37
Speaker 3: you have drivers. So the offense, um, what was the
6:42
Speaker 3: biggest thing that I took away that is going to
6:44
Speaker 3: be different from, from last year?
6:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's, it's again, don't want to dive too much
6:50
Speaker 2: into numbers and things like that from an exhibition game,
6:53
Speaker 2: because I think coaches are mixing, matching things and they're,
6:55
Speaker 2: they're trying to get some different concept in, get a
7:00
Speaker 2: look at different lineups. But overall, again, In terms of
7:03
Speaker 2: exhibition games and the competitiveness, I've seen a couple in
7:07
Speaker 2: the last couple of years. I remember Woodson's last year,
7:10
Speaker 2: I think it was, Indiana went down to Tennessee. I
7:11
Speaker 2: felt like that was played like an actual game. Obviously,
7:15
Speaker 2: Indiana didn't turn out to have a good season, but
7:17
Speaker 2: that was a good early test for them getting on
7:20
Speaker 2: the road. Last year, playing Baylor up in Indianapolis, again,
7:24
Speaker 2: another tremendous atmosphere. I think when you get these games
7:28
Speaker 2: and you have Division I high major teams playing each other,
7:31
Speaker 2: I think naturally they're just going to be competitive and
7:34
Speaker 2: more so than seeing these games where the talent discrepancy
7:39
Speaker 2: is such to where it doesn't really matter when you
7:41
Speaker 2: come out and play a Marion. If you play well,
7:43
Speaker 2: you can get away with things. In these games, you
7:46
Speaker 2: can't necessarily. So looking forward to Sunday against North Carolina, which...
7:50
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be another good test for
7:52
Speaker 2: Indiana because North Carolina's already got an exhibition win under
7:56
Speaker 2: its belt there. I think Mike Malone, we'll see how
7:59
Speaker 2: he does in college, but obviously he's won an NBA championship,
8:01
Speaker 2: so the guy knows how to coach. And again, they
8:04
Speaker 2: beat USC in an earlier exhibition. But I wanted to
8:07
Speaker 2: talk to you about some storylines, some things I'm thinking
8:10
Speaker 2: about ahead of this season, just to kind of get
8:12
Speaker 2: your reaction, your thoughts on some of these things, because
8:16
Speaker 2: It's a pivotal season for Indiana basketball. With the success
8:19
Speaker 2: of football, I don't want to say Indiana's competing with
8:23
Speaker 2: football for attention, but people right now are focused on football,
8:27
Speaker 2: rightfully so. And basketball's got to do something to get
8:31
Speaker 2: the people back. And I'm not saying that people can't
8:33
Speaker 2: support both equally. I think they will, and I think
8:35
Speaker 2: they want to. But I think the first thing that
8:37
Speaker 2: kind of comes to mind as we approach the season
8:40
Speaker 2: is this team has to do something in the non-conference
8:43
Speaker 2: to get people excited, get people drawn back in. Because
8:48
Speaker 2: every year, it seems like we're in this cycle of,
8:51
Speaker 2: all right, there's something new here with this program. A
8:53
Speaker 2: lot of it's due to the roster turnover. There's hope
8:56
Speaker 2: at the beginning of the season. And then something happens
8:59
Speaker 2: to where people kind of lose interest as the season
9:03
Speaker 2: goes along. Obviously, there's a lot of people that still
9:06
Speaker 2: come to games and follow, but it's not what it
9:08
Speaker 2: once was in terms of, attendance and fan support and
9:11
Speaker 2: things like that. And football has taught us a lot
9:15
Speaker 2: of things. But I think one of the main things
9:18
Speaker 2: it's taught us is if you put a winning program
9:21
Speaker 2: out there, the support is going to follow. And I
9:23
Speaker 2: think Indiana basketball is in the same boat right now. Obviously,
9:27
Speaker 2: it's got the brand recognition. It's got the longstanding prestige.
9:30
Speaker 2: But they've got to do something early in the season
9:33
Speaker 2: to get people back on board and get excited. Do
9:36
Speaker 2: you agree with that? And what do you think that
9:39
Speaker 2: something is that can get people kind of excited about
9:42
Speaker 2: the program and all the way back in once again?
9:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, and I will extend it a little bit.
9:49
Speaker 3: I think it might take longer than just the preseason.
9:52
Speaker 3: You know, the stretch of basketball with several coaches has
9:55
Speaker 3: been up and down, and there's a little bit of
9:57
Speaker 3: a malaise in the program. The initial stuff in the preseason,
10:02
Speaker 3: you got a big week with Arkansas and Kentucky in
10:04
Speaker 3: the same week. It won in New York City and
10:06
Speaker 3: won here in Indianapolis. I don't know that you have
10:10
Speaker 3: to win, but you have to play well because the
10:13
Speaker 3: last few travel games all the way out to Arizona
10:15
Speaker 3: and in Las Vegas and then a game in Atlanta
10:20
Speaker 3: were non-competitive. Big losses, and you didn't look like a
10:25
Speaker 3: big-time program. But when you're playing Arkansas and Kentucky, if
10:28
Speaker 3: you're down to the wire and the play looks good,
10:31
Speaker 3: I think that'll create some excitement. Depending on what magazine
10:36
Speaker 3: you look at, Arkansas is a top-10 team going into preseason.
10:39
Speaker 3: Kentucky is a top-20 team. Missouri and Blue Ribbon, I
10:42
Speaker 3: was just reading up on– Some Blue Ribbon Missouri is
10:45
Speaker 3: getting some top 25 talk. They're coming into Assembly Hall.
10:49
Speaker 3: That doesn't draw as much attention to fans as your
10:52
Speaker 3: Arkansas-Kentucky week. But I think you've got to take care
10:55
Speaker 3: of the non-conference stuff, and that'll build momentum. And that's
10:59
Speaker 3: when football's winding up. But I think it's going to
11:03
Speaker 3: take a little bit longer, too. You're going to have
11:04
Speaker 3: to play well in the Big Ten. You're going to
11:06
Speaker 3: have to beat some teams. You're going to have to
11:09
Speaker 3: have a season where you get you know, a top
11:12
Speaker 3: six or seven seed in the NCAA tournament. And I
11:15
Speaker 3: don't know that it's going to come back for basketball.
11:17
Speaker 3: I want it to badly until Indiana gets to the
11:20
Speaker 3: second weekend of an NCAA tournament, whether that's this year.
11:23
Speaker 3: I don't know if this year's team can do that,
11:25
Speaker 3: but this year or next year, when you start, if
11:27
Speaker 3: you get to a sweet 16, I think that basketball,
11:31
Speaker 3: it's just laying there. Like it's not gone, but it's
11:34
Speaker 3: just dormant right now. But you've got to do something
11:37
Speaker 3: in the preseason this year, and then you've got to
11:39
Speaker 3: do something in the Big Ten tournament and that to
11:43
Speaker 3: really grab that success back. And then once it's back,
11:46
Speaker 3: I think it'll stay for a while because the foundation
11:49
Speaker 3: is there. But I think you're right. But I will
11:52
Speaker 3: also add it might take a year or two to
11:54
Speaker 3: really get it back to where you and I know
11:56
Speaker 3: it can be and has been in the past.
11:59
Speaker 1: Right.
11:59
Speaker 2: And the schedule, I think, in the Big Ten sets
12:01
Speaker 2: up for a ton of opportunities. You look at now
12:04
Speaker 2: that West Coast trip that they have, Oregon all of
12:07
Speaker 2: a sudden looks– completely different than it did a couple
12:12
Speaker 2: of weeks ago with the retirement of Dana Altman. They've
12:14
Speaker 2: got the trip to that trip also includes Washington. That's
12:17
Speaker 2: a lot better than going to USC and UCLA, which
12:19
Speaker 2: they had to do last year. You look at the
12:21
Speaker 2: home games that they have in big 10 play. They've
12:24
Speaker 2: got a ton of great games, a lot of weekend games.
12:26
Speaker 2: So if you can build that excitement early, all of
12:30
Speaker 2: a sudden assembly hall can become a place where people
12:32
Speaker 2: don't want to go and play anymore. I think that was,
12:34
Speaker 2: you know, I've talked about this multiple times with multiple
12:37
Speaker 2: guests in recent shows and, I think one of the
12:40
Speaker 2: bigger things that was frustrating last season from just how
12:44
Speaker 2: it played out was some of those games that they
12:46
Speaker 2: needed to win at home in January when football was
12:48
Speaker 2: on its run. You just didn't have those atmospheres because
12:50
Speaker 2: people weren't as engaged because they were completely focused on football.
12:55
Speaker 2: And again, rightfully so, not trying to take anything away
12:57
Speaker 2: from football, but you got to do something to get
12:59
Speaker 2: people excited about both. They want to be excited about both.
13:02
Speaker 2: So I think that's where that early season success really
13:04
Speaker 2: plays in. I want to shift gears a little bit
13:06
Speaker 2: and talk about some of the on-court things I think
13:09
Speaker 2: that are actually going to go a long way in
13:10
Speaker 2: figuring out if this thing can generate some buzz, some
13:14
Speaker 2: excitement early in the season. And the first thing that
13:16
Speaker 2: comes to mind is just this new-look frontcourt. Obviously, Aiden
13:21
Speaker 2: Shirell I think is going to be terrific. I continue
13:24
Speaker 2: to talk to people that watch him play last season,
13:27
Speaker 2: and they talk now seeing him just how much better
13:29
Speaker 2: shape he looks to be in. He's moving very well
13:32
Speaker 2: out there on the floor. I think that's going to
13:33
Speaker 2: allow him to play the four this season, which he
13:38
Speaker 2: didn't do at Alabama. Obviously, they add Samet Igatoglu from SMU.
13:43
Speaker 2: Sam Alexis is currently eligible. I think Indiana has its
13:47
Speaker 2: fingers crossed that it's going to stay that way. But
13:49
Speaker 2: I'm curious for your thoughts just from a coaching perspective
13:52
Speaker 2: on the fit with Shirell and Igatoglu on the floor together.
13:56
Speaker 2: Do you think it can work? What are your biggest concerns?
14:00
Speaker 2: What are the things we should be watching for here
14:02
Speaker 2: in the first couple weeks of the season to have
14:04
Speaker 2: an idea of if this is going to actually continue
14:07
Speaker 2: to kind of be the lineup that they use all
14:09
Speaker 2: season long or some adjustments are going to have to
14:11
Speaker 2: be made.
14:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely think it can work. Just look to,
14:15
Speaker 3: you know, I'm not saying our front line, Indiana's front line,
14:18
Speaker 3: it compares to Michigan's front line, but they had three
14:20
Speaker 3: huge guys, you know, even playing with Luxembourg, playing the
14:24
Speaker 3: three and it worked, right? So I definitely think it
14:29
Speaker 3: can work. And here's why I've been saying this on podcast, Alex,
14:32
Speaker 3: multiple times, scoring positions. You have low post threat in Iguotolo.
14:38
Speaker 3: You have an outside threat in the shooters and Shirell.
14:43
Speaker 3: And then you have drivers. You have Mustaf and you
14:45
Speaker 3: have Burton who can get in the lane and do
14:47
Speaker 3: some things. So you have multiple levels where last year
14:49
Speaker 3: was predominantly three points, three point shooting. And your point
14:53
Speaker 3: guards had to score at the rim. They weren't going
14:55
Speaker 3: to shoot the three very well. And then your post
14:57
Speaker 3: play was very questionable. So you didn't have that three levels.
15:01
Speaker 3: Now you have the ability to have the three levels.
15:04
Speaker 3: The concerns will be perimeter defense if you want to
15:07
Speaker 3: switch and ball screens. Can the bigs, are their feet
15:12
Speaker 3: quick enough to guard on the perimeter, especially Shirell if
15:15
Speaker 3: he's playing the four against some teams? We talked offline
15:20
Speaker 3: before about some of the teams might be a little smaller,
15:22
Speaker 3: and then how do you guard that? But then they
15:25
Speaker 3: have to match up on the other end too, which
15:26
Speaker 3: gives some advantage as well if you're playing a smaller team.
15:31
Speaker 3: I do think Shirell has the athletic ability to guard
15:33
Speaker 3: out there and is on ball screens. I'll be watching
15:37
Speaker 3: Iguotolo defensively how he moves. But it just, you know,
15:42
Speaker 3: you got to stop Burton first, and then you got
15:44
Speaker 3: to stop Shirell second, and then you have a low
15:46
Speaker 3: post presence too. The question for Iguotolo is can he
15:50
Speaker 3: score over equal size? You know, against Butler, I thought
15:53
Speaker 3: he had the advantage. He had that jump hook. He
15:55
Speaker 3: wasn't challenged as much, and he looked really good. When
15:57
Speaker 3: you have equal size against some of these Big Ten teams,
16:00
Speaker 3: is he going to be able to score? Well, he
16:01
Speaker 3: was productive at SMU. And then the reason I think
16:06
Speaker 3: it also works is rebounding. I thought that was a
16:10
Speaker 3: big problem last year for the Indiana squad, and they
16:14
Speaker 3: really had an emphasis on that, and it showed out again.
16:17
Speaker 3: It's a preseason game, but if they can end defensive
16:21
Speaker 3: possessions with rebounds and have the shot-blocking ability to save
16:26
Speaker 3: some some points there and make tough twos, uh, for
16:30
Speaker 3: the opponents, that's going to help. And then offensive rebounding too.
16:33
Speaker 3: I think that's a, they're a load. So I think it's,
16:35
Speaker 3: it's going to work. And I think you just have
16:38
Speaker 3: to design offense, um, around that dunker spot and keep
16:42
Speaker 3: them in the dunker spot. And then, you know, uh,
16:45
Speaker 3: you did bring something up. The spacing is always a
16:47
Speaker 3: concern when you have a five, a low post five,
16:50
Speaker 3: can you get to the rim from your drivers? that'll
16:53
Speaker 3: have to be figured out. That's a concern because anytime
16:56
Speaker 3: you have two bigs, are they going to guard Shirell
17:00
Speaker 3: out at the three-point line and space the floor? So
17:02
Speaker 3: the concerns are spacing and the driving ability, the defensive
17:06
Speaker 3: mobility of those two bigs. Those would be the concerns. But, man,
17:09
Speaker 3: I think there's so many benefits of having size that
17:12
Speaker 3: were not evident last year or were causes for the
17:14
Speaker 3: 18 and 14 record.
17:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was one of the biggest things that was
17:20
Speaker 2: striking to me, watching that game up close from my
17:23
Speaker 2: vantage point, which I was a little bit elevated. I'm
17:26
Speaker 2: sure you know kind of where the media seating is
17:28
Speaker 2: there at Hinkle, but kind of there towards the end,
17:30
Speaker 2: towards the baseline. But I was up behind the Indiana bench,
17:34
Speaker 2: and it seemed like every time Butler missed a shot,
17:36
Speaker 2: there was three IU guys there. around the ball surrounding
17:41
Speaker 2: it the athleticism the length the size all stood out
17:44
Speaker 2: to me I think this team has a chance to
17:47
Speaker 2: be tremendous on the defensive glass and that's absolutely huge
17:50
Speaker 2: to be able to close out possessions it was a
17:52
Speaker 2: thing that time and time again Indiana had a problem
17:55
Speaker 2: with last year now against teams that shoot a lot
17:57
Speaker 2: of threes there's going to be long rebounds so there's
17:59
Speaker 2: some variability there in terms of how that works out
18:02
Speaker 2: from a rebounding perspective that that that they'll have to
18:05
Speaker 2: obviously be solid everywhere in terms of being able to
18:08
Speaker 2: get loose balls, 50-50 balls. But in terms of if
18:11
Speaker 2: a close shot's missed in the lane, they're going to be,
18:14
Speaker 2: in most cases, the bigger team, the more physical team,
18:17
Speaker 2: the more athletic team there at the rim. So I
18:20
Speaker 2: think that bodes well. In terms of the spacing, I
18:25
Speaker 2: just wanted to ask you from your perspective and looking
18:29
Speaker 2: at the game like you do, One of the things,
18:31
Speaker 2: and maybe, again, I don't want to overreact over an
18:34
Speaker 2: exhibition game, but one of the things that I looked
18:37
Speaker 2: at from the first game, particularly in that first half
18:40
Speaker 2: when it was closer than maybe people thought it was
18:42
Speaker 2: going to be, it seemed like when they had Shirell
18:45
Speaker 2: and Igotoglu out on the floor together, they obviously found
18:48
Speaker 2: him in the post on several possessions and he was
18:50
Speaker 2: able to get easy baskets, but there were some possessions
18:53
Speaker 2: where it felt like everything was either a three or,
18:56
Speaker 2: you know, just the post entry, it didn't seem like
19:00
Speaker 2: there was a lot of space for drivers to operate.
19:03
Speaker 2: And how do you, how do you see that playing out?
19:06
Speaker 2: If you're going to play two bigs, can they create,
19:09
Speaker 2: you know, cause he could talk, who's not going to
19:11
Speaker 2: be out on the floor. Um, is that going to
19:14
Speaker 2: be a problem in terms of, cause to me, like
19:16
Speaker 2: a guy like Mustafa, his primary value on offense is
19:19
Speaker 2: being able to, you know, use his size as athleticism,
19:22
Speaker 2: get to the rim and try to, you know, get
19:24
Speaker 2: to the line or finish a play, is the spacing
19:27
Speaker 2: going to be there for, for things like that? Or
19:29
Speaker 2: are they going to have to figure some things out
19:31
Speaker 2: in terms of how they want to position those guys
19:33
Speaker 2: on the court, uh, to open the floor up a
19:35
Speaker 2: little bit for drivers?
19:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there'll be enough spacing. You put Iguotolo
19:40
Speaker 3: in the, in the low post or in the dunker spot,
19:42
Speaker 3: and then you ball screen up top with Shirell and
19:44
Speaker 3: Burton and have your two shooters on the wing that
19:47
Speaker 3: forces the defense into certain coverages, right? Uh, and what
19:50
Speaker 3: you'll see driving is driving closeouts after ball reversals and
19:54
Speaker 3: a couple of passes. I think, um, Sicily drove baseline
19:58
Speaker 3: one time that I can remember. Mustaf had a really
20:00
Speaker 3: good hard drive baseline. Uh, and then if the help comes,
20:03
Speaker 3: you just dump it off to the dunker. Um, and
20:06
Speaker 3: they don't have to rotate on the backside or you
20:08
Speaker 3: diagonally kick out for threes. So sometimes it's not the
20:11
Speaker 3: initial drive that you need spacing for. It's the, can
20:15
Speaker 3: you move the defense and how does defense have to
20:17
Speaker 3: play and then play off of that? Right. So for example, the,
20:21
Speaker 3: where Iguotulo can, do you have to double him? If
20:24
Speaker 3: you play single and you throw the ball into him,
20:26
Speaker 3: he scores every time. Then the defense might have to
20:30
Speaker 3: go double or, or dig. When you dig, then you
20:32
Speaker 3: have all kinds of cuts and, Then you kick out,
20:34
Speaker 3: they rotate, then you drive the closer. So I do
20:38
Speaker 3: think it depends on if Shirell is thought by defenses
20:42
Speaker 3: to be a threat at three. And so on a
20:43
Speaker 3: pick and pop, you're covering him. If you're playing and
20:46
Speaker 3: sagging off him and daring him, now all of a
20:49
Speaker 3: sudden spacing will become a concern. You know, your stretch
20:53
Speaker 3: four has to have the threat of making. It doesn't
20:55
Speaker 3: have to be a 40% shooter. It just has to
20:57
Speaker 3: be someone that occupies the defense out on the perimeter.
21:00
Speaker 3: I think Shirell has shown in the summer and over
21:04
Speaker 3: his career, and hopefully more now that, that he's in
21:07
Speaker 3: really good shape that he can hit that three. You hit,
21:10
Speaker 3: you pop a couple of those threes and all of
21:11
Speaker 3: a sudden the spacing, uh, really opens up. Uh, so
21:15
Speaker 3: you just have to be creative in your design of
21:17
Speaker 3: what you do with Igatolo and where you put him,
21:20
Speaker 3: but he was catching at the high post too. You know,
21:23
Speaker 3: you know, he was catching and they run that, that,
21:25
Speaker 3: that action, uh, where the five catches at the high
21:28
Speaker 3: post and they have action on both wings. So there's
21:31
Speaker 3: another way, if he can be a passer and help
21:33
Speaker 3: initiate offense, where you bring him away from the basket.
21:37
Speaker 3: They're not going to guard him out there, but it
21:39
Speaker 3: still creates a different look.
21:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not sure how much of a lob, like
21:44
Speaker 2: a guy you're going to throw lobs to him. But
21:46
Speaker 2: the thing I did like, I don't know if you
21:48
Speaker 2: remember this, but I think it was Burton. There was
21:50
Speaker 2: a play in the first half where he found Sam Alexis,
21:53
Speaker 2: where I think that's kind of where Alexis comes into this.
21:56
Speaker 2: he is that lob threat. He's a guy you can
21:58
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, if the point guard or whoever's
22:00
Speaker 2: handling the ball sees something, Sam Alexis can easily just
22:03
Speaker 2: back cut to the rim and throw a lob up
22:06
Speaker 2: there and kind of ease some of the pressure there
22:08
Speaker 2: if guys are getting overplayed and they're denying the post-entry.
22:11
Speaker 2: So there was a play there, I remember, I think
22:12
Speaker 2: it was in the first half where Alexis finished a lob. So,
22:15
Speaker 2: I think having him available, too, is going to be
22:18
Speaker 2: pretty crucial because he's a little bit more mobile. It
22:21
Speaker 2: gives you... The other thing I think it gives you
22:24
Speaker 2: is you're not as worried about foul trouble. Coming into
22:28
Speaker 2: the season without him, if you just have the two bigs,
22:31
Speaker 2: all of a sudden one guy's in foul trouble and
22:33
Speaker 2: you're putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the other
22:34
Speaker 2: guy to do a lot more. Now you have three
22:37
Speaker 2: bigs and... if somebody picks up two fouls early, then
22:40
Speaker 2: you just bring in the other guy and you have
22:42
Speaker 2: a lot better chance of surviving, you know, a 40
22:45
Speaker 2: minute game. Uh, the foul trouble is not as big
22:48
Speaker 2: of a deal. So I'm curious to kind of see
22:51
Speaker 2: how that plays out in terms of the rotations. I
22:53
Speaker 2: think you can also have a, a thing where, where
22:55
Speaker 2: one game, maybe Sam Alexis is playing 20 minutes and
22:58
Speaker 2: Igotobu is playing 20, you know, one, one game, maybe
23:01
Speaker 2: a more favorable matchup and they're, The minutes are distributed
23:05
Speaker 2: a little bit differently, but I think just having those
23:07
Speaker 2: two big guys that can obviously have different strengths and
23:11
Speaker 2: play different ways is incredibly beneficial. The other guy I
23:14
Speaker 2: wanted to kind of highlight and talk about because I
23:17
Speaker 2: just think it's so important to have this position in
23:20
Speaker 2: a much better spot than what it was last year. Again,
23:22
Speaker 2: this is not to take anything away from Connor Enright,
23:25
Speaker 2: who I thought did tremendous work. work last season based
23:29
Speaker 2: on the situation that he was dealt. I don't think
23:31
Speaker 2: Indiana came into the season thinking he was going to
23:33
Speaker 2: be their answer at point guard. Obviously, things did not
23:36
Speaker 2: work out as planned with Tate and Connerway, but now
23:38
Speaker 2: they bring in Marcus Burton from Notre Dame, who, if
23:41
Speaker 2: you followed his career, he was incredibly productive over three
23:43
Speaker 2: seasons there. Wasn't really a part of a winning team,
23:46
Speaker 2: a winning culture. I don't think they ever went to
23:48
Speaker 2: the NCAA tournament, but he put up numbers. And so
23:51
Speaker 2: now he needs to shift from a guy that puts
23:53
Speaker 2: up numbers to a guy that puts up numbers and
23:55
Speaker 2: impacts winning at a high level. And to me, the
23:57
Speaker 2: biggest thing he needs to be able to do, and
23:59
Speaker 2: I asked Darren DeVries about this the other morning in
24:01
Speaker 2: his media availability, was strike a balance between scoring and distributing.
24:06
Speaker 2: You don't want him to lose any of that aggressiveness,
24:08
Speaker 2: but I don't think Indiana wants Marcus Burton averaging 20
24:11
Speaker 2: points a game. How do you see that contrast playing
24:15
Speaker 2: out in terms of scoring and facilitating for Burton? Do
24:19
Speaker 2: you see him as more of a score-first guy? Do
24:21
Speaker 2: you think he can be a guy that you know,
24:23
Speaker 2: ups the assist totals with all the weapons he has
24:25
Speaker 2: around him. Now, one of the things I'll look at
24:27
Speaker 2: from his time at Notre Dame is maybe he wasn't
24:30
Speaker 2: surrounded with a ton of guys that could do a
24:32
Speaker 2: lot of other things. And now he has more talent
24:33
Speaker 2: around him. Can he become that guy who's, you know,
24:36
Speaker 2: five or six assists a game? I think if he
24:38
Speaker 2: can do that, then all of a sudden the ceiling
24:40
Speaker 2: for this Indiana team is a lot higher.
24:43
Speaker 3: I think you're spot on with the number of cysts, uh, that,
24:46
Speaker 3: that he should get at Notre Dame. He, he was
24:49
Speaker 3: the guy. And so he had to go score. Um,
24:53
Speaker 3: And that put a lot of pressure on him. Obviously,
24:55
Speaker 3: he got hurt the last couple of years. He's not
24:57
Speaker 3: injury prone. He just had some really freak situations happen
25:01
Speaker 3: where it cost him some time. I think he's just
25:03
Speaker 3: really tough. You know, he's a little on the small
25:07
Speaker 3: side for what college basketball is right now. So he
25:09
Speaker 3: has to fight like heck defensively. And I saw really
25:12
Speaker 3: good ball pressure from him on Sunday. But what you
25:16
Speaker 3: have is you have a guy who you know who
25:19
Speaker 3: can score at the point guard. And again, I like
25:23
Speaker 3: Connor Enright, loved him, but he was more of the
25:26
Speaker 3: backup point guard variety that was forced into a leading role.
25:31
Speaker 3: But Burton can come off a ball screen and stop
25:34
Speaker 3: and hit that mid-range jumper if he has to, right?
25:36
Speaker 3: Even though that's not a shot everyone wants to take anymore,
25:39
Speaker 3: he can, if you go under a ball screen, he
25:41
Speaker 3: can pull up at Butler and hit threes right away.
25:45
Speaker 3: So you want to maintain that balance. I heard something,
25:50
Speaker 3: and it might have been Coach DeVries, say that he
25:52
Speaker 3: was passing too much down in the summer at those
25:55
Speaker 3: trips and not looking to score. So you are spot on.
25:57
Speaker 3: There has to be a balance. I think he's a
26:00
Speaker 3: 10 to 15 point scorer and five to six assists.
26:03
Speaker 3: I think that's going to bode well for the Indiana Hoosiers.
26:06
Speaker 3: But shot clock runs down. You got a guy who's
26:08
Speaker 3: been historically can go get a bucket. Late game. you
26:13
Speaker 3: have a winner that can try to go get something, right?
26:16
Speaker 3: And you have a few of them on the team,
26:18
Speaker 3: but he has demonstrated that. So you don't want to
26:20
Speaker 3: take away his scoring because it's one of his great strengths.
26:24
Speaker 3: But I do think early on I'm seeing a mindset
26:28
Speaker 3: of him running the show. I think he has a
26:30
Speaker 3: really good connection with Coach from the recruiting time back
26:33
Speaker 3: in the day. I think it was his first offer,
26:36
Speaker 3: if I remember right. and then to come after Notre
26:39
Speaker 3: Dame and in his hometown to come to Indiana, I think, uh,
26:44
Speaker 3: I don't know the young man. I haven't been in practice.
26:45
Speaker 3: I haven't talked to him or whatever, but the sense
26:47
Speaker 3: is that he really wants to be the person who
26:50
Speaker 3: drives this team, uh, to success. That's my early, um, evaluation.
26:56
Speaker 3: And so if they ask him, you know, to do something,
26:58
Speaker 3: but you're spot on watch his assist numbers. And, um,
27:03
Speaker 3: If his assist numbers are five, six a game and
27:05
Speaker 3: he's not turning the ball over, he has a tendency
27:07
Speaker 3: to want to do too much from his Notre Dame
27:09
Speaker 3: time too. I thought down in the summer at Peru,
27:13
Speaker 3: he sometimes forced the action a little bit and turned
27:15
Speaker 3: the ball over. So the turnover ratio is going to
27:18
Speaker 3: be key for him to do both of those things.
27:21
Speaker 3: But I agree. I think he's going to be the
27:26
Speaker 3: stick that stirs the drink this year.
27:28
Speaker 2: The last truly elite point guard that IE basketball had
27:31
Speaker 2: did this as well as anybody I can remember was
27:34
Speaker 2: Yogi Ferrell, right?
27:35
Speaker 3: He, right.
27:36
Speaker 2: He came in to college. He was more of that
27:38
Speaker 2: distributor earlier in his career because he had all those
27:41
Speaker 2: guys around him. But by the time he was a senior,
27:43
Speaker 2: you had no idea on a given possession, what Yogi
27:45
Speaker 2: Ferrell was going to, he could either pop up a
27:48
Speaker 2: three right in your face, or he could find a
27:50
Speaker 2: guy for a lot. He could get somebody else involved.
27:52
Speaker 2: I thought he was tremendous in that. And again, Not
27:55
Speaker 2: to compare Marcus Burton. They're completely different players, but they're
27:58
Speaker 2: both small point guards. If you're looking for someone to say,
28:04
Speaker 2: when I'm watching film, this is a guy that I
28:06
Speaker 2: want to play like, that's a great role model example
28:09
Speaker 2: of how you want to see your career arc go
28:12
Speaker 2: and how you maybe want to balance the two. Moving
28:15
Speaker 2: on here, I just want to give you a chance.
28:17
Speaker 2: I've kind of brought up some topics here. Anything in
28:21
Speaker 2: your mind that you're thinking about that you're watching? I
28:23
Speaker 2: know there are some defensive things maybe we talked about
28:25
Speaker 2: a little bit earlier. If you want to expand on
28:27
Speaker 2: that or anything else, I'm just kind of curious what
28:29
Speaker 2: your big storylines are going into the season.
28:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think for the success of this team, anytime
28:34
Speaker 3: you bring in transfers, and especially for freshmen, is how
28:39
Speaker 3: quick do you get to the level defensively that Coach
28:42
Speaker 3: DeVries wants this team to be at. I use the
28:45
Speaker 3: word connection. Like, you got to be connected. How do
28:47
Speaker 3: you help and recover? When do you stop a drive?
28:50
Speaker 3: There was a time when Burton, I thought, overhelped at
28:52
Speaker 3: the elbow and left Ellerbee open in the first half.
28:56
Speaker 3: So they got to figure that stuff out. And you
28:58
Speaker 3: mentioned this, too, that there was no scouting. Norred's a
29:02
Speaker 3: new coach at Butler. And, you know, you might watch
29:04
Speaker 3: a little bit of a North Carolina film for this
29:07
Speaker 3: one because you have it. But you didn't have that
29:09
Speaker 3: for Butler. So that plays– some of that into that
29:11
Speaker 3: first half defense. But I thought second half defense was
29:15
Speaker 3: more of what we want to see. And I still
29:18
Speaker 3: think that's going to be hugely important. When you're playing
29:21
Speaker 3: talented teams in the Big Ten, when you're playing Arkansas now,
29:23
Speaker 3: you got to get stops, right? And the offensive side
29:27
Speaker 3: of putting a team together, everyone goes to the gym
29:30
Speaker 3: and does a workout for an hour and shoots, right?
29:32
Speaker 3: And no one goes and does closeouts and help and recover.
29:37
Speaker 3: That's what's done in practice. So I think that's always
29:40
Speaker 3: the toughest thing to do every season with a basketball team,
29:44
Speaker 3: no matter what level, is to build your defense to
29:46
Speaker 3: a point that it can win. And so I thought
29:50
Speaker 3: there was some communication, some switching issues early on in
29:53
Speaker 3: that first half, but Again, the positive side, Alex, is
29:56
Speaker 3: that all went away in the second half. So the
29:59
Speaker 3: guys on the team, the coaches went in, addressed some
30:02
Speaker 3: things without a scouting report, and it looked like made adjustments.
30:05
Speaker 3: So you can pull a positive from that too. But
30:08
Speaker 3: I ultimately think when you play talented teams like Kentucky, Arkansas,
30:11
Speaker 3: you're going to have to defend at a level. Can
30:13
Speaker 3: you get there early or earlier than normal in a
30:18
Speaker 3: given year, especially from the Big Ten? You know, we
30:22
Speaker 3: as fans– We look at stats and all that stuff,
30:26
Speaker 3: but man, how are you playing defense? Can you get stops?
30:29
Speaker 3: We talked about the importance of rebounding. That's the storyline
30:34
Speaker 3: for me. What's the defensive efficiency numbers on Ken Palm?
30:40
Speaker 3: I'm going to be watching those all year because I
30:43
Speaker 3: think in order for Indiana to really move up and
30:45
Speaker 3: get a good tournament bid and seed and make some noise,
30:50
Speaker 3: the defense is there. I think this roster offensively is,
30:54
Speaker 3: is going to figure stuff out easily. It's the defense that,
30:57
Speaker 3: that I'll be watching.
30:58
Speaker 2: Yeah. One quick thought for me, just on the, just
31:01
Speaker 2: a player that I'm watching. And then when I had
31:03
Speaker 2: one other follow-up and then we can wrap up, but
31:05
Speaker 2: Trevor man hurts to me, looks like a guy that's
31:07
Speaker 2: going to be a problem. Uh, maybe this year, maybe
31:10
Speaker 2: in a couple of years, but guys with that size,
31:14
Speaker 2: that length that can shoot the ball are, that's what
31:17
Speaker 2: the NBA looks for. So He's going to be a
31:20
Speaker 2: guy I think his development is going to be fascinating
31:23
Speaker 2: to watch this season. Real interested. It seems to me
31:27
Speaker 2: like he's in the rotation right now. I'm really interested
31:29
Speaker 2: to see if that continues. How he can make an impact.
31:32
Speaker 2: His release is just so effortless. He's tall. It's going
31:35
Speaker 2: to be hard to block his shot, contest his shot.
31:38
Speaker 2: He looks like he's playing with a ton of confidence, too.
31:41
Speaker 2: I mean, coming into the season in the summer, people
31:43
Speaker 2: were obviously excited about Prince Alexander Mooney. They looked at
31:46
Speaker 2: Von Carvalho because of his ranking. But right now, if
31:49
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the freshman, I'm looking at Trevor Manhurts
31:51
Speaker 2: and saying, this is the kid that's probably going to
31:52
Speaker 2: play the most, at least to start the season. Excited
31:56
Speaker 2: to see how that develops. Any thoughts on Manhurts from
32:00
Speaker 2: what you saw?
32:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, one, his shot is pretty. Two, I think he
32:04
Speaker 3: has ability to see the floor and make really good passes.
32:09
Speaker 3: And then what I heard from Coach DeVries, I forget
32:12
Speaker 3: which interview it was, but he said that he knows
32:15
Speaker 3: the plays from every position and that Coach would be
32:18
Speaker 3: comfortable putting them from the one to the five. And
32:21
Speaker 3: then he made a comment, he goes, if we're putting
32:22
Speaker 3: them at the five, we're going to have some issues.
32:24
Speaker 3: But if you want to know the secret for freshmen
32:27
Speaker 3: or newcomers to play in a program, Coaches love it
32:31
Speaker 3: when you know what's going on, not only your spot,
32:34
Speaker 3: but where your teammates are supposed to be. To me,
32:37
Speaker 3: that's called basketball IQ. And boy, that elevates you despite
32:43
Speaker 3: your talent. Well, I think he's very talented, right? Obviously
32:46
Speaker 3: can shoot. But when you have that level of trust already,
32:51
Speaker 3: you know, from the summer to the fall from your
32:54
Speaker 3: head coach that, you know plays from the one through
32:58
Speaker 3: the four, and he's comfortable putting you in. I saw
33:00
Speaker 3: him bring the ball up once, I think, in the
33:01
Speaker 3: second half and initiate offense. That versatility along with the talent,
33:08
Speaker 3: and I will go back to he's going to play
33:11
Speaker 3: as much as he can guard, right? Or they'll hide
33:16
Speaker 3: him a little bit if they have to. But that's
33:18
Speaker 3: always the biggest problem moving from any kind of high
33:21
Speaker 3: school to college is is the athleticism you've got to
33:24
Speaker 3: guard and the actions you have to guard and how
33:26
Speaker 3: quick you have to move defensively. But, man, that comment
33:29
Speaker 3: from Coach DeVries really hit me that that's a coach's dream.
33:35
Speaker 3: When you have a rookie or you have a young
33:37
Speaker 3: guy that is that into the program, that they know
33:40
Speaker 3: all that, that's why he's in the rotation right now.
33:43
Speaker 3: And that's not taking anything away from the other two.
33:46
Speaker 3: But you want to get ahead. If you're a young athlete,
33:48
Speaker 3: listen to this show. study the game, watch film on
33:51
Speaker 3: your own. Don't just show up for, for practice. Um, uh,
33:54
Speaker 3: Trevor seems like that kind of player and that's going
33:56
Speaker 3: to be fun to watch over the years.
33:59
Speaker 2: Two words you just mentioned a little earlier, uh, Ken Palm,
34:02
Speaker 2: any thoughts on the Indiana preseason ranking there? Number 47,
34:06
Speaker 2: number 12 and converts. Do we, do we just kind
34:09
Speaker 2: of have that as a discussion point right now? And
34:11
Speaker 2: we revisit that in early January. Is there any reason
34:14
Speaker 2: to be, I think, you know, I, I, wrote a
34:16
Speaker 2: quick story about that because i do so every year
34:18
Speaker 2: when the rankings come out i like to look at
34:20
Speaker 2: the rankings i posted a note on our community and
34:22
Speaker 2: there was a lot of people saying oh if they're
34:24
Speaker 2: you know if they're 12th it's a huge problem and
34:26
Speaker 2: i said just calm down relax it's a preseason any
34:29
Speaker 2: reason to be up in arms over that at this point.
34:32
Speaker 3: No i i'd look at the other stats too like
34:34
Speaker 3: bark torvik or whatever and do a comparison uh number
34:38
Speaker 3: there um those numbers really get what more accurate in
34:45
Speaker 3: late November, December, when you have actual offense and defensive
34:49
Speaker 3: efficiency from this team, right? So I don't know his,
34:52
Speaker 3: his formula for, you know, new players coming in and
34:55
Speaker 3: taking what happened last year and all of that. There's,
34:58
Speaker 3: there's some of that all built in, I believe. I
35:00
Speaker 3: was shocked that it was at 47, but then that's
35:04
Speaker 3: going to look good. You know, if you go from
35:06
Speaker 3: 47 to 27, then you can say you've improved. So,
35:11
Speaker 3: It's better to start out low and improve than start
35:14
Speaker 3: out high and struggle. I think Ken Palm is an
35:18
Speaker 3: absolute awesome metric. We look at it with Delphi Bracketology.
35:22
Speaker 3: I think Bart Torvik does good work. But you have
35:25
Speaker 3: to take those stats for what they are, when they are.
35:31
Speaker 3: And obviously, if you're a top 10 team, you're happy
35:33
Speaker 3: about those results. If you're 47, you're somewhat skeptical of
35:37
Speaker 3: your team. But I think if we're 47 in January
35:42
Speaker 3: and February, then that would be a little more point
35:44
Speaker 3: of discussion than it is right now.
35:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a brand new team. I mean, it's hard
35:50
Speaker 2: to assess that. And obviously, there's a lot of factors
35:53
Speaker 2: that go into it. I think one of the big
35:55
Speaker 2: factors is Indiana's underperformed its ranking for so many years
35:58
Speaker 2: now that that's got to be baked in there somehow. So,
36:01
Speaker 2: If you want a better ranking, you got to have
36:03
Speaker 2: better seasons more consistently. So there's probably a ton of
36:06
Speaker 2: priors that are still being factored in there. Coach, always
36:10
Speaker 2: good to catch up with you. Always appreciate you taking
36:14
Speaker 2: the time to come on the show. It's nice. You know,
36:16
Speaker 2: you're not in class today. So I could just text
36:18
Speaker 2: you on a Thursday and say, hey, do you want
36:20
Speaker 2: to come on the podcast tomorrow? And you're like, sure,
36:21
Speaker 2: I don't have anything else going on. So luckily for me,
36:24
Speaker 2: you didn't have a tea time. You were ready to go.
36:26
Speaker 2: And I appreciate it.
36:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, no tea time. It's packing the van day. I'll
36:31
Speaker 3: go to the gym here in a little bit and
36:33
Speaker 3: then come home and start packing up for the weekend.
36:35
Speaker 3: But no, I'm at your beck and call. If you
36:38
Speaker 3: need anyone for anything, I'm here and have the time.
36:42
Speaker 3: I think it's awesome, the work that you do. And
36:44
Speaker 3: congratulations for your White Sox. I know the end there
36:48
Speaker 3: was kind of a struggle, but to be where they
36:50
Speaker 3: were and then to make the playoffs and win a division,
36:53
Speaker 3: I'm happy for you and your dad and Jared and And,
36:56
Speaker 3: and Josh, uh, even though I'm on the other side
36:58
Speaker 3: of the city, um, you got a game recognizes game. So, uh,
37:03
Speaker 3: that's a heck of a year and I'm happy for
37:04
Speaker 3: you guys. Cause I know how, uh, diehard fans you are.
37:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, we came up coach. We came up short in
37:09
Speaker 2: the division. We did, we, we, we got in the
37:10
Speaker 2: wild card. So Cleveland won the division. And I will
37:13
Speaker 2: tell you this last night after Cleveland went up to
37:16
Speaker 2: one Tampa, uh, I had to go back on YouTube
37:20
Speaker 2: and find some radio calls from the 2005 season and
37:24
Speaker 2: listen to some White Sox because it's just so sickening
37:28
Speaker 2: to know that they had Cleveland down 2-0 and now
37:31
Speaker 2: Cleveland up 2-1 on Tampa Bay with a chance to
37:33
Speaker 2: go to the World Series. So, you know, I try
37:36
Speaker 2: not to have animosity towards other teams, but it feels like,
37:40
Speaker 2: you know, the team that knocked you out, you just,
37:42
Speaker 2: it's hard to let that go and you want to
37:43
Speaker 2: root against them. So go Tampa. Hopefully you can take
37:46
Speaker 2: care of, uh, Cleveland in this series. And, uh, yeah,
37:50
Speaker 2: I appreciate that. It was a fun season. You know,
37:52
Speaker 2: Josh and I, he's, he was on last week. I
37:55
Speaker 2: told him, Besides my dad, he's the biggest White Sox
37:58
Speaker 2: fan I know. We text it all season. Now that
38:00
Speaker 2: the season's over, I'm not hearing from him as much. Josh,
38:02
Speaker 2: if you're watching this, text me. Give me some thoughts
38:04
Speaker 2: on IU football now. I appreciate that. Hopefully, there's not
38:10
Speaker 2: an extended lockout in baseball, too. I'm hoping they can
38:12
Speaker 2: carry on this momentum that they had and be a
38:15
Speaker 2: fun season. One day, maybe we'll get a Cubs-White Sox
38:17
Speaker 2: World Series. Although, I don't know if there's some relationships
38:20
Speaker 2: in both of our lives that could handle that. Me, Jared,
38:24
Speaker 2: and Josh, and my dad against you, and Tony is
38:28
Speaker 2: a Cubs fan. There's a ton of Cubs fans, but
38:31
Speaker 2: that might not be good for all of our relationships
38:33
Speaker 2: if we're going one-on-one in the World Series.
38:36
Speaker 3: You need to win one year, and we need to
38:37
Speaker 3: win the next year. That's probably the best for our relationships.
38:42
Speaker 3: We're strong no matter what.
38:44
Speaker 2: For sure. I appreciate you taking the time. Thanks, everybody,
38:46
Speaker 2: as always, for listening to the show. Really appreciate the support.
38:50
Speaker 2: Hoping to get on a more regular schedule now with
38:52
Speaker 2: basketball season ramping back up. It's kind of hit or
38:54
Speaker 2: miss here in the offseason when, you know, deciding to
38:58
Speaker 2: do an episode, you know, I try to make it
39:00
Speaker 2: to where we actually have things to talk about. And
39:02
Speaker 2: now that basketball is starting back up, we're going to
39:04
Speaker 2: have more things and topics to discuss. And Coach just
39:07
Speaker 2: gave me the open invitation to have him on. So
39:10
Speaker 2: we have to take him up on that more often
39:12
Speaker 2: this season. Really looking forward to having continued discussions with him.
39:15
Speaker 2: I know he'll continue to do a tremendous job over
39:18
Speaker 2: at Assembly Call. Looking forward to their post-game shows as well.
39:21
Speaker 2: If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating
39:24
Speaker 2: and review over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're
39:26
Speaker 2: watching on YouTube, like the channel and subscribe, and we'll
39:29
Speaker 2: be back soon. with another episode of Podcast on the Brain.